Rident - My name is Steve, though I’m better known as Rident through the internet and social community. I work as an accountant, though I tend play, talk and write about gaming as a hobby in my spare time.
Hurricane Rev - How did you get into gaming?
Rident - I got into gaming at a young age from pretty much when my Brother got his Spectrum ZX. I guess I must have been about 2 or 3. I didn’t play so much then, but loved to watch it until I eventually got my proper hands on a gaming unit which was an old Tandy tennis game (Pong) with dials and switches.
Gaming properly became part of my life from the days of the Commodore 64 which was bought as a family gaming unit and later progressing through the console cycle with the likes of the NES, Sega Megadrive, PlayStation, etc.
Currently I play across PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. My favourite franchises/game series being Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider and Dynasty Warriors. I do enjoy a vast selection of game genres with the exception of sports including FPS, 3rd person shooters, puzzle/strategy, RPG and fighting games.
Hurricane Rev - Now you are a part of Gamrs. Can you tell me what it is about and how long have you been a part of Gamrs?
Rident - It started after running our first successful TK Day event which was a community event designed to encourage players and fans of Tecmo Koei brand franchises to get playing, discussing and meeting online together for a day. This included online lobbies of Dead or Alive 4, and online play of Dynasty Warriors 7, Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 and Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce to name a few at the time.
We held small competitions and set up a discussion page etc for fans to post online ID’s and set up games. Following this, the core team that got involved with setting up TK Day got talking to discuss starting up our own blog page and podcast which was how GAMRs came about.
We were all fans of gaming, anime etc and all had quite similar tastes especially when it came to Tecmo Koei games. We founded GAMRs around March 2012 as what was initially Gaming, Anime and Manga Reviews. We decided after a while we would prefer to stick to news and opinion pieces as opposed to reviewing like all other sites do. So I have pretty much been there from the start.
We have since continued to put out a fortnightly podcast with some special guests, created new game related video content and have continued to put out our TK Day community events.
Hurricane Rev - Are there any games that you are really looking forward to playing?
Rident - The main titles I am looking forward to this year are Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires, Tomb Raider, Last of Us and hopefully Dynasty Warriors 8 (if it gets localised). There are titles like Watch Dogs, Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite and Metal Gear Rising that I’ll keep my eye on.
Hurricane Rev - Are there any events that you will be attending?
Rident - The only events I have planned for this year so far will be MCM London Expo in May and October and Eurogamer Expo in September. If any other events are announced that interest me I will consider them too.
I am planning to run another TK Day weekender event early in March with the GAMRs team, which will focus on the latest new titles Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires and Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2. We would love to host in another online Dead or Alive 5 tournament too, but don’t have the resources this time.
Hurricane Rev - Do you think that the gaming scene/community is growing each year and getting stronger?
Rident - I personally love the gaming scene and communities and find myself constantly becoming more and more involved. I love interacting and debating with different fans and similar minds who share my hobby and love of particular game franchises.
I would say the communities are getting bigger as more people are becoming aware of them through the likes of social media and more community friendly and professional consumer events like Eurogamer Expo.
A few years back I wasn’t really part of any gaming community, but through social media I have been able to connect with more and more people from around the world to talk about gaming and share experiences and nostalgic memories with. Before I was a bit shy to do that and didn’t know many within my close social circles that I could talk about video games with, but now my social circles both on and off the internet have increased a lot.
I was there when Tecmo Koei established the TK Family community and believe it is probably the strongest community that I follow and am a part of. This has helped me to find and meet fellow fans of the Warriors series and many new friends and fans during the Dead or Alive 5 campaign, which is one fighting game I have great passion for even though I lack some key skills and coordination.
Hurricane Rev - I've seen you were interested in the competitive fighting games scene for games. What interest have you got for that community?
Rident - While I used to love heading down to the arcade cabinets or play games like Street Fighter, Dead or Alive and Tekken on my home consoles with my Brother or friends in a slightly competitive manner, I never really quite had the top level of play to compete and win all too often so kind of took a back seat and played more of the solo arcade and story modes and spectated more matches.
As games evolved and more genres and titles came about I didn’t play so many fighting games as I was always occupied with something else. Also I didn’t have that same connection with friends to play at home so was really out of the loop and practice. I still kept up-to-date with the latest Tekken releases after DOA moved onto Xbox consoles though only ever played them solo.
It wasn’t really until the Dead or Alive 5 campaign that I learned more of competitive fighting games and that community. EVO during 2012 was probably the first big tournament I spectated that featured fighting games and I was hooked. I wanted to learn more about it and hopefully attend some of the more local events after Dead or Alive 5 had launched more as a spectator than competitor for the thrill and atmosphere of being in that environment and meeting the players.
Unfortunately I have not really had much in the way of time or money for travel when these events have kicked off, so have not had the opportunity yet. I did however take what I had learned of the structure and rules and applied it in a community Dead or Alive 5 tournament online. It was tough, but an experience I wish to do again some time.
Hurricane Rev - What did you think of Sony's presentation?
Rident - I didn’t start watching with too high an expectation other than an official console press announcement which is what we got with a few extra words/demos thrown in.
Some I have spoken to have been either underwhelmed by it due to higher expectations or were quite excited and left wanting more. I would put myself more in the latter category and expect more game reveals, features and seeing the actual console during the Sony conference at E3 this year.
Hurricane Rev - Were there any features on the PS4 that you really like and it stood out to you?
Rident - I liked that there was a lot more use being made of the PS Vita, which has not had such a good start. Even though I don’t yet own one, it is something I feel is necessary to boost some life into the handheld console and actually entice me to pick one up sooner.
Other features I liked, but may not use a lot are the short video and screenshot sharing at the touch of a button. The streaming however is something I would use, especially to add more content to the GAMRs video features.
The feature that excited me most was the fact it will allow for downloads to happen more in the background due to backup CPU chip. This plus the ability to play a game while it is downloading which is great news considering how long it can take to download full game titles.
Hurricane Rev - Do you think Microsoft will come up with something bigger?
Rident - I can’t really say whether they will come up with something bigger as such. I’m sure they will bring us something which integrates nicely with other Microsoft products such as Windows Phones, Tablets and PC’s. I think they will go for a more family entertainment approach than Sony did with their closer focus towards gamers.
Would be interesting to see the partners Microsoft will be working with to offer expanded features on their next console. I would expect something that uses Kinect and Skype as ways to communicate with friends using the system. I would expect it to be made likely to connect Skype calls from console to PC/Tablet/Phone easily and that features revealed with their SmartGlass technology released last year will be expanded.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what Microsoft have to reveal as well as everything Sony didn’t tell us yesterday. Plus I can’t wait to see what titles will be released during the launch windows for both consoles.
Hurricane Rev - Any shout outs that you want to say?
Rident - I would love to shout out to those who have helped me to build and enjoy my social community such as Chin Soon Sun who helped introduce me to many people in the industry.
Also to the awesome TK Family community which includes all the Warriors and Fighters who I have connected with and shared my social experiences with these last few years.
---------------------------
Ridents Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RidentFFXI
We Are Gamrs Links
Tumblr: http://gamrs.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeAreGAMRs
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WeAreGAMRs
No comments:
Post a Comment