..well, you see, it cannot be escaped.

No, not really.

Looking back, I guess it was just natural that I ended up here.. Yes, all the dots connect in my mind, slowly but steadily, forming a big square shape with two ominous circles gazing straight into my soul and a T-like forehead.

It was the Atari, I think. When your father gets you a 512 ST for your fifth birthday, you know things are gonna just end up like this. Or maybe the fact that I learnt how to copy diskettes by overwritting my Logo and Basic floppies with extra copies of Bubble Bobble and Another World. Heh, it just makes sense now.

Castlevania on my cousins' NES. The first cartridge I'd blown in exasperation, only to be rewarded by the red-white logo. Black and green logo, maybe? To skate, I'd have to dodge the local park's junkies like a new Tony Hawk. So I had Skate or Die in my Gameboy, jumping criminals with my 'board whenever I wasn't saving Princess or thinking of how to best Pajitnov's creation along the rhythym of Russian folk music.

Then came the SNES, and I still can't forget the tape with the Donkey Kong music I carried around in my Walkman for I don't know how long (although that was nothing compared to recording a flawless run of Another World in VHS, showing off both the kickass story of the Delphine game and my uber gaming skillz.)

Yes, I'm certain there was no other way. I mean, I was pretty certain back then, when I had blasted through Wolf3D, when I had shivered at the sight and sound of the crucified Quake Zombies, right in the initial skill level chambers.. when I played Crusader: No Remorse..

My first strategy guide for Diablo 2, along with the obligatory comments from my mother who didn't get what all that Devil stuff was all about back then..

Shit, it's been sixteen years and some since I touched my first Quickshot, the reassuring click of the red plastic trigger still in my mind. Had I known what pushing that button would lead to..

...I would have done it all over again.

Hello, my name is George, and I'm a Gamer.