Introduce Yourself!

[digitalpress]

Welcome to the forums!

This is a big place and it's sometimes easy to get lost in the crowd, but we really do want to know about you. This thread will serve as a "who's who" reference for the future so make your presence known!

Tell us any or all of the following:
- Who you are
- Where you live
- How you found the forums
- What your favorite games are
- What systems you collect for
- What you do in "real life"
- Any other interesting facts, like how you began collecting, etc.

NOTE: posts here that are NOT introductions will be removed, so if you want to say hello to someone, start a new topic to do so.

Let us begin.

[digitalpress]

I'm Joe Santulli, from scenic Pompton Lakes, NJ.

I'm the Editor-in-Chief of a small but enduring publication known as Digital Press, which is a hybrid of many different forms of media that caters to the gaming elite - those who love the classics. We started in 1992 and have done several books, over fifty periodicals, a ColecoVision game (Ms. Space Fury) and a music CD (courtesy Tony Fox NYC).

I'm the originator of the Tips & Tricks magazine column, "Collector's Closet" which started with the September 2001 issue. I did that for over three years. I still get a kick out of the fact that I was getting a paycheck from Larry Flynt.

I'm also a co-organizer of Classic Gaming Expo which runs frequently in Las Vegas, established in 1999. You can find out more about this convention at www.cgexpo.com

I left my "real job" in corporate America in September of 2005 to open my own videogame store. You can find out lots more about that from just poking around the site here or reading my myspace blog.

As you might guess by this, I get bored pretty easily. Which leads to my little hobby. I've been collecting videogames since 1977, though I still have an Odyssey1 system from 1972. I don't know how many games I have in my collection, but as most collectors know, it just never ends. I've taken over several rooms in our house (as discreetly as possible). See www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery/digitalpress for a visual.

Always happy to mingle with other gamers, especially die-hards. See you on the forums!

[punkoffgirl]

My turn, my turn!!

I'm Jaime, 24, from Maine, and a GIRL thankyouverymuch (Darn androgyneous name!!)
First system I ever played was the Atari 2600 back in the day. Seems we fought over whose turn it was next more than we actually played, when I think back! One of the banes of having to share with four siblings =) However, we eeked in enough game time to pull the rubber coating off all the joysticks we owned.
We didn't get our next system until about 6 months after the NES debuted, as a birthday present for my oldest brother. Ahh.. the joys of SMB! Once he hit puberty, he discovered the job of taking his gaming rage out on the console, and we quickly went through four consecutive consoles until he decided NOT to wear his boots when playing anymore.
I don't collect much, more for financial reasons than anything else, so I'm a gamer if you need a label. You'll most likely find me spamming the HECK out of the off-topic forum, but I like to add my two cents in other places now and then.
Okay, who's next?

[Dire 51]

I'm Dire 51, otherwise known as Rob. I run one videogame website, have a couple others that are archived and write. A lot. I'm also a father of three.

[YoshiM]

My name is Dan and I hail from Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. I am a PC Tech Administrator for a small electrical wholesaler. As a side hobby I am a PC game designer/creator (strictly 2-D, can't quite get the knack of the 3D stuff) and my current project is at saviorknight.com/ (I know, shameless plug).

I stumbled upon the DP site some time ago when looking for classic video game reviews and information and have been coming back ever since. For gaming I'm an old school Nintendo fan (hence the nick) but also I have interests in the newer-yet-dead system category (Jaguar, Saturn, soon maybe a 3DO). Out of any genre I must say I am a big platformer and arcade fan. And I seem to be one of the few who think the TRS-80 Color Computer was a fun gaming platform.

I began collecting games around 1989/1990 when I had both a NES and an SMS. Other than games, I like to write (fiction mainly, but I also do technical writing if needed like instruction manuals and such), cook, and have a strange affection for hand puppets.

[ShinobiMan]

Hey there everyone, I'm Tyler, and I discovered this wonderful board way back in February of 2001.

