How I Met the Love of My Life

The first day I met my girlfriend, she shot me in the face. With a grenade launcher. Then told me I sucked. It was a bit disheartening.

I was playing MAG, as I had since its launch in 2010. I was a level 70 valor soldier. She was a level 70 SVER hoodie wearing evildoer. I got shot because I was the only man who could get close enough to a bunker to destroy it. She didn’t like that. After the 30 minutes of me getting rocked I got a message from a member of her clan, inviting me to switch sides and join them. I agreed because anything was better than playing solo on valor.

I vetted over to SVER as a little grunt. Needless to say I was impressed when I saw she was an officer in a clan with 300 members.

A few weeks passed, I had gotten familiar with everyone, and to my surprise, out of the blue I received a friend request from her. Needless to say after that day, we spent almost every day playing together and talking, going from MAG to Killzone 3 to Mass Effect 3, and finally onto Starhawk.

We were around the same skill level so we had a competition going, to see who could outscore who. It also started up a team killing war. I “accidentally” shot and killed her once. There was a hysterical argument about it, in which several people said we fought like a married couple. In turn, it became sort of a tradition for me to randomly kill her in a match. Clan members would lack excitement unless we had out little team shoot outs. She never really enjoyed them, but it made everyone laugh when she would yell at me. It was mostly due to my inability to actually talk to women without sounding, well like a gamer nerd. I was just trying to get her attention and I was just really bad at talking unless it involved video game shenanigans.

We even managed to sneak in a competition for Infamous 2. Whoever got the platinum trophy first would win. I admit I had a bit of a head start because I got the game launch day while she had to wait for it in the mail. It was only a one day head start, but I ended up with the Platinum 2 days before her. Despite that she still won’t admit that I won, although she did best me in Skyrim, and about 20 other games. Her 29 Platinums to my… 8. And she won’t let me live it down.

But despite the weirdness of my attention seeking it actually paid off. We started talking to each other outside of gaming. In the beginning it was mostly us talking about games, strategies we could use, and in late 2011 to be specific, her trying to show me how to not die instantly flying in the Starhawk beta. I was actually quite bad at it, still am. She just laughs and kills me with homing missiles now.

But it was on April 1st that I formally asked her to go on a date with me, because little did we know, we actually lived right near each other! So I as the bumbling fool I am I went to ask her out and somehow it came out as “will you marry me.” She simply brushed it off as a April fool’s joke, so I told her to prove it wasn’t, I’d ask her to go out with me every day until she said yes. It didn’t take real long because she said yes the very next day.

The very first day we met in person we had known and talked to each other for over a year, so when we met it was as if we were meeting someone when had known forever. Although after saying hello to each other the first thing she did was inspect my PlayStation for the games and content I had on it. She looked at my old school original PS3 and couldn’t believe it was still running after 5 years. She has a slim PS3 so she hasn’t had much time with the fat PS3s. I suggested dinner and a movie for our first date. She decided a movie, and then come back and play some games. I couldn’t have agreed more on how great an idea that was.

Now any day we can’t spend together we spend playing games together — Starhawk, Dust 514, Borderlands 2. She even convinced me to get Journey and got me to try out the God of War series for the very first time. Come to think of it, a big reason I got Starhawk was in order for me to play with her. Turns out I had a great time with the game, and now have the PSN version.

This past week was my birthday and to my surprise she got me the God of War collection as well as a Borderlands 2 shirt that I just loved. I also was given PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. She challenged me to a fight. First it was best of 3. Then best of 5. Suddenly it was 1 a.m. and it was best of 307. She just wouldn’t admit that my Raiden was better than her Big Daddy.

If it wasn’t for PlayStation then I wouldn’t have met the girl that I want to spend the rest of my life with, and I wouldn’t have such a great co-op partner who can read my mind as well as she can. And if it wasn’t for MAG I would never have known PhoenixArcher128. We will be together 9 months come January 2nd 2013 and it’s thanks to our PlayStation 3′s that no matter how far we are from each other, we will never be apart.

The Pathway of the Artist

PlayStation has been a very rewarding experience in my life, giving me inspiration and the courage to try new things pertaining to my goal of being an artist.

