Following on from our birthday announcement yesterday, it is with great pleasure that we introduce you to the first of our new Writers: the amazing Ben. Some of you may know him better as The Dad, Gentleman Geek who once contributed for us; we liked him so much that we decided to keep him for ourselves.
Ben has been a geek for as long as he can remember. As well as being interested in comic books, science-fiction and video games, he’s a happily married man with two lovely kids and a dog – along with a blog where he shares some of his more off-piste opinions and thoughts.
The 1001-Up.com team first met this talented (and opinionated!) Writer back in October 2013, after trying to arrange a WordPress Family Meet-Up in London in November. Unfortunately the event didn’t exactly go to plan; just one person showed up but they were the only person we needed – Ben! We may have only known him for several months now but his interest in the same kind of games and similar sense of humour make it feel as if we’ve known him for years. Here are his answers to our questions…
The gorgeous Craig, Phil and Ben.
Describe yourself in five words.
“A Dad, Gent and Geek.”
What do you do in ‘real life’?
“I’m professionally qualified (I even have letters after my name!) to talk about buildings. I have just as many opinions about them as I do video games.”
What do you do in your spare time?
“Family time, cycle and play video games.”
Where did you grow up and what were you like as a kid?
“I grew up in the centre of Birmingham. By all accounts I was a pretty nice kid and I’ve managed to keep some good friends from my youth into adulthood.”
How did you get into gaming?
“It was gradual. Firstly seeing the ZX Spectrums and Commodore 64s my friends had, then arcades, then Amigas and STs before the consoles really took off. I was hooked immediately but didn’t have access to the machinery because my parents thought it would rot my brain (the expense too wasn’t easy to swallow). The first gaming machine I owned was a Game Boy, a joint twelfth (I think) birthday and Christmas present. Then in my mid-teens Dad bought a PC. It had a 486 DX (66Mhz!!) processor and less RAM than a wristwatch but it could play Wolfenstein and all the shareware of that generation in glorious S-VGA graphics. It was then I saved up the full £50 I needed to buy Doom II and the rest, as they say, is history.”
What’s your favourite video game and why?
“How long is a piece of string? It could be Space Invaders because it’s the first one I truly remember playing, or Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck’s Revenge because it was the one that got me hooked. Maybe Barbarian because it was the first ‘adult’ one, GTA III for the revolution it caused, Mass Effect 2 for the genius, World of Warcraft for the addiction, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic because it was Star Wars, Wing Commander for the space battles, Elite for… well, being Elite, Doom II for the reasons above, Journey for the emotional impact, LEGO Batman 2 for the bond my son and I have, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for the true interactive movie experience, Beneath a Steel Sky for the plot, Unreal Tournament for the multiplayer, Metroid for the way it slowly reeled me in, Batman: Arkham City for making me feel like Batman, Mario 64 for the pure joy, Gears of War for the co-op, Mario Kart for the chaos, Street Fighter II for the benchmark, Command and Conquer for destroying my GCSEs… It could be any of them.
“But if I had to pick one, it would be The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. It’s everything Zelda should be, condensed into a Game Boy cartridge. More importantly though, it is the game with memories that has stayed with me for twenty years now.”
This image should bring back a lot of memories for Ben!
How did you get into blogging?
“I needed an outlet for my opinions, an outlet that would have other adults offering opinions too.”
Do you think it has changed you in any way?
“I don’t think so, I like to think I’m still the same person. That said I’ve made three cracking friends and have been included in a community that considers me to have thoughts worth listening to and engaging with, something I find extremely flattering.”
Which of your articles are you most proud of?
“Probably the post where I discuss whether or not reviews should be scored. It’s the one that prompted the most debate and I definitely felt like the kid in class who put up his hand to ask what everyone else was thinking.”
What has been your favourite moment in your blogging career so far?
“Being invited to join the 1001-Up.com team.”
What are you most looking forward to over the coming year?
“Attending my first conference at Rezzed and getting my mitts on a PS4.”
Describe each member of the 1001-Up.com team… and you don’t have to be nice. Really.
“Hard not to be nice when they’re all such genuinely lovely people.”
We’re looking forward to dragging Ben to the Rezzed expo with us this year.
Thanks to Ben for answering our questions and for agreeing to join the team – it’s a pleasure to have him with us! Tomorrow, new Writer Kevin will be taking his turn under our spotlight when we’ll be diving a little deeper into his Mental Attic – sounds messy.
