I’m a Los Angeles-based blogger and journalist who tried to write about video games but got sucked towards technology writing instead. My regular gigs include PC World and Technologizer, and I just started freelancing for the New York Times. I also run a small game culture blog called GamerCrave.

Q2. When did you first get into games? How old were you?

My family had an Atari computer that played game cartridges, and sometimes they’d set it up for me, but when I was about four years old I learned how to work the Atari 2600. I’d play Berzerk and Space Invaders and come up with little narratives in my head, because back then, games didn’t really have plots. They were more like frameworks. I kind of miss that.

Q3. Omit nothing, what is your gaming history? Where did it start and how did it progress?

After a couple years of Atari, I witnessed Super Mario Bros. on a friend’s new Nintendo Entertainment System, and was entranced like everyone else. I wrote a letter to Nintendo, asking them to make Super Mario Bros. for the Atari 2600 (how ignorant that sounds now). A couple weeks later, my parents brought in this cardboard box, like it had been shipped in the mail from Nintendo headquarters, and a brand new NES was inside. I’m pretty sure my parents never sent the letter and just took it upon themselves to be awesome.

The rest of my gaming history is pretty standard, except one thing: When I was about 12 years old, I’d tried pretty much every shareware PC game worth playing, and was bored enough to decide that I’d make some games myself. I discovered Klik & Play — a visual game development application, no programming knowledge required — and shortly thereafter met this whole online community of people who made staggeringly impressive games in their free time. I drifted away a dozen years ago, but amazingly, the community still exists at a site called the Daily Click. The founder, Rikus Kras, was a community old-timer even when I started hanging around, and he’s still there.

Q4. Why do you actually play games? Is it for fun? Or maybe something else?

I try to allow for the entire art-fun spectrum, but my favorite games hit that sweet spot between pure challenge and raw emotion. I won’t suffer through bad play for plot alone, but I really enjoy games that make me feel a certain way, whether it’s isolated, macho, helpless or heroic. The best games have a vibe.

Q5. If you could choose one game (just one) to give to other gamers, one that epitomises videogames for you, what would it be?

Mario 64. It’s not my favorite game of all time, but unlike more recent Mario games, it captures a certain magical quality. The sounds of chirping birds punctuating a gentle breeze outside, the secrets of the castle gradually unfolding before your eyes, the very act of jumping into paintings — these flourishes convince me that I’m not just clouded by nostalgia. This game is really special, and of course it’s a blast.

Q6. What was the last game you completed? Did you enjoy it?

Limbo. I enjoyed it –  yes, there’s a lot of trial and error, maybe symbolic of punishment for life’s sins — but I wished the ending was different. Not because it didn’t explain much, but because it just didn’t resonate. But if you expect stellar endings from this medium, you’ll hate it.

Q7. Now the tough stuff… Favourite gaming platform ever… and why?

Oh, that’s easy. When I was in college, I lit some incense in my room before a house party, then I went downstairs to play beer pong, and forgot about the whole thing. I didn’t have a proper incense burner, so my stupid solution was to stick the incense in a chunk of Styrofoam, perched atop my television. A few minutes later, my housemate’s girlfriend informed me that my room was on fire. I got up there and discovered flames coming from my television and my Gamecube.

Fortunately, I was able to blow out the fire without any help, but now the room was dense with black smoke and the stench of burnt plastic. I didn’t care. Priority one was to fire up the TV and test the Gamecube, whose front side was melted to the point that the second memory card slot and a couple of controller jacks were inaccessible. Imagine my surprise when Metroid Prime’s title screen popped up on the television.

I like a lot of game consoles for a lot of reasons, but there’s always a special place in my heart for the one that didn’t quit after becoming a fireball. Hell, the Xbox 360 craps out when you stare at it the wrong way.

Q8. Favourite game or franchise?

Metroid Prime, and not because of that last anecdote. Samus’ first 3-D adventure was the best, because it perfectly captured the earlier games’ simultaneous feelings of utter isolation and high-tech badassery. And for goodness sakes, the plot was a subtle, sombre undercurrent. It pains me to see the newer Metroid games clobber you over the head with dialog.

Q9. How do you feel about online gaming?

I liked it more when it felt fresh and new. Now that every online shooter applies the same tired formula — play, level up, unlock things — I can’t get too deep into any of them without wondering what the point is. Sometimes I’ll go on a Halo binge for old-time’s sake, but it always ends with the same identity crisis: If there’s no endgame, what am I fighting for?

Q10. And motion control?

Motion control has its place in social settings. I’m not ruling out deeper experiences — Child of Eden looks promising with Kinect — but I’m instinctively skeptical of games that try to replicate so-called hardcore genres, such as first-person shooters, with motion control. I want to see new kinds of controllers applied to new kinds of games.

Q11. How about 3D gaming?

The couple of games I tried at CES failed to excite me. During Sony’s E3 press conference, I found the 3-D effect in Killzone 3 to be distracting from the actual game. I’ll try to keep an open mind, and I know a lot of consumers are at least interested in 3-D, but I’m a gameplay over graphics kind of guy. Selling me on 3-D is going to be an uphill battle.

Q12. Where do YOU want to see the industry in five years time?

The industry is on a good track. Downloadable and indie games are getting better and more elaborate on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and WiiWare, with a lot of fresh takes on once-forgotten genres. Big-budget, AAA games have accomplished some mind-blowing things. As a result, mediocre games from major publishers aren’t selling particularly well, so the bar is raised. Sure, franchises and sequels are the status quo, but that hasn’t stopped games like Heavy Rain and Demon’s Souls from finding commercial success. Motion control is bringing fun games to a wider audience, and that’s fine by me. The only trend that I’d like to see put down over the next five years is the rise of mindless social games like Farmville.

Q13. What does gaming mean to you?

Gaming is a way to experience worlds with different rules, to stimulate the brain, to connect with other people, or just to pass idle time. It’s my favorite hobby and I hope I’ll always have time for it.

So, without further ado, I bring you, arguably the King of straplines – Martin Gaston.

Q1. Who the hell are you and what do you do?

My name is Martin Gaston and I do many things. I’m also a Staff Writer for VideoGamer.com.

Q2. When did you first get into games? How old were you?

Let me get out a calculator. We’re in 2010, so if I work backwards I end up, probably, at Christmas 1993 or thereabouts – which would have made me 7, which sounds about right. I got a Sega Master System (II) for my Christmas present that year. I wanted a Mega Drive, which my parents couldn’t afford, so I made do with the tinier 8-bit cousin. Basically, I was both delighted and furious.

I remember hooking the thing up on Christmas day – all the malarkey with RF boxes and tuning channels meant I had to get my Dad to do it, and he wasn’t best pleased. My only game (until my birthday eight months later, where I got Sonic and Batman Returns) was Alex Kidd in Miracle World. I never completed it. What kind of game, lacking any means of a save system, forces you to play a random game of rock, paper, scissors with each boss? The designers for that game are complete shits.

Q3. Omit nothing, what is your gaming history? Where did it start and how did it progress?

I eventually got a Mega Drive – round about the time Donkey Kong Country 2 was coming out, which made me question whether or not I wanted a Mega Drive in the first place. Then I saw Sonic 3, and all was well.

These were the Olden Times, before pre-owned was evil, so I used to buy second-hand games from a pawn shop called Curiosity Corner, which (sadly) closed down by the time the Playstation was getting big. My primary factors for purchase were whether they were a) cheap and b) had a nice front cover. Some games ended up being incredible (Gunstar Heroes) and others I wasn’t so fond of (Alisha Dragoon). Still, I treasured them all like antiques for years until I decided I wanted a Playstation, when I promptly proceeded to obey my mother’s commands and give them all to my little brother in exchange for the magnificent grey box and a copy of Tekken 2.

I was also lucky enough to get my first PC for Christmas 1998, which allowed me to run Half-Life with software rendering. It looked phenomenal. Half-Life turned me into a PC gamer, but having a PC/Playstation combo was fantastic and allowed me to play pretty much everything. I had a friend who lived nearby with an N64, which gave me access to Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time. I won the 32-bit era, that’s for sure.

It becomes a bit more standardised after that – I got more money as I became older and fatter, so I ended up purchasing most things. I own every single console from the fifth generation onwards, and I still make a habit of upgrading my PC. I’m such a nerd.

When it comes to actual games, by my count (and I do keep count – I’m very sad) I’ve completed 189 games since 2005. That’s about a quarter of the amount I own.

