Hi everyone! I'm pretty new to this site, though not unfamiliar with Destructoid. I've been here for news posts and been to some of their awesome events (like karaoke at E3!)

My name is Regina, but I pretty much always go by Wedge. No, that did not come from Star Wars (usually the first guess) or Final Fantasy (usually the second guess). It's actually a derivative of my name - Regina => Reggie => Wedgie => Wedge.

I work for Intel as a Performance Engineer. Basically what I do involves benchmarking, and for me specifically, I benchmark games for Intel. I often get to determine which 3-5 minute portion of a game best represents the performance needs of the game as a whole. Yes, this means I get to spend a good portion of my day playing PC games, though it's not nearly as glamarous as it sounds. ;) I also write for the Intel blog the Inside Scoop (scoop.intel.com) about gaming in general - my latest post includes my E3 impressions.

While my work life focuses a lot on PC games, I play stuff on every system out there. I have a list of my top 10 games in my profile, which I'll repaste here:

My Top 10 Favorite Games: (subject to change)
1. Final Fantasy 6
2. Starcraft
3. Street Fighter Alpha 3
4. Parappa the Rapper
5. Tetris Attack
6. King's Quest VI
7. Phoenix Wright: Justice for All
8. Katamari Damacy
9. Left 4 Dead
10. Rock Band 2

I could probably go into several pages of detail as to why each of these made the list, because I'm like that. But I will save those for some other blogs... maybe I'll run down the list one at a time.

Actually, the last item on there, Rock Band 2, I can probably explain with this next bit about myself. I run the Guitar Hero/Rock Band division of the PMS Clan. The mission of the PMS Clan is to provide a fun, competitive and positive environment for female gamers. We all know what it's like to play in the wilds of the internet - people can be incredibly disrespectful (to say the least), and even moreso when a female is around. In fact, the worst part of it is that some folks don't even realize how disrespectful they are because they think they're trying to be nice! With the PMS Clan, girls (and guys too - we have tons of guys in our clan) can play in a harassment free environment, where having a good time and competing in a game can go hand in hand. For my division in the clan specifically, we play Guitar Hero and Rock Band - we're open to all skill levels to join, but we actually house some of the best players around the world in our division. I myself was once at the top of the vocal leaderboards in Rock Band - and as such, the game has become more than just a game to me... it's now a way to bond with the wonderful folks in my division, and at this point in my life the game is just a huge part of what I do every single day.

So as you can see, I'm a competitive person and I love games - so when Intel asked me to get involved in Friday Night Fights it was a no brainer to me. It gave me the push to actively join this community, and after poking around a bit and learning more of how this place operates I'm really happy to be here!

Speaking of Friday Night Fights, the best score I've gotten on that Cosmic Cannon game has been a measly 17. :( Something about that game just eludes me... argh! I'm a little bit better at Quake Live, but not much - usually I just try to grab the rocket launcher and spam away. Not QUITE my style of shooter, but I'm getting used to it - is it just me or is the shotgun ridiculously powered in the game? Maybe I should try using that more often...