Hey fellow Giantbombers! I have been kicking around posting anything on Giantbomb for about a year now. I get close to getting something formulated just in time to say, “No, just…don’t.” Not this time! I finally feel like coming out of the shadows of lurking and try to throw my voice into the fray. So here is a brief introduction of me and my history with the site:

I am a 20 something male living in the United States who recently graduated from college and is trying to figure out what comes next. I know, so exciting. As far as my gaming history goes my earliest memory of games is playing Super Mario Brothers with my dad in our shag carpeted basement. We never owned a NES so I don’t even know how or why I was playing the game…Anyway I was about 5 and couldn’t make it past World 1-1, which of course my dad could. I remember him finishing the level and from my dad tells me now I threw a tantrum about not being able to complete the level (I see this as basically the reason I can’t play platformers now; frustration with jumping. Also, fuck Goombas). Eventually my dad bought a PS1 for Gran Turismo and I really remember playing that. He would finish the race while I was just perpetually stuck doing doughnuts and, again, getting frustrated (Interestingly enough I actually like driving games to this day, although arcade style racers are my strong suit). I got a PS2 at some point and really had a blast with that system. Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefront II were my jams mostly, although I had quite a few other games. I upgraded just a few years ago to 360 and from there have played and read about just about every game under the sun.

So now onto how I became so attached to Giantbomb:

Like many of you I have been following the guys at Giantbomb for quite a few years. Just before Jeff left Gamespot I had started to watch some of the videos he was in and read some of the other reviews and stuff on the site. I don’t really remember when, but I sort of fell off from watching and reading that content for a period of time. Somehow I eventually ended up on Giantbomb, most likely just from reading through the forums on Gamespot. I remember watching the “How To Build A Bomb” series and not fully understanding why I was laughing, but none the less being entertained enough to stick with the site. Like many of you the Persona 4 Endurance Run was where I felt like I hit my stride with the site. Watching Vinny and Jeff play Persona was one of the funniest things I have ever experienced. This was about the time I started to listen to the podcast and read through the forums as well. All of this has built up my love of videogames and the passionate culture that surrounds them. In my eyes Giantbomb is one of the best places to really hear from the people who share this similar mindset with me.

Well this became much lengthier then I imagined! I felt like I needed to give an introduction to where I am coming from when I start posting stuff that is actually about videogames, but wow. I hope that you guys get where I am coming from and I really look forward to trying to bring something mildly interesting to the ecosystem of Giantbomb.