Welcome to yet another entry in our all-new “Inside the PlayStation Universe” series, where we dive into the weekly lives of the PSU.com Editorial Team. This time around, we take a look at Michael Harradence, the site’s Executive Editor and a bloke who likes to spend most of his free time living on his Bench Press. Fun facts: Mike loves eating way too much chicken, never takes pictures of himself and can’t drive. Like, at all. He’s also the team’s biggest Resident Evil and Assassin’s Creed aficionado, and will talk your ear off about either of them given the chance — so the team never does. Mike also recently stepped up to host the newly-launched PlayStation Unchained Podcast, and was thrilled to learn he sounds like Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Or so he’s been told.
Want to know more? Read on.
Name: Michael Harradence
Title: Executive Editor
What games have you been playing this week?
As anyone who has listened to recent podcasts will know, I typically have several games on the go, often spanning multiple formats. Lately though I’ve toned things down a bit; right now I’m completing a trilogy play-through of Mass Effect, and also ploughing through the retro-tastic DuckTales: Remastered, the latter which I will be reviewing for PSU.com. I jumped on board the Normandy fairly late in regards to Mass Effect, having only got into the series a few months before ME3 came out. As such, there’s a plethora of scenes I haven’t witnessed yet, so right now I’m attempting to do a Renegade run and see what it means being Shepard The Badass for a change (R.I.P. Mordin). Needless to say, the result so far has been shocking, brutal, and more than often, downright hilarious. At the time of writing, I’ve just started ME3, and am about 9 hours in. As for DuckTales, well, having grown up watching the cartoon and playing the NES original (including the sequel, which I still own), let’s just say that Capcom doesn’t disappoint. Stay tuned for my full verdict on Monday.
Above: Killing Mordin in Mass Effect 3 during a ‘Renegade’ file almost made Mike shed epic man tears. Almost.
What news story caught your eye on PSU in the last even days?
Having recently published an article on the best PS4 pre-order deals, I was startled by the news that August 6 was the official cut-off point for guaranteeing your console on launch day. Needless to say I was chuffed that I placed my pre-order with Amazon a couple of months ago – at least I know my shiny new PS4 will be with me from day one. Aside from that, Namco’s assertion that Tekken x Street Fighter is still in development was good to hear, being a massive Tekken fan (though god knows when it’ll actually land in stores). Finally, I was intrigued to hear that Ubisoft has got an end in mind for the Assassin’s Creed series; with the annual development schedule on-going, it makes me wonder how much they’ll be able to squeeze out of the franchise before calling it a day. There’s still so much to explore, and if they don’t set one of the games in Victorian London I’ll be protesting. Or something.
What do you do when you’re not editing for PSU?
PSU is my full-time job, so outside of that, my life is very much routine; I workout, eat healthy and play games or hang out with mates. I have strict weight lifting routine and die