Joey D

Ah… Where to begin…

My first game system wasn’t an NES, it was a Commodore 64. That computer was a workhorse. Not only did it allow me to type the occasional book report, but it allowed me to play Fun House and Super Pac-Man, and Wheel of Fortune. Unfortunately I didn’t keep this system after I moved out of my folks house.

Of course, like any video gamer over the age of 25, a Nintendo is also part of your childhood. Asides from the usual Mario games and Duck Hunt, I also had Rambo (shitty game) and Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode. That game is still awesome to this day. It was the first game released by Nintendo that featured sniping, blood, smoking, references to Nazis, and the main character got laid in the game… twice. As a kid, I didn’t realize how important this game was, as an adult, I cherish it, and I still play it from time to time.

Growing up, I slowly became picky in the games that I would purchase. Game are expensive, and when you’re on your own, you gotta set some budget priorities. So I didn’t purchase a lot of games, but when I did, it would be ones that I knew I would be playing for a while. One of my first modern console games (my parents didn’t get me a SNES, Sega Genesis, N64, ect.) was Syphon Filter on the PlayStation. The game play along with the story line got me hooked, so where I collected the entire series (minus the PlayStation handheld expansion). Makes me want to get an old PS One and play it all over again.

I don’t remember how I found out about Max Payne, but when I did, that’s when I first invested in an Xbox. I don’t remember the reasons why I didn’t choose a Play Station 2 over it, but it probably was due the lack of a physical hard drive inside the PS2 that drove me to the Xbox. I’m not a cheap person, but I didn’t see a need to purchase memory sticks if the machine was going to come with built in storage.

I was going through some tough events during that time and Max Payne seemed to fit my mood. It was dark, intriguing, lots of dialog that went on inside Max’s head, it had a purpose, and it reminded me to push through to the end because it gets better. The Remedy team had a winner here and this game ranks in the top 5 of my favorites list. Of course I had my usual set of other games for that system including Jet Set Radio Future, NASCAR and NHL, 007: Nightfire, and a couple of others that I can’t remember, but Max Payne was always sitting next to the system… then Max Payne 2 came out.

I had known for a while that this game was coming. It felt like an eternity. It ended up being the first game that I actually set time aside to play it all the way though just to get to the ending. The story line was tight and neat, and the game play was fluid. Only complaint was that the game was short, but the story made up for it. It was the last game I purchased for the Xbox. I didn’t even bother with the Grand Theft Auto series when it finally came available for the XBox.

Thanks to one of my former employers, I won an Xbox 360, that I still have to this day. That’s right it hasn’t gone Red Ring of Death on me. Probably because I put one of those Intercooler things on the back of it. Some of the games in my current library include Dead 2 Rights, Alan Wake, Bully, Stranglehold, Sonic Generations, Every Extend Extra Extreme, and of course, Max Payne 3.

There’s probably some other games in my library, but those come out to my mind, with Alan Wake being one of the more mind bending games I’ve played in a long time. Sam Lake at Remedy really knows how to write a deep game script. Hollywood needs to hire him to write a movie or two, instead of taking an existing game and fucking it all up (looking at you Fox – you really had to screw up a good thing with the Max Payne movie, didn’t you?).

So my role here at NewbCast Gaming? I’m the I.T. guy and I contribute to the podcasts by trying to ask questions that non gamer would ask. My gaming experience is somewhat limited so I fit this role quite well. When I’m not busy making sure the website and podcast delivery system is working, I’m assisting the other team members with our projects that we have in the pipelines.

If you find anything wrong with the site or like to make suggestions, you can always hit me up via email, joey@newbcastgaming.com, connect with us via Twitter or leave us a message on Facebook. You can also check out my new personal website at www.hostiletakeoverbank.com