A passion for games

I know only a few things about myself that are "for sures" at this point in my life. One of those is that I will likely enjoy Coca Cola for the rest of my life. I've been drinking it for years and it is just delicious. I also love turkey sandwiches. If I were on death row, you can be sure a turkey sandwich would be part of my final meal. Another is that Anthony Karge will probably be my best friend until I expire, death row or not. Outside of food, few things are certain. But one thing that is becoming increasingly certain is that I will play video games until I die. I was pretty sure of that fact when I was younger, but it was only recently that I came back to the conclusion.

Since I started working, after I graduated college, the amount of gaming that I've done has steadily declined. Where I reviewed 26 games in 2008, I reviewed 8 in 2009. I hardly played a thing in over a year and it didn't feel good. For the better part of the last year, I've felt kind of bored and disinterested. I didn't have any passion for anything. But in the last few weeks, since I started working at GameStop again, I realized what it was that I like about gaming so much: being a gamer. Being in. Knowing what's happening in the industry. Following it. Living it. Playing everything. And being proud of it.

I love video games. Unabashedly. I used to try to cover it up. All the long, somewhat ashamed, feeling that my knowledge of gaming was a useless and dorky waste of time. I covered it up and somewhat hid it. I acted embarrassed when my girlfriend Nicole found out about Thunderbolt, the Web site that I have been deputy editor of for years, despite the fact that as an accomplishment, it is something I'm most proud of.

When I was a kid, I remember getting my gaming magazines in the mail and going crazy over E3 coverage. I remember wishing I could go to E3. Because of the seriousness with which I've treated games, I've been able to go twice. I'm probably going again this year. Both shows were awesome experiences. I wrote over 20 previews for games I got to play before anyone else and got to talk with game creators that I spent my childhood idolizing. I've been flown to New York and San Francisco to chat about games with legendary designers. I got to live the dreams I had as a I kid. I've been blessed.

I don't want it to end. There's a big part of me write now that wants to really strongly pursue a career in this industry. Even if I just climb the GameStop corporate ladder for a while, I think I'll be pretty content. I've been playing games like crazy lately, devouring them voraciously in a way I haven't since I was younger. I'm eating up games and I'm the happiest I've been in a long time. There's just something about this hobby that I find absolutely fascinating. I've witnessed over the course of my short lifetime an immense amount of progression and development. Over 20 years, I've played nearly every significant video game released and many lesser titles. I am a lexicon of knowledge, for better or worse, on the universe of video games.

I've decided in the last few weeks that I'm going to dedicate myself to this again. I had the best time of my life when I was doing this really actively - busting on Thunderbolt, talking to PR people, playing games by the boatload - and I want to keep doing that. It keeps me happy. I'm filled with excitement playing them, reading about them, thinking about playing them. I love them. I always will love them. Video games are my passion and I'm happy about that.