Q4. Why do you actually play games? Is it for fun? Or maybe something else?

Fun, primarily. I generally like my games to be gamey – shooty, drivy, racey and that sort of thing. Give me a high score board, basically. Case in point: my gaming highlight for 2010 is either Bad Company 2 online (single player is dire) or Super Street Fighter IV.

It’s ironic, perhaps, that most of my all-time favourite games tend to be driven by narrative, but games that actually do story well are few and far between. It’s much better to play something that’s fun than mill about in some sort of delightfully obtuse faux-narrative for a few hours, I think.

I like my games like I like my writing, basically: simple and to the point, which is probably why I think The Path is total shit.

Q5. If you could choose one game (just one) to give to other gamers, one that epitomises videogames for you, what would it be?

I think, right now, I’d probably give them Modern Warfare 2. I played a few matches with two of my brothers last night, and I remember thinking how it’s probably been almost a decade since the three of us sat and played a game together in that way: we’re all very different people, so it’s exceedingly rare for something to universally appeal to all three of us. It was fun. And I was clearly doing the best, which was nice.

Q6. What was the last game you completed? Did you enjoy it?

I just finished Shank. It had a pretty good go, but there were only really a few enemy types and the system wasn’t quite as compelling as it needed to be. The controls were a bit off, which stops it from ascending into something genuinely compulsive like Devil May Cry 3 or Ninja Gaiden. But you also get to strangle dudes to death with a chain, so it’s swings and roundabouts really.

Q7. Now the tough stuff… Favourite gaming platform ever… and why?

It has to be the PC. It’s served me the longest, and will continue to do so after the current sets of consoles have YLOD’d and RROD’d themselves into oblivion. And it plays both Civlization and StarCraft. Enough said.

Q8. Favourite game or franchise?

Deus Ex is my favourite game of all time, simply because I’d never played anything like it before. Just typing its name makes me want to load up Steam and reinstall it. It’s hard to quantify what it is that makes it so special, but I think that’s part of the joy – it’s a true jack of all trades, dipping into many different elements at once to make sure there’s always something, somewhere to be doing. It’s so good I forgive it for the fact it actually gets a bit shitty after Hong Kong.

The fact it was released at the turn of the millennium makes it all the more significant. I remember playing it and thinking that this was how all games in the 21st century would be like. Hah.

Q9. How do you feel about online gaming?

If you’re talking about, say, playing Street Fighter over Xbox Live then I’m all for it – I’m far more inclined to purchase a game with a solid online mode (Modern Warfare, Bad Company, Street Fighter etc.) than I am anything else. The only caveat is that I won’t try and communicate with anyone in public games because they’re almost definitely foul mouthed and racist fifteen year olds.

My problem is when online gaming is shoehorned into absolutely chuffing everything. I see Dead Space 2 is going to have multiplayer modes, for instance. I love a bit of Dead Space, but the chances of me actually playing that game online are pretty much zero. EA might as well just get out the millions of dollars it’s going to spend on that and just burn it.

Q10. And motion control?

I can take it or leave it. When it works it’s okay, but I’ll almost always take the controller option if it’s available. I don’t really think motion control is aimed at me, and that’s okay. I’ll be buggered if I can understand the appeal of Microsoft’s Kinect, however. If I wanted to spend my days flailing my arms about and pretending I was on a raft I’d just pretend I was Robinson Crusoe. And, crikey, the Move launch titles are shocking.

Q11. How about 3D gaming?

I think the problem most people have with 3D gaming is that they see it as an emerging technology way outside of their price range. Which it totally is, but that’s the point: this is foundling technology, and the only people who could possibly afford it are bankers and celebrities. I certainly won’t buy one for many years – I still don’t really have a Blu-Ray player, for Pete’s sake – but I think it’s nice that companies are investing into new tech.

Just imagine if they could pull it off without glasses and that weird half-headache you get when your eyes first try and adjust to the screen trickery? That would be amazing!

Q12. Where do YOU want to see the industry in five years time?

I’d like games to be slightly cheaper, for a start. Publishers make a big hullaballoo about how expensive it is to develop games, but they’ve also recently developed an uncanny habit of reducing their titles to £20 a single week after launch – they’re completely screwing with their most devout fanbase at the moment, and it’s going to put them in a grim situation when people realise that they might as well wait three weeks and never pay £40 for a game ever again.

On the other side of the coin is are the people who say they’d like to see more creative and original games, yet wait until Brutal Legend is £9.99 before they bother picking it up. In the case of Brutal Legend that’s fair enough – the game is bobbins – but when a publisher decides to launch a wave of new IP it’s up to the consumer to support it with their wallets. When you look at the sales figures, it’s no wonder everyone is chasing the Call of Duty dream at the moment.

Case in point: Singularity. The only people I know who’ve actually played Singularity are games journalists who got a copy for free, and they’ve almost all universally made a point about how stupid Activision is for not supporting it – but they’re sure as hell not going to buy a copy of it. You need to do your best to support the kind of games you want to see being made. I’ve got my copy of Halo: Reach pre-ordered, basically.

Publishers are trying to dangle shiny new trinkets – motion controls and 3D – in our faces to keep the scene fresh, but there are bigger things we need to address. The UK’s biggest specialist games retailer is in bad shape, publishers are trying to treat people who purchase pre-owned games like criminals and all the money men are investing way too much money trying to grab the same slice of the market.

I think we’ve reach a point where not everything has to be a super-glitzy blockbuster title, too. Just look at the success of the App Store. We’ve reached this odd situation where games are either pitched at 59p, 1200 Microsoft Points or £40 – it’s all frightfully bizarre. I’d like to see what would happen if some big publishers allowed developers to aim for the middle ground: games that aren’t technologically groundbreaking but are allowed to be creative, pitched at a £20-ish RRP. I think that could be quite interesting.

Q13. What does gaming mean to you?

That’s an odd one. I use it as a means of expression (via my job), a way to relax and also a way to get so viciously competitive my stomach ties itself into knots. I’m probably wrong in the head. I blame all the videogames, personally.

Unfortunately, there won’t be any updates to the blog next week as I will be away and unavailable to post. Stick with us though as we have some cracking content coming in the near future.

Q1. Who the hell are you and what do you do?

My name’s Nick Akerman, and I’m a freelance journalist. You can see my work on websites such as IGN, GameSpot, MTV and a host of others. I’ve recently contributed to GamesTM and also appeared on the pages of NGamer Magazine. I’m a freelance bitch, basically.

As of September 18^th, I’ll be attending the University of Leeds for three years, reading Cultural Studies.

Q2. When did you first get into games? How old were you?

Sonic the Hedgehog was released just after I was born, and it was probably the first game I ever played. My earliest memories stem from replaying the Green Hill Zone as many times as my brother’s would let me, and also getting worried that Sonic would drown in the Labyrinth Zone. Similarly, I loved to cram in as much Altered Beast and Alien Storm as I possibly could into my busy toddler schedule.

Q3. Omit nothing, what is your gaming history? Where did it start and how did it progress?

I’ve been aware of gaming as long as I can remember; whether it was my Dad having a quick blast on DOOM or my brother’s arguing over Street Fighter II on the MegaDrive, it’s always been around. Aside from the games I’ve already mentioned, the original PlayStation came out just as I began to understand the appeal of gaming.

I was always one for perfection, so I’d play the first level of Tomb Raider over and over again until I hit everything spot on. As a young’un, I used to be petrified that a wolf or other enemies would leap out, so my method was to learn their entrance points and ensure I couldn’t feel the fear of the unknown. Probably the scariest moment of my early gaming years was the first time I had a smidgen of money to spend. Did I want a replica Death Star, complete with Star Wars figures, or did I want WWF Attitude on PS1? Either way I was a bonafide geek, but at least my choice allowed me to perform a Stone Cold Stunner on anyone who said so.

The first game I ever completed and got stuck on was Tekken 2. I left the PlayStation on for two days trying to beat Armour King, and the elation I felt when he hit the deck set me up for life. Once the game was over, I couldn’t get enough of trying to complete as many games as possible. Final Fantasy VII blew my mind when it was released (I was even impressed it was on more than one disc at this point), and I still fondly remember running round the Golden Saucer like a blocky, text-reading fool.

