Nick “Kaz” Kosareo

Blood Type: 10W30 (5W30 in the winter)
Likes: sauerkraut, the scout
Dislikes: “AWP noobs,” CoD4′s martyrdom, losing

Kaz is a mechanical engineer. As such, his hobbies include talking about nuts and bolts and the merits of reaching minimum thread engagement – clearly skilled enough to be a judge of what makes a game good or bad. Hailing from the great city of Cleveland (Official Motto: We were cool once!), he knows how to root for the wrong sports teams – like any team from Cleveland and the NFL 2K series. Nowadays, he deals with his city’s sports impotence by blasting away fools in first person shooters and hurting friends’ feelings in Virtua Fighter matches.

Top Five Games
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1. Diablo II (PC)
2. Final Fantasy V (SNES)
3. StarCraft (PC)
4. Virtua Fighter 5 (360)
5. FreeSpace 2 (PC)

Tom Sheppard

Blood Type: AB negative
Likes: dnL, sofas, a dartboard
Dislikes: monkeys, sauerkraut

Tom Sheppard real strong. He lifty box. Hobbies include getting all of the useless items that developers put in video games to make sure people like him never interact with the rest of polite society, impressing Nick with his amazing Japanese skills, writing to long-dead fictional celebrities like Stick Stickly and Beakman, trying to convince Justin and Kaz that Lost is still good, and other Sisyphean challenges. He majored in Anthropology, the “gentleman’s major”, because he enjoys scholarly pursuits such as sleeping in and eating cold re-fried beans straight from the can.

Top Five Games
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1. Rez (DC)
2. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSone)
3. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)
4. Silent Hill 3 (PS2)
5. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC)
Honorable Mention: Bill Cosby’s Combat Football (Fairchild Channel F)

Nicolo Accordino

Blood Type: A
Likes: 日本の全て, working out, One Piece, Scott Pilgrim, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Dislikes: Umeboshi, close-minded people, cynicism, Mr. Fe

Born with a joystick in his hand, Nick Accordino’s a strong believer that there’s nothing a good dragon punch can’t fix. Spending his childhood holding his own against guys twice his age at the local arcade, he quickly fell in love with anything he could find that was blasted out of the land of the rising sun. After returning from Japan in 2006, he finished his senior year at Case Western Reserve University and now lives happily in Washington D.C. as one of the select few American gamers that can import Japanese games…and actually understand them. Hobbies include yelling at snakes, watching bears fall out of trees (or pushing, who knows?) and collecting Alfa Progressive Organic Genomes or “ALF pogs.” And while the FPS genre has taken hold of his homeland, he’s never shy about his fondness of JRPGs and fighting games. So put up that quarter and get in line – this guy’s accepting all challengers as a proud member of The Pack.

Top Five Games
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1. X-Men Vs. Street Fighter (Arcade)
2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)
3. Mother 3 (GBA)
4. The King of Fighters 2001 (Neo Geo AES)
5. Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii)

Justin Hemenway

Blood Type: O
Likes: Raisin Bran, artsy-fartsy platformers, Breaking Bad, New York City
Dislikes: Diddy Kong, Trish from Devil May Cry (long story), “squatty potty”

“The man who only knows how to love.” Justin Hemenway is an assistant first grade teacher and a lifelong gamer. Though he admittedly carries the Nintendo fanboy gene, he’s been a multi-platform consumer whore ever since the Dreamcast showed him the way back in 1999. Over the years, “Angry J” has made many foolish purchases (the Virtual Boy, Steel Batallion, the Trance Vibrator), but none of them have deterred him from continuing to seek out the weirdest and most original games. In addition to collecting obscene peripherals, he loves 70s pop culture and failing to make a single shot in basketball. In 2008, Justin taught in China, where he acquired a taste for donkey burgers and chicken feet. He followed that up with a master’s program in journalism at the University of Illinois the next year. He currently resides in Williamsburg but wishes to make it clear that he is not a hipster, despite not having a clear idea what that actually means.

Top Five Games
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1. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (SNES)
2. Earthbound (SNES), Mother 3 (GBA)
3. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
4. Little Big Planet (PS3)
5. Rock Band 2 (Multi)

Tony Divito

Blood Type: Laden with Cholesterol
Likes: sleep deprivation, getting sexy, the miracles of nature and science
Dislikes: ignorance, corporate greed, hyper-liberals, every driver on the road other than me, red frosting (it tastes funny)

Originally raised by wild buckbeaks and bugbears, Tony was trained on pack instincts and gold coins hoarding. He was soon picked up by two kindly strangers that gave him a home and a Nintendo console. After seeing this “Magic Box” in action, he and the gaming industry became intertwined. He has evolved just as the game controllers have – from clunkly, little squares to sleek, sexy, hand-conforming love machines. Now, having graduated with a double major in Biochemistry and Political Science from Case in 2007, he lies in that intermittent period when work consumes his life but allows for a healthy gaming habit. After playing 70 straight hours of Trauma Center on the DS, he has determined that medicine will be his future and hopes to find his calling at some med school in the near future. No fears though – gaming will still be around in his life…constantly.

Top Five Games
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1. Final Fantasy III (US),VI (Japan) (SNES)
2. Chrono Trigger (SNES)
3. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (PC)
4. Super Smash Bros. (N64), Melee (GC)
5. Diablo II (PC)