Introducing Your New Writer, Chris!

In a small Kansas town decades ago a small child was discovered among the remains of a ship from outer space.  Taking him into their loving home, a farming couple raised the boy as their own, instilling in him values of truth and justice.  As he reached puberty strange powers began to appear that allowed him to run at superhuman speeds, fly and near-invulnerability.  After high school the child, now a man, moved to the big city where his new abilities gave him the strength to change the course of human history.

That child, however, wasn't me.

Hi, my name is Chris.  I've been writing for years about games at several different sites and when I found out from Nick that 4Player was looking to expand their writing staff I could hardly contain myself at the possibility.  I actually knew Nick through a few friends I've known since high school and the 4Player crew was kind enough to help me out last year when I went to LA for my first E3.  This isn't my first time on 4Player however: I've actually been on a Lunch Time show as well as sharing a couple import games with David a few years ago.

What 4Player offers me is the opportunity to bring you articles and stories that I normally couldn't do elsewhere.  While I'm also a writer at HookedGamers.com and have a personal blog at Slackerwerks.com, 4Player is an opportunity to bring more personality into my work and share with you my thoughts, concerns and much more about the gaming industry as a whole.  For me, as you will come to find out, story is the most part of a game.  Since we are approaching the limit of cost-effective graphical prowess in the industry now is one of the best opportunities for storytelling in history of the industry, harkening back to an age to where the standard JRPG wasn't a rehash over and over again and the main character of a game wasn't dressed like a tart on a Friday night with more zippers and angst than an entire goth club.  Games like Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, and Half-Life are my bread and butter and I hope to share with you my thoughts about these moments in the future.

I play games almost every day and I try to stay current and well rounded on all my platforms.  If you are interested in playing with me my handle, pretty much everywhere I go be it Xbox Live, PSN, Twitter, whathaveyou, is Slackerchan.

So keep a lookout for my stuff in the weeks and months ahead: I've got things to say and I hope you like what you hear.

Oh, and that guy standing next to me in the photo above?  That's John Carmack.  You might know him from a little studio called id Software.  We hang out a lot.*

*No we don't.