I thought it would be good to find out some more about the guys behind Game-Pad. So I compiled some questions a couple of months ago, and submitted them for them to answer.
So for the questions & answers, Click the READ MORE Button.
First up to answer the questions is Dean - Strite;
So, When was It In your life you started your gaming?
I was around 4 when I first played Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Master System II, been gaming ever since.
What have been your favorite games on each of the platforms you have owned, And why?
Sega Mega Drive/Sega Master System - Sonic the Hedgehog
Nintendo 64 – Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Playstation (Too many to list, but these spring to mind) – Metal Gear Solid, Crash Bandicoot, Destruction Derby, Spyro the Dragon.
Playstation 2: Shadow of the Colossus, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy X
Xbox: Halo
What Is It Strite likes to do when not doing gaming/game-pad stuff?
Spending time with my fiance, watching TV/Movies, listening to music and hanging out with friends, the usual stuff really.
You have started Game-pad up with your fellow co-founder Lucifonz, and with a lot of help from some fella called The Guv'nor who does seem to follow you around :P , What have you got planned for the moving forward and future of Game-Pad?
Well so far the site has been Live for a little over five months now, our long-term goals are quite ambitious and I won’t be revealing what we have planned in the long-run just yet :P However I can go into some detail about our short-term goals – Obviously the Podcast is something that’s been on hold for awhile due to some unforeseen issues with my health, however now that I’m back this is something that we’re working on now and are hoping to get some regular episodes out the door in the coming weeks/months. Also the magazine. We also have a couple of other little projects that we’re working hard on so expect to hear more on them soon ;)
Can you name us your top 3 or 5 games from this Gen of consoles?
Sure thing, in fact I’ll do 6 :D in order of least favourite to favourite:
6. Viva Pinata (1 & 2)
5. Gears of War (1 & 2)
4. Little Big Planet
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
1. Chromehounds
And then put them, maybe, Into your top 5 of ALL time?
Hmm, tough one… Okay here goes, least fav to fav:
5. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
4. Kingdom Hearts Saga
3. Final Fantasy Franchise
2. Chromehounds
1. Shadow of the Colossus
Slight change of subject now :)
Movies, What are you top 5 movies of all time & why?
5. Twelve Monkeys because It’s thought provoking.
4. Armageddon because I was 10 when I first watched it and it made me cry L
3. Nightmare Before Christmas because it’s Tim Burtons greatest achievement (IMO) and he rocks!
2. WALL-E because it’s one of the few Disney Pixar movies that doesn’t avoid touchy subjects, plus the animation is just top notch.
1. The Lion King because it was my favourite movie growing up and watching it even now brings back warm memories.
What were your favorite TV programs when Strite was a wee little lad, coming home from Infant school, and senior school?
I didn’t really watch much TV growing up tbh, I grew up in the countryside so was often outside playing in the fields or making ‘dens’ in the local woods with friends, other than that I’d play videogames on whatever console I owned at the time and watch movies.
If you was a superhero, Who would you be and why?
I wouldn’t, I’d be a villain and it’d have to be The Riddler, I like to confuse people :D
What are your favorite books and magazines you read now, and what magazines did you get with your hard earned pocket money as a youngster :) ?
Again I didn’t really bother with magazines in fairness growing up, I read a lot of books but far too many to list. When I got my PS2 I used to pick up a copy of OPSM2 maybe every couple of months. Nowadays I still don’t really bother with magazines, preferring to use the internet instead.
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Next up, Chaz - Lucifonz;
So, When was It In your life you started your gaming?
An extremely long time ago. I forget how old I was exactly but back in the day, on a PC with 4 megs of RAM (which we upgraded to a whopping 8 megs), playing Maths Blast and 'Sold Out Software' games as they were the only things that would run. I remember being extremely excited to get back home and play some Military Submarine simulator. Also games like Harrier JumpJet by MicroProse were a big thing of my childhood. Until the Sega of course...
What have been your favorite games on each of the platforms you have owned, And why?
Thats an extremely tough question, it's hard to think of a single favourite for the platforms I've owned. Back in the days of the Sega MegaDrive obviously games from the Sonic series were a huge love of myn, but also much lesser known titles such as 'Story of Thor' and 'ToeJam and Earl' are still today some of my favourite Sega games.
