Will Reaper: News/Review/Content Producer
I started gaming with Crash Bandicoot years ago… which I had a lot of practice with because it was the only game I had for a long time. Then eventually I moved into other systems thanks to my friends, mostly a lot of N64 and the big games back then. I eventually bought my own gameboy because Pokémon was brand new, it would be at least another decade before it became played out… and shortly after the gameboy color came out of course. What really opened up my love for video games was Lunar 2 Eternal Blue complete, one of the greatest RPG’s ever. It took me many months to beat but I only had an hour or so to play a week. Then for my birthday my mother randomly picked up a copy of Ape Escape and Suikoden from a Japanese pawn shop, both of which still switch to Japanese randomly. This started my desire to perfect every game long before trophies started. I have always been a Playstation guy but I did pick up a Sega 16 bit and later a Wii. My brothers and I have spent a lot of time arguing about who’s superior between Playstation, Xbox and PC (sorry no Nintendo) but since I’m the only one old enough to afford my own gear I guess I win. After college I worked for a AAA game company (it was my Paris trip), I won’t say which one but some of the projects I worked on shame me still anyways. I briefly taught game design to little kids among other things after that.
I’ve played every kind of game in my day and still have a fairly diverse collection. If I had to choose my favorite genre though it would have to be puzzle games in the line of Zelda or open world games. My first open world RPG was Suikoden and it was kind of learning curve. I didn’t fully understand what I was doing at first and the internet was still a mad dream back then. So by the time I found the dragon I was almost to level 20. Again I enjoy playing almost anything but I don’t really specialize in anything specific so I don’t buy a lot of fighting games anymore. Some of my favorite games include Suikoden (number 4 wasn’t that bad), Lunar, Fallout, Zelda, Skyrim (not ESO) and Bioshock.
Ryan Reece: News/Review Producer
Twitter: @RyanReece8
Jonah Wong: News ProducerA History in Gaming
A long, long time ago in the barren, frozen, tundra known as St. Paul, Minnesota. A boy, recently having his 5 year old dreams shattered after being told by his parents that Santa doesn’t really exist, searched for new purpose in life. How was he supposed to fill this imaginative void in his life? What was the purpose of living if he couldn’t believe in a large, fat man who supposedly moves so fast that he should spontaneously erupt into flames. Then, when everything seemed lost, Jonah Wang received a GameBoy Color. Soon after he had transformed into a huge nerd, playing hours upon hours of Pokemon, Fire Emblem, and the like. His progression as a gamer only got worse after he discovered more powerful consoles such as the first generation Xbox and the PS2. He continued to follow the console wars to the current gen, and somewhere along the way he encountered PC gaming as well.
James Mahoney: Editorial/Review Producer