I am 27 years old and incredibly blessed to be married to the love of my life. I work in Video Production.

I own over 20 consoles (handhelds included), collected mostly between the years 1994 - 2003. Gaming was a hobby I shared mostly with my Dad who passed away in 2007. He left me with an enormous collection of over 700 games, each filled with their own unique memories of growing up in a Nintendo / Sega dominated VG market.

It amazes me how I've been a contributing member of these forums for over 12 years! Long live retro gaming!

[den68]

My name is Den. I'm 34 years old and live in Michigan. I've been married for 6 years (Carol) and have a 2 year old daughter (Allison). I also have a dog (Stevie), she's a lab/rott mix. For the past 8 years I've been Creative Services Manager for a marketing firm that specializes in logoed apparel and merchandise. My degree is in graphic/advertising design.

I've been a video game fan since my first Atari 2600 in 1980. From there I went to the Commodore 64 then NES, then Genesis, then PSX. I still have all my original systems and games and for the past year and a half have been actively collecting for any video game item I can find. As a result my basement has become quite cluttered.

Oh well.

[Mayhem]

Back to the grindstone...

This is Mat living it round about in England (like you couldn't get that from the side!). The title kind of gives away which system I'm most involved in! So much so that Joe is kind enough to let me head up that section in the DP guide

Not just the C64 I work with however. The 7800 also gets some attention from time to time, especially as I have just secured myself a complete copy of Tank Command and some of the HES releases.

Been playing for too long perhaps... ever since the parents got me a Pong type console at the back end of the 70s. From there the VCS came and went, and in its place sat the C64. And it's been there for the last 18 years. I'm also a Nintendo fan, so most of their consoles have been through my hands also.

Jobwise, I work for HP now (used to be Compaq until the merger) doing some support work. But as the Dire Straits song goes it's "money for nothing". Sadly I don't get my chicks for free!

Not that I wouldn't mind PoG, Atar1g1rl or QoF giving me their attentions now

Oh, before I forget... go visit www.mayhem64.co.uk and see what you think...

[LinkNZ]

My name is Jonathan, I'm 18 and I'm from New Zealand.

Like many of you I've been playing Videogames what seems like my whole life, I have no real special affiliation to any one company - I do have a soft spot for certain Nintendo games, The Legend of Zelda being my favourite ever since I can remember.

I'm so glad I was never one to sell off my old game stuff, it would be almost impossible (either that or too expensive) to get it all again, especially here in NZ where there's hardly any good stuff but a lot of people around that want it. :x I'm just very lucky I guess.

Collecting games is very fun, but it's just playing them that gives me the most satisfaction. I am just so sick and tired of all the constant console bashing that goes on in other forums, I don't understand why people can't just play and admit when a game is damn fun - despite what console it may appear on!

Anyway that's my rant over. I found this site while looking for a games list I think it was awhile back, been around ever since. I've changed my board name but I didn't post much anyway so it's no biggy.

Umm yeah, new forum looks awesome. I'm happy to be here.

PS: If anyone could help fix my icon i'd be even more happy, it was originally 80x80 but when it went down to 50x50 it got that stupid outline thing, PM me or something if you know what to do - Cheers.

[NoahsMyBro]

The below excerpt is copied from a previous post to an older, less sophisticated message forum. If you enjoy reading it, new posts by the author will be available often at the NEW Digital Press Retrogaming Roundtable. Don't miss an issue!


For a very long time I'd been meaning to check out the 'Introductions' thread. I couldn't remember if I had ever posted to introduce myself, and meant to do so if I hadn't previously. Of course, I am a champion procrastinator, and I never got a round tuit (well, since that time in the 6th grade when my Dad gave me one...).

So here I am, taking advantage of the fresh start on the topic and presenting myself to the world here at DP.com.

I'm Steve Jacobs. With a not uncommon name like that, it's awfully hard to think up an easy-to-remember, unique AOL screen-name. What would be easy for people to remember and associate with >me<, that hadn't already been thunk up? Hence my screen-name - NoahsMyBro.