Obviously for a platform like the PC it's near impossible to pick a favourite game due to its ongoing lifespan, but a recent little game called World of Warcraft (some of you might have heard of it?), has been a huge love of myn and is the reason I'm so into my MMO's today.
For the Playstation the game that stands out is always Final Fantasy 7, but for the PS2 I find it hard to put my finger on any one game. Half way through the PS2's life cycle I was walking to school one day and had a bright idea that if I traded in my mass of PS2 games I'd probably get an Xbox for little to nothing. So on that weekend I did exactly that! Of course Halo 2 is the game which stands out for the Original Xbox as my favourite game.
But more recent platforms - for the 360 it's not even an exclusive title but Call of Duty 4 definitely holds it's head high. However Shadowrun was a game which I absolutely adored. I still hope that one day the original vision for that game can be reached in such a way that it's successful enough to support.
What Is It Lucifonz likes to do when not doing gaming/game-pad stuff?
The usual watching TV Series, Films, Music and hanging out with friends. A huge chunk of my time is spent on Gaming, and Game-Pad stuff for that matter.
Myself and Strite are always bouncing little ideas about for the future of Game-Pad. I think something to be careful about is not doing too much. Back when I worked on 'Your-Gaming' we tried to do far too much on a small staff base which ended up falling flat on its face. With Game-Pad I think it's essential we stick to what we do best and just carry on pushing until slowly we build up our name on the busy interwebs. That's not to say that we don't plan to do added features by a long shot. The PadCast is something we love doing but have had trouble recently getting the time to do - so that's definitely an area we will push strongly as soon as we can. Maybe take on some community members to chat to us in the show. Community Events are currently the main thing we have been speaking about. Game-Pad gets a regular flow of hits but many of these people don't sign up and join our fantastic community - we need to find more ways to provide an incentive to do so. With Modern Warfare 2 on our doorstep that's a game which we will certainly be trying to push from Community events, such as Staff vs Community nights. Competitions is another area we want to explore further to provide that 'added value' to the site. Along with this we feel we have reached a point now where we have a good shot at getting some Review Builds for games prior to release, so that we can get our reviews out there at a time when they're much more appealing to gamers. This is something we plan to give a good shot at next year! Along with of course another big push for exclusive interviews. Overall we just want to keep adding neat new things to the site for our members to enjoy. To do this we obviously need as much support from the community as we can get (thanks for everything so far guys!). I believe that it's important we stay focused on what we can do well, and as we grow explore other areas. So far, so very good!
You have started Game-pad up with your fellow co-founder Strite, and with a lot of help from some fella called The Guv'nor who does seem to follow you around :P , What have you got planned for the moving forward and future of Game-Pad?
Can you name us your top 3 or 5 games from this Gen of consoles?
Again thats super tough. Call of Duty 4 as I said earlier is one of my favourite FPS titles as it really did set a benchmark 2 years ago. Again Shadowrun is an FPS which I felt really tried to do something different - an area which we don't see much of recently. Fallout 3 is another one of my top titles, with all of the DLC for that game it really is one of the best value for money singleplayer experiences you can get this generation. I'm currently on my second playthrough and still it surprises me in many ways.
Surprisingly when trying to think of non-FPS titles Halo Wars is a game which comes to mind. Although it doesn't exactly do anything new, or deserve a 10/10 score, it's still a fantastic RTS experience on the console. This is a genre which has pretty much failed on the platform due to controller restraints yet Ensemble Studios managed to build the game from the ground up based on the controller meaning the end product is an extremely well handled RTS game. It has enough depth to stay interesting for months and months of play, yet you never feel restricted by the controller. It is also one of my largest played games of this generation oddly enough.
And then put them, maybe, Into your top 5 of ALL time?
This is something I really can't answer. Its too hard for me to pick out 5 games from those listed above (and a ton more!) which I love more than the rest. Theres just too many to list.
Movies, What are you top 5 movies of all time & why?
To be honest I always find it hard to say which are my top movies of all time. I enjoy many but never really consider them to be 'the best'. Saying that after coming out of District 9 I was absolutely buzzing with excitement at the possibility of a continuation to that story. The entire film was a fantastic rollercoaster ride of epic action and emotion, resulting in one of the greatest films I've seen in many years. The only other that comes to mind is Cloverfield. I thought that film was extremely interesting and believable thanks to its unique POV. I would absolutely love to see a sequel to that film, possibly the same events told from another person/group of people allowing the viewer to learn more about the origins of the creature and what not.
