Personnel Files – John

Staff Writer – Ready Up

Name: John Brown

Current location: Solihull, West Midlands. Where the locals are known as Sillhillians and their motto is “Urbs in Rure” – Town in Country. Oh, and they make Land Rovers and Jaguar cars here… a lot of them.

First gaming memory: I’m not sure if this is the actual first but the one that always comes to mind and the one that set me on this path is the first load up and play through of Defender on the BBC Micro. The speed and colours were epic and I was hooked!

Longest gaming session: I wish I had a record to hold up for this one but I don’t so I’d say probably around the 15 hour mark. I seem to remember devoting an entire Saturday – dawn ’til dark – a few years back, stopping only for food and ‘comfort’ breaks.

Least favourite genre: Survival Horror. I just don’t get it. Luckily these are sometimes FPS games which I can’t play anyway due to motion sickness. See my latest InGame for more on that.

Favourite gaming snack: Actually a tough one. I do like to munch on a biscuit – Bourbons mostly – but I’ll take anything that’s going. A big bowl of chocolate raisins also works well.

Reaction to dying in game: Usually “Ohshit ohshit ohshit ohshi ohs… FUCK! GODDAMMIT!” because I’ve made a cataclysmic error and I’m trying to run away or rapidly heal. On other occasions it would simply be a look of utter disbelief followed by grumbling criticism that there must be something wrong with the game for that to happen.

Favourite game character: My Shepard from Mass Effect. She always did the right thing even if it was a tough call to make.

Most hated game character: If I had to pick just one, it’d be from recent memory and it’d be Councillor Udina from Mass Effect. The Illusive Man was a dick but I kind of understood why. Udina seemed to be a dick from day one.

Favourite game EVER!: I’m looking over my game shelves at this point and there are a few titles which stand out. Forza 4 was pretty epic but is the extension of a series so I’m not sure I’d go for that one. Mass Effect as a series for sure. Assassin’s Creed, again, as a series. World of Warcraft is very current and I’m still enjoying it for the most part. Again and again I come back to one title, though, and that’s Race Driver: Grid. For me it brought together all of the good bits of racing and packaged them well together.

Joanne asks: If you could be any video game character, who would it be?

John: I had to spend a while thinking about this as I do invest quite a lot of myself into my game characters. For racing games I sort of AM the character, so that’s those out. Shepard would be an obvious choice but perhaps too obvious and I don’t think I’d be comfortable in her skin. I actually think I’d go for someone like Alec Mason from Red Faction: Guerilla. “I came to Mars to make a living. keep my head down. Stay out of trouble. But I found something here I wasn’t counting on. The Red Faction gave this planet a voice. Mars… gave us a home, and the dream of a new world”. Sounds like my kind of guy.

Simon asks: What is your favourite racing track in a racing game, and what is your favourite car in a racing game?

John: That’s two questions! Okay, favourite track is probably Maple Valley full circuit as featured in Forza. Favourite car is the Nissan GT-R. I intend to own one at some point but in game the GT500 version is tops.

Zoey asks: We both know that Red Bull racing are the best driving team ever, but if you could fill their two drivers seats with characters from video games who would they be and why?

John: Firstly, you’re not entirely correct here but I’ll let that slide… (McLaren!). Seat 1: Lara Croft – fearless, fit and has knife-sharp reactions. Seat 2: Legion the Geth – the guy’s a machine! And as a backup and test driver it’d have to be Sonic – who else?!