I'm in my mid-30's. It's been nearly 20 years since I was good at videogames, but at least now I can afford to get them, and I plan on getting in serious practice time 35 years from now when I'm retired!

I live in West Orange, New Jersey, with my wife Jessica and my son Nate, currently 17 months. During working hours I am the System Administrator/Helpdesk/Tech Geek for a web-consulting company in Little Falls. Our company is involved in ERP, CRM, B2B, etc... Don't ask me to explain the terms, but if any of our people needs help with their email I'm the Man!

I like tinkering with electronics, and (when I have the time) enjoy messing around making custom controllers for the old game systems. Some of the most fun I ever had with my 7800 was fabricating 2 controller adapters that allow you to use Sega Genesis controllers on the 7800, with 2 fully-functional, independent fire buttons. My favorite systems are the 5200 & the Dreamcast.

I have a small, crude but functional vanity website located at http://www.jacobshome.org. You may find out more about my interests there.

Lastly, I enjoy sci-fi, music of almost any kind, and until I moved to NJ and got well-acquainted with their overly present troopers, driving (fast).

[Arrrhalomynn]

I'm Mark, 19 (12-30-1982) years old. I live in the small town of Elburg in the Netherlands. In september I'm going to study Notary law (or however it's called in english) so I can make lots of money and buy happiness.
In general I collect for all sega systems and the psx, but I try to focus on the Saturn. Most games for the system suck, but it's the most fun/easy to collect for here.
Some of my favorite games are Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Castle of Illusion, Shenmue, Tekken 3 and Sonic.

[kainemaxwell]

Here we go again...

I'm Chris, also known as Kaine23 or Bahamut in the Internet community. I'm 25 and living in NJ, graduated a community college with an AAS in computers, trying to look for any work right now, may be going back to a school soon enough.

My first system was an Atari 2600, then a Commodore 64, Atari XE and then I entered the NES era. From there I got a SNES, Sega CDX, N64 and a PSX. I've recently gotten more into retro gaming with my SNES, and been playing my PSX and N64 more. Also deciding to start collecting, perhaps with the NES or Atari 2600 since I still have it.

I also have a Dragonball Z site at:
http://shenlon.cjb.net

[MankeyMan]

I am Josef, a.k.a MankeyMan. I am from America's 52nd state, which is generally called England.
First things first, i am in no way associated with Pokemon or monkeys. I have just finished my GCSE's (annoying english tests, 14 of them) and I am now free to laze around all summer, spamming these boards.
I have many projects on the go, all half finished, most of which will never see the light of day. Some of these include my website:

http://crapgames.tripod.com

as well as looking for a job. If anyone has one that involves not doing very much I'd be happy to do it

I am mainly a nintendo man, as I have all of their consoles except a Virtual Boy (they always miss us out !"$%"£).

Wow, I ramble,
Josef

[SaitoH]

Ummm ... I don't really like talking about myself with people I don't really know. Buffy DP is probably my best online friend (I think I'd glue myself to her if I could =P ), I know POG quite well ( cause she's a sweetheart) and I used to play PSO with Joe ( which I miss very much), but other than that I don't really know anyone else. I used to post her, but I quickly tired of the lamers that infected this board, so I've been waiting till things were cleaned up. It seems alot nicer around here now and I should start posting here a little more frequently.

If you wish to find out some stuff about me use the "--> \^w^/ <--" link in my sig. It's my first attempt at a homepage. Just shows pictures of my place, some stories I wrote (one of which is video game related =P ) , photos I've taken and other junk. It says alot about me, so that should suffice (I hope).

Anyway ... the new place looks great and I look forward to posting here.

