What are Your Favorite Games?

I know that when I'm looking for gaming content to consume, something I find valuable is knowing what kinds of games that content producer enjoys.  I expect that at least some of you out there are the same way.  In short, most of my favorite games fall under the "open world" umbrella, and I mostly play on XBox (hence my filthy casual status). So, without any further adieu, here are my top however many games I end up listing.

1. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
2. Fallout: New Vegas
3. Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal/Heart Gold/Soul Silver
4. Pokemon Red/Blue/Fire Red/Leaf Green
5. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
6. Red Dead Redemption
7. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
8. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
9. Civilization 2
10. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
11. Halo: Combat Evolved
12. Super Smash Bros. (N64)
13. Mass Effect
14. Dragon Age: Origins
15. Star Wars Battlefront II
16. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
17. Super Smash Bros. Melee
18. Perfect Dark
19. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
20. Conker's Bad Fur Day

Hello, World!

I'm Ryan, a 20-something year old American guy living in New Zealand.  I'm currently working on a Master's, which it taking up most of my time.  I find that when I'm having to do a lot of writing for school, where I'm restricted by prompts, word counts, and formatting, it starts to be something I don't enjoy. To counter that, I like to give myself other outlets to write about whatever I feel like with no real parameters.  I've blogged about music in the past and managed to find a decent audience, so I figure why not expand into games and gaming?

I've been a gamer for 20 some years now, pretty much since my parents got my older sister and I Oregon Trail Deluxe for the family Macintosh Classic II.  It's been something that's been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember, and has undoubtedly played a role in forming the person that I am today.  These days, I do most of my gaming on XBox, with a bit of PC, 3DS, and Mobile mixed in for good measure.

As far as what you can expect to find on this blog, it'll just be whatever gaming related topics I happen to be thinking about at the time.  It could be thoughts on gaming news, specific games or franchises, events, or even just the general gaming community.