I’ve been holding off writing an intro post mostly out of laziness, but now seems to be as good a time as ever. I’m kind of saddened I’ve left the intro until now, as I’ve wanted to get to know and meet this amazing community for so long, my social awkwardness be damned (I’m totally going to PAX ’10, though)!

I barely remember what led me to Destructoid back in 2006; a friend had linked me to some reviews, namely the Twilight Princess review by Anthony Burch. While it astounded me because no other site had given TP that score at the time, and growing to hate the sea of 9.5s of AAA titles found on mainstream review sites, I found I agreed with it entirely. Continually I enjoyed reading the good Rev’s articles -- who also shared my opinion on video games as an art form -- the most noteworthy being Indie Nation and Rev Rants, which I loved to read the most. Assumedly due to the intellectually stimulating articles and videos (Rev Rants) Anthony has written over the years, I’ve found I’m constantly debating gameplay mechanics, interactivity, narrative and player immersion among my friends. It took me a while to actually take the leap and register here (both on the website and forum), but I’ve been reading the site for oh-so long.

After first reading Anthony’s articles, it made me want to enter the games industry more than ever, in any capacity, whether in games journalism, games writing or even programming. I’ve loved video games as a medium since I was very young, I’d be stupid not to want to get into the industry, but Anthony made it that much more prevalent to me.

I followed Rev’s series, Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’, since the beginning and loved it ever since, which has grown to easily be my favourite web series out there. The humour that the Burch siblings share is exactly my own -- coupled with the focus being video games -- is what makes HAWP so amazingly awesome (the consistent Doctor Who, Firefly (being my favourite shows) and Metal Gear Solid references really helped things, I have to admit)! I still kick myself that I hadn’t attended PAX ’09 to meet you, Ash and everyone else. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of HAWP. Seriously, don’t ever stop this show.

I started listening to Podtoid quite late (I think around episode 110, or close to), but it was fantastic to listen to Rev ramble on -- about the exact stuff he writes about in his articles -- with the other amazing Destructoid staff (goddammit, Linde and Topher; why do you have to go too?!).

Goodbye, Anthony Burch. While I’ve never had the grand opportunity of meeting you (or your lovely wife-to-be) in person, I hope our paths cross someday. I’m going to sorely miss your reviews, front page Destructoid posts and unique insights on the games industry, but I’m incredibly excited to see what you can produce in the games dev world. You’ve done an immense service, Destructoid couldn’t have been what it is today without you.

Congratulations to you and Ashley, you two are the damn definition of a perfect couple! While you probably won’t read this -- and while I most probably won’t be able to attend the epic event that is your wedding -- I’ll definitely be sending you guys something.