PixlBit

Keep it positive, San Diego.

Why do I game? Also, why do I take it to the next level? Meaning why write and read blogs, write articles and reviews, listen to endless hours of podcasts, post on message boards, comment on articles and follow twitter feeds all related to gaming?  

Well, I have been gaming my whole life and I’d bet money that I’m older than you. So I’ve played all there was to play in its heyday. Being an only child in a rural community, video games were a great companion during the many hours I spent alone. When I couldn't be outside adventuring in the woods, I preferred playing games over watching TV and movies or playing with toys. It was my participation in the stories and adventures that would draw me in. It was like watching my Saturday Moring cartoons (Saturday Supercade!) except without my personal assistance these adventures could never succeed. I think this connection to my games that fueled my passion later. I became a follower during the Atari age and was blown away when the NES came around.  It wasn’t until the Sega Genesis came out that I realized the quality of video games were going to get better and better. It was then I started scouring gaming magazines to soak up any info I could on what new games were coming out and what the next best game would be. My friends in high school knew how crazy I was about video games and I became the go-to guy for information, and I acted as the unofficial ambassador for Sega in heated 16-bit War debates.  

This passion for playing games, the search of the next best thing, and my enjoyment of now unbiased discussions still continues today (although, I still love Sega). My friends still know I’m the one to go to for news on new big releases or suggestions for more obscure stuff they may not have heard about. I'm glad to have landed at Pixlbit to be able to expand the audience even further.  

So this is why I’m a gamer, and this is why I share it with you.   

-Chris Iozzi

I play games for exploring (unique) imaginary worlds, imaginary characters, and new levels of immersion (what happened to getting 3d motion control right?).  Gaming just hasn't been delivering these things at all lately and the only game I'm likely to buy this fall is Advanced Warfare, and purely for the social competition (an aspect of gaming that falls well below the three priorities I listed above).  If I get Advanced Warfare this fall I will buy it purely for the online play.  I couldn’t care less about their latest bonkers plot in campaign or its simplistic "run forward" fps game design, and the only character I care about is my loadout in multiplayer.

The last time I was really taken somewhere fresh was Bioshock.  It had its flaws-- the character is frustratingly non-existent in terms of identity (and that ending was laughably cliche); and the levels weren't as intelligently designed nor did the powers feature any interesting puzzles like were seen in the Metroid Prime games, but Bioshock went somewhere new and interesting.  It had a number of cliches and ugly green flies but I loved the music, the atmosphere, the architecture, the posters, and the environment.

-dustin