Having older brothers, I had access to adult titles, so I could enter the mansion on Resident Evil whenever I wanted, and could even roam the top-down streets of Grand Theft Auto when the PlayStation was occupied by someone else. There’s key moments lodged in my mind that sum up that period of my gaming education; the moment the ceiling began to lower itself onto Jill, and the subtlety of the Licker passing the window on Resident Evil 2 provided a thrill that I hadn’t found in films at that age. Even trying to get Solid Snake onto the first elevator of Metal Gear Solid had me on edge every single time I played it.

We often borrowed a Nintendo 64 from friends, so I also had decent access to the less serious side of gaming. It was always extremely fun to see Mario leaping through paintings in a truly enchanting universe, and Starfox was something I remember fondly. My nostalgic cap also sends me to the realms of GoldenEye, a game I was awful at, but loved nonetheless.

Just like most of the gaming press, I loved the Dreamcast. I didn’t need anything other than Sonic Adventure on that bad boy, as I could lose hours sprinting away from angry whales and collecting chaos emeralds. The little Tamagotchi style pet that used to live in the controller was the perfect product for someone of my age. In the end, my brother’s began to trade decent Dreamcast games for even better PlayStation 2 titles, so that’s where Sega’s appeal ended.

When the PlayStation 2 landed, I became infatuated with gaming. All my pocket money would be spent on a single title that I’d play in my spare time. The most significant of these was Killzone, as it kick-started my interest in competitive gaming. The Helghast’s crimson gaze was enough for me to pester my Dad into buying an online adapter for the console, and thus got me involved in clan culture and team-based gameplay. If I hadn’t have moved online, I wouldn’t have found the platform to express my opinion on forums across the Internet, and probably never would have stumbled across the world of journalism. It was also during the PS2 years that I learnt to play Pro Evolution Soccer to a high-standard, something that would come to fruition when the Xbox 360 rolled round.

I purchased an Xbox 360 as soon as I could, and by 2007, I was writing voluntarily. By this point I was consistently in the top tier of Pro Evolution Soccer players, and in 2008 I got inside the world’s top 50. I was invited to an event by Konami and managed to beat the UK number 2; something I’m  very proud of. I used to spend all day practising before ‘real life’ got the better of me. I completed all my exams a year early and it was mightily hard to juggle time when all I wanted to do was sit in front of the screen playing games; especially when you have a mother nagging you to study.

As of today, I own all consoles and handhelds. I guess you can say gaming has always been a part of my life in one way or another.

Q4. Why do you actually play games? Is it for fun? Or maybe something else?

Initially it was for fun, but as I’ve mentioned, my competitive streak often gets the better of me. Gaming was the easiest option if I had an injury from playing football, or couldn’t be bothered to go to school, thus pretending to be ill. As a teenager, I used to hate getting up early on a wet, windy Sunday morning to play football instead of staying in bed with my trusty PS2.

Since my writing has been recognised, gaming has become my means of income, so I definitely don’t have as much time to kill on all the titles I want to. Saying that, it’s broadened my horizons tremendously, so being a writer within the medium is a hugely valuable experience.

Q5. If you could choose one game (just one) to give to other gamers, one that epitomises videogames for you, what would it be?

It’s difficult to narrow down something that ‘epitomises’ gaming as a whole, but I’d sling a copy of Bioshock your way if you’d never held a controller before. The world of Rapture is so rich and open to interpretation that it’s something everybody should experience. The descent into the underwater city itself is one of the most beautiful moments I’ve ever seen in a game, or even film for that matter. The feeling that you’re heading into the complete unknown, and how that unknown is quickly heightened through such intelligent design is something I see as a benchmark for the industry. Compelling narrative, terrific design from start to finish, and an ending that genuinely stirred emotion, what more could you want?

Q6. What was the last game you completed? Did you enjoy it?

Technically, the last game I completed was Split/Second, but if we’re talking 100%, it was Metro 2033. That game thrilled and terrified me in equal measure. So many times I pondered putting the difficulty down, but I persevered and enjoyed it in the end. The entire game had this ominous feeling that had me on edge, something not many other titles have achieved.

Q7. Now the tough stuff… Favourite gaming platform ever… and why?

Definitely between the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. While the former got me into online gaming, I wrote my first article on Flatout: Ultimate Carnage for the 360. Both have so many titles I hold dear to my heart too. If I had to pick one, the 360 would just edge out the old toaster.

Q8. Favourite game or franchise?

This is even harder. Streets of Rage 2, Final Fantasy VII, Street Fighter II and IV, Bioshock, Gears of War 2, Resident Evil 4, SSX 3, Killzone and Manhunt are all games I would consider. To actually narrow it down to one of those would be like asking what’s the tastiest Haribo Tangfastic. Quite boringly, my most played franchises are Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA.

Q9. How do you feel about online gaming?

As you can probably gather, I love online gaming. It’s opened so many possibilities for myself, and I still revel in competition from all over the world. If online gaming hadn’t happened, neither would my writing career!

Q10. And motion control?

Ah. I could definitely do without it. While I’m pleased the Wii has expanded the casual market, it hasn’t really met my personal needs. With Kinect and Move on the way, I predict my interest in motion control will catastrophically go nowhere. Am I the only one who wants new AAA titles rather than prancing round my living room like a radioactive salmon?

Q11. How about 3D gaming?

I’ve experienced 3D gaming, and the potential is there. Saying that, spinning round too quickly made it extremely blurry, so there’s a way to go before I would consider 3D gaming on a regular basis. Just like movies, the tech is ready, it’s just a case of making it work. I love Stevie Wonder, so the glasses aren’t a problem either.

Q12. Where do YOU want to see the industry in five years time?

I’d like to see the industry branch out significantly. A new console aside from the three competitors we already have would be amazing. Other than that, we need a slew of interesting new franchises to keep things ticking over. I want to see more thoughtful games like Limbo, and less sequels to franchises that died two generations ago. Just because we loved certain games back ‘in the day,’ doesn’t mean we want to see them resurrected with a visual overhaul and lazy gameplay.

Q13. What does gaming mean to you?

Gaming provides a hell of a lot for my life. It makes me happy, stresses me out, provides me with money, and has taken me on some of the greatest journey’s I’ve ever experienced. Yes, I know that’s what my girlfriend’s for, but she can’t be turned off when I’ve had enough.

I love these interviews, you never know what you;re going to get back from people. The process is simple, I send the 13 questions to people via email and they fill it in and send it back. It’s great fun opening each attachment to see what people have entered but also how they took each question. Pete Davison took each question very literally, which is fantastic. In the end, Pete had written over 2000 words and most of those were part of his gaming history. And what a history it is, if you like the in depth histories of our Gamers, then this one is a treat.

Q1. Who the hell are you and what do you do?

My name’s Pete Davison. I’m the brother of John Davison, whom you may have heard of. I’m a freelance video games journalist who currently writes news for Kombo.com as well as various other articles for anywhere who will take them. I’m also a founder member of “The Squadron of Shame”, and the editor/producer of their podcast.

I’m a trained teacher, but am pursuing a full-time career in the games industry right now. Because although both of them involve whining children upon occasion, at least when gaming with them you have a “mute” button.

Q2. When did you first get into games? How old were you?

My whole family have been into games as long as I can remember. I grew up in a household full of Atari computers, from the 400 onwards. My Dad used to write for an Atari magazine called Page 6, later renamed New Atari User thanks to its absorption of another magazine whose name you may be able to guess. My brother got his start in journalism in his teens writing for this magazine, and so did I.

I couldn’t have been very old when I first started gaming. I was pretty much playing as soon as I was old enough to pick up a joystick. I vividly remember playing “Spy vs Spy” with my babysitter on one occasion. I won.

Q3. Omit nothing, what is your gaming history? Where did it start and how did it progress?

This is a big question! I hope you’re ready. You said “omit nothing”. So here it is.

The Atari 8-bit range of computers were around for quite some time, and over that period we amassed a huge collection of games and other software. My Dad and brother were members of a local “computer club” which, as these things tended to be at the time, in fact was pretty much just a piracy convention. As such, like many other owners of Ataris, Commodore 64s and the like, we had several large disk boxes full of copied games and applications. Through the sheer amount of stuff we had, I got to know many different genres of gameplay, despite not really understanding strategy games or RPGs at a young age.

After the Atari 8-bits came the Atari ST. The ST was inferior to its rival, the Commodore Amiga, in many ways. But it was particularly good for music thanks to its built-in MIDI interface. As our household was very musical as well as being gamers, this was great for composition and recording. Plus the ST had some great games. My brother, by this point, was reviewing things regularly for Page 6/New Atari User, so we had a frequent influx of review copies of games coming in. We seemed to get a lot of Psygnosis titles in particular, so I have very fond memories of a lot of those, and their classy, shiny boxes.

