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Lo-Ping Meet and Greet

Welcome to the first blog from Lo-Ping! These are the faces and stories of the folks behind the group’s foundation.

Ben – Host/Public Relations/Editor-in-Chief

Hey! I’m Wek. I’m from the United States and I’m currently a communications/business double major in college right now. I’m really looking forward to the future of Lo-Ping. I’ve been a techie/geek since I was young. I used to play a pacman rip-off on my father’s old word-processing computer after school. He bought me my first PC game, Age of Empires, when it first came out. After that, I picked up games like Dark Forces, NFS: High Stakes, and the legendary ‘’Math Blaster’’.

After school I would come home and get on our family desktop computer. I’d spend hours fiddling around with system settings and pre-installed software (I actually managed to break the computer once when fiddling around with display settings). Ever since those days I’ve been a huge fan of technology and gadgets. I do some voice-acting on the side, voicing reviews for PixelSmashers and whatnot, and I am always approachable on chat programs like Xfire and Xbox LIVE.

I currently love any kind of RTS. I’ve been playing a lot of Sins of a Solar Empire recently, as well as revisiting Shogun: Total War. While I play all genres, and I’m enjoying NFS Shift and Batman: Arkham Asylum, I’m definitely an RTS and MMORPG guy.

I’ll be hosting all the podcasts as well as acting as one of our Public Relations contacts. I’ll be working on landing interviews with different faces from the gaming and tech world (already have an interview set up with the founder and admin of the PixelSmashers). I’ll also be blogging on MMO-related shenanigans as well as anything else I think Lo-Ping’s readers/listeners should know about.

You can contact me at [email protected] with any questions or concerns! If you would like to be a part of the team or a contributor, or would like to be a guest on the podcast, send me an email!

Jamal – Host/Public Relations/Contributing Editor

I started gaming ever since I could hold a controller (forgive the trite cliché). At the tender age of three, I was introduced to my first love: Super Mario Bros Duck Hunt. The rest is, as they say, history. I expanded my horizons significantly since then. Over the course of my lifetime, I’ve witnessed five generations of consoles, fondled my share of handhelds, and heard the death-rattles of many a platform. However, these are all eclipsed by my love of PC games, especially those of days gone by.

Recently, I’ve had quite a pick-up in activity going on with my life and school, but I still manage to find time for my two true loves: Real-time strategies and Abandonware. Sure…I may dabble in some ‘‘next-gen gaming’‘ now and again, but give me 32 colors, MIDI sound, and flawless gameplay any day over the brown, bloom, and wagglan’ we’ve got now.

That being said, it should come as no surprise to anyone that my focus will be entirely on old-school console and PC gaming. So hold on to your asses, and prepare for some fucking nostalgia as I take you on a ride to yesterday!

Brian – Host/Contributing Editor
I’ve more or less been a gamer my whole life. I practically came out of the womb with a Super Scope. That said, I’m not very snooty when it comes to new games. If it’s fun, I’ll play it and love it – apparently, I’m one of the seven folks who liked Mercenaries 2. I have a seething hatred of fanboys, and I also loathe the tendency of modern consoles to be Swiss Army knives. I buy a console for one reason: The games. I couldn’t care less that Xboxes get Netflix or that PS3’s have a Blu-Ray player.

As a college student, my free time is somewhat hampered. What time I do have is mainly spent watching TV, practicing Tae Kwon Do, or playing Rock Band 2 with my friends. (Side note: Anyone who responds to this with GH:WT IZ BETR is a moron.) I also wish Bruce Campbell was a playable character in Left 4 Dead.

I can be opinionated and/or abrasive at times, and love telling people what I think. Naturally, when I heard that my buddy Wek was doing a podcast, I jumped at the opportunity. We’ll see how this turns out.