Meet the Reader: ManeoriX

Back again, are you? This week I’ve kidnapped and interrogated one of the stalwarts of the old Killzone 2 clan, ManeoriX. Say hello quickly, before he headshots you with his PM StA11!

Off we go with the usual first three questions. Who are you, how old are you and where do you come from?

Hello, I’m Jack Kronborg, I’m 23 and I’m from Hemel Hempstead!

I thought you were from the land of pastry and all the good foreign TV on the BBC. I guess I was mistaken.

Well, where I’m from and where I live are two totally different things. I currently reside in Aarhus, Denmark – though I’d quite like to disagree with good Danish television. It simply doesn’t exist. Must be a myth..

Forbrydelsen (AKA The Killing) is Danish, isn’t it? Then there’s also Borgen, and some other things, I’m sure… Not a fan?

OK, I take it back, but that’s only because I thought of a few hiliarious films with Mads Mikkelsen. However, Forbrydelsen is mind numbingly boring and I couldn’t be arsed with Borgen.

Next you’ll be saying you don’t like Mad Men. Before you step over that particular line, though, how did you come up with your TSA and PSN ID?

Ha, I’ll sidestep that one!

My ID came up quite a long time ago when I was an avid Counter Strike player. I played in a clan with some of my mates, so I needed a nick. I actually sat down and tried to devise a really cool and unique one. I ended up mashing up the words: Matrix and Neo. I thought it was cool, and it is unique, though most people can’t spell or say it correctly, so that they just call me ‘manny’.

Well I apologise if I’ve been pronouncing it poorly all this time. I hate it when I get pronunciations wrong without realising. Presumably Counter Strike was after a good few years of gaming, but how did you first start gaming?

The first gaming moments I remember are when I was about 5 years old. My dad brought home a NES with Super Mario and Duck Hunt. A lot of time was spent trying to shoot those bloody ducks. That stupid dog wouldn’t shut up, either!

And so your first person shooting career began? Did you become something of a crack duck hunter?

Well I was five, so I was highly inconsistent, but I do think I managed to get all 10 quite a few times!

How did you get from the NES to where we are now?

After the NES we had a used SNES for a short period of time, before it broke. Since then I’ve had a few Game Boys aswell, mainly for Pokémon.

The next home console though was the very first PlayStation, although I originally wanted the N64. I spent many days hammering Ridge Racer T4 and the Colin McRae Rally games. After that I got the PS2 and a PC to play Counter Strike on, which later turned to World of Warcraft when my buddies started playing that.

That carried on until I got my PS3, and since then that’s basically the only thing I’ve played on.

Does Nintendo ever have a chance of getting another look in? How about Microsoft’s Xbox?

I wouldn’t rule out Ninty, but they’ve got serious work to do for me to consider another one of their consoles.

I made the mistake of buying the 360 Slim. I primarily got it because of the Mass Effect series, which was before ME2 for PS3 was announced. I haven’t played it since either, and I’m not a fan of the 360 controller.

I used to prefer the 360 controller, but now that I’m used to the DualShock 3 I don’t think I could ever go back. The build quality is just so much nicer on the DS3. So you’ve got quite a wide variety of genres under your belt, it seems. Is there a particular genre that you always keep an eye on? Or are you something of an omni-gamer?

I wouldn’t say there’s a specific genre as such, but I do love a good rally game, which lately there haven’t been too many of. So to answer your question, I think I’m just a fan of good games, almost regardless of genre.

And what would you say is your favourite game of all time?

I don’t think I could mention an all-time favourite, but I could mention three, one from each PlayStation console. Colin McRae Rally 2.0 on PS1, GTA: Vice City on PS2 and Killzone 2 on PS3.

I’m sure there’ll be people nodding in agreement with those choices. I always like to ask what is the most embarrassing game you’ve played is?

That’s difficult to say. I suppose having played WOW for far too much time. I don’t really have any ‘Hannah Montanas’ lying around, so that’s about as embarrassing as it gets.