I was so excited when I received my PlayStation 1 and it changed my life forever. Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon were my first games, and the first steps towards my love for video games. I was mesmerized by the character designs, backgrounds, and even the overall stories. I needed to see more of these games, and I did, building up a collection of PS1 games. Even to this day, I buy PS1 games so I can further add on to my collection.

When I got older, I had a clearer outlook on the PS1 and what it had to offer. However, I was not aware that there would be a new console coming up with even more epic games to offer. When I first got my PS2 the same year that it debuted, I didn’t know what to expect from the slew of games that would be coming out. By that time, my creativity was enhanced, and I had more and more ideas running through my head. One of these games was Rayman Arena. It seemed to be a very colorful game, and it had served as a base on my PS2 adventures. Unfortunately, I was never a good decision maker, and I always chose subpar games, which kind of ruined my creativity.

Years later, I obtained my PSP Go. I only had Dissidia Final Fantasy as my first game, but I was blown away by the design of it. It inspired me to take my art to the next level. Every other game I got fueled my inspirations, the most inspiring being the Silent Hill series. I’ve always wanted one of the games since I’ve been studying them, but I never got a chance, so hopefully I’ll get the chance soon.

On that same year, I received my PS3. It was possibly the best experience in my gaming life. So many new inspirations, art designs, characters, stories, and an overall new look in my video game life. With so many games coming out at that time and in the future, I felt compelled to create new projects, sketches, and even create many new characters of my own. It was a huge step in my life. And with me having these skills, I owe it all to Sony, for giving me the strength and determination to do whatever I set my mind to. Thank you for reading this if you’ve taken the time to do it. I appreciate it, and I hope to create a Sony related artwork in the future.

How Friendship and PlayStation Helped Me

This is a story gamers should be familiar with: the light of friendship fighting back against overwhelming darkness.

Back in ’97 I had a very important decision to make – buy a new console from Sony or from their competitor. I had battled depression for most of my life, and video games have always been a great help. I had been playing games on that other company’s consoles since I was a little kid, but I had a good feeling about Sony. Turned out to be a good decision, since PlayStation would soon surpass its competitors and would have so many of the greatest franchises and games on their consoles! I was also saving up to move into my first apartment around this time. I was a poor student, and I didn’t make much money, but eventually I was able to save enough for both goals: I got my PlayStation and moved into my first place!

It felt great being out on my own, responsible for myself and making my own decisions. Sure, the apartment was tiny, and the neighborhood was once featured on an episode of “Cops” but I didn’t care. I was young and naive enough to believe that I was invincible. I still had problems, but being able to play in Crash Bandicoot’s crazy world, or gliding around as Spyro on my PlayStation at the end of a long day made it all worth it. Time flew by. I studied and worked hard, and life was, for the most part, good. I would soon learn that moving into that place would turn out to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

They broke in in the middle of the night, while I was asleep. I remember hearing a noise that woke me, and that’s it. I was told later that I was probably awake for some of the beating the robbers gave me, but I don’t remember it. Some of my neighbors were home, but they claimed they didn’t see anything. An unlikely claim, since the thieves had cleaned out my entire apartment. Everything was gone: My clothes, TV, music collection, games… EVERYTHING! A friend found me the morning after the break-in and called 911, but I wasn’t awake for that either. When I woke in the hospital a day later and was told what happened, I was devastated. I had worked my butt off for everything I owned, and now it was all gone.

That event drove me over the edge, and honestly, I was scared. Probably lucky to be alive. But I didn’t feel lucky. I fell into a deep depression. Everything I had worked so hard for was gone, and I didn’t see the point of rebuilding if it could all be taken away so quickly. Along with all of my worldly possessions, the robbers had taken my sense of security and at least some of my sanity that night.

I spent two weeks in the hospital. When I got out, a good friend took me in, away from that place that had cost me everything. She helped me without a second thought, even though I was so depressed I wasn’t interested in helping myself anymore. When I asked her why she was going through so much trouble to help me, she would say “Because it’s what Tifa would do for Cloud!” I didn’t understand this comment, and thought a vague video game joke was a little irritating considering I had lost my treasured PlayStation along with everything else. But maybe it wasn’t a joke; she’s a big Final Fantasy fan.

