Personnel Files – Danny

Staff Writer – Ready Up

Name: Danny Russell

Age: 26

Current Location: Kuwana-shi, Mie-ken, Japan. Living in pretty much the centre of Japan makes it handy to get around, especially with Nagoya right next-door.

First gaming memory: Playing my Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch. If not that, then it was receiving a Korean Game Boy from a family friend with Super Mario Land, Tetris, Nemesis and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and playing until I had a very bad neck ache.

Longest gaming session: Probably when I had the flu shortly after Fallout: New Vegas came out. My body is always devising ways for me to play more games. For some reason the doctors here give a whole bunch of meds for the flu, and I’m not one to turn a good thing down, so I soldiered on playing through New Vegas non-stop in a drug-fuelled feverish haze.

There’s a lot to choose from, but I think the limited Deadly Premonition tee I received from SWERY in return for a small pot of Marmite.

Least favourite genre: Sports (snooker being the exception, of course).

Favourite gaming snack: Pizzaaaaa. Unless white russians count as snacks.

Reaction to dying in-game: “Meh.”

Favourite game character: Francis “York” Morgan (Deadly Premonition) is the first character who comes to mind. Sharp, knowing and witty, with a smirk that can’t be beat.

Most hated game character: Joey (Pokémon Gold Version). I couldn’t care less about your bloody Rattata.

Favourite game EVER!: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. There’s much more at play in this game than any other Zelda title; it’s dark and the game itself is essentially a ton of sidequests.

Sarah-Lou asks: What is your favourite dish?

Danny: Anything from the Capcom Bar in Tokyo!

Tony asks: Are there any Western games that you really like that you just can’t get in Japan, or are they all freely available? If not, what game are you missing the most?

Danny: Some second-hand stores here do deal in PS3 and 360 titles, but buying online is a necessity when I’m after something as close to the release date as possible. The main gripe I have over here is having to buy access to a VPN every month for a fiver just so I can buy games off Steam with a British IP address.

Lauren asks: What has been your best experience in Japan so far?

Danny: I’ve loved going to TGS each year, but the best experience was probably my first Ready Up gig – Video Games Live Tokyo. Being escorted by the very trendy Akira Yamaoka to a room full of videogame music legends (Koji Kondo, Yasunori Mitsuda, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Kō Ōtani, Michiru Yamane, Kinuyo Yamashita, Yuji Takenouchi, Norihiko Hibino, Jack Wall and Tommy Tallarico) and somehow ending up sitting next to Jun Senoue for the show itself beggars belief.


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