When my brother left home, he was working with the then-shiny-and-new 16-bit games consoles such as the Mega Drive/Genesis and Super NES. On most occasions when he came home to visit, he’d bring one or the other home along with the latest hotness to show to us. I recall the first time he brought home a Super NES with a copies of Darius and Super Mario World. He mentioned that it was “just like having an arcade machine hooked up to your TV”, a quote he later used in a feature article for weekly multiformat magazine Games-X. And, at the time, it was. It was utterly gobsmacking. As such, I pestered my parents for a Super NES for Christmas, which I subsequently got, adored and still own.

Later came the PlayStation, again prompted by my brother bringing one home to show us. Ridge Racer was utterly amazing, and I had a bizarre soft spot for Raiden Trad, too. The PlayStation I used for a long time was a Japanese model, but many will remember the “pen-lid trick” that could be used to play imported games without a mod chip on the original PS1 unit. Open the lid, prop it open with a pen lid on the button which signalled to the console that the lid was actually closed, boot up from a Japanese disc, watch it spin and when it slowed down, quickly whip out the Japanese disc and replace with a UK one. Worked a treat, but utterly knackered the laser lens.

On the PlayStation, I discovered RPGs thanks to Final Fantasy VII. I had heard it described as the “first video game that ever made people cry”, and I was intrigued. I was utterly baffled by the game mechanics to begin with, as I’d never played anything like it before. But the story drew me in like nothing had ever done before. And I wasn’t alone; one of my friends from school and I came over one day in the holidays and we played it non-stop for 36 hours, fueled by alcohol, coffee, and battering each other over the head with couch cushions when they looked like dropping off.

I also owned an N64 at the time and appreciated many of the games on it, but greatly preferred the PlayStation’s crisper graphics and CD storage offering more capacity for speech, video and additional game content without reusing assets. Despite this, though, I still managed to score some freelance writing work for the Official UK Nintendo Magazine, where I wrote full walkthroughs and tips books for 1080 Snowboarding, F-Zero X, Banjo-Tooie, Turok 2 and Star Wars: Battle for Naboo. As a result, I never want to play these games ever again.

Alongside all this, I’d been keeping up with PC gaming. My Dad was into flight sims, so we often got hold of copies of those. But it was adventure games that were the big thing. My Mum and I used to play them together. We beat every LucasArts game there was to beat, and most of Sierra’s output too. Gabriel Knight remains, without doubt, one of the finest games there ever was. I did some freelance writing for PC Zone around this point, too, including a lengthy tips book for Carmageddon which was eventually included in Virgin Megastore’s Christmas special edition pack of the game.

At some point around here, the Internet came into existence. Or at least made its presence known. We’d been able to access BBSes from our old Atari 8 bit computers. But when larger-scale services like CompuServe appeared, things got interesting. While CompuServe wasn’t “the full Internet”, at least not to begin with, it popularised many of the things we take for granted today. Real-time chat and forums in particular.

It was on CompuServe that I became a professional game developer. Sort of. An American chap with a funny name that has unfortunately been lost to the mists of time had posted a message on the Gamers’ Forum on CompuServe that he was looking for Wolfenstein 3D levels that people had created. Fortuitously, I had just got into map-editing for Wolfenstein and had plenty of things to show him. Ten levels, in fact, which I sent to him and then thought nothing else of. A short while later, he explained that he was a representative from Apogee, and wanted to include my levels in the official Wolfenstein 3D “Super Upgrades” expansion pack, a privilege for which he would happily pay me $200. Would I be interested in that? You can guess my answer. I still have a photocopy of the cheque.

Fast forward to the early part of the 21st century and I’m at university. The first console I bought myself was a PlayStation 2. It was expensive at the time, but I adored it. I avoided the “mainstream” games and went for RPGs and interesting-looking curios. One of the first games I bought was Shadow of Memories, which has its flaws but tells a really cool story. It was games like this which spawned the Squadron of Shame.

Today, I’m a proud owner of all the major gaming platforms, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Gaming is one of my favourite hobbies and it’s brought me together with some of the most wonderful people I know from around the world. May it continue to brighten my life for many years to come.

Q4. Why do you actually play games? Is it for fun? Or maybe something else?

Fun, mainly. Distraction from everyday life. The opportunity to be someone else, or do something that you wouldn’t be able to do in reality. I enjoy the “epics”, particularly if they have good music. RPGs are full of clichés, but there’s nothing better than gathering a band of plucky heroes and defeating some terrible evil.

I’m a narrative junkie mainly, so I’ll play anything that at least makes an effort to tell a decent story, however successful it may or may not be. But that doesn’t stop me getting obsessive over high-score competitions on games such as Geometry Wars 2, scene of one of the bitterest online leaderboard battles I’ve ever witnessed.

Q5. If you could choose one game (just one) to give to other gamers, one that epitomises videogames for you, what would it be?

Damn! That’s a toughie. Games are so many things to so many people. In fact, the word “Games” doesn’t really do the medium justice any more. Can you choose just one film that epitomises moviemaking? Or one book that epitomises writing? We’re getting to that stage with games. I don’t think there is one single “quintessential” videogame.

That said, if I had to, I’d pick Half-Life 2. It’s a fine example of how solid gameplay mechanics can be fused together with a compelling narrative. It also provides an experience that can’t be replicated in any other medium. It’s a truly experiential piece of interactive entertainment.

Q6. What was the last game you completed. Did you enjoy it?

Scott Pilgrim vs The World on PS3. And yes, I heartily enjoyed it! Old-school graphics and music with some new-school spit and polish produces an excellent, fun and hugely addictive game. And it’s cheap, too. The game made me want to read the comic and see the film, despite being only dimly aware of its existence previously.

Q7. Now the tough stuff… Favourite gaming platform ever… and why?

PlayStation 2. No question. Although the Xbox was technically superior and had LIVE and whatnot, the PS2 was home to the games I wanted to play. The sheer diversity of its catalogue, the prevalence of RPGs and narrative-heavy adventures, its willingness to take risks on weird Japanese nonsense; all of those things combined to create a console that really has deserved its lengthy lifespan.

Q8. Favourite game or franchise?

I’ll always have a soft spot for Final Fantasy for the reasons outlined above. Besides that, Silent Hill is always a winner for me. Since playing Silent Hill 2, I’ve been hoping for a game that matches that one’s beautifully-told story and sense of emotional engagement. A few have come close. But none have quite matched the tragic tale of James Sunderland.

Q9. How do you feel about online gaming?

Mixed. I enjoy playing online with friends. But I hate hate HATE playing on LIVE with strangers. I don’t generally voice chat with people I don’t know. But I’m more than happy to party up with strangers in an MMO like World of Warcraft.

So on the whole, I think I feel pretty positive. Although I do wish sometimes that developers and publishers would stop putting multiplayer modes in there just for the sake of it. BioShock 2 didn’t need multiplayer. Assassin’s Creed doesn’t need multiplayer. Red Dead Redemption didn’t need multiplayer. That’s not to say that these modes aren’t good. But they’re unnecessary, and they would have taken time away from producing an even better single-player experience.

Q10. And motion control?

More positive than most. I’m particularly excited about Move. Kinect I’m not so sold on, although I do have a secret hankering to play Dance Central, as most people do.

Move, I think, will be great for “PC-style” games, particularly strategy games or even RPGs. Motion control doesn’t just have to be about waggle; the simple addition of a pointer will make an enormous difference to many games.

Q11. How about 3D gaming?

Right now, I couldn’t care less, but I feel this is probably because I haven’t experienced it. I’ve spoken to a number of people who felt the same way and then tried it and were blown away. I don’t see it as an essential, by any means. HD, on the other hand, is the best thing that ever happened to TV-based gaming. And not just for the big-budget blockbusters. Pixel art looks beautiful in HD. Look at Scott Pilgrim if you don’t believe me.

Q12. Where do YOU want to see the industry in five years time?

I’d like to see a major comeback of the adventure game, something which is starting to happen already. I’d like to see the continued growth of the $15 price point games—games which provide a solid 8-10 hours of entertainment with high-quality production values but which maybe explore more “niche” interests. I’d like to see more retro-inspired games like Scott Pilgrim. And I’d like to see more narrative experiments like Heavy Rain. David Cage commented that he’d like to make a “musical” game. Like Broadway musical. I would LOVE to play that game.

