About A.D.

What we’re about:

Armchair Diplomat is run by two twenty-something Australians from Melbourne. We run this site as a gaming-focused dual personal blog, and also an outlet for reviews of games and film.

About Mark:

I oft look this tired, especially between the hours of 11:59pm to 12:00 am.

I am a 25 year old 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 (gaming brilliance, where the green blob [i.e. you] punches the red blob [i.e. the computer] in a batte royale par excellance), through the Nintendo, then the same of Super variety, then out towards the 64, computers and now mah 360.

Claim to fame (read nerddom) is that I was in the best clan in Aus 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. We’ll tell you when it’s ready, so suck it up princess.

My gamer scores don’t quite match Matty (I like actually finishing games, rather than every subquest/mission/old man dropped a bucket on the other side of the world and will reward you with a bucket of equal or lesser value on its return), but I quite dig FPS, preferably WW2 games. That said, GH/RB was sweet (letting me live out my rock’n'rolla fantasies, now with 100% real finger cramping).

Game / vocation aside, I have a soft spot for whole bunch of tv shows (most of HBO’s back catalog, British humour, etc…), as well as films (love the ol’ skool kung-fuuuuuu films).

Visit Mark’s blog…
Email Mark…

About Matt:

A cat is fine too

I’m 26, 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 role-play and stealth based games, but like Mark I’ll lend my hand to any game if I think it’s going to be fun. I highly enjoy playing Guitar Hero/Rock Band games, 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) which my Mum and Dad bought for me when I was young. I’ll occasionally get minature waves of nostalgia and want to play that game I used to play. You know, that one where the guy fights that big thing in that place? That game was awesome …

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. Unfortunately 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).

No, I don’t have a Facebook. And I live in the constant fear that beginning this site could mean that I might have to begin one. With any luck, I’ll hold out long enough to join everyone on FaceJournal, or whatever site gets popular next.

: I’m an achievement whore

You may occasionally spot me on Xbox Live, but unfortunately I rarely play online because my broadband ain’t the best (especially towards the end of a month where I’ll invariably be capped). I play games for the enjoyment and challenge, but I’m a completionist at heart. An achievement whore too.

Visit Matt’s blog…
E-mail Matt…