What were your favorite TV programs when Lucifonz was a wee little lad, coming home from Infant school, and senior school?
Stupid things like Arthur, Pokemon and ArtAttack. I was never really into the kiddy gameshow style programs but for some reason have always been fond of cooking shows....
If you was a superhero, Who would you be and why?
Spiderman probably just because the possibility of swinging and chilling out on huge skyscrapers is appealing. It's definitely the coolest way to travel thats for sure. Saying that, Spiderman would be a big fat failure in anywhere but a high rising city. What are your favorite books and magazines you read now, and what magazines did you get with your hard earned pocket money as a youngster :) ? To be honest I've never been a big reader. It's just never really appealed to me for some reason. Ever since a kid I've been an extremely visual person with playing games from an early age and enjoying my films etc. I used to get the Dandy back in the day with my brother getting the Beano but that didn't last too long. I don't think I've ever read a full book outside of school tasks, I get bored extremely fast with them and think of all the things I could be doing instead!
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Both Lucifonz & Strite felt it would be nice if I answered some questions of my own.
So last up, Pete - The Guv'nor;
So, when was it in your life that you started gaming?
I was 7 years old. I was living in Germany as my Dad was in the Air-Force. I had a friend in the same block of flats as me, he had a C64. Of course this was the best thing ever :) , and I had to have one. So, that following Xmas, I did indeed have a spanking new Commodore 64, with its separate mega sized Tape deck lol.
But the first game my dad put on for me was called “The Helm”, I'll never forget it. Was a god dam text based adventure game, no pictures, nothing lol. That's NOT what you want to see as a 7 year old boy. So after I moaned, I believe he put Commando on. Oh and had Bruce Lee also, loved that game.
What have been your favourite games on each of the platforms you have owned, and why?
Wow, hard one this. Id say on the c64, I spent many many hours playing Microprose Soccer with my mates back in its 1989 release. Also pretty much any game that System 3 made, Like The Last Ninja, Vendetta, Tusker, all amazing games.
Then I got myself an Atari St. With that Id say nothing really lol. I cant really think of any game that stood out when owning that computer.
Then had the Megadrive. So many epic games on that. Love the original Sonic, Toe-jam & Earl was a wacky game. And I loved kicking ass on Road-Rash.
Then I got a Psone and my first PC (DX2 66mhz). On the Psone, again, so many awesome games. Love playing Tekken....hmm not sure which, but me and my mates had a lot of fun playing it. But prob the best game I had on PSone was FF7, was amazing. Also quite liked a platform game called Croc.
As for my PC, I had Xwing Vs Tiefighter. That was an amazing game, I was my first star-wars based game, and I fucking loved it. And had Doom and Doom2. These of course were epic in so many ways, so loved them, Oh, and the original Championship Manager game, with its made up generated players lol.
Then I had a bit of a gap where I owned nothing. Reason being real-life stuff was happening thick and fast, and was getting into the Ice-Hockey too. Also started working, so left very little time for any gaming at all.
Then I managed to get a PS2 through someone I worked with ;) . I came bundled with nothing, just a console and a wired controller. It took me awhile before I bought any games for it. But I remember get C&C, and a Fifa game 2nd hand. Nothing really stood out on the console for me tho. I enjoyed a lot of games on it. But nothing major.
Then I got a 360, a PS3, and a new PC all in the same year. I really don't use my Pc to its full potential at l. But love my PS3 and 360.
Have enjoyed many games on the two consoles. But my highlights are Gears of War 1 on the 360. And Heavenly Sword,MGS4,InFamous,LBP,Resistants2 and Warhawk on my PS3 to name just a few there.
What is it that the Guv'nor likes to do when not gaming or on Game-Pad?
The main thing that takes up my time is my family. I have a partner of 7years now, and two Daughters. Chloe is 10 (She from my previous partner), and Grace is 2. Although Chloe stays with me every other weekend, she pretty much is a Daddy's Girl lol, as is Grace. So yea, the usual family stuff really, shopping, eating and spending money lol.
When the family is not doing my head-in, I am working with my Step Father, who has his own Building Company.
