Site Contributors :: John (aka Ashley Winchester)

Biography

When it comes to video games, the first game that really pulled me into its world — gamewise and musically — was Mega Man II on the NES. Other sidescrollers such as Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (with its use of primitive cut scenes) were equally as important in forging that video game music was more than a disposable backdrop the gaming experience. During the SNES era, the Mega Man X series was a high priority and the beginning of my interest in fighters emerged. Games like Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat 3 were hot tickets while in grade school and you weren't anybody unless you had them. Of course, looking back now they weren't nearly as great as we thought at the time.

After the 16-bit era, I originally was going to invest in the Nintendo 64 but games like Final Fantasy VII and the original Tomb Raider made me jump ship to Sony's machine. The games from Squaresoft that followed Final Fantasy VII made playing RPGs a standard affair although I still credit Media Vision's Wild Arms and Wild Arms 2nd Ignition as the games that made me stick with the genre despite their lack overall polish in rather superfluous areas. The music of Nobuo Uematsu and Michiko Naruke during this time was once again a reminder of VGM's power as a gaming element. There were numerous other games that defined those seeming endless days such as Resident Evil 2, Mega Man X4, Mega Man Legends I & II, and even Namco's Soul Blade although RPGs would eventually erode my interest in fighters. There was my two year fling with Diablo II during my final years in high school that would give way to having an actual life while going to school for graphic design in Pittsburgh.

In Pittsburgh gaming would take more of back seat to the music, such as European heavy metal my friends introduced me to a few years prior. There was an independent record store (Edie's Entertainment) in the strip district that carried this music and they literally got all the extra money I could muster at that point. It was also around this time I began to look into VGM some, familiarizing with some of the releases for games I had previous played on Chudah's Corner and Soundtrack Central but didn't have the resources to really get serious about purchasing VGM until graduating in 2004.

In the years that followed I gradually partook of the part of the culture and communities surrounding these sites, using them as stepping stone to find new VGM experiences and form several invaluable friendships. Regrettably, my interest in actual gaming and non-VGM music took a real hit (the abysmal fate of the Mega Man X series being especially hard), allowing only the sturdiest albums and games from the past to remain. After several years of hibernation, the interest in VGM became the new outlet for my fondness for writing. As it is, I think one should write for themselves even though sharing one's opinion is the best way to give back to those that have given me so much.

Contributed Reviews