I kept working and going to school, so that I could get back on my feet and move out of my friend’s place, even though she made it clear that there was no rush. But my heart wasn’t in it. I was just going through the motions so I wouldn’t disappoint her. She was pretty much the only thing I cared about. I wasn’t even playing games anymore, when they were the one thing that used to always cheer me up.

But her friendship was more than enough. She saw through my act, and refused to give up on me. She even convinced me to start gaming again by introducing me to Final Fantasy VII. Experiencing the wondrous and tragic adventures of Cloud, Tifa and company made me realize that I could pick myself up and fight back against the darkness, even when all seems hopeless.

I realized that Cloud and Tifa were fighting for their friends in the same way that my friend was fighting for me, and finally understood her comment about Tifa helping Cloud. When you have a good friend at your side, like I do, there is always hope. That lesson changed my life. The depression that had plagued me for my entire life, and especially at that point, was gone, and it never returned. I’ll always be grateful to my friend for that (And her PlayStation).

I now volunteer in that same neighborhood that I was robbed in. I am no longer afraid of that place. Armed with the knowledge that there are many people who will never give up on each other, I see nothing but a bright future for that neighborhood and for myself.

For the Love of JRPGS

When I was five years old, my brother and I received another gaming console for Christmas, and when I was eleven, our grandparents bought us its successor. I was content with these systems. My brother, on the other hand, began to grumble about wanting a PlayStation. I didn’t really understand him at the time – I was totally satisfied, why wasn’t he? What did the PlayStation have to offer that the other didn’t? “RPGs, Liv,” he’d say, “I want to play RPGs like Final Fantasy. You need a PlayStation for that.” Oh, those boring-looking medieval fantasy games? Pass. I thought my brother was just being silly.

Then, one summer night, I heard some strange music coming from the living room and went to investigate. Where was that somber flute coming from? The rising and crashing violins? I was enthralled with the mysterious, heartbreaking song that was coming from our TV, and I eagerly queried my brother, begging to know what I had just listened to. It was a demo disc from the Official PlayStation Magazine, he explained, and that was a promo for Chrono Cross – I had just heard the opening cinematic. “Do you have the game!? Are you getting it!? When can I play this game!?” I bugged my brother all summer long, anxious to play the game with the music that had captured me so. When it came out, I accompanied my brother to the store to pick up his pre-order and I practically hummed with anticipation all the way home, clutching the bonus clock and soundtrack sampler in my hands (a sampler that, I might add, was eventually worn to bits in my Discman from endlessly listening to “Scars of Time”). I dove into the game right away and to this day, I don’t think my brother has ever actually beaten Chrono Cross but I have — several times over.

I can’t pinpoint the exact moment when I transitioned from someone who played games occasionally in their spare time to someone who considered themselves a gamer, but it happened somewhere in the middle of Chrono Cross and after that game I became a ravenous JRPG beast. I tore through my brother’s PS1 JRPG collection: Threads of Fate. Xenogears. Lunar Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar Eternal Blue Complete. Final Fantasy VII. Final Fantasy VIII. Final Fantasy IX. The Legend of Dragoon. Grandia. Breath of Fire IV. Vandal Hearts. Parasite Eve and more. It was a feast that kept me full for most of high school.

Skip ahead a few years and I’m in my final year of high school, anxious to play Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts. My brother had long since left for college though, and taken his PlayStation 2 with him, so I could no longer depend on him for my gaming fix. My parents were going through an ugly divorce and couldn’t afford to buy us game consoles but, with eagerly anticipated JRPGs like Xenosaga on the horizon, I just had to have access to a PS2 and decided to get a job – something our parents had always discouraged because they wanted us to focus on school. My grades were good though, so I picked up my first part time job by tutoring freshmen and sophomores at my school. My brother came home for Thanksgiving that year and drove me into the city on Black Friday, where I used my first paycheck to buy a PS2, a copy of FFX, DDR and some memory cards – a deal that I had scoured the newspaper ads for while counting up my pennies. I borrowed my brother’s copy of Kingdom Hearts and I was set. I’ve got a lot of fond memories of staying up into the early hours of the morning playing FFX and learning the Al Bhed language over the holidays that year, and many more from the subsequent years of gaming when I took my PS2 with me to college as well. The Greatest Hits collection helped me expand my horizons beyond JRPGs, and I began to give titles like Onimusha: Warlords, Devil May Cry and Virtua Fighter 4 a try. Over time, my PS2 provided me with its own JRPG feast as well.

