Artificial InteleGENTS

Hey guys, whats up? My name is Zachary Fanelle aka “fanman791”. I’m from South Jersey and I’m 18 years old. I’m currently entering my Senior year and I’m starting to look at colleges. My intended major is computer engineering. I am also an employee at GameStop. Some of my other interests other than gaming inculde anime, computers, D and D, and Magic: the Gathering.

Gaming has been a passion of mine for a long time and it has developed into an art form over time. My first gaming memeories were those of the N64 including long nights of SSB, Mario Kart, and Jet Force Gemini. Following that, I bought a Gamecube, Playstation 2, and then an Xbox. My favorite console of this generation was the Xbox. Some of the best games at that time were on this underdog: Halo, Halo 2, The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, Soul Calibur 2, and a plethora of other games. When the Xbox 360 launched, I started following Major Nelson’s blog and podcast. This got me hooked on gaming news and gaming podcasts. It was then Major Nelson was on Gamer Andy’s podcast. I was hooked. From there on (and still currently) I was hanging out with the Gamer andy community. It was there that Allan and Mike met, and soon we formed our own podcast.

e-mail: fanman791@hotmail.com
MSN messenger: fanman791@hotmail.com
Gamertag: “fanman791”
Username for evrything: “fanman791”

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My name is Allan De-La-Garde, and my gamer tag on XBL is MrD86. I am 20 years old. Well, being the odd one out of the crew I hale from “Down Under” and yeah I could sing lines from that song but I’m not going to. I live about an hours drive from Sydney in a rat hole called Campbelltown. Yeah we know what a console and computers are here in Australia, and I dont own an Interceptor though I would like to.

I first became a gamer at the age of 2, for christmas my parents invested in a small Sega machine called Sega Master System II. From then on they could not pull me away from the machine! I lived to play games like Alex the Kidd in Miracle World, Sonic the Hedgehog and my favorite Ninja. For the most part of my youth it was spent playing hours on hours of Sega Master system and venturing to friends houses to play Nintendo or Sega Mega Drive.

As life progessed so did the video game industry, as did my love for gaming. Soon enough I was playing on a Super Nintendo but unfortunately this wasn’t for long since they were just about to release the Nintendo 64. We traded in the Super Nintendo for the Nintendo 64; with this, my obsession soon became Goldeneye which was the one game that Sold the system for me it was an exciting time to be alive as well as being a gamer. Goldeneye introduced the Multiplayer side of games to me nothing was as fun as getting your friends in on 4 player split screen killfest. Other games that took my time where Rogue Squadren, Mario 64 and my favorite game for the System Zelda Ocarina of Time. But the 64 while a good system, barely had games that catered to my interest which at the time where broading and soon I ventured into computers and started playing games like: Quake 2, Diablo 2, Duke Nukem 3D, Warcraft 2, Starcraft, Baldurs Gate, Planescape Tornument, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Battlezone, Age of Empires 1 & 2. Computer’s took most of the day away for being that it allowed me to be influenced by new pop culture threw the internet.
By this time in my life Ii was trying everything to further myself and I got involved with a Sponsorship/Teaching program funded by Microsoft. The progam allowed me to further my skills as well as have the oppurtunity to play there new gaming console called the Xbox. I instantly fell in love with the system and decided to force my parents to invest in the next best system from the Nintendo 64 and my computer. As new IP/Franchise were created as were my new addictions games like:- Halo, Ninja Gaiden, RallySport Challenge, Project Gotham Racing. Iit didnt take long til I was finishing up my schooling I had found a job and invested in a Gamecube and PS1 then PS2 and ventured into games like:- Pikman, Eternal Darkness, Final Fantasy 8/9/10, Devil May Cry, Fatal Frame and my experience grew. Alas time rolls on and we all ventured into the Next generation of gaming and I invested in the Xbox 360 bring me to love new titles such as:- Gears of War, Rainbow Six Vegas, Eets Chowdown, Galaga.
During all this time of gaming Ive been influenced by many things by bright intelegent and creative people from friends to aquantinces. Ive been involved in many different things from card games like magic the gathering and Pokemon to collecting basketball cards and Xmen Fleet Ultra cards, and at one point in my life I once used to collect stamps.
Personally I love Anime from Neon Gensis Evangelon, Ninja Scrolls, Cardcaptor Sakura, and many more this is still a major factor in my life and rivals Videogames as a passion of mine, I regularly get involved in an anime club. I’ve also been an avid reader of Comic books from DC,Marvel and Darkhorse, favorites being Deadpool, Batman, Harley Quinn and the AVP Series. I also used to play several different sports from Softball/T-Ball to Soccer, Australia NRL, Tennis, TaeKwondo, but now participate less in these due to work and gaming hahaha …. now and then tho I visit the local Snooker/Pool Hall to play a round with mates.
How I got involved with the Podcasting scene was way back in the begining days of the Widget- I have been listening since episode 5. I would listen to it religously on a weekly basis and found that I had alot in common with the presentors of the show and could relate to most things that they talked about. The Widget Show then turned me to a new show called GamerAndy Live!, there I also felt I was involved and soon became friends with like minded people and became a regular in the community- soon enough I was the International Correspondent for the GamerAndy Website. At the time I guest appeared as a host on the GA show sharing my point of view and trying to give a voice to the Australia gamers. Soon enough I needed to venture off and try my own thing, but days turned into months and I keep saying to myself “I’m going to start a show when I find the time”. Finally Zak the Fanman approached me and said I really want to do my own show and I replied “well lets do it then!”. I already had the contacts and all the things to set up but if we were seriously going to set up a decent show two people were not going to be enough for me to host the show. Only one man popped into my mind, and that was Mike aka TrayD. We are all different and I think we all bring different aspects to the show and thus began the Artificial intelegents show!
I consider myself a very unique individual I dont believe in conforming to a stereotype. AI to me is a show that isnt about being serious or being funny. Its about being an average gamer and talking about things that happen in the gaming news with a touch of reality. Bringing things up on the show that we can all relate to while all of us enjoy ourselves and what we love best- gaming. Yet also influencing people and demonstrating and informing people about the things we love from music, anime and of course video games

