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About Me

Currently playing: (30-01-2010)

* Trials HD (PS2)
* Ikaruga (GC)
* Final Fantasy 12 (PS2)
* Burnout Paradise (360)

Whaddup. Came to Dtoid via RFGO. Love the shit out of it. I own a Snes (my all time fave...i`m with Chad and RFGO team in terms of games era enjoyment), N64, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance, DS, PS1, PS2, PC and an Xbox360. Would love a PS3, PSP etc. but my funds dont agree. I've also previously owned a Nes, Gameboy, Mega Drive, Amiga 500 and a (I hate to admit) 3DO too (it was my brothers actually). The Nes really got me into it all, and Super Mario Bros, though my earliest gaming memories are of Outrun in arcades when I was on holiday as a kid. I actually love games as an escape. Existential angst medicine of the highest order methinks, and food for the imagination. And thats perhaps why I lean more towards fantastical, metaphorical, arty games. Especially of the 2D variety. I`m far less inspired or engaged by realistic games. Specifically FPSs! It`s getting more and more questionable, as realism ramps up, why people even want to kill and maim other people in a simulated war. I liked Goldeneye on the N64, and played lots of Doom and Quake back in the day, but thats as far as it goes. I`m also really into anime, and have been subconciously into it since Ulysses 31 and the mysterious cities of gold, in the mid 80s, and then Akira in 92 got me conciously into it, and I realised I had loved this art style my whole life. I was part of the 'second generation' in the UK, and watched anime and mangas popularity sky rocket over the years, to my delight. Other small facts you may find interesting/annoying/cool are: never finished FF7; hated most N64 games (except Lylat Wars and maybe Banjo Kazooie....oh, alright, and Zelda OoT - but the latter not too much i`m afraid); didn`t play games at all between 99 and 01; I dj and make electronic music - minimal techno and house mainly (though if recent podtoid descriptions of techno music are anything to go by, a lot of you have NO clue what actual techno is and are basically lumping all dance styles together under the techno banner. Techno is like the SHMUP genre of the dance music world, whereas the remixes recently aired on podtoid equate to the FPS genre equivalent of the dance music world)

As a musician with a previous wish to be a game journalist, I look forward to airing some of my long held views, and some recent views, on this wonderful industry we all find ourselves engaged with, via the medium that is the high-awesomeness saturated blogosphere of Destructoid.

Games I love (in some sort of order, but barely):

Secret of Mana (along with FF6, the BEST game i`ve ever played, most engrossing, emotive (actually ff6 beats it on this count), varied adventure i have ever experienced.....and the music, oh my word!!!!!)
Ikaruga
Chrono Trigger
FF6
FF4 (2 to you Americanos)
F-Zero
F-Zero X (F-Zero GX can fuck right off....its not pure blood!)
Super Aleste
Outrun
Duck Tales
Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers,
Snake, Rattle and Roll,
The Legend Of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past
New Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros 3
Super Mario World
Super Mario World 2 - Yoshis Island (This game was the last game I played on the SNES at the end of its lifespan, and what a send off. Possibly the best designed platform gaming ever)
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario 64 (my least liked of this bunch of mario games)
Super Mario Kart
Streets of Rage 2 (frickin love this game)
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic Advance
Lost Odyssey
Final Fantasy 12
Dragon Quest 4
Super Monkey Ball
Actraiser
Sim City (Snes, and 2000 on PC)
Warcraft 2 (have yet to play the more recent incarnations.....lame i know!)
Super Probotector (Contra 3)
Turrican 2
Shadow of the Beast 3
Zelda:Ocarina Of Time
Gradius Advance
Project X (Amiga)
Banjo & Kazooie
Burnout 2
Burnout Paradise
Castlevania:Aria Of Sorrow (feckin awesome)
Castlevania:Symphony of the Night
Castlevania: Portrait Of Ruin
Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia (currently enjoying this tough, musically superb platforming delight)
Streetfigher 2 (various versions....i will kick your arse with Guile, believe)
Samurai Showdown
Capcom vs. Snk EO
Marvel vs. Capcom
Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader (I pity any star wars fans who`ve never played this!)

You get my vibe...i`m a 2D freak - especially platformers.......well, just all 2D actually. Lately the castlevania games on the GBA, played with my DS and on the GB player on GC, have been my 2D lifeline, after NSMB and before POR and Order of Ecclesia. If you have a GC get yourself a gameboy player, and play through Aria Of Sorrow for the GBA. A masterclass! I`m also a big game music geek.....especially the usual suspects: Michiru Yamane, Noboeu Uematsu, Hiroki Kikuta, Yuzo Koshiro etc. Also, European game music producers Tim Follin and the legendary Chris Huelsbeck (turrican series).

Outside of games, i`m an underground (as in niche, not living underground or anything) deep house and minimal techno producer who enjoys dancing, film, a bit (sometimes a lot) of philosophy, art, life, nature and existence. I reside in the shires of southern England (Hampshire to be exact), near the port city of, er, Portsmouth, and......erm.....its great!Except that its not that great. The English are VERY repressed you see. Most English people are more uptight then they ought to be!