These days I play games from a variety of genres, but I still consider JRPGs my bread and butter — they’ve always been the system seller for me: the PSP for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, the PS3 for Final Fantasy XIII, the PS Vita for Final Fantasy X HD. It’s safe to say that I now live in a PlayStation household. Between our three PS3s (the Metal Gear Solid 4 80 GB, the Final Fantasy XIII-2 320 GB and Assassin’s Creed III 500 GB), four PSPs (one 2000, two 3000s and one PSPgo) and two Vitas (launch black and Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation white), there is no brand that gets more love and more playtime from me and my fiancé than PlayStation. The Vita has become my dedicated JRPG console, where I’m currently replaying the old PS1 favorites that nurtured me through my teens and experiencing new PSP and Vita JRPGs like Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time and Ragnarok Odyssey as they come out (though of course, like most JRPG fanatics, these days I only have eyes for Persona 4 Golden).

A few weeks ago, I was scrounging through our gaming bins and came across my old original PS2. I debated putting it in the pile of stuff to sell that I was taking to our local used gaming store — it hadn’t been touched in the four and half years since I’d moved in with my fiancé and switched over to using her PS2 Slim, after all. I looked up at our gaming shelf though, where an old Chrono Cross clock ticks idly by, keeping watch over our PS1 and PS2 collection and decided against it. Just too much personal history tied up with my PlayStation systems.

Brothers in Gaming

I always loved to play games. I remember the first one I played on my grandfather’s TV. It had a fun little game of tanks with the task of destroying each other. Every day my brother and I went to his room just to play, of course sometimes we couldn’t because he was watching something. Those were the moments that forced us to ask my father to get a TV with those games, as I didn’t know anything about consoles at that time.

Sometime later, a friend of my godmother had some personal problems and was allowed to stay in the house with us. As we helped him move we opened a box and found this thing called PlayStation (well, I pronounced that horribly at first because of my native language). I didn’t know what to make of that grey box with a fun-looking character (I would later know as Crash Bandicoot), so I decided to ask, “What is this thing?” He answered, “A game console.”

So it began, our first days as gamers. Since he was so nice he let us play with it all we wanted. The first real game we played was Final Fantasy 7. It was a really bad choice, not because of the game but because of our zero knowledge of the English language. Fire creatures were being healed by us as we cast fire against it, our party died slowly because they had been poisoned and we didn’t know what it was. Our first hours of gaming were best described as a total mess. Finally we were aided by the owner of the console. There was lot of trial and error because we had to see what the different attacks and potions did. This made me want to learn English, as it was the best way to be able to play this complex game. In the meantime we played Crash Bandicoot (which is what made me a fan of the system) and Spyro the Dragon.

From that day on I began to meet characters that I love nowadays. Sadly, the fun ended when the owner left the house. It was a bad day. My dad noticed the sorrow on our faces and acted. In two weeks we had a PlayStation of our own. It became a tradition to play it every night with my brother and my parents, even my grandfather joined sometimes. Later, our cousins joined too, and then they wanted a PlayStation.

Needless to say that when the PlayStation 2 came out we got it immediately thanks to my father. We enjoyed the sequels to those awesome games we played before even though some of them were made by other developers and now a little different. Later I learned about Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games. These two developers made me stay with Sony and they quickly convinced me that it was a good choice when the Uncharted and Resistance series arrived.