Q13. What does gaming mean to you?

Gaming’s in my blood and always will be. My dearest friends in the whole world are gamers. There’s something about being a nerd which makes you into an awesome person. Note that I’m not counting the screeching kids on LIVE in this category. I’m talking proper nerds. The sort of person who goes to gaming conventions. The sort of person who can talk in depth for hours over dinner about character builds. The sort of person who can debate about symbolism in narrative-based video games. There’s a level of intelligence and articulacy there that makes them into people that I want to get to know better.

And there’s always something new and interesting happening in the industry. While many moves made by developers and publishers aren’t necessarily good ones or popular ones, you can certainly never say that this is a boring, stale industry.

Lee Bradley – My name is Lee Bradley. I write for a number of websites – teeny widdly ones, news bloggy ones, big fat established ones, up and coming ones, respected ones… and other ones.

When I’m not doing that, I play videogames.

Q2. When did you first get into games? How old were you?

LB – I’ve been playing them as long as I remember. They’ve always been part of the fabric of my life. Like television, cinema, BMXs or football, as a kid they were just… what you do.

The thing that cemented my passion is a little more interesting though. As a kid I used to get dragged from bowling alley to bowling alley by my Dad. He played to a high level. So

instead of watching him play (boring!) I would disappear into the arcades.

While I was there I met a boy called Damian. Turns out Damian’s Father was a high-up suit at Sega Europe. Accordingly, he had consoles, games and arcade cabinets coming out of his ears. It was my time spent with Damian that turned a pastime into an obsession.

Q3. Omit nothing, what is your gaming history? Where did it start and how did it progress?

LB – Oh. Totally should have read all the questions before I plunged in. I’ll skip past my childhood to the teen years, then.

I stopped playing half-way through the PlayStation era. While Sony’s new console had made it kinda cool to play games, 3D pushed me away. They just couldn’t match up to the beauty of 2D sprites. Aside from the odd game here and there I tuned out.

Then, a few years later, my flatmate got a PS2. Those endless, late-night, weed-fuelled FIFA sessions rekindled my passion. I started exploring what I had missed. I started reading about games again.

I haven’t stopped since.

Q4. Why do you actually play games? Is it for fun? Or maybe something else?

LB – Here’s a wanky answer. It came to me when I was flying home from a holiday with my wife a few years ago. I play games to challenge the chaos of life.

Look down at England from high in the sky and you can see the fields have been carved up into neat shapes, their borders clearly marked and their shapes regular. It tells you that man’s brain works in a logical, compartmentalised way. We’ve attempted to reign in the chaos of nature.

As such, a game like Tetris satisfies that part of our minds. In that game, the fall of the tiles is completely random, chaotic, but a skilful player can bring them to order, tame them into something that is satisfying and regimented. Doing so is entertaining, it’s fun.

And it’s true of other games too. Collecting all the coins, clearing all the levels, killing all the enemies in a room before you can progress. It’s all the same thing. Order from chaos. We do it compulsively.

So yeah, that’s my wanky way of describing it. Basically, if you’ve spent all day amongst the chaos of life, what better way to relax than by doing something you have complete control over, something that you can bring your own order to. That’s why I play games.

Q5. If you could choose one game (just one) to give to other gamers, one that epitomises videogames for you, what would it be?

LB – What epitomises videogames for me? Ok, I’ll go a different route with this one…

Apache Air Assault. It’s a helicopter sim, from Activision. It isn’t out yet, but it perfectly encapsulates modern videogames.

It isn’t born of love, or ideas, or passion. It was made because there was a gap in the market. It is a laser-targeted attack on the populace’s wallets. There is nothing inherently wrong with the game itself, it looks fine. But it was made for all the wrong reasons.

That’s what epitomises games for me right now.

Q6. What was the last game you completed? Did you enjoy it?

LB – Limbo. It was fine. Although the promise of the first third deteriorated by end. I would have loved it if they had developed the idea of a wide-eyed child having to do increasingly monstrous things (feeding cadavers to giant spiders, using dead bodies as rafts). It would have been better as a game about the loss of innocence.

Or something like that.

Q7. Now the tough stuff… Favourite gaming platform ever… and why?

LB – Spectrum, because it was my first computer. Those early experiences set everything in motion. You can never recreate the rush of discovery.

Q8. Favourite game or franchise?

LB – Street Fighter. Staggering depth. I’ve been playing on and off for many, many years and I’m nowhere near mastering it. I like that. No other games manage to balance that kind of depth and accessibility.

Fighting games are the purest form of videogame. Capcom make the best fighting games. Street Fighter is Capcom’s best fighting franchise. It’s an easy choice.

Q9. How do you feel about online gaming?

LB – I’m torn on this one. On one hand I’d say that gaming has always been a solitary exercise, for me. Playing alone lets you immerse yourself in a way that online gaming just cannot allow.

But then I realise that adversarial games are infinitely better experienced playing alongside a human opponent. AI still isn’t up to scratch. It just can’t compare to the buzz of taking out a real opponent.

What’s more, some of the best experiences I’ve had this generation have been in online co-op.

So… I dunno. Pass?

Q10. And motion control?

LB – For the games that I enjoy playing, it’s mostly pointless. Since I’ve been playing them, videogames have largely been about reflexes, digital dexterity and timing. Broadly speaking, motion-controlled games aren’t about those things.

And in the case of Kinnect, from what I’ve tried out, it just doesn’t work.

One of the things I love about games is that they translate the tiniest movements into grand gestures. A tiny flick of your thumb can bring down a skyscraper. Why would I want to flap my arms around to achieve the same thing?

Q11. How about 3D gaming?

LB – Never tried it. If it’s as pointless as 3D cinema, then I’ll give it a miss.

Q12. Where do YOU want to see the industry in five years time?

LB – I’d like to see the democratisation of games development continue. I’d like to think that as it becomes easier to make games we’ll see more titles that mean something to people. Games borne of ideas, passion, excitement and experience. Not games designed to plug a gap in the market.

There has been plenty of movement in this direction in recent years. I look forward to seeing how it grows.

Q13. What does gaming mean to you?

LB – Some of my fondest memories involve games. Beer-fuelled, controller-swapping Donkey Kong Country playthroughs, sneaky games of Worms over LAN with my IT classmates, endless SNES Street Fighter marathons with a dearly missed friend, those smoky FIFA sessions… games have provided me with some of my happiest times.

My name’s Johnny Cullen. Previously the editor of GOONL!NE and a freelancer, I’m currently Associate UK Editor for VG247.

Q2. When did you first get into games? How old were you?

My brother and sister used to be hardcore SEGA nuts back in the day when I was 4. My cousin also used to have an NES, but I can’t remember what games he had. It also used to break down a lot, if memory serves me right.

Q3. Omit nothing, what is your gaming history? Where did it start and how did it progress?

When I was six, my mum bought me a GameBoy and the Olympics tie-in. For Christmas that year (1997), and a week before my 8th birthday, I got a PS1 with Crash Bandicoot and Porsche Challenge. A couple of years later, in January 2001, I got a PS2 for my 10th birthday with Ri(iiiiiiiiiiii)dge Racer 5 and Ready 2 Rumble 2. After wanting it with my PS2, I got SSX two months later (gimmie ‘ma new SSX, EA!). I got a GBA for Christmas that year with one game – the only game I’d get for it – Mario Kart GBA. Got a PSP at launch in 2005 with Need for Speed Underground. The following years for Christmas, I got a 360 with Gears of War and TDU1. I got a PS3 at launch as well with Resistance, Motorstorm and F1. I got a Wii the following year with Mario Galaxy and Guitar Hero III.

Q4. Why do you actually play games? Is it for fun? Or maybe something else?

For fun and to escape, really. I won’t get into it for personal reasons, but videogames have been the one thing I could rely on to calm me down (unless it was COD4 online)

Q5. If you could choose one game (just one) to give to other gamers, one that epitomises videogames for you, what would it be?

That’s a toughie. But I think it has to be Metal Gear Solid 3. It really is Kojima’s best work in terms of story. Amazing.

Q6. What was the last game you completed? Did you enjoy it?

I think it was Alan Wake. And yes, I enjoyed it. Gameplay was a bit off-key, but I loved the story and it’s soundtrack. Loved it, and I highly anticipate a sequel.

