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From the age of two I've been mashing away at the buttons on a controller, or so my dad tells me. As he would play Mario Bros. I would use the second player controller and press buttons furiously, believing I was controlling the action on screen. I grew up playing the NES and for a long time never experienced having the latest and greatest system. When the N64 came out my cousin bought one on launch day, and donated his Super Nintendo and all his games to me. That moment changed me, as it was then that I experienced some of the games that would get me hooked on the hobby. While gamers were experiencing Ocarina of Time, I was being blown away by A Link to the Past, while my friends were playing Mario 64, I was busy being amazed at how I could ride Yoshi in Super Mario World.
I still lagged behind when I got my PS1, receiving it for Christmas in 1999, four years after it launched. I played often, though looking back I skipped over what many regard as classics for the system. Finally, I made it my mission to get with the times. When the PS2 launched, I got it the same year. I also received quite possibly the second most important gift of my life after my SNES, a subscription to Official Playstation Magazine. It literally blew me away. I had been living in the dark. There were so many great games I hadn't been playing, so much I didn't know, and to top it off I discovered there were people who wrote about gaming for a living. From that first issue I received, with Jak and Daxter on the cover (one of my favorite games) came a dream.
I finally knew what my dream job was - to write about video games for a living and to meet and interview the visionaries who brought these stories to life in my living. I'm currently attending Western Kentucky University, writing for the school newspaper the College Heights Herald, working towards my News/Editorial Journalism and History degrees and blogging about video games in my spare time. The dream is still out there, and I'm just getting started.
Check out my non-GameInformer blog!
And if you are extra cool follow me on Twitter!
Herded Blogs:
Freedom Fighters 2, where art thou? (Herded on 9/29/11)
Complexity vs. Simplicity - A War in Modern Game Design (Herded on 5/31/12)
Day Z - Part Game, Part Social Experiment (Herded on 8/9/12). Also featured in the official weekly Game Informer newsletter!
Do Game Journalists Show Favoritism Towards Japanese Games? (Herded on 8/23/12)
Returning to a Galaxy Far, Far Away (Herded on 8/30/12)
Evolutionary vs. Revolutionary Game Design (Herded on 9/20/12). Also featured in the official weekly Game Informer newsletter!
My Call of Duty Breakup (Herded on 11/8/12)
Faster Than Light: Your Own Personal Space Opera (Herded on 1/3/13). Also featured in the official weekly Game Informer newsletter!
The Story of Grifball (Herded on 2/14/13).
Do Game Demos Hurt Game Sales? (Herded on 2/21/13)
Microtransactions, Accomplishment, and the Future of Gaming (Herded on 3/7/13). Also featured in the official weekly Game Informer newsletter!
Game Protagonists: Heroes or Psychopaths? (Herded on 3/28/13). Also featured in the official weekly Game Informer newsletter!
Bioshock Infinite: Bloody and Brilliant (Herded on 4/18/13).
Used Games: Not as harmful as you think (Herded on 5/30/13)
Herded Reviews:
Halo 4: A Satisfying Blend of Old and New (Herded on 11/15/12)
Game of Thrones: An (almost) completely missed opportunity (Herded on 12/20/12)
Dishonored: The Power of Player Freedom (Herded on 1/31/13)
Injustice Gods Among Us: Truth, Injustice, and the American Fighting Game Way (Herded on 5/2/13)
Star Trek: Not So Boldly Going (Herded on 5/30/13)