About This Site

Play With My Box (PMB) is a video gaming fan web log dedicated to the Xbox 360 console. The blog was born in mid-January 2007 as a sort of natural reaction to getting the 360 over the Christmas holiday. I was caught in the spell of GRAW, Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas and needed an outlet for "water cooler talk" about the fantastic games I was playing.

And that's pretty much what I want this place to be: a friendly, informative water cooler where I can shoot the shit about games with other gamers. Looking around me on the Interweb, I see a lot of great things being done in the blogging community. My intention is to join the gang and bring my own unique perspective to what's going on with our beloved hobby. Times, they are changing, and this is without a doubt the most exciting time to be playing games on any platform.

The focus here at PMB really is going to be on the games. You can expect to find a lot of updates on what I'm playing, new releases, Live Arcade, a few rumours and more than a few commentaries on the gaming industry as a whole. All this, with a heavy Xbox 360 slant. There's an increasing amount of cross-over between consoles and between the 360 and PCs, so I'll also be speaking to topics that strike a broader note within the community.

What you will not find on these pages, for better or for worse, is commentary on the politics of the games industry. Ergo, you won't be finding fanboy tirades about which console is "the suck" or how Microsoft PR is so much better than Sony PR or any of that other side nonsense that frankly, takes away from the pure craft of game-making and game-playing. Do I eat up this sort of stuff on other sites? You bet. Like everyone else, I love to keep current on what's happening in te industry, but I'm taking a stand and keeping most of that news off Play With My Box.

You already know where to get your gossip on Phil Harrison, Miyamoto and that Reggie guy. This blog is a celebration of video games: why we love them, why we play them and why we'll never stop.

As for my own background, I am Maclintok. I'm a 29-year old native of Vancouver, BC Canada. By day I work as a designer/marketer for an elite luxury vacations company. By night, I am a tireless gamer, amateur DJ, writer and incorrigible womanizer (in my own mind, at least). My gaming career goes back to the ColecoVision and Apple IIc, moving up to the 8-bit NES, Super NES, Genesis, the PC and finally to the Xbox 360. I skipped a couple generations, notably the Playstation and Playstation 2 era of consoles. That time was spent as a PC gamer and the wonderful arms race of hardware upgrades, tweaking and software patches.

I've long tired of the PC upgrade cycle and was ready to wile away the last of my gaming days with Guild Wars when I finally broke down and bought myself a 360 just before Christmas. Best decision of 2006! I can confidently say that I have finally found my gaming home.

So to wrap up my long-winded introduction, welcome to my blog. Send me your comments and get involved with the articles. I look forward to getting to know all of you as the site grows.

Game on.