And i`d only go to my myspace if you like electronic music, and underground dance music, because thats all i use myspace for, my music grind. Its not trash like you might think if your not into that: its not dumbass hardcore or weak-ass trance. Or the 'techno' that a lot of ignorant people think is techno (including the podtoid crew). You just will think 'what the fuck?'. Minimal techno is avant garde, quirky and a very, very acquired taste, and is meant for large, loud but refined soundsystems in big dark rooms for people enjoying 'altered' states of mind. So, dancefloors worldwide are, and will continue, to receive music influenced by Uematsu, Koshiro, Yamane etc, because these composers have affected me A LOT ;)

www.myspace.com/aurations

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Gamertag: Amano909

Following (26)

10 things about my life that you didnt know.... lovemana23 | 6:09 PM on 02.03.2009 9 comments

Seeing as everyone is doing this, and i`m still fairly new to Dtoid, I figured it was a great chance for people to know the real me better, or just even to have an idea who I am. I feel like the shy kid at the edge of the group, wanting to get involved, but feeling its not totally my place. I live in the UK, so i`m already a little out of the loop. Anyway! Here we go: 1) I make music. Electronic dance music. Dont hate me! I, too, used to despise 'dance music', as i listened once more to the FF6 soundtrack. But, if you like the streets of rage2 soundtrack, you like dance music, period. And i always adored that soundtrack. Its likely, if clubbing isnt your thing, that you will not have heard the kind of music I make, as it is part of what 'we' call 'the Underground', which is a fancy way of saying its niche. Niche, but still massive, as you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8jbF7NmVaU&feature=related. Thats one of the kings of my scene, who knows I exist. Just gotta get him playing my tunes and BOOM, my career is in the bag. My music has been played all over the globe, and supported by some big names. People go APE for this trippy, hypnotic, futuristic music. Called by most Minimal Techno. Or, as my spin on it goes, neo tribal music. I`m not there yet, but have numerous record deals, and all is moving along nicely. I also Dj. Im one of only a handful of respected upcoming producers in the south of England, its quite cool. Ive been paid £80 for an hours dj 'work' before, sweet eh? That was once, mind, most of the time its just 'nice set, can i get you a beer mate'? To which i answer 'cant man, im allergic!' Which i fucking am! 2) The first game I ever played was Outrun, in Arcades, whilst on holiday with my parents during the mid to late 80s. Super Mario Bros REALLY started the ball rolling though, circa 89/90. 3) Me and my friends back in the early noughties used to go on crazy, 'zoned out' missions to Stonehenge and other mythic English sites with the Secret of Mana soundtrack playing in the car. Happy days! 4) I had a 'nervous breakdown' when I was 19 (in 1999), and it changed my life. I`m nearly completely out of the depression/anxiety loop, but it was tough. You discover a lot about yourself, and thus your fellow humans, when you reach rock bottom. And as such, I went from being immensely ignorant of the implications of our shared existences on this wonderful planet, to a very humble, thoughtful perspective on existence. Below our apparent solidity we are all connected, all things are. And you realise this, when you step out of our acquired cultural assumptions, and think for yourself. Its weird, but breakdown does, if your creative with it, become breakthrough, in all circumstances. 5) I live near the sea in the south of England, surrounded by Shires and stereotypical English landscapes. In the summer, its damn gorgeous. In the winter, fucking shit. And generally I find England to be a little stuffy and repressed for my liking. 6) I have Eczema. Not very interesting, but its defined who I am, making me an outcast to some extent. Maybe contributing to my geekery. Certainly contributing to my self awareness. And I have to thank having this condition for making me realise how bad the western diet generally is for us! I know about health, I drink herb teas, I meditate', i eat an immensely strict diet, very low on sugar. Topher would scream and run. Yes i`m that hippy guy, except you wouldnt think it if you saw me. And, trust me, meditation is THE SHIT. And I still dont do it enough! Must do more.... 7) I found Destructoid through searching for Secret Of Mana artwork and coming accross the Retroforce Go podcast on that same game. I did an impromptu listen, and was....uplifted. I really didnt think people like that existed, that were around my age. Thank the forces of mystery for Chad Concelmo and his light giving soul, Collette Bennett, Topher and Stella - I love you all so much!!! They are the reason I now own an Xbox and am currently delighting in Kaim and cos exploits in Lost Odyssey. Plus i`m amongst this great community and i`m very thankful. Dtoid rules. 8) I saw Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend when I was 12. Not good. No doubt played into my uselessness at dealing with the opposite sex through my teens - once youve seen a demon take what he wants, its hard to go back to innocence. Every girl I attempted pathetically to entice I felt sorry for, because of the desires she had no idea I was harboring. I wanted to decimate girls botto........hang on, whoa, too much. You get the idea ;) 9) I hang out with people who have little idea how much of a geek I really am. I still listen to a lot of game music (lately Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and Lost Odysseys OST) that my music producing friends would no doubt scoff at. They win at relationships, I fail. Fuck them. Thats why i`m here with some real kindred souls :) (not saying you all fail at relationships! It is a cornerstone of true geekery though right?). In my underground dance music world, there`s a lot of drugs and debauchery. Thing is, im much more of a geek then i let on, so all these coke sniffing vain bastards i deal with think i`m all 'aloof' when really im just not one of the cool kids. I make better music then them though, which annoys them. 10) I feel left out of the Dtoid loop, living over here. Maybe my djing and music (which is increasingly calling on me to travel) will break my fear of flying, and i`ll get over that way and come to a Dtoid event. But, to me, i`d be star struck if i ever met some of the editors, nay, anyone with weight on this here great site. But i`m honest to god truthful when i say that i find this a haven, an oasis. Thankyou Niero for Dtoid, and thankyou to everyone involved.[size=12][/size]