A Little Introduction

Brian

Since we began Game Crush, Eddie and I haven't bothered to properly introduce ourselves. We would be remiss to allow this to continue so we'll be taking this opportunity to drop a little knowledge. I'm sure you can guess my name. I live in Tokyo at the moment. My favorite platform is the PC, but only because I really like first person shooters, Fallout-style RPGs, tactical games like X-Com, and lots of small experimental games. I have a PSP, but I use it mainly for homebrew. I really, really want to play Gears of War and Metal Gear Solid 4, and I think the Wii looks really fun, but $250 is a little much for an overclocked Gamecube with a 3D mouse.

I have no specific love for any consoles or companies either, regardless of what you think after reading the PS3 will fail article. I gave up any sense of fanboyism a long time ago, when Nintendo released broken console after broken console. That being said, I have no problem showing respect when a company gets it right. Even though I honestly think the PS3 stands a good chance of failure, I also think it is a truly awesome piece of technology and want one on those grounds alone. Also, something important about me, I have an incredibly short attention span for games that are just not fun to play. When I was younger I could sit through 10,000 random battles in Final Fantasy, but right now I'm not interested in tolerating crap to get to the hidden fun parts of a game. I don't care how good the story is, if it is meant to be a polished, complete package, it better be fun from start to finish.

One thing that will become abundantly clear over the next few weeks, I have a black, black heart. I do love innovation though. I'm really interested in the overriding gameplay philosophy behind games. That, and the community that's grown up around them. Well, I'm interested in a lot of things. My goal is to seriously explore them all in my writing.

Eddie

I am the western division of Game Crush, stationed here in lovely New York. I began gaming during the good ol' days of the NES, and haven't stopped since. In my youth I was a console gamer exclusively, and have owned just about every major home system following the NES. Basically, any PC I had until a few years ago SUCKED, but I got down with a few key titles here and there. Now that I've built myself a somewhat badass system, though, I can enjoy all game platforms equally, and have been doing serious catch-up in the past few years. Sitting here contemplating, it has become apparent to me that I don't quite have a favorite system. As for hand-helds, the whole portable gaming premise appeals to me in theory, but I just don't really get down with it much. :-\ I have a PSP, but usually just use it for homebrew, as well.

I generally judge games on their individual merits, rather than genre or developer, but I tend to really enjoy action-adventures and RPGs, and am a sucker for well-written narrative and epic storytelling, as well as games with good artistic design, and "styyyyle," as I like to call it. I love the classics, and at risk of sounding like a fanboy, (especially after our last few articles) Mario and Zelda games rock my socks. =-o Something I very much enjoy is rigorous mental stimulation when I play a game - like a full-brain massage. Anything off the beaten path interests me, and horror games hold a special place in my heart. I absolutely HATE when a game feels like a chore, and I get sick of sequels quickly. Don't bore me, and please give me NEW stuff!

In my writing, I plan to approach overlooked aspects of gaming with a unique perspective, and hopefully provide some intelligent discourse.
As a general rule, while Brian is eager to crush games, I seem to end up having a crush on them...