About A.D.
What we’re about:
Armchair Diplomat is an Australian video game blog for casual and dedicated gamers alike.
So what? Independent gaming blogs are a dime-a-dozen, why should you care?
It’s a fair question, but we’re not trying to change the face of games journalism here. We’re not going to be on the cutting edge of news, and we only review games after we feel we’ve spent sufficient time with them. The only thing that sets us apart from the pack is that there really isn’t anything special about us. We’re just gamers who fancy ourselves as writers, and while we try to write in a professional manner, we all have our own sense of humour. When it comes to reviews, we buy all our own games and deliver our honest opinions based upon our own preferences. When it comes to news, we either have an opinion about it or we don’t report it, it’s a simple as that.
So relax, check in with us now and then (or our RSS can tell you when we’ve posted new content), leave a comment and join the discussion with the view from your own armchair.
Who are we?
Matt, Editor-In-Chief: I’m in my late twenties, married, live in the inner-Melbourne area, and spend the majority of my evenings with a drink in my hand either at home or at a local pub. I’m a big fan of roleplay and stealth games, but I’ll lend my hand to pretty much anything. Co-op games are a favourite too.
Most of my gaming takes place on my 360, if only because it’s better suited to it technologically than my PC. I’m a console gamer tracing back to the Sega Master System II (which I still have kicking about the place somewhere).
I used to run a site a long time ago called The Forge (which then merged with the BackBurner) which ran interviews and reviews on mods for Half-Life, Quake, and various other titles. (Un)fortunately neither site still exists …
I enjoy cult movies, science fiction, most series aired on HBO, Jackie Chan, BBC comedy and all number of other random things. My musical tastes span all the way through swing, rock, metal, grunge, hip-hop, oldies and electronica. I’m also a fan of alcohol (or so most of my friends tell me, I don’t see it myself).
By all means add me as a friend on Xbox Live, and on PSN too if you’re that way inclined. I play games for the enjoyment and challenge, but I’m a completionist at heart. An achievement whore too.
—-A work in progress, you didn’t see nothin’—–
Jess, Reviews Editor and Staff Writer:
Stu, Staff Writer: I’m late twenties, male, married without children and delightfully fruity.
Like Matt my first gaming experience was on the abovementioned Sega Master System II (funny thing about being brothers I guess…) but unlike him I never really had the knack for platformers or beat ‘em ups. I really got hooked on gaming when we finally got a PC – Monkey Island, King’s Quest, the middle Ultima games, Crusader and Warcraft all bring back fond memories.
I still do pretty much all my gaming on PC. I suppose my only claim to gaming fame is that once I got passed the phone to talk to Counter-Strike Radio live on air – they were interviewing Matt and he needed to go take a whizz. I hate Macs with a passion and outside of gaming I enjoy shipping the nickels at the poker table, delicious beer and the majesty of the circle pit.
For nerds who care my PC is a Core 2 Duo 3GHz with 2Gb RAM and a 512Mb NVidia GeForce 8600 video card, running XP because we hatessss Vista it burnssss us precious and I haven’t got around to migrating to Windows 7 yet.
Stu’s posts (mind the poker references)…
Moose, Staff Writer: Born on the mean streets of Louisianna, I grew up on the bayou. At a young age I fashioned a NES using an empty log and swamp gas. It was from this point that my gaming life began. I was, without a doubt, a Nintendo kid. Unashamedly I mocked those who chose the (in my opinion) inferior Sega system.
In my later years, I moved to the island of Tonga and created a Nintendo 64 from palm leaves and coconuts. It was at this point that my love for Zelda came to the fore. This was a helcyon age where Zelda was coming out with one glorious title after another. After this I decided to move to the mainland and take my chances with the legally distributed systems produced by the companies themselves. I have since settled down to a normal life of gaming, drinking and growing my beard to luxurious lengths. Life doesn’t get much better than this.
I tend to focus my attentions on the most artistic and well written of all video games: sport games. From Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr to EA Sports Cricket 2010, truly these are the epitome of creative storylines. For example, I remember with The Ashes Cricket 2009, the concept was to win The Ashes by playing games of cricket in 2009. Where do they come up with such storylines? Some say they hired a thousand poets and gave each of them opium; others claim that they simply refused to pay for better writing. I guess we’ll never know.
I’m also Armchair Diplomat’s resident DS writer.
Mark, Staff Writer and Code Monkey: I’m a mid-twenties gent, seeking married lady for fun and discreet times … wait … no, that’s not it. I’m a gamer from way back starting on the Atari 2600, through the Nintendo, then the same of Super variety, then out towards the 64, computers and now my 360.
My dubious claim to fame (read nerddom) is that I was part of the best clan in Australia for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. I’m a graphic-designer-type-guy making his way in a world of building websites for a living, so expect lots of work to go into this site.
I’ll be sure to tell you “when it’s ready”.
