GameInformer

Mike is Commander Shepard. Mike is Link. Mike is John Marston. Mike has stared down the gaping maw of Diablo himself. Mike has stormed the beaches of Normandy time and time again. Millions of monsters, goombas, and alien races have fallen at Mike's hands.

Mike is a geek. He can't sit through a philosophy class or watch a movie without relating the conversation or themes back to a video game he once played. Maybe it's the discussion of Batman, and how he's not a hero in the confines of the social norms. Maybe it's contemplating just how far one would go to save someone they love, whether it be Ethan Mars or Wander.

Since playing Zombies Ate My Neighbors with his brothers, Mike has learned one important fact from video games: there is nothing like them. Not film, novels, paintings, or sculptures. Video games are art, with involvement stretching far beyond the empirical and emotional effects of any other medium. The experience is enough to gather throngs of gamers around arcade machines, or connect a German teenager with an American adult in a frantic battle against Spies, Scouts, and Demo men.

Mike's passion for video games has not remained within the boundaries of mystical worlds. His love of writing eventually overlapped, and he meshed the two, and they coalesced wonderfully, as far as his enjoyment went. His skills were growing, but he was still unsure of them at their advent. Even to this day, he continues to strive towards a seemingly endless goal of becoming a better writer. There is much left for him to learn, and many games left for him to play.