^w^

[bigdaddychester]

Hey Everyone. My name is Brian but somehow the nickname bigdaddychester was given to me and has since become my alias. I'm 31 and I live in Milton, West Virginia with my wife Amy and our 6 month old daughter Caitlin. I'm a process machinery designer and during the summer weekends, I work for dirt race track in southern Ohio. Money was tight as a kid growing up but my first console was a Bally Astrocade (Which I still play!) I don't have a preference toward a particular system but I like to collect games that I will play. I have only been collecting since about January. Joe, this website rocks. I'm not sure how I found but I'm glad I did!!

[Raedon]

Hey,
I'm a game collector from East Texas. My name is Wes Southern. If your from East Texas and wonder why it's so dry it's because all the games are at my house.

I got into collecting games before I even knew what game collecting was. While at RIT (Rochester Institute of Tech.) I left all my old gaming equipment at home in my closet. Well, At college computer gaming and internet gaming were the big things with DOOM and later Quake.

After finishing up and getting a job my parents said, "come home and clean all your crap out or it's going in the trash!" well, maybe they didn't say it like that but I remember it being close. So I went home and started going threw boxes of old love letters and clothes so out of style that just touching them could cause permanent virginity.

Well, I came across something wonderful! my old NES! there it was! I thought I traded this old POS for a quarter bag of weed and a Metallica tape in '88. Guess I explained why my memory of that period was fuzzy.

So I continue deeper into the closet.. Some NES games here, an Intelevision cart there. Then a box of Amiga Floppies. My Amiga! I remembered that somewhere was my old Amiga 1000. I had left it somewhere at home 5 years prior and it "must" still be here. I looked everywhere. I went to the garage, there it was! In it's box! I remember how I had sold my neighbor my old (and loaded) C64 back in 86 for $500.00 so I could afford some of the $800 the Amiga cost me.

I loaded it all up and took it to my new pad. Broke off my ass working that first resume job; Which is sort of like being in boot camp.

I only had a 25 inch TV and some old games.. I couldn't afford $199 and $60 for the newest games. I couldn't afford that $4.31 movie rental! I was bored out of my mind!

I hooked up the NES and played threw Zelda, it was WONDERFUL. I was young agian! I didn't cheat and it had been so long. I burned all the bushes, bombed all the walls. I was in gaming nostagia heaven.

I hooked up my old Intellevision and played some Snafu, "damn these controllers suck! I love it!"

So one weekend I'm out looking for some games.. everything new is to much for the guy with the car payment, rent and *insert more debt here*

So I figure I'll go to a pawn and see if I can score some cheap games. I find NES games for $1.99! Megaman! Adventure Island! Dragon Warrior! SMB3! I had just scored 2 months of entertainment for pennies on the dollar!

From there it was just a small jump to a weekend flee market and 100's of Atari, snes, genesis Colecovision games later..

.. I was a Game Collector..

[sniperCCJVQ]

Hi!

My name is Pascal Reeves, i'm a Canadian living in the city of Saint-Jerome (Saint-Antoine) in the province of Quebec. I'm a member of the CCJVQ/QVGCC (Quebec Video Game Collector Club).

Right now i'm still in college to get my diploma in Networking/Telecomm.

I collecting everything for the NES system since the end of the 80's and thrifting and flea marketing to find cool/weird/unusual stuff from the 70's and 80's is one of my favorite activities.

I remember some of my early gaming exploit with Donkey Kong on the Trash-80, PONG and Asteroids on the 2600. But it's the NES that really caught me.

My favorite game is WWF Superstars at the arcade. Since the game was release in 1989 i always haved the dream the get the game in my basement one day and i make my dream come true last year by buying a near complete game in a mint cabinet :-)

I found the forum via SLYDC (aka Sylvain de Chantal) that some of you know by his FAQ. One cool thing is SLYDC is living only at 15 minutes from my home.

I've been to the last two Phillyclassic and it was fun to meet some of you (Joe, Jaime, Will, Christian Scott etc etc). I try my best everytime to improve my talking english skills and have better conversation with some of my US neighbours.

