Adison Finken's Xbox Live Avatar
Microsoft
Well, it’s that time of the week again, so today we go all the way to Des Moines, IA for an interview with Mr. Adison Finken. He’s a man of strong opinions which he loves to share. If you ever want someone great to talk about video games with, then he’s your man. His knowledge of the industry is astounding and informative; it’s likely you’ll see his name pop up at least a few more times around here. As always, if you would like to see yourself in the spotlight on "Get to Know Your Gamers", feel free to drop an email and we'll get you in the rotation!
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, what do you like to do (besides play video games)?
I’m Adison Finken from West Des Moines. Aside from gaming, my second passion is movies. Most of my time spent is either from watching movies or making bank, working the 9 – 5 for the man. I’m a big fan of Frisbee and traveling. I also do a movie podcast with a friend of mine called “Dude, that was sweet”. It’s about 45 minutes to an hour of movies and entertainment news. Nothing has been posted yet, but I’ll update with a link as soon as we upload some material.
What got you into gaming?
I have two fond memories of gaming. When I was much younger, my dad would always take the Nintendo controller and mess with it. One time, he recorded himself playing it and then would give me the controller playing back his recording and tell my mom “look, he’s really good at Mario!” making her think I’m some gaming prodigy at about the age of 3. I also would always go to my dad’s work and play Duke Nukem 3D because we didn’t have computers powerful enough at home, and I thought that was the coolest game ever!
What was your first console / game?
The Nintendo 64 was my first console. The game I remember most fondly was Turok the Dinosaur hunter, because I thought it was so cool when you’d shoot people in the jugular and it would just spray all out! Super Mario 64, although not my favorite, was funny because my brother actually received it in his pile of Christmas Gifts and was very adamant about being the first to play it, however he ran off and played with other Christmas gifts while I sat patiently waiting for my dad to plug the console in, so I actually got to play it first.
Some people won’t play a game if the graphics are bad. Do graphics have that big of an impact for you?
Graphics are important, but often times aren’t the determining factor. They go a long way in making it seem more realistic, but gameplay comes first; It has to be fun to play.
What do you look for in game / what makes a game ‘fun’ to you?
The big thing that I look for in a game is gameplay. It has to be really really fun to play. My favorite style is 3rd person action games. I actually got my start more in 1st person games, but I elevated to 3rd and now prefer the way they play. Games like Uncharted are some of my favorite. I’ll play pretty much anything though, I’m not a “video game snob” with the exception of sports games… because I suck at them.
Do you consider yourself a ‘casual’ or ‘hardcore gamer?
I would say it depends on the game. The majority of the time I’m a casual gamer – I like to play for the fun, and not for the competitive aspect – however if I’m playing a game that is more competition oriented I would consider myself more hardcore. I really enjoyed Modern Warfare 2 and played the online multiplayer like crazy, so for that I’d consider myself ‘hardcore’.
Do you prefer a solo or co-op / multiplayer experience?
I’m a big single-player guy. The thing that I value more than anything is a good single-player aspect. Multiplayer and co-op is great, but you just don’t get the same immersion that you get with the single-player experience, and I really like to find myself fully immersed in the story.
What are you playing right now?
Just picked up Infamous 2 for the PS3 and Red Faction Armageddon for the 360. I’m playingInfamous 2 more, because it has a better story, and I love that it makes you feel like a super-hero. You start out so powerful, and even by half-way through, you’re just wondering what powers they could possibly keep giving you to make you more powerful.
What is the worst game you’ve ever played?
That’s a tough question. I’m going to give a very controversial answer. Bringing everything in as far as quality of its predecessors and all the hype surrounding it, I’m going to have to say that Black Opps was the worst game I’ve ever played. Not necessarily because it was actually the worst quality game I’ve ever played, but simply because it was over hyped and not as well refined as I thought it should have been. I’m not saying no one should play it, but I’m saying that personally it was just a huge let-down for me and that’s why I didn’t enjoy it.
What do you consider to be the best game ever?
Half Life and Counterstrike. Half Life was a very crucial game in defining what I became as a gamer, being that it’s so immersive, I’d never really played a game that was so awesome. Everything was unparalleled. I can pick it up today and not enjoy it as much as a game I just grabbed off the shelf for 60. Counterstrike, because I spent so much time on it playing with friends. We’d go home from school and play until it was bed time, then get up in the morning and play some more. It was one of those games you just can’t put down, before the time of Call of Duty or Battlefield, and the online play was just so much fun.
Random Thought?
Whenever it comes down to it, movies are still better than games, because I have more movies than games.