About Me

This is a picture of me, The Gameniac, at a Florida State football game.

Who is The Gameniac?

The Gameniac is me, Andrew Bertino. I am a 24-year-old web designer/developer living in Tallahassee, FL. I graduated Magna Cum Laude from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Information Technology. I like video games (obviously), web design, technology, sports, television shows, movies, and writing.

Why should I read your blog? What qualifies you to write about video games?

For starters, I am pretty much addicted to video games and have been since 1990. This means I have been playing video games pretty much my entire life, with my first video game experience being the original Duck Hunt at age two (or so I have been told). I have played video games spanning four generations and dozens of platforms from the NES to the Wii. I have played well over 600 games from Faxandu to Killzone 2, and even lesser known games such as Hogan’s Alley, The Adventures of Bayou Billy, Drakkhen, and Hugo’s House of Horrors (that’s right, even old school DOS games).

I currently own all three current generation consoles, the Wii, Xbox 360, and the PS3. I also own both handhelds, a DS Lite, and a PSP (my PSP is a PSP-1000 model that I bought on launch day and it still works great). I still have a PS2 Slim and a GBA SP as well. Finally, I also have a custom built gaming PC that lets me play most hardcore games at decent settings. I can’t say it will play Crysis at max settings with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing maxed out, but it should hold its own.

In the end, by playing all these of games, and by owning all these platforms, I feel I have gained a great deal of knowledge about the industry. Also, by constantly reading gaming news, I am generally up-to-date on most of the video game happenings. Finally, having played video games for so long now, I have seen how far the industry truly has come. I have seen it go from a nerdy hobby to a multi-billion dollar industry. I feel that all of this experience has given me a good understanding of the industry and gives me the credibility to discuss video game topics.

If you are interested in finding out more information about me, my web design work, or would like to view some of my many samples, please visit my official site at http://www.andrewbertino.com

Why did you start this blog?

I started this blog for several reasons. First and foremost, I wanted to write about video games. Video games are easily my biggest passion. I am constantly reading video game news and I am always full of opinions regarding dozens of video game topics. As such, I wanted to have a place where I could write down some of my opinions so that others could read them and then discuss.

Secondly, this blog is a culmination of three of my favorite interests: video games, web design, and writing. I really enjoy all three of these so it seemed like a good idea to start this blog. This blog allows me to enjoy these three interests all at once, while only having to use a single outlet.

Third, I wanted to start getting some journalistic writing experience. I already have dozens of boring college papers and stuffy project plans to showcase, so I felt that I needed something with a bit more creativity. Now some may not consider a blog to be professional writing experience since it’s generally based on opinion, but I feel that it is a good start and that it allows me to showcase my creativity and writing ability.

Finally, as much as I like web design, I have always wanted to be a part of the video game industry. However, the roads of life have not led me down that path quite yet. I felt this would be a good place to start getting some experience writing about video games while also giving me the opportunity to at least feel like I am part of the industry.

Where did you come up with the name The Gameniac?

Well, I was tired of my AIM screen name one day when I was in high school and I was thinking of a new name to come up with. I tossed around all kinds of ideas, but eventually came up with gameniac. Of course that was taken, so I had to tack on some numbers and eventually settled with gameniac85. This has been my AIM screen name since. Over the years I have begun to use it for a lot of other things and it has just stuck. I felt it was a fitting name for me as I am constantly playing or babbling on about video games.

Okay, what is your favorite genre? What is your favorite game?

RPGs are by far my favorite genre, so I am sure there will be some RPG bias in this blog on several occasions. My first RPG experience was Final Fantasy II (IV) for the SNES, which I played back in 1992 when I was six years old. Ever since playing that, I have been attached to RPGs and I try to play as many as I can. RPGs to me are like interactive books. I enjoy the stories and characters just as much as the gameplay, if not more. Aside from RPGs, I do also like first-person shooters, simulation games, sports games, and adventure games.

My favorite video game is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I like Star Wars, I like RPGs, and the concept was executed with flawless precision in my opinion. Rounding up the top 5 is Chrono Trigger at #2, Final Fantasy II (IV) at #3, Dragon Quest VIII at #4, and then Mass Effect at #5.

You can view my entire list of favorite games by clicking here.