[jaydubnb]

*steps up to bat*

Hey boys and girls, the name's Jay and i hail from Brooklyn, NYC ("Hey yo!"). I'm 28, a medical biller/collector, college student majoring in English (no i do NOT wish to teach ) and writer for a real website that's set to debut this fall, not the Miscellaneous Crap [tm] featured in my sig.

I've been gaming since the early 80s with Atari systems, handhelds and whatnot. However, my hobby turned hardcore when the NES debuted! SMB had me hooked like crack, and took my love for gaming to the next level. Well here are some miscellaneous facts:

Systems that get the most play time:
PC Engine Duo-R
SNES
Genny 3 (sexiest system ever made. if onlyit had a broadband port so i could make sweet, sweet love to it...*ahem*)

Systems getting some time here and there:
Top Loading NES

Systems getting the gasface:
PS2

My holy grail system would be to score a NEO GEO system, which i plan to start diving into when i finish college this fall. Being in college and collecting for that expesnsive a$$ system do NOT mix.

Favorite Games: Star Parodia (PCE CD), Dracula X (PCE CD), Baseball Stars (NES), Sympony of the Night (PS1), Gunstar Heroes (Genny), Contra (NES), Bonk series (PCE/TG16), Outrun (any system!), Chrono Trigger (SNES), Downtown Nekketsu/Kunio seires (various systems), R-Type Delta, Kid Icarus (we need an update!), Goonies II, and probably a few I forgot

[buttasuperb]

My name is Nick, im from Brookfield, IL suburb of Chicago and home of the wonderful Brookfield Zoo. I've been playing videogames since I was 6 years old, when i got a NES on my birthday. (that was a glorious day) Over the years, ive always sold my old system to get the newer better systems, mainly because at the time that was the only way i could affort it. I started missing all my old systems about a year ago, and thats when I started really getting into collecting. So I bought a genesis off of ebay, and traded my friend a ps2 game and pc game for his snes and a few games. That was start of the hobby that now leaves my wallet empty most of the time. I now collect for the nes, snes, genesis, neo geo aes, neo geo pocket color, saturn, playstation, dreamcast, and ps2. My collection starts with the nes because thats what i started my gaming career off with. I will someday get into collecting the sega master system and 2600, but thats not a priority right now.

I'm a huge fan a 2D fighters, and a fan of fighting games in general. Shrouyouked! I've got a pretty good collection of fighting games, although i got a long way to go in terms of neo geo games. SNK for life! Im now starting to get into saturn imports, mainly 2D shooters. (i still need to find radiant silvergun)

I stumbled upon this place on christmas of last year, and im very glad i did. By far the best group of people ever assembled on a message board. The people here made me feel welcomed, and that's why im still here today.

[Kid Fenris]

In the intrusively bothersome thing known as real life, my name is Todd and I'm working at a newspaper company in Dayton, Ohio. Aside from the requisite love of gaming, my hobbies include reading, hiking, and animation.
For much of my childhood, my experiences with video games were limited to arcades and the houses of friends, but my parents eventually capitulated and bought a Nintendo Entertainment System for their spastic yet insistent son. My interest in gaming then grew to the point where I now find myself the owner of my still-functional NES as well as a Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, Dreamcast, Saturn, PlayStation, Super NES, GameBoy, Neo-Geo Pocket Color, Sega CD, Nintendo64, PlayStation 2, GameBoy Advance, Virtual Boy, and a TurboGrafx-16 that I nicknamed “Pukey.” Don’t ask.
Though I try to play a bit of everything, my favorite games tend to be Japan-bred console RPGs like Chrono Trigger, Popful Mail, Xenogears, Emerald Dragon, Valkyrie Profile, Vagrant Story, Secret of Mana, and Final Fantasy Tactics. Also plentiful in my collection are shooters, puzzle games, platformers, and members of the highly inclusive “action adventure” genre.
I stumbled across Digital Press while poking around the Tips and Tricks webpage, and I’ve visited these boards on a near-daily basis ever since.