dankempster

Welcome to my 'About Me' section. I guess I should start with the basics. As my username probably gives away, my name is Dan Kempster. I'm twenty-one years old and I hail from the United Kingdom. I'm a recently-graduated University student, having spent the last three years studying English Language and Literature.

As you can probably deduce from my presence on this site, I'm pretty passionate about video games. I've been playing since I was about four years old, back when my parents bought a Sega Master System. The first game I have memories of playing is Alex Kidd in Miracle World, but the first game I fell in love with was Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Mega Drive. I started developing a genuine interest in the video game industry at around the age of ten, when I received my own Sony PlayStation as a birthday present. The game that really turned gaming from a hobby into a passion was Final Fantasy VII, which was also instrumental in shaping my gaming tastes. Since then I've owned a PlayStation 2, a GameCube, an Xbox, a Game Boy Advance, a DS, a PSP, and an Xbox 360. I prefer to experience games as interactive stories, which is probably why my taste leans towards RPGs of both Eastern and Western kinds, and story-driven action and adventure titles, including Final Fantasy, The Elder Scrolls, Grand Theft Auto, Half-Life and Metal Gear.

There are a few reasons why Giant Bomb is my online haunt of choice. One reason is the quality of the editorial content put out by Jeff, Ryan, Brad and Vinny, and that was the lure that attracted me to the site in the first place. Another reason is the interactivity offered to site members, such as the potential to edit the Wiki, maintain blogs, create guides, converse on the forums, track Achievements and complete Quests. Perhaps the most crucial reason that I continue to lurk here, though, is the brilliant community that the site is home to. There are a lot of great users on Giant Bomb that contribute a wealth of quality content, that is often more worthy of attention than some of the editorial content. It's also worth noting that I love to write, and I've chosen Giant Bomb to stimulate that passion by maintaining my own games-related blog right here.

I have quite a few interests outside of video games. As mentioned above, I love to write, and I can often be found working on something, whether it's a short story or some song lyrics. I also love to read, and can usually be found with my head in a book. I play drums, competently rather than well, but I really enjoy it. I'm really into music, specifically rock and blues, with my favourite artists being The Who, Paul Weller, and The Black Crowes. I have a Last.fm profile too, if anybody wants to check that out.