koffdrop.com

Who am I?

First and foremost, I am a videogamer. I’ve been playing games for over twenty years. I started on systems that pre-date the legendary Atari VCS console and everything in between.

I am wildly enthusiastic about videogames as a hobby but critical of them as an industry and culture. I am determined to take an objective view on current affairs affecting games, culture and industry and have absolutely no allegiance to any one box of circuits (with the perfectly reasonable exception of the Commodore 64).

I have worked in the videogames industry for over 15 years in a number of areas such as retail, distribution and importing, publishing, development, production and design. My games industry career is on indefinite hiatus whilst I persue other career opportunities. I’m currently placed at one of the world’s largest information and media companies servicing the surprisingly interesting financial industry.

My variety of roles in videogames have given me insight into a number of different areas of industry and culture. From dealing with licenced material to the grey import markets. From the retail recession of the late 1990′s to being caught up in a company takeovers. From enjoying a simple game of Tetris to developing for the next generation of hardware. I’ve worked on both licenced product and original IP for all territories and for a host of different platforms over the years. I’ve handled projects for companies such as Lucasarts, Activision, Electronic Arts, Mattel, Nickleodeon, Kemco and more.

I feel extremely privileged to have seen the machinations of my passion from so many perspectives and in such rare detail. I’m still as excited by gaming news as I ever was but temper this with the insight to read between the lines of company hyperbole and journalistic ego which frequently eclipses the material being reported.

I see imbalance, bias, immaturity and plain ignorance in large swathes of gamers and reporters and deliberately make efforts play the devil’s advocate using the words, facts, experience and objectivity at my disposal. I am passionate about my hobby and will never feel shame when I speak out against the actions of those that I see carelessly damaging the image of either the culture or industry that surround it – especially when that damage is being wrought by the culture or industry itself. I have no interest in popular opinion and always make efforts to review topics from a number of perspectives rather than give a knee-jerk reaction.

koffdrop.com is my outlet and primary mouthpiece for my thoughts on gaming current affairs and personal feelings. If you have any questions feel free to ask them.