Me. (rambling)

I'm John McKeown, an English/spec writing major with a minor in Journalism, and as mentioned in class, I'm in need of occupation. I'm gonna be a student for another two semesters, and that graduation date and subsequent need of a job is coming at me fast.

I'm taking 298 because, hey, I've been a gamer for years, and a writer for awhile. Like most of us in here, I figured, why not combine the two?

While I'm a big fan of consoles, they weren't my original introduction to the gaming world. I was born in 1986, but I wasn't really alive until 1991, when I was introduced the arcade. I'd be in Aladdin's Castle for hours, playing Mortal Kombat, X-Men, whatever cabinet was available, often with kids over double my age. Never mind that I couldn't reach the controls; they had a stool available for me. 19 years later saw me return to the arcade with the acquisition of their DDR machine; many a weekend was spent stomping away on arrows, with rounds of Time Crisis or Tekken for breaks.

What I miss about arcades is the social aspect. Sure, you have the internet now, but little compares to a crowd of 15-20 people bunched around a Street Fighter cabinet, all watching intently as two players fight and occasionally screaming as a particularly deft offense is mounted. I met roughly 2/3rds of my friends playing DDR every Saturday from 2005 to 2007, and I have only a little shame in admitting that.

My favorite genre of games would be fighting. The satisfaction I get from besting others at virtual one-on-one combat I feel is a rare experience, and since someone is almost always better than you, they have near limitless replay value. I'll admit, there's a bit of an elitist feeling I get from being good at fighting games, beyond just being able to beat a few friends I play at the house. Internet play, I hope, is leading to a revival of the fighting game genre.