Meet the Reader: BIGAL-1992

Yet another interview. This week it’s BIGAL-1992 in the hot seat. I warmed it up for him.

Who are you, how old are you and where do you come from?

My name is Allister Higgins, I’m 19 years old and I’m from Ireland.

Excellent. What’s your screen name and where did it come from? I am, of course, expecting a rather pedestrian answer here!

For my screen name, I was a big fan of the walking with dinosaurs series when it was first out on BBC, despite the fact I was 7 when it was first released. Anyway, they did a one-off episode of a type of dinosaur called an allosaurus, and the episode was about the most complete skeleton found of one nicknamed ‘Big Al’. Tie that to my name Allister and 1992, the year I was born, and there you go.

Oh, much more interesting than I expected! So, how did you first come across gaming?

I first started gaming when I was around 6, when my dad got me a Playstation for christmas and a copy of F1 ’98. The game was, admittedly slightly cack, but it got me into gaming. Over the years, I’ve owned a PS2, Gameboy Advanced, a PSP when it was first released, and now I’m on a PS3, 360 and thinking about getting a Vita.

Interesting to see the GBA in there, when it looks like there not much love for Nintendo?

It’s not that I necessarily hate Nintendo, as I think they’ve done extremely well to stay in the market for such a long time, It just that there’s really very little games to choose from unless it’s a first party game. If you strip away the usual Legend of Zelda games, the mario games and the like, there isn’t much really to choose from the third party studios. Of course, I know a lot of people who own a Wii or a DS will have many third party games that they love, personally, there’s not much for me to choose for me to justify owning a Ninty console.

Do you think that the WiiU being ahead of the PS3 and 360 with specs might address this? Perhaps heading onwards into the rest of the next generation, when the PS4 and next Xbox come along?

Personally, I’ll be amazed if the WiiU doesn’t get the jump on it’s rivals in the next generation of consoles, let alone this generation. It’ll already get a head start with developers working on it and whenever the PS4 and the the new Xbox get released, it’ll already have a library of games built up by then. It’s just a shame the way they’ve displayed it in public has been a bit cack-handed.

Well I guess that’s down to it being the announcement of it. Don’t forget the furore around the PS3 and the pre-rendered trailer for Killzone 2! Do you think that the reveal by Nintendo might force Microsoft and Sony to shift up a step and announce their next home consoles sooner than they outwardly planned?

They might have too. The WiiU is a more powerful then either of them and I could see both Microsoft and Sony pushing forward in development. That said, if we don’t hear of it next year, I probably wouldn’t be surprised.

With an answer like that, you’d make a good politician. We’ll now move on to the part where I ask ceaseless questions about your top games. Since we’re looking to the future, why not tell us which trio of games it is you are looking forward to most in the rest of this year?

I was dreading this question, as I’ve got at least 5 or 6 games consider buying for the rest of the year. If I had to chose, I’d say Uncharted 3, Skyrim and probably Battlefield 3.

Oh, go on then. What’s on the rest of your shopping list?

Halo: Anniversary Edition, Gears of War 3, Resistance 3, F1 ’11 and one other game I can’t think of right now.

Well if you remember it, be sure to randomly blurt it out. What game do you consider to be your absolute favourite of all time?

Hmm….If I had to choose just one, it would have to be Mass Effect 2. I really loved the way your choices could have such a big impact on the storyline and also the gameplay was very well made I reckon.

Did you carry your game over from Mass Effect 1? Have you played it through more than once to see how the other side lived?

Actually no. I bought Mass Effect 2 on PS3, so I’ve never played the original.

Oh, that’s interesting, since you have a 360. Is there a particular reason why you haven’t picked it up at bargain bucket prices?

I haven’t got time, I’m afraid. I know many people say the original was brilliant, but somehow I’m not sure I’d want to play it incase I end up being disappointed by it.

I’m sure the comments section will explode now, under the weight of people saying you should. So this is the perfect opportunity to ask if there have been any gaming howlers that you’re completely embarrassed to have played? Or perhaps they’re guilty pleasures?

I wouldn’t say I’ve played games I was embarrassed to play, otherwise I would know of a few right off the top of my head. In terms of guilty pleasures, I’ve played Mercenaries 2 before. Granted it wasn’t exactly the most polished game ever made, but it was fun when I played it.

People continually disappoint me, by having good taste in games. Bah!

You should look harder then.