History with Gaming? I’ve been exposed to games since I was born as I grew up with a mother that enjoyed playing them. Up until I was 8 or so I enjoyed playing whatever we had – Crash Bandicoot, Harry Potter, Spyro, Silent Hill (my early exposure to horror has influenced me), Tomb Raider.
The Play Station was my main console of choice and I would spend hours playing games with my Mum and on my own. It wasn’t until I was around 8 I started developing my own taste of games. I picked up a PS2 and played Kingdom Hearts when it was an early release game and I fell in love.
Throughout my childhood and those rocky, pre-adolescent years, games were what really got me through. Kingdom Hearts taught me a lot of childhood lessons about friendship and courage which I really needed as I was much of an isolated child, consistently moving houses and schools.
Talking with a friend at school one day, she said she would lend me a game with ‘One of the character from Kingdom Hearts in it’ and it was the game that really began it all for me, Final Fantasy VIII.
There’s something really special about picking up a game at a time of your life where you feel you can relate or learn something from, it’s strangely personal and Final Fantasy VIII was that game.