With the PS3 came the internet, so now I know much more about them and other developers out there. My favorite is Naughty Dog. Their music is one of the many things I love about them, hearing it inspired me to make music of my own, for fun for now. Even though it’s hard for me and my brother to buy games now that they are expensive, we try our best to join forces and get one that can entertain us for a long time. We also get help from my cousin in Canada who comes every year with at least three new games for us; other times… we can’t wait. Our search for games has become a problem too. Why? Because every single game on PS3 is exciting, challenging, has good music, and is fun. But not only that, I’m also able to relive those old classics that made me a fan of the system through the PlayStation Network store.

So, yes, I learned English just to play video games. People laugh when I tell them this, but what can I do, I learned English as I played with the PlayStation, an ability that I try to improve over time.

Finding My Way Home

I have been a gamer most of my life. An interest shared by my younger brother, thanks to me buying him a PONG when he was 12. We played on numerous console platforms and competed in an endless round of RPGs to see who could finish first and slay the most dungeon beasts. Years went by and work took me away from the world of gaming. I was deployed with the military, on the road for weeks at a time, married, or climbing the corporate ladder.

Nothing prepared me for a stroke, I experienced in 2006. This sidelined me with multiple disabilities to include loss of use of my left side, tremor, and balance issues. I struggled through multiple physical therapy sessions, surgeries, and medical treatments. Nothing worked. Then in December 2008, they found a brain aneurysm which they said was inoperable. I was told if it ruptured, it was cause permanent damage or death. Years went by, as I visited numerous neurosurgeons, looking for one that would operate and fix this time bomb in my head.

In the meantime, fall 2011 rolled around. I was looking for something special to buy my brother for his birthday and Christmas present. He had expressed an interest in a new game console. Having nothing but time, I spent an inordinate amount of time researching different consoles. Finally, I had it down to two consoles, the PS3 and another brand. We own several Sony products to include a massive Bravia TV, so was leaning towards the PS3. The tipping point for me was the Blu-ray player in the PS3. I decided, even if he didn’t use the console for gaming; he would have a state of art Blu-ray player.

My research for the best gaming console left me with an itch of my own. Unsure if I would be able to game again due to disabilities, I put it off. One day perusing my credit card statement, I realized that we had an inordinate amount of points. Much to my delight, there was a PS3 available and I had just enough points. I eagerly awaited the arrival of my PS3 console and even started thinking of games I might want to play. My brother was already immersed in the world of Skyrim, but I was doubtful that my disabilities would allow me to play games with multiple controller function commands.

The day my PS3 arrived I hooked it up immediately. I tried several games that my brother had bought me, but struggled with the controller functions. My left hand failed me in keeping up with the game demands and my memory failed me as well, in learning game patterns. I had all but given up on gaming again, so I explored the other functions offered by my PS3. I added the Netflix app, the Amazon App, and watched Blu-ray movies.

Bored one day, I happened upon the PSN Home icon. Wondering what it was, I installed it. At first not understanding this virtual world of social gaming, I simply wandered around exploring the different core public spaces. Then one day visiting my first PSN Home public space, I found nDream’s Aurora Island and Orb Running. Running Orbs in Aurora started a daily passion, which helped me learn my controller functions and even start to regain use of my left hand. My goal was to reach level 100 and win the Aurora Champion personal space reward; before my upcoming surgery. Unfortunately I did not make my goal.

Still shy and awaiting upcoming brain surgery, I played PS Home games solo. Because of my disabilities, I did not think other gamers would have the patience to deal with my ineptness. My greatest fear was that after my surgery I would have more disabilities and not be able to take care of myself; much less enjoy the world of gaming again. On May 16 2012, a skillful neurosurgeon performed a craniotomy and clipped my brain aneurysm. After waking up from surgery and recovering from the initial impact, I realized there were no further deficits. Some of my first thoughts were, yes I will be able to play games on my PS3 again.

Now months after my surgery, I have found friends on Play Station Home and they challenge me daily. My physical abilities have improved, which in turn have allowed me to expand my gaming world. Besides completing a course in Orb Running taught by Digitman3, I also have reached the coveted level 100. I have also completed several games, such as Journey and earned all of the PS3 trophies. My PSN friend list is long and for the most part, I keep up with them in the gaming world. PSN Home is a way for me to socialize and game, while staying at home. Thank you Sony for making my life better.