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My name is Mike Traynor, and my gamer tag on XBL is Tray D. I’m sitting here listening to the Black Keys trying to figure out how to write my profile for the A.I. website. Obviously this has to be about my self, and not the current gaming news. I guess I’ll have to start off with an intro, so here we go.

Before you read any further I must give this warning.

Parental advisory explicit content to follow.

I hale from Minneapolis, Minnesota the second largest video gaming market per capita. Yes we love our games hear in the great frozen state. Well it’s only frozen for one third of the year, but with global warming this will begin to shorten. I have been playing video games since the mid to late 1970’s, and will continue to play until I croke, or become a basket case uncontrollable due to a really bad case of hemorrhoids, or constipation.Do you remember missile command? I do, and I got to play it when it first came to the house hold on the Atari 2600. Fuck I think that’s what it was on. That was a while back, and I’m not sure I have my facts straight. Frogger, Centipede, Pac Man, Donky Kong and many other games took up a great deal of my time as a kid. There was a great period in which I did not play games until Nintendo came out with their first console featuring the Mario franchise. As we got into the 90’s games really started to change, and improve. The first person shooter was born, and the likes of Doom, Quake, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Half Life were created. I was forever hooked.During that time voices of concern began to be heard over the violence found in these games, and others. My thoughts were “Don’t these idiots have more important things to worry about? Its just video games, and movies like Halloween, Friday the 13th, NYPD Blue, Full Metal Jacket, and many others were much worse. Can’t they concentrate on things like the budget, international affairs, or drug trafficking, and other issues like neighborhood crime?” Now I realize that its just politicians that are either ignorant, or are looking for a way to get some notoriety. This is just one of the reasons I was interested in being apart of the AI website, and pod-cast. It’s important to point out the facts, and dispel the myths of this great form of entertainment.Another reason I am getting into this is for the pure love I have for the video game industry. Can you control the camera angle in a movie, or TV show? Hell fucking no! If the game is good it can be better then watching a show, or a movie. Unless it’s a really good porno, then you get to have some real fun. Following the developers, and finding out how they make these games has been a real joy, and watching the console makers is like a really bad soap opera that you just can’t peel your self away from. The things they do, and the comments they make can be out rite hilarious at times, and other times it can be down write frustrating. Some of the things they do can be at the expense of the gaming public.