Q7. Now the tough stuff… Favourite gaming platform ever… and why?

As good as 360 is, and although PS3 is starting to come into it’s own, it has to be PlayStation 2. That defined my childhood, my gaming history and what has become my passion.

Plus, the games. MGS2, MGS3, GTAIII, San Andreas, Vice City, Zone of the Enders 2 and Burnout 3 just made it elite to me.

Q8. Favourite game or franchise?

Easy: Metal Gear Solid. As for favourite game, has to be MGS3. As much as I love MGS1, 2 and 4, 3 defined the series for me. Amazing.

Q9. How do you feel about online gaming?

I love it. Mostly. It just depends on the games, something Gears, Halo or CoD is good for me, but it’s Metal Gear Online that really made me love online. Let’s just say I’ve had some amazing online experiences with it.

Q10. And motion control?

I can’t really give an opinion as such. I’ve only tried Kinect once and PlayStation Move a couple of times, all of which at gamescom. But it’s obvious Wii has set the standard, so let’s see how both do against Wii first before giving a judgement.

Q11. How about 3D gaming?

I only played Motorstorm Apocalypse in 3D and a 3D tech demo of Final Fantasy XIV, so again, can’t give a real judgement. But it’s obvious we need a massive price-drop and be gone with the glasses before forking out on a 3DTV. That said, even though I haven’t seen it myself, I’m very interested on 3DS. I’ve heard people gush over it, so I’d like to see it’s potential.

Q12. Where do you want to see the industry in five years time?

Go ask Pachter. He’s more of a physic them me.

Q13. What does gaming mean to you?

This is going to sound silly, but in four words: it’s my life now. Without it, I wouldn’t have been into my job after all. And it also gives me a break from real-life whenever needed.

Andrew Durdin – My name’s Andrew Durdin. I’m an Aussie, living in Edinburgh, Scotland, and working as a web programmer at the moment. I’ve been an avid gamer almost as long as I remember, and have dabbled a bit in game development as a (rather meandering) hobby.

Q2. When did you first get into games? How old were you?

AD – My earliest memory of gaming is from 1987, visiting some friends on a farm in the New South Wales countryside, and playing Sopwith and Temple of Loth — both of which have marked themselves indelibly on my psyche. I was 6 years old at the time.

Q3. Omit nothing, what is your gaming history? Where did it start and how did it progress?

AD – My gaming history begins in earnest with anAmstrad CPC 6128 our family was given in 1988, together with a handful of game discs. Those I recall best are ATF, Metro Cross, Tau Ceti, and the one that sticks out most, Kettle, a split-screen co-op game, where you play as flying tea-kettles, trying to escape a maze by destroying enemies called “bubbling bowels”, until one drops a tin opener which you use to open the trapdoor to the next level—it’s bizarre; you really couldn’t make this up. It’s interesting to note than even then—at age 7—I was aware that some of these (Metro Cross for one) were “illegal copies”, while others were legitimate (e.g. ATF), even if I didn’t actually understand what that meant.

In 1990 we got our first IBM (compatible), a 386SX. I remember playing Castle Adventure, Test Drive I & II (and later III), Grand Prix Circuit, and SimCity on this computer or others—we inherited quite a few old XTs, 286s, and later 386s and 486s during the early ’90s, and played games on all of them that we could get working. We got our first CD-ROM drive in 1993, and it came bundled with King’s Quest VI, the first graphical adventure I’d really encountered (I’d discover The Secret of Monkey Island the next year). Other games I remember fondly from around that time are The Settlers, Lotus: The Ultimate Challenge, Civilization, Colonization, The Savage Empire, Ultima VII (which still blows me away with the breadth and depth of its world—years later, Oblivion felt like a poor (albeit 3D) imitation), Commander Keen, and of course Nibbles, the snake game that came with DOS 5. I remember modifying it to have multiple levels (with a level editor), and allow 4 players to play simultaneously against up to 6 AI players.

Over the next several years I encountered Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Thief I & II, Descent, Hidden & Dangerous, Descent, Worms, Unreal Tournament, Angband, and Nethack. Most of these I played excessively during 2000-2001. It was only later in the decade that I encountered Deus Ex, Max Payne 1 & 2, and Half-Life. Oddly enough, I didn’t play Half-Life until after I played Half-Life 2—although I vaguely recall playing the Half-Life: Uplink demo a few years before. Yet shortly before Half-Life 2 was to be released, I remember being incredibly excited about it, really looking forward to its release.

It was really only after Steam started selling third-party titles, and the later rise of Good old Games, that I encountered Fallout 1 & 2, Psychonauts, The Longest Journey, Dreamfall, Beyond Good & Evil—all superlative games, most of them well past their use-by date by the time I played them. And of course I bought The Orange Box on day 1, and have been playing Team Fortress 2 ever since.

As you can see my gaming history has been almost entirely on PC—though the list above is very abbreviated; if I were to list all the games I’d play I’d have to strain my memory pretty hard—and have had very limited exposure to consoles. We never owned one, but a few friends had them. I played two or three NES games: B-wing, Ice climber, Contra. Mario on the GameBoy. And later Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers—first on the N64 and then on the GameCube. That’s very nearly an exhaustive list of console games I’ve played. Although last year I purchased a PS2 to play ICO, and this year also played Shadow of the Colossus on it; both were games I’d heard of by reputation, and decided it was time to try them.

Q4. Why do you actually play games? Is it for fun? Or maybe something else?

AD – For fun would describe most of my conscious motivation. Most games are entertaining (they can even be so while being frustrating). Many I enjoy because they’re mentally stimulating, with puzzles of various forms. In some ways I suspect I play games because I grew up playing games; just as I read lots of books because I grew up reading a lot, and I watch very little TV because I grew up watching very little.

Q5. If you could choose one game (just one) to give to other gamers, one that epitomises videogames for you, what would it be?

AD – A game that epitomises videogames for me… I’d probably have to pick Portal. It’s the Princess Bride of videogames: it’s got action, puzzles, jumping, revenge, robots, demented robots, great story. It’s really improbably good.

Q6. What was the last game you completed. Did you enjoy it?

AD – Last week I played through Shadow of the Colossus—I loved it; it was lonely, melancholy, and exhilarating.

Q7. Now the tough stuff… Favourite gaming platform ever… and why?

AD – Well, that’s an easy one. The PC wins pretty much by default as it’s the only platform I have much familiarity with.

Q8. Favourite game or franchise?

AD – That is a tough one. Every time I play through one of the games I really enjoyed (I love going back to old games again), it seems to oust all the other contenders for the top spot as my favourite. So I never really have a clear favourite, though Grim Fandango, Half-Life 2, Thief II, and Team Fortress 2 would probably be the worthiest contenders. If I had to pick one of those? Uh… probably Half-Life 2.

Q9. How do you feel about online gaming?

AD – The vast majority of my online gaming experience is through Team Fortress 2; I’ve never played any MMOs, and the networked multiplayer games I’d played in years before were usually over LAN. In TF2 I tend to stay within a few circles: TF2Maps.net, Playstuff, RPS, and PC Gamer servers, and very rarely play elsewhere. Which means I’m usually playing with people I’ve played with before. I very rarely play with complete strangers.

Q10. And motion control?

AD – I think motion control is a bit of a gimmick. A controller is just a tool—an interface between the player and the game. Its role is to be unnoticed, unconscious: if a player is thinking about the controller while playing, they’re not going to be playing well. Something that’s necessary for this is for the controller to be accurate and repeatable. You lose that connection to the game when the controller doesn’t do what you want, and you become aware of the controller again. Motion control for me feels too inaccurate. Maybe I’ve never given it a chance to get used to it, for it to become intuitive enough; but I’m not sure it can be, given that many games try to introduce new motion gestures that you have to learn—in a way like a new controller. It’s much easier to forget the controller when it has the same keys & mouse buttons, or the same triggers and analog sticks in every game.

Q11. How about 3D gaming?

AD – My only experience with 3D gaming was yesterday, when I went to try the games that Sony were showcasing as part of the Edinburgh Interactive Festival: Gran Turismo 5 (I think) and Motorstorm or something like that. I didn’t really care for it: the 3D effect looks too forced, a bit like seeing everything through a telephoto lens. It felt like what should have been metres of depth was crammed into a few feet.

Q12. Where do YOU want to see the industry in five years time?

AD – Somewhere around me—I’m working on a few game prototypes right now, so in five years I’d like to have several successful indie titles behind me.

