Dwight DeGroff

Real Reviews, News and Commentary for gamers and tech enthusiasts from a perspective you can understand. That’s what you can expect in each of my posts.

As a gamer and tech enthusiast, I am looking for a few things when I read a review:

• What is the product: what is it supposed to do and how much will it cost me?
• What am I going to like about it? How well does it function compared to what I am using now and other products on the market?
• What am I going to hate about it?
• Who is the intended audience? Is it for me?
• Will I be happy purchasing this product?

My Gamer Perspective

For my video game needs I turn to the PC most of the time, though I will fire up the occasional console title. Most of my interest falls into the FPS, RTS and (MMO)RPG genres. I’m looking for polished, great-looking games that have high replay value and emphasize strategy and smart play. I really prefer multi-player games for the interaction and challenge that they provide, but it’s not a requirement. PC gaming is definitely one of the driving factors behind many of my tech purchases.

After video games, board games come next in the entertainment hierarchy, but have really taught me that you can turn almost-anyone into a gamer if you find the right game. I’ll try almost anything once, but I’m really enjoying the “Euro” or “Geman-style” board games in the past few years: think Settles of Catan, Agricola, Dominion, etc. Of the years, I’ve introduced many of these games to my group of “non-gamer” friends and have been amazed as they often end up being more obsessed than I am. I’m looking for games that “have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components.” Games that “emphasize strategy, play down luck and conflict, lean towards economic rather than military themes, and usually keep all the players in the game until it ends.” Finding the sweet spot between chess and Pictionary(or… *shudder*… Cranium) – those are the games I tend toward, but like I said… I’ll try anything once.

My Tech Enthusiast Perspective

There are four fundamental concepts that drive my tech purchases:

• Having the PC hardware needed to play video games the way they were meant to be played and the way they were meant to look
• My desire to stay connected to family, friends and gaming news
• A recent foray into digital photography lead me to purchase a Nikon D5100 and a smattering of lenses. Though I didn’t think it possible, this could easily surpass my PC hardware spending.
• Staying current with technology – if “everyone” is buying it, there’s probably a good reason(I’m looking at your smart phones and tablets)

I generally don’t pull the trigger on tech purchases without doing my homework ahead of time: looking for reviews, common complaints, compatibility issues, product comparisons, etc. If there’s one thing that really gets under my skin it’s making a big purchase only to find myself wishing that I’d made a different decision.

What else?

I’m also a husband and father of two boys(who by the age of two have already been exposed to smart phones, StarCraft II shoutcasts, and their first video games). My family and friends are important to me, as is the impact that my gaming and tech purchases have on them. Expect to see those influences in products I review, because they are things that I would appreciate seeing when I read reviews myself.

Is there something you’d like to see more of? Well, drop me a note in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.