But to relax fully, I like to try and still watch Ice-Hockey when I can. My PS3 and 360 to take out any frustrations out on helpless n00bs online. And my Karate. Also like reading and drawing. That's about it really
After Game-Pad's launch do you have any features you would like to integrated into the site in the near future, or have any plans of things to add?
I really feel Strite and Lucifonz have all the ideas, and implement them so well on the site. Game-Pad would not succeed without these two at the core. After all, it was all their dream and idea. I am just so lucky they asked for my input and advice on things along the way, and continue to do so.
We have grown together over the past couple of years now, and I trust them, and am confident they will make G-P succeed beyond anyone's thoughts. And already got some great game developer interviews, and even got a mention in OXM magazine. Both really do need a “well done” and a pat on the back,...or a man hug ;)
I believe both know they can ask me anything, which I think is an important thing to have in a friendship. I will continue to support them and offer my advice when needed. Just keep up the good work guys, and thanks for letting me join the ride... woohoo!!!
But... the only thing I would like to try, is maybe a downloadable magazine. We did touch upon the idea on a previous site. But after one release it died. So keep an eye out guys. This could still happen. :)
Can you name us your top 3 or 5 games from this gen of consoles?
OK, I'll also name the console in-which I own the game on, In no particular order;
Gears of War 1 (360)
Heavenly Sword (Ps3)
MGS4 (Ps3)
Modern Warfare 2 (Ps3)
Uncharted 2 (Ps3)
Movies - what are your top 5 movies of all time & why?
So so hard, as my top 5 changes depending on my mood lol, but atm Id say, In no particular order;
Highlander – Just the first movie. The rest are fail lol. I love it, Queen do the soundtrack (the whole 'Kind of Magic' album), and Swords and Immortal who need to have their heads cut-off to die,...what more do you need.
Juno – Love this movie. Its a serious movie, funny though too, about a teenager who falls pregnant, and chooses to give he child up for adoption.
Aliens – OMG, probably the most tense moment in any film when Ripply goes back into the ship to find the girl (Newt). And, that motion sensor on the guns. Can't think of a more scary sound lol.
Carlito's Way – Awesome gangster movie, Al Pacino at his very very best.
Shoot em Up! - Quality movie. Guns, Blood, guts, comedy, insane plot lol, and Monica Bellucci, what more does a man need ;)
What were your favourite TV programs when you were a kid, coming home from school?
Depends on my age really. But a TV program called 'Chocky' really stands out. It scared the shit out of me at the time lol.
Also cartoons. Inspector Gadget, Thundercats and He-Man, all quality. But also loved Grange Hill and the old Byker-Grove with Ant n Dec lol.
If you was a superhero, who would you be and why?
Id be the invisible Man,....I have my reasons ;-)
What are your favourite books and magazines you read now, and what magazines did you used to get back as a child?
Magazines, only really read the PSM3 magazine as I am a subscriber. But I have many books. Big fan of Andy McNab. His fiction stuff has got so good, I real emotionally attached to him main character Nick Stone, he is very Splinter Cell Sam Fisher like indeed. The last book I read was Derren Brown's Trick of the Mind,...awesome stuff, he is the devil lol.
Also like a good horror,...that's a good horror, so no Stephen King, don't like him. So Shaun Hutson is probably me favourite.
As a child. Never really got comics, only the yearly annual for Xmas. But use to get Kerrang, Shoot, and FHM in my teens ;)
What are you most looking forward to in our industry and where do you see it going in the next few years?
Well the industry has never disappointed me at all really. So I get very excited with any new gadgets or idea's. Like next year (2010) we have the Sony Motion Controller things. These could potentially be very very good, all depends on if the game devs back the hardware. And we already know that EA have backed it, so that is a great start :) . Then towards the end of the year we may have 360's Natal. Again, I expect good things, and again, hope it gets the developer backing this stuff needs.
One thing I'm NOT a fan of is the whole digital download thing, which is getting bigger and bigger. I love to own my games, I mean physically have them in my hand, in a box/case. Then I can sell them on, or trade them in, to get money towards my next game on my wanted list. The digital download of games really puts an end to it all sadly.
But, I'm old skool, I like to have a big bulky box on my shelf, showing my new purchase :) .
As for the game. As they say, things can only get better. Also next year I expect to start to see some new info on the next gen of Sony/Microsoft console, maybe at E3. We shall see, but I am excited.