OK, that’s a slightly introverted answer. The industry in general seems to spend a lot of its time recreating the same concepts, and the same gameplay mechanics. It makes money, sure, but it feels stale. I’d love it if the game shelves were full of new, untried game ideas. Maybe that’s a reaction to most of the big titles this year being sequels.

Q13. What does gaming mean to you?

AD – Gaming is a key part of my life, and my culture. It’s as big a part as books, and a much bigger part than films and television. I love the immersion that games offer, the ability to step into completely different worlds and explore them, or experience stories within them. I think games have a broader potential—mostly untapped—for art/narrative/imagination than any other creative medium in history.

The question this time was how Gamers felt about the current retail model set by high street stores and how they felt about the used game market. A reasonably hot topic, to be sure, but also one that can sometimes divide opinion. Below you can see every tweet we received and please feel free to add to the response in our comments section below, even if you were one of the original Tweeters.

@larserikdahle – The GameStop business model is exploitative and outdated and will cease to be profitable when downloads take over.

@GregGiddens – Availability problem. A decreasing amount of new games on shelves but loads of preowned marked up to profit the store only.

@BenBudr – The used game arguments confuse me. I’m supposed to choose between feeling sorry for the retail chain or the publishing giant?

@Wanyal – If prices drop quickly after releases, why not drop the standard retail price so people wont trade in as much to buy games new?

@Sogeman – @Wanyal Indeed, make the new Price f.e. 45€ instead of the 60€ it’s now. People won’t sell them if they get nearly nothing.

@bradgallaway – The industry’s business models are outdated and broken, and it’s easier to scapegoat and squeeze the player than effect real change.

@Thiefofhearts – People have every right to sell or loan their property without artificial “hobbles” or damage set by the maker.

@SilentHitoshura – Buying and trading is ofcourse totally fine, however nation chain stores basing their entire business off it is damaging and unfair.

@DarthMazda – I only buy day1 if it is something I LOVE/Must Play. Other than that I wait for price drop / used sale. Not enough $ to buy it all new.

@PeterSkerritt – IMO, used games are a part of the video game economy and do contribute to new game sales in a variety of ways. The reaction of the industry to get rid of used games or punish consumers is a knee-jerk reaction to poor economic conditions and some fiscal irresponsibility. Bottom line: If we’ve been fine with used for 30 years, why is it bad now? Oh, wait. IT ISN’T. (Peter Used more than 140 Chars as he hadn’t seen that requirement – Ed)

@sleepinghypatia – A strong second-hand games market is positive. But will it disappear as we move away from physical media towards digital downloads?

@DaxHalo – RRP needs to fall, but supermarket prices stop. Publishers to stop whining about used sales & piracy. Instead focus on worthwhile DLC.

Now let’s break off the shackles of 140 characters and open it up to everyone else. Seen a tweet you don’t agree with? Got your own opinion on the state of retail and the used game trend? Let us know in the comments below.

Today’s Gamer is Chris Schilling, as Chris will tell you he is a freelance videogame journalist. What you may also grasp from his responses is that the freelance journalism “game” is a tough one. One often full of hard work and rejections. Chris is a wonderful writer and one that genuinely cares and loves the industry with a passion. It would be a shame for writers such as him to have to step away from something they love so much. Unfortunately in this financial climate more editors are tightening their belts and as we see on a daily basis people are losing their jobs and developers are shutting their doors.

There is little that we, as consumers, can do, other than keep buying the games; reading the magazines and websites; supporting our industry with honest money, opinions and decisions. We’re still an entertainment medium in it’s infancy and it’s only the audience, not the developers nor publishers, that can make it truly great.

I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Chris and his 13 answers.

Q1. Who the hell are you and what do you do?

Chris Schilling – I’m Chris Schilling, and I’m a freelance writer. Over the years I’ve contributed to the likes of Eurogamer, NGamer, The Observer, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Games TM, Official Nintendo Magazine, 360 and a number of other publications and websites that I won’t mention here because that list was already starting to get a bit boring. I’ve also been a consultant for the Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition for the past two years. Despite my experience I’m not getting enough work these days, so it’s likely I’ll be moving onto something else soon.

Q2. When did you first get into games? How old were you?

CS – I must have been about five. My parents frowned upon consoles, but computers were fine because they could be used for educational/work purposes. Dad bought us an Oric Atmos, with a few games, of which I remember two: Mr. Wimpy and Zorgon’s Revenge.

Q3. Omit nothing, what is your gaming history? Where did it start and how did it progress?

CS – After the Oric, we moved onto the Spectrum, then the Spectrum +3. Then we upgraded to an Amiga 500, which is when I really fell in love with gaming in a big way. We got an Amiga 1200, and I got my fix of console gaming by playing on my friend’s SNES and MegaDrive. I drifted away from games for a while, missing out almost an entire console generation as I discovered drinking and girls and drinking with girls. It wasn’t until my sister unexpectedly bought me a PSone for my birthday (just after the PS2 had come out) that I got hooked once more. I then bought a Game Boy Advance and a GameCube, and started reading games magazines on a regular basis. A copy of NGC led me to the GamesRadar forums, from where I got the idea to start my own games website: Press Start Online. Hard work and a team of decent writers got us noticed, and one day one of the writers joined GamesTM. A few months later he asked me if I wanted to write a review for them, and the rest – as they say – is history. These days I own just about every major gaming platform on the market, with the exception of iPhone and iPad.

Q4. Why do you actually play games? Is it for fun? Or maybe something else?

CS – I play games for fun and also for work. But I wouldn’t write about games if I didn’t love them. I don’t get to write about the kind of games I really enjoy too often these days, more’s the pity, but I’ll still be incredibly reluctant to stop doing this. I’ll probably keep my hand in by blogging about games when I move on.

Q5. If you could choose one game (just one) to give to other gamers, one that epitomises videogames for you, what would it be?

CS – Super Mario Galaxy 2. It’s hard to pick just one, as games can provide such a wide variety of experiences, but Galaxy 2 is just about everything I look for in a game.

Q6. What was the last game you completed. Did you enjoy it?

CS – The last game I completed was a PSN game that’s coming out soon. I reviewed it for a magazine, so I can’t say what it is. I didn’t enjoy it all that much.

Q7. Now the tough stuff… Favourite gaming platform ever… and why?

CS – The DS. It’s a hugely underrated console, but it’s given me such a wide range of experiences, from the rhythm-action genius of Ouendan to the wonderful Ace Attorney series. The Amiga will always hold a special place in my heart and the GameCube was the console which got me back into gaming in a big way. Objectively, it’d have to be the PS2, but I was late to the party with that one and for all that I loved the games, I was never a fan of the hardware itself. I had a Slim, and it felt flimsy and cheap, and the controller never felt as ergonomic as the Cube’s.

Q8. Favourite game or franchise?

CS – That’s a tough one. I love both Galaxy games, I’m a big fan of the Ace Attorney series (though only loved it when Phoenix Wright was in the lead role), and Ouendan always springs to mind whenever I’m asked this question. Perhaps my most purely enjoyable gaming experience, however, was playing Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door every evening over a couple of weeks with my wife watching. Even though she wasn’t playing, I felt she was enjoying it as much as me, and that was a big deal to me. If I absolutely had to pick just one game, though, I think I’d go with Resident Evil 4. It’s masterfully paced and packed with indelibly brilliant moments. I don’t think any action-adventure has topped it since, and I’d include Uncharted 2 in that.

Q9. How do you feel about online gaming?

CS – I’m not a big online gamer, in truth, as it tends to make me feel even more inadequate than usual. I enjoy the occasional online experience, but I prefer local multiplayer. I have enjoyed LAN gaming at press events, mind, so perhaps I just need that face-to-face contact.  I’m interested in unusual uses of online technology, like in Demon’s Souls and Noby Noby Boy. I’d like to see more games try something different with online than simply trying to bolster single-player campaigns with hastily-constructed deathmatch and capture the flag variants.

Q10. And motion control?

CS – Love it. Of course it’s not always well-implemented, but I think it’s a good thing that it’s helped open games up to a new audience. I’m really impressed with PlayStation Move, as that’s got the precision that Wii (even with MotionPlus) lacks, and we could potentially get some really interesting and unique experiences with that. Kinect is a lot of fun, too, though I imagine quite a few developers will struggle with its limitations. That said, Dance Central is brilliant and I’m really intrigued by Milo and Kate, too.