Another passion that I have is for music. This is another form of entertainment that has also been under attack since I can remember. Its evil, and drives the youth of our country towards bad behavior says the many idiots of ignorance. I don’t care what they say. I still love the passionate music that makes me tap my fingers to a hard and aggressive beat. Bands like American Head Charge, Metallica, System of a Down, Tool, Mushroomhead, AC/DC, and many more are at the top of my play list. I’m always looking for new groups to listen to, and I’m not just talking about Heavy Metal. Jazz, Blues, Funk, Classic Rock, Punk, and Experimental like Tom Waits are very entertaining for me. This rebalistic form of entertainment has withstood the test of time, and so will video games if I have to knuckle up and give some numb nutted ass a sandwich.At this time the games that I am finding to be very exciting are FPS’s, RPG’s, and Strategy games like Battlestations: Midway. The games that I am looking forward to the most at this time are Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4, Fable 2, Halo 3, Assassin’s Creed, and Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway. As time goes on this list will change to address newer games that will be announced, and the current list will be reviewed in some form. It may just be a couple of words like this game sucks a pigs ass, or I just creamed my pants playing this game. If I get up off my butt I just might write up a full review after cleaning myself off.When Zachary, and Allan asked me if I wanted to be apart of this new show and website it was an easy decision. Obviously you know my answer. I wouldn’t be typing this down if it was no. Allan, Zachary and I share the same passions, and are from different back grounds. I felt this would be a unique, and very interesting partnership, and setting to voice our passions, and explore the future of our interests. I couldn’t refuse.

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My name is Brett, and I’m the new recruit. I’m 21. I’ll be graduating The University of Alabama in May of 2008 with a BS in Chemistry and am going on to graduate school in the fall for my PhD. You may have noticed that I don’t have a southern accent, though; the reason is that I’ve lived in many areas of the country. But enough of the boring details. I’ve been in this since the NES. I remember Mario and Duck Hunt fondly, but that was just the beginning. I didn’t get too big into gaming until the SNES. It was on that system that I fell in love with Rare. Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2 are to this day two of my favorite games. I was essentially a hardcore Nintendo fan up through the GameCube. So, it’s a given that other favorites include the Mario games (except for Sunshine… that was stupid), Zelda games, and StarFox 64 (the others are largely crap). However, around 2001, I fell to the Dark Side and got an Xbox along with Halo: Combat Evolved. I enjoyed it thoroughly. LAN parties became a weekly endeavor, and soon, my GameCube began to collect dust, while my Xbox saw more action and more games coming its way. Contrary to popular belief, the Xbox did have more games than Halo.

I’m a huge racing fan, so I had been enticed by Project Gotham Racing ever since seeing the first commercial. I finally got it as a Greatest Hits for my Xbox in 2002. There were some other games, too, like Conflict Desert Storm (1 and 2; great co-op fun) and Brute Force (decent co-op fun…), but they fell into the shadows behind PGR, PGR2, Halo, and Halo 2. (I may have also become a little distracted by The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, though <_<). So after my experience with the Xbox, I was primed to sit in line for my Xbox 360 (which I still think is kind of a stupid name; Xenon would’ve been so much cooler).

I was first in line at my local Wal-Mart, and came home with PGR3 and Perfect Dark Zero. It was at this point that I had lost my infatuation with Rare. PDZ was a good game, but it just didn’t feel like a Rare game. As far as the Xbox 360 goes, the rest is basically history.

As far as Sony is concerned, I’ve never been a fan. I missed out on some games, by lack of a PS2, but overall, I don’t feel like I’ve missed much. I’m not a big Final Fantasy fan, and I got to play Metal Gear Solid on GameCube and a friend’s PS2. So, that’s also my reason for not getting a PS3: I don’t feel like I’m missing much (for now).

When Nintendo released The Little System That Could, though, (the Wii), I couldn’t resist, and now I’m back on board with Nintendo. Unfortunately, it seems that Nintendo is the only developer who wants to make really amazing games for it.

So there you have it: a brief history of gaming in my shoes. Essentially, I’m a Nintendo fanboy who crossed to the Dark Side but still has a little good left in him. Oh yeah, I have a gaming PC, too, and I heart Valve.

GT:Hypersteric

Email: fellows21@msn.com