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About Me

Anything PS3, PS2, Old-school Mac (Dark Castle FTW).

My name is Mark, and I work in finance.

I am a nerdcore individual, and have done pretty much everything I've ever wanted to do in life. I've owned a comic shop, written for GamePro (one article w00t), traveled the world, played a couple CCGs professionally (and actually made money at it), owned 3 other businesses, romanced the most beautiful women and done it all with friends.

I have a blog over at http://www.gamersledge.com/wordpress where all the friends I pick up over the years like Katamari Damarcy hang out and we discuss nerdgasm things. Always looking for interesting people to join us.

There's a bit left on the old to-do list, but I'm pretty happy at my current job because I'm helping people.

I'd call myself a hardcore gamer; I started with el pong, although I was pretty young when it came out. From there I got a 'tennis' game (i don't think they actually had another name), my folks got me an Intellivision for Christmas and that was it; it was all over. I knew I could never get enough. (I get bonus points from all my friends because I still carry a He-Man intellivision keypad cover given to me by a great friend, in my wallet. The cover, not the friend.)

From there, my folks moved to the Ozarks, in the middle of BFE and Nowhere. I learned about the NES and eventually started stealing games from Wal Mart and Toys R Us, back before they had learned. Eventually I got caught stealing em at a video store, and I never did it again. But I bought a SNES from Wal-Mart my sophomore year in high school. Final Fantasy II made me an addict to RPGs. I returned my SNES to wal-mart in its original box and styrofoam my junior year of college. Because I had the receipt, original box and all styrofoam/equip, they gave me full price LOLz. I used that to buy a PSOne. It was that system that really drew me in and Final Fantasy VII and VIII and the original Persona destroyed any chance of me ever losing the RPG bug. I had a friend from Brazil while I was in college, and he was independently wealthy. Every week we would go and buy a SNES game or computer game and play it together and beat it. We were both great at fighters as well, so in my sophomore year I started doing the competitive circuit around KC, and always walked away with money. I've given up fighters mostly now; Tekken, VF, SC, SNK vs. Capcom2.. I play them for fun now; I don't have the time/energy to try to always win anymore... I won't forget the first time I walked into a Japanese arcade... I got 20-hit juggled with Cervantes. I cleaned up on SNK v. Capcom tho, and Virtua Fighter. I fared on tekken as I did on SC LOL.

Anyways, after college I started travelling for work, and was bringing in big bucks as I was gone all week/every week. I got a DC and every game/peripheral made for the system, in fours. I had a projector that I used for work, and when I was home 1-2 days a week, I'd throw parties like Mario Party as a drinking game, or Bushido Blade while drunk. It was great stuff. I picked up 5 ps2s on launch day, and let my friends buy them from me for cost. I got 2 ps3s on launch day, but 1 got cancelled, so the friend I had promised the other two let me get it. I was afraid I was going to be shot/mugged on the way out to the car with it. But it was awesome.

I am a Rhymes with Bony fanboi through and through, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate Xbox or Nintendo.

I did a 50-episode podcast on videogame news/reviews at my website http://www.gamersledge.com/rssfeed.xml

I think it was hellafun and good, but scheduling conflicts with my partner and I led to its ultimate demise.

I produced that podcast, and was putting like 4-5 hours a day into it. It was too much with work; I'm beginning to think that a roundtable format with no sfx is a much better idea LOL.

Anyways, my gamertag on the PS3 is balth feel free to add me if you want to play some warhawk or super puzzle fighter hd turbo remix alpha hyper king kamehameha spirit bomb genshiryoku shin reppu shao koken II.

The only thing that really sucks about having moved back to the 'Zarks is that there are not really any educated nerdcore type people here. I have no friends my age here, so online gaming is pretty important to me.

RPGs; Persona 3, Every Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest VIII, Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Elder Scrolls Oblivion, R:FOM, Warhawk, White Knight Story when it comes out.

Gamer Profile

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PSN: balth
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Following (31)

An open letter to Activision Re: Rock Band. Please read and comment. balth | 10:43 AM on 12.20.2007 7 comments

This, is a Snaileb inspired open letter to Activision, that I would appreciate Dear Activision, My name is Mark. I am a 33-year old professional living in the heart of the Ozarks. I know you never hear from this area, as most people can't figure out how to use these fancydangled computer contraptions, but I am writing to tell you of several flaws of logic that your Public Relations department is propagating to the public. I am, of course, referring to the Rock Band patch Harmonix developed in-house for their own software. As you are aware, many consumers are upset at your decision to block the Harmonix patch, as can be seen here. Interestingly enough, once the patch had been submitted by Harmonix to Sony, and then unbeknown to the consumer, you had already moved to block the aforementioned patch, Red Octane's co-founder and VP of Business Development David Huang said in an interview with 1up that the consumer's voice is what is most important to you. The article said, Huang admits the issue is out of their hands, anyway. "Long term, you can't go against what the consumer wants," he said. Then, over the next week we find out that the patch has been submitted already, and that Activision is the reason the patch is being delayed. Activision then responds saying that MTV and Harmonix have dropped the ball on an agreement to license the controllers. Today, an Activision representative said, in an interview with with the Boston Globe,: "Unfortunately for Rock Band users, Harmonix has been unwilling to discuss an agreement that will allow us to provide that option in a manner that maintains the high standards people have come to expect from Activision," Lataif said. She added that any agreement will involve someone at Harmonix writing a check. "We believe we should be compensated for the use of our technology," said Lataif. With this, our timeline of your PR strategy is complete. I would ask indulgence so that you might consider the possible flaws in your strategy: 1. You contend that you cannot go against the consumer, yet prevent what the consumers want (release of the patch). 2. I have developed a wireless mouse for the PC. I then turn around and make it so that no programs can use my mouse without paying me a licensing fee to do so. How long will that mouse manufacturer profit? Your strategy is completely opposite a functioning business model. If it turns out that your mouse is particularly suited to Photoshop, one does not charge Adobe a licensing fee so that your mouse is compatible. Instead, you advertise that your mouse is better than the competition and allow for as many people as possible to use it, to increase sales of the mouse. You would make far more money by selling bundled copies of the Guitar Hero III game than you would charging a flat licensing fee. 3. You create animosity amongst your target demographic. Instead of being seen as a company that heralds innovation and cooperation, you portray an image of corporate greed; of cutthroat competition. 4. Ultimately, you lose income revenue. Your demographic boycotts your products, leading to loss of income not only in new hardware and software sales, but also a loss in the impulse-governed downloadable content revenue. I implore you, as a concerned consumer, to rethink your stance on this issue and take action to rectify the situation as soon as possible. Be the Hero.