EPTI just wanted to introduce myself. In case no one really reads these, I will just say that I don't get to play Starcraft as often as all of you guys, but feel free to send me a message if you want to play or just chat. I am a pretty bad Bronze player. I would like to improve eventually (I'm in no rush), but I am more interested in meeting people online and socializing, rather than just playing all the time. Maybe one day I can set up a Ventrilo server or organize some fun tournaments for prizes.
I am also in the process of investing some time and money into setting up a live stream and YouTube video page. I don't expect many people to check these out, but I just wanted to set these up as a fun hobby project for myself.
Here are my pages:
+ Show Spoiler +
When I decided I would spend more time playing Starcraft a few months ago, I bought a new computer specifically to play Starcraft 2. Yesterday I ordered a 1080p monitor and RAM, and I will also be upgrading my Internet connection from 7 Mbps down/750 k up to 40 Mbps down/5 Mbps up tomorrow. Is 40 M down/5 M up overkill? I was debating between this and 20 Mbps down/2 Mbps up. The difference between the 40 M and 20 M is $15/month, and the difference between the 20 M and my current service is $15/month.
-------------
For everyone else:
/* Begin Bio */
I am 29 and married from St. Petersburg, Florida (USA). I graduated in 2004 (University of Florida, Computer Engineering). After graduation I worked for 5 years in IT - a few months at Best Buy (Geek Squad) and then my local city water department IT group. Today, I work for an engineering consulting firm, doing instrumentation and controls designs, process automation, PLC and user interface programming, and other related stuff.
I only started playing Starcraft 2 in December 2010. Looking back, I wished I knew a Starcraft player who could have gotten me into the game, but instead I was playing lots and lots of Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid.
I have pretty much been a gamer my entire life. I owned an Atari and have played on most of the consoles. Did anyone else play Maniac Mansion trying to get all the possible endings for each character?
I got my first PC when I was 10 or 11 and "online" at 12 with America Online (oh yes, dial-up was so awesome back then). I remember racking up a $125 AOL bill one month for going beyond my allotted time... oops!
I was a huge Sierra Online adventure game fan. My first Sierra game was Space Quest IV, but eventually played most of Sierra's offerings, including Space Quest, King's Quest, Quest for Glory, Police Quest, etc. I was too young for Leisure Suit Larry at first (I couldn't answer those trivia questions that they used to verify your age), but did play a couple of them eventually. I liked to play every game from beginning to end several times. The storylines were so interesting.
I also played RPGs. My first RPGs were Phantasy Star and Dragon Warrior 1. This eventually led to the Final Fantasy series. I bought my PSX just to play Final Fantasy VII. I wanted all the materia, items, ultimate weapons, etc. I played through the game a couple of times (200 hours each). I took advantage of that exploit where you could find that one spot on the map and hold the Down button and the Circle button with a turbo controller. By doing this before bed, you could continue to fight battles and max out your materia and characters by the time you woke up. Yes! I also played Chrono Trigger/Cross, Legend of Mana, and many others. I also enjoyed lots of other video game genres, but I cannot play FPS because it makes me motion sick.
My experience with RPGs led me to World of Warcraft from 2005-2006, quitting just before Burning Crusade was about to be released. I came back to WoW briefly for a 6-month period, quitting the day that Cataclysm came out. I guess I got bored of WoW. Looking for a different game to play, one of my friends recommended Starcraft 2. I had always heard of Starcraft, but never knew anyone who played it. I tried it out just for fun. Who knew I would play Starcraft 2 exclusively. I played through the campaign, completing all the achievements, but now I play multiplayer really, really badly. Oh well.
I had many other interests on and off, while playing video games:
CCGs: Magic: the Gathering - played from 1995 through college (I graduated in 2004). I still have several dual lands, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, and Timetwister in a box in my closet; I also have a decent collection of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards.
Music: I played alto saxophone (bebop jazz) for 8 years, and classical piano for 4-5 years. I listen to all kinds of music, but my favorite genres today are progressive trance, classical, video game soundtracks, TV theme songs, Anime/JPop music, and jazz.
Anime: I watched a lot of anime while in college (hence my lack of a girlfriend or any typical social life). I went to anime conventions and competed in a couple of anime music video contests. My Top 3 series were Fushigi Yuugi, Initial D, and Shoujo Kakumei Utena. I wanted to learn Japanese, but this is typical for many anime fans. I knew the hiragana alphabet at one point, but that's about it.
Dance Dance Revolution: I first played DDR 3rd mix on the PSX in college, modifying my PlayStation so that it could read burned Japanese games. I was pretty good compared to the
average player at the time. Today, players are really awesome. I suggested to my college that they add a DDR machine to the student union arcade. I don't know if it was because of my suggestion, but they did put the machine in soon after. Anime and DDR were probably my two biggest hobbies.
Chess: I've known how to play since I was little and was competitive even though I wasn't that good. I like speed chess (5 minute and 1 minute). I was only about a 1700 rating.
Monopoly: I was pretty competive online. I knew the best strategies and followed the world championships, much like people follow competitive Starcraft today.
Poker and Blackjack: I was a dedicated poker player back in college (I'm assuming a lot of college students nowadays wouldn't mind becoming a professional poker player? I know I wanted to at the time). I rarely play nowadays (I don't have any poker friends) but will watch it on TV sometimes. Phil Ivey is the man! I also knew how to count cards (Zen count) in Blackjack. The nearest blackjack table is 45 minutes away, so my interest in blackjack was very brief.
I could probably go on and on, but I think I'll stop until my next blog entry. Thanks for reading, hope to see you around, and send me a message anytime!