Q11. How about 3D gaming?

CS – Until I’ve actually spent some serious time with it, I’m a little more cautious about this particular development. 3DS is dazzling at first, but I get the feeling the novelty will wear off quickly. 3D’s a fantastic gimmick as an occasional treat, but I’m not convinced it’s something anyone would really want to see becoming the norm. Look at cinema – you’ve got the likes of Toy Story 3 and Avatar where it’s used comparatively sparingly and effectively, but people are getting fed up with the majority of new releases being presented in 3D.

Q12. Where do YOU want to see the industry in five years time?

CS – I’m a little disappointed that we don’t see the kind of esoteric fare that enlivened the PS2 era these days, though we’re starting to see more original titles appear in the downloadable arena. I do have some concerns about digital distribution in that if retail releases end up invading the download space, those games currently making their name there could be squeezed out. I’d like to see Japan rise again as a genuine force in modern gaming. I’d also like to see some changes in games journalism. I’d like to see an increased focus on quality rather than quantity or speed. You get sites constantly trying to be first rather than best. You get people posting deliberately controversial or contrarian opinions because they know they’ll get a spike in their daily hits. It’s getting harder for good journalists to make a decent living as sites and mags cut costs, and invariably the best writers move on. There are too many people setting up sites simply to get free games; they don’t actually care about the quality they’re providing for their readers.

Q13. What does gaming mean to you?

CS – It’s fabulous escapist entertainment that makes you forget about death for a bit. It’s one of the best time-wasters we have. The odd game transcends the medium and genuinely makes you look at life a little differently, but for the most part it just offers you a world that’s more interesting than your own to spend some time in. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Oh no, someone let Wainwright do the 13 questions. Be prepared for plenty of Tomb Raider, Lara Croft and Tomb Raider. But seriously, there’s more to Lauren than just  Tomb Raider, find out below.

Q1. Who the hell are you and what do you do?

Lauren Wainwright – I’m Lauren Wainwright, that’s who! I study (BA) Games Culture and Journalism at London Metropolitan as well as work as a freelance games writer for several publications. I blog about games and I’ve also dabbled in games PR.

Q2. When did you first get into games? How old were you?

LW – I was very, very young. We had the Atari 2600 but the re-release version with the better joystick. I was probably about three or four by then and don’t think I really paid much attention to what I was actually playing and more attention onto the big button on the joystick. I think I remember playing ADVENTURE though. Oh and Pong.

It wasn’t until my brother let me play on his Commodore Amiga 500 that I started to show interest. Games like Top Banana, Lemmings, First Samurai, Addams Family, Turbo Challenger, Alien Breed, Pinball Fantasies, Captain Planet, Theme Park, Rainbow Island and Chuck Rock. All amazing stuff!

Q3. Omit nothing, what is your gaming history? Where did it start and how did it progress?

LW – Atari 2600 and Commodore Amiga 500 aside, it was watching my elder brother play games like Monkey Island, Duke Nukem, Doom and other such titles on his PC that got me more and more interested. Of course, he probably hated me sitting in his room all the time and watching him play but it was so much fun at the time.

We never had any Nintendo or SEGA consoles at home because my parents couldn’t justify spending the money on them. Luckily we had friends who would bring over the megadrive and SNES for me, my brother and sister to play. There were plenty of hours wasted on Mortal Kombat and it only took a few weeks of spamming Sonya’s spinning kick to get me banned from using her.

I had a Gameboy and developed a scary addiction to Pokémon Blue but it was nothing compared to when the first Sony PlayStation arrived at my house. It was my first console and Jesus Christ I played the crap out of that thing. I still have a stack of memory cards in my drawer! Tomb Raider, Dead or Alive, the Final Fantasys, Grandia, Croc, Dino Crisis, Resident Evil, Parasite Eve II and a bunch of other games took over my life and just blew my mind. It was the graphics which felt so real at the time!

It just carried on from there. Stacks of games piling up and a mother worried about my new obsession.

Q4. Why do you actually play games? Is it for fun? Or maybe something else?

LW – It’s for a number of reasons. I think I got attached to them early on, so whenever I needed some time out from any problems in the real world, they were my release. It got really bad when I went into high school and teased a bit there. I used to sit under the staircase with a few like-minded friends and play Gameboy at lunch times. There were those connector cables everywhere! I felt like I was part of something special, something fun and important.

I’ve always been a awkward child. I was nervous a lot of the time and I can’t remember a lot. Games are one of the few things that just take me back instantly. Playing Tomb Raider III, for example, just reminds me of reading Computer and Video Games magazine, watching Games Master on TV, my old cat Tiger and eating rustic family meals at the table.

Playing any turn based JRPG just reminds me of this Sailor Moon RPG that fans of the series made and uploaded online. They uploaded the game without finishing it and I would constantly re-download it to see what new content they had added. Sadly the save files wouldn’t cross over with each update and I would just have to replay the RPG over and over again. Just that reminds me of being sat in the dining room and it was always cold in there. Having to come off the PC to help my mum set the table for dinner and washing up. It reminds me of my childhood routine and that is comforting. So just playing games just brings up happier times really.

Oh and remember the dial-up noise? God damn I miss that.

Q5. If you could choose one game (just one) to give to other gamers, one that epitomises videogames for you, what would it be?

No fair. I change my mind constantly….

Well, I’d have to say Star Ocean: Second Story for the original PlayStation. There is something about that RPG that caught my attention. I’m not sure if it was the sheer size of it, the colourful graphics or the humble tone set during the whole journey. It was constantly offering me something new. It was one of the biggest adventures I had ever set my gaming paws on and it was constantly challenging and rewarding.

The voice acting was terrible, the characters were cliché and the story wasn’t even that gripping but, at the time, these things really didn’t matter to me. I liked the characters, the colours, the battle system and the over complicated skills system needed to create new items.

It just said to me “Hey, I’m a bloody good game and I’m well worth you money!” when I originally picked it up. You could even choose where your story starts by selecting a starting character, which at the time I thought was pretty neat.

I also remember finding it amusing when Rena asked Claude about his home planet “Urth” rather than Earth. A weird thing to get amused by, I know.

Q6. What was the last game you completed? Did you enjoy it?

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was the last game I finished. It was amazing and I loved the change of pace from her usual adventures. Of course, I’d love to see more Tomb Raider but this was a nice change.

Q7. Now the tough stuff… Favourite gaming platform ever… and why?

PlayStation 2. I grew up as a PlayStation girl and it wasn’t until the Xbox 360 that I really deviated from the brand but the PlayStation 2 just blew my mind from the get go.

The graphics and sheer abundance of titles available, it would be stupid to not pick the PS2. It’s had one of the healthiest lifespans out of all the consoles and really did have something for everyone.

Q8. Favourite game or franchise?

Tomb Raider. It’s just bloody fantastic!

Q9. How do you feel about online gaming?

Love it. Love it. Love it. I wasn’t very comfortable with it until I played MMORPGs at school. I realised that not everyone online is a total bastard and that there was genuine friends to be made online.

I think it’s the future and the Xbox 360 has done a fantastic job integrating it into every aspect of the console. It has made me realise I’m quite an aggressive gamer depending on what I play online. I get angry with fighters and even angrier with a poor team during a Battlefield or Call of Duty match. I get a little too serious at times!

Co-op games are a real blessing however and I just wish there were more of them.

Q10. And motion control?

Still down own a Wii but I’m looking at buying one very soon actually. It’s not totally my thing but Kinect looks like a right giggle.

Q11. How about 3D gaming?

I played the 3DS a few weeks back and I’m still undecided. While it totally blew my mind with the technology, it screwed my eyes over really quickly and I can’t see going from a 3D to a 2D screen constantly is going to help matters.

Regarding general 3D games, it depends how well it is done. I still find 3D movies a bit over hyped as I enjoyed Avatar equally in 3D and 2D. It doesn’t really do much for me.

Q12. Where do YOU want to see the industry in five years time?

I want to see it mature. I was there to be a wider variety of games again, like the PS2 era which, I think, was gaming’s most exciting period.

We are seeing a lot of games being made for the sake of money rather than for developing the technology and narrative. It’s starting to blur and I hope that in five years times, publishers and developers are doing new, innovative and exciting things.

Q13. What does gaming mean to you?

My life is pretty much surrounded by gaming and gamers. I’ve met my best friends because of this hobby; I’ve experienced wonderful things and have grown because of it.