Name: Joe

Age: 17

Location: England, UK

How old were you when you got into gaming, and which system did it?
I think I was about 7, and it was a Gameboy Colour

If different from above, what was the first system you owned?
See above.

What systems do you currently own?
PS3, Xbox, Wii, DS,

What is your favourite system, be it current or retro?
Probably PS3.

A rough estimate of how many games you own?
50 – 60 retail, and well over 100 if you add downloaded titles from Steam/PSN/XBL

What game are you currently playing?
I play FIFA a lot, but that’s a constant thing. LittleBigPlanet 2 is currently in the post, so hope to play some of that soon, as well as getting stuck into Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood at some point in the near future

What is your favourite genre, and why?
I don’t really have one, I’ll play pretty much anything as long as it seems to provide an enjoyable experience, I don’t buy games just because they’re a first person shooter or anything like that.

What is your favourite game series, and why?
Probably the Uncharted series, why? Both of those games have some of the coolest characters in video games, and the story, while far from being a novel, is one hell of a rollercoaster ride. It helps that I love the gameplay as well.

What is your all-time favorite game, and why?
Uncharted 2 for the reasons stated above, there are just so many stand out moments in that game that mean it’s completely unrivalled in my mind. Plus, the multiplayer is FANTASTIC.

Who is your favourite developer, and why?
Probably Valve, they’re easily the most consistent developer around, Half Life 2, while not quite Uncharted 2, is still a fantastic game, and so are Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2.

Give us your most under-rated/under-valued game.
Mirror’s Edge, incredible visual style, and fantastic gameplay, too many people got all stuck up about the combat being shitty (which it was, and which is why you ran past every bad guy you came across.) and ignored the rad feeling of chaining together crazy jumps and some sweet parkour moves.

Any platform exclusive you'd like to see make the leap to multiplatform?
Zelda, could do with some nice graphics.

How about your favourite handheld game?
Advance Wars.

Any old series you'd like to see revived on current gen platforms?
Not particularly

Tell us about your most memorable gaming moment, something you're going to tell your grandkids.
Scoring a 45 yard goal in FIFA, absolute peach of a goal. I’ll lay down the foundations for you; I play FIFA with a fast pass and move philosophy in defence and midfield, and large utilisation of through balls in the final third of the pitch, and also when I’m counter attacking. Now, here’s the meat of the meal… After some last ditch defending in front of my goal, the ball goes out for a corner, as usual, the corner is cleared to the edges of my own half, my midfield maestro attempts an outrageously radical through ball for my devastatingly quick striker to chase, however, I’m fooled into thinking that my player was offside due to my occasionally poor judgement, so in time honoured FIFA tradition, I just take a pot shot at goal. To my surprise, I’m not offside, and the ball goes soaring into the net with the opposition keeper back pedalling furiously due to his bad positioning sense. I nearly shit myself.

Deep thoughts now:

Given the many news reports of people committing horrific acts against other people and then blaming videogames, do you feel that videogames are - in any way, shape or form - responsible for these atrocities, or are there other issues at play?
This is actually part of my psychology A –Level course this year, so I’d be better equipped to answer this in a scientific manner sometime in the summer when I’m done with that module, but alas, it is not the summer, so here goes: I think that videogames are only influential (with regards to violence) for those who suffer from some sort of mental abnormality. I’m also sure that most of these acts would have occurred without the potential influence of video games, especially those that took place in the USA, as I believe that the gun culture that’s been established in some states is unhealthy and the availability of lethal weapons in a society is bad for the majority of people that live within it.

Have you ever found yourself looking at life or the world around you in a different light after playing a videogame, or has a videogame had any influence on how you live your life?
Not at all, at least not on a conscious level.

And finally, tell us a strange but true fact about yourself.
There aren’t any, at least none I can think of.

Joe always knows when to pop in and say the right words at the right time. That can be a strange fact or true fact.

cool interview

Good God, this.

But yes, I also rather enjoyed this, used to fucking love reading all these things, rather excited that they're back.

Mirror's Edge

Very cool idea to get the community involved like this.

Very nice... Joe your 17. Your words belie you years.

I approve of this.