Hey Dtoiders,
As the title more or less says I've been a freqeuent casual visitor/reader of Dtoid for the best part of 2 years but only recently in the run up to E3 properly delved into the rich community you guys have here. I've discovered an unparalleled amount of WIN over just the past week and have come across some crazy awesome stuff like HAWP and Office Quest! Can't believe I never came across this stuff before o_O So yeah, I thought it was about time I signed up and shared some of my own experiences and opinions about video games.

To start off with, I'm 18 and come from Essex in England. My gaming past began with a Megadrive on which I spent a lot of time playing Sonic, Earthworm Jim and Streets of Rage. I then sold the whole lot, massivesadface, and moved on to a Playstation. I had quite an odd experience owning a Playstion partly due to my inherently average collection of games (which I put down to not having older sibling gamers like some of my friends did) and also because I really didn't care at that age. I found games like these fun:


But owing to my lack of direction or taste I am now regretting never owning games like these:



A couple of years down the line I started getting really interested in the chunky, menacing microsoft machine that is Xbox. I fancied a change and the Xbox was entirely different and seemed more exciting than the more popular PS2, so I went with it. The first titles I encountered on 'the black beast' as my friends and I affectionately refered to it were Halo and PGR. I went on to own PGR 1 to 4 and become a complete Halo addict. Needless to say having beaten the games, spent hundreds of hours playing them online/at lans, read the novels and followed Bungie's every move over the past 4 years I'm extremely hyped for ODST and I nearly wet myself when I read the Dtoid live blog about Reach being unveiled =D

I've been a pretty loyal Xbox/360 gamer since I switched from the original Playstation but last summer I realised I was missing out on a lot of stuff from Sony's side. I subsequently picked up a used PS2 from a cash converters and began building a small selection of titles for it that I plan to take to University when I start this September (hopefully they won't take too much from study/getting drunk time :/

It seems like a lot of people show off how they game these days so here are some pictures of my humble gaming/entertainment area.


Top shelf = assortment of crap, Playstation games mostly bought this year and my childhood teddy/dinosaur thing! Next shelf down = DVDs and bottom shelf = more DVDs, a few CDs, some books I want to read soon, headphones, juggling balls, keys, old phone etc. My TV sits on a custom unit I made a few years ago which has space for both Xboxs, PS2, CD player, CD racks that I already had and slidey outty draws for Xbox games. PC is nothing special but it just about plays Oblivion, thank god.


PS2 games so far (minus FF10 and 12 which a friend has atm) - I need some ideas for good platformers/rpgs to buy...


Draws in action!



*added at the last minute* Oh my shit I compeltely forgot to write about my Gameboy... well here it is along with the games I used to play on it. I'm really not into the handheld gaming thing, though I did have some good times on this bad boy back in my youth ^^ gawd just getting these out is making me nostalgic. Might have to see if the DS is cheaper now that the DSi is out...



So there you have it, I'm a bit of a neat freak (though judging by the state of these epic setups I've seen I have a thing or two to learn), I enjoy films/music and I have a modest games collection which I'm generally happy with. However I really would like to expand into different genres and try new stuff out so that I can get a feel for the wider gaming culture.. if that makes sense. The E3 coverage has already given me some ideas about what to get next so that's a good sign. I thank you Destructoid for being the best gaming news site ever :]

Thanks for reading and see you around,
James