Hi all, welcome to my little slice of the epinions universe. I'm what they call a "reborn epinionator", namely I started long ago, had a long hiatus, and have come back as if nothing ever happened. I started epinions way back in 2000 and did 54 reviews between 2000-2001, did one review in 2002, and then two in 2003, then I left the site for seven years. In late 2010 I (on a whim) decided to check if epinions was still alive for reminiscing sake. I decided to give it another whirl, but this time I am avoiding the mistakes I made in the past. Now I do a minimum of five reviews a month to keep myself active (and keep my profile with a 'fresh five'), I write in more categories than just games to keep it fresh, and I don't write too often to avoid burnout.
I still play video games a good deal although not nearly as much as I used to so they shall still be my primary source of reviews. But I, like everyone else, have a real life thus I have experience with all sorts of other things so I will be trying my hand at writing reviews for anything I feel the need to.
I have five 'fur babies' as the wife would call them (cats) and I have moved back to my hometown of 'Mayberry' after going out to see the world IE Iowa City and Buffalo NY. I work two jobs and am using epinions as a creative outlet, and someplace where my voice can be heard (even if it is about cat litter).
For videogames I primarily play the Playstation 3 because Sony has never let me down (while Microsoft has never put up a compelling case, and Nintendo has let me down repeatedly) and I have a PSN game addiction. For those interested in friending me on Playstation Network my ID there is identical to my epinions ID (hooray for consistency). I do however dust off the old Wii on occasion to spice up my gaming review variety. For portable gaming I have a PS Vita, PSP, and a 'fatty' Nintendo DS. My collection of dead systems includes X-Box, Playstation 2, Playstation, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo, Atari Jaguar, Genesis, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, NES, and the Atari 2600, and I'm considering buying a Gamecube just for giggles.
My addiction to low cost PSN games appears to be my reviewing niche, since I enjoy trying a variety of experimental games and re-inventions of classic gaming styles. Probably the only genres I don't care for being first person shooters and fighting games.
I am at a point in my epinions experience that I enjoy writing more than I enjoy reading so I primarily only write reviews. I figure that epinions need people of all types, those who like to write, those who like to read, and those who like to do both. And to each their own, I do appreciate everyone who takes the time to read and rate and comment on my reviews, so thank you very much. Just please don't take offense if you don't see me reading and rating all of your stuff, I can barely find the time to write reviews let alone read and rate for everyone who does the kindness for me.
I personally feel that a good review should find a balance between being informative and being entertaining. Informative because you are reviewing a product and informing people is the true purpose of the review. Entertaining because the people reading it don't have to read it so you should at least do them the favor of making it an enjoyable experience for them.
Here is a shout out to my hard working pet supply testers, also known as "The Feline Horde", I couldn't review that kitty litter and cat toys without you!
