John Cook Age: 23

John first encountered video games in the early 1990’s when his grandfather bought him a Nintendo Entertainment System. He spent many hours honing his skills with The Super Mario Brothers, Ninja Gaiden, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and with Contra. From that point on his love for gaming steadily increased until the release of the Nintendo 64. With the Nintendo 64 John’s love of video gaming went from casual to passionate, or some have even called it, fanatical. He devoured game after game, from Super Mario 64 to Diddy Kong Racing to Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.

As time progressed he began to dabble with other video game consoles, namely the Playstation 1. It was with this system that John’s love of role-playing games took root. A friend introduced him to Final Fantasy VII, which led John down a spiraling path of turn-based battles, leveling building and text boxes. Final Fantasy VII had opened his eyes to a brand new genre that would take him from the castle building awesomeness of Suikoden to the mech-based world of Xenogears and eventually back to the classics that spawned the genre. His life would never be the same again.

 

John eagerly awaited the next wave of consoles: Sega’s Dreamcast, the Playstation 2, the Nintendo Game Cube and Microsoft’s XBOX. Although he dabbled with various genres, he stuck to what he had grown to love: role-playing games. Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind consumed a great deal of his time, to the point where he had to cut himself off completely from the game in order to play something different. He purchased a PS2 just to play the tenth incarnation of the Final Fantasy series and the Nintendo Game Cube offered some interesting titles as well – Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing and his favorite game of all time: Skies of Arcadia Legends.

John unexpectedly disappeared to Europe for ten months and missed the release of the next wave of consoles – the PS3, the Nintendo Wii and the XBOX 360. But since his return he has been keeping himself busy playing the games he missed out on during his absence and has plans to purchase these systems in the near future.

Favorite Console(s): N64, PS1, PS2

Favorite Game(s): Super Mario 64 (N64), Final Fantasy VII (PS1), Xenogears(PS2), Skies of Arcadia Legends (NGC)

Tim Monroe Age: 22

Although he is one year younger than John, Tim began playing video games much earlier than his older cousin. One of Tim’s earliest memories involves him playing Atari with his mother. Unbeknownst to Tim, who was holding a controller, he was not actually playing. Rather, his mother was playing the game while Tim mashed buttons on a controller that was not even plugged in.

Tim’s mother’s passed down her love for gaming onto her son, who grew up on the classics. Tim began gaming with the Atari 2600, and then he moved onto the NES, the SNES, the Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, and so forth. But as with John, it was the Nintendo 64 that turned video gaming into something more than a weekend hobby for Tim. With games such as WCW vs. NWO World Tour, Road Rash 64, and Goldeneye 007, Tim mastered the art of decimating his opponents, a feat that still engenders animosity between Tim and his cousin John.

 

Tim’s skills for multiplayer games further evolved with the release of the Microsoft’s blockbuster first person shooter: Halo. A deadly shot with the sniper rifle; Tim’s headshots brought him victory after victory. But Tim plays more than just Halo; he has always considered himself an old school gamer. He consistently goes back to playing the classics, whether it is Sonic the Hedge Hog or some obscure NES title; Tim has never forgotten his roots.

Favorite Console(s): NES, N64, XBOX 360

Favorite Game(s): Ninja Gaiden (NES), Super Mario World (SNES), Halo (XBOX)