My name is Kyle Wadsworth and I am a professional editor and unprofessional blogger.

I created This Gamer's Life in 2018 as a home for video game content and to archive my most popular blogs on the Game Informer website. Posts cover new video game releases, past titles and franchises, industry trends and conventions such as E3, IndieCade, DreamHack, L.A. Comic Con and Anime Expo, with an eye toward providing an objective perspective of the medium and increasing coverage of independent game developers.

When asked why I chose to become a blogger, there's no easy answer. I didn't really know what it meant to be a blogger when I began posting on the website 1UP. I simply wanted to share my impressions of video games with others who shared my interest. The fact that people actually read my posts, and even liked them, was a pleasant surprise. So in some ways, blogging chose me.

This was true of my role as a Featured Community Blogger (2012-2018) on the official website of Game Informer, an industry magazine and fourth-largest U.S. publication by circulation at the time (user blogs were discontinued in a June 2018 website redesign). The nonstaff/nonpaid role was bestowed by magazine staff (to Shootist2600 in the link, my gamertag/username) in recognition of unique and consistent contribution to the blog section.

From 2009 to 2018, 82 blogs had received recognition and 21 had been chosen for the magazine newsletter. In 2012, 32 of 44 blogs were recognized by the site (a 73% rate that was best among 643 bloggers). I also interviewed developers/publishers at the Electronic Entertainment Expo and reported on the event. As website moderator, I assisted members and enforced site conduct.

This Gamer's Life is the result of more than 10 years spent writing about video games. Every experience has helped inform my views on the industry, the challenges faced by independent studios, and my craft as a writer covering this medium. None of this would have been possible without the gaming community, and the support of the industry and social media followers. Thank you for visiting and inspiring me!
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Game Informer Issue 233, September 2012
VIDEO GAME, CONVENTION & OTHER COVERAGE

Blogs exclusive to ThisGamersLife.com:
I am grateful to have had 21 blogs featured in the Game Informer Newsletter:​
I'd written 175 blogs on the Game Informer website and was fortunate to have had 82 selected for the weekly feature Blog Herding -- The Best Blogs of the Community:
For all 175 blogs I posted on the former Game Informer website, please visit the following link:
(*External content is the responsibility of a third party and might not always be accessible.)
CONVENTION COVERAGE

​Anime Expo:
DreamHack:
Electronic Entertainment Expo:
IndieCade:
L.A. Comic Con/Stan Lee's Comikaze:
(*External content is the responsibility of a third party and might not always be accessible.)
WRITING CONTESTS WON

Letters From Harran writing contest (November 2015)
​I was one of 11 winners in the Letters From Harran writing contest sponsored by The Dying Light Team at video game developer Techland Games. (Winning entries are included and given credit in the Dying Light: The Following expansion pack. See screenshots below.)​​
Killzone: Liberation Tales of War Story Contest (June 2006)
While a member of Sony's Gamer Advisory Panel (2005-'09), I won the Killzone: Liberation Tales of War Story Contest sponsored by video game publisher Sony and developer Guerrilla Games. (See the prize below: A life-size model Helghast helmet used in the Killzone: Liberation ad campaign, the same worn in the image at the top of the page.)
MISCELLANEOUS
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Web presence:
Video game details:
  • Game Systems (Past & Present): Android; Atari 2600; iOS; Microsoft Xbox, Xbox 360 & Xbox One; Nintendo GameBoy, Wii, Super NES Classic Edition & Switch; Oculus Quest; PC; Sony PlayStation 1, 2, 3, 4 & VR (PSVR)
  • Favorite Game Genres: FPS, TPS, RPG, Action/Adventure, Racing, Platformers
  • Favorite Games: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition/Skyrim VR; Gris; The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt; BioShock; The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion; Observer; ​The Last of Us; Mass Effect; Uncharted 2: Among Thieves; Shadow of the Colossus; Silent Hill; Tomb Raider

MMO info:
  • Favorite MMO Game: The Elder Scrolls Online
  • Character Name: Voorhyym Serpensmyde
  • Character Class: Templar
  • Character Level: 12
  • Character Alignment/Team: Ebonheart Pact
  • Server Name: North America

Other interests:
  • Favorite Music: Lily Allen, Blue Six, Colbie Caillat, Cayetana, Chastity Belt, Frankie Cosmos, Cowboy Junkies, Lucy Dacus, Samantha James, Kaskade, Late Night Alumni, Sarah McLachlan, Michiko, Morgan Page, La Roux, Oceanlab, Over the Rhine, Toni Price, Samsaya, Sunflower Bean, Taylor Swift, The Wailin' Jennys, The Weepies, Neil Young
  • Favorite Movies: Alien, Blade Runner, Braveheart, Dances With Wolves, Gladiator, Heat, The Hunt for Red October, Interstellar, Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut), Lawrence of Arabia, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Wars: A New Hope, Thor: Ragnarok
  • Favorite TV: Barry, Big Little Lies, Chernobyl, Dead to Me, The End of the F***ing World, Fargo, Fear the Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The Handmaid's Tale, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, The Long Road Home, Modern Family, The Strain, Stranger Things, Veep, Victoria, The Voice, Waco, The Walking Dead, Westworld
  • Favorite Books: Habibi, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, Nijigahara Holograph
  • Favorite Quotes: "I do not entertain hypotheticals. The world as it is is vexing enough." Col. Stonehill (True Grit, 2010)

Let there be light ...

I've been playing since the dawn of video games. First came text-based adventure games on floppy disk, then early arcade games in cabinets, before cartridge gaming on the Atari 2600 (hence my gamertag, Shootist2600). That might make me a gaming dinosaur, but it also gives me perspective on how far the industry has come, and where it might be headed.

The future's so bright ...

I've seen games evolve from the 2D side-scrolling adventure of Pitfall! to the virtual reality open world exploration of Skyrim VR. I am as excited now as I was then. The future of interactive entertainment is only limited by our imagination, and video games inspire the imagination like few things can. They keep me young, and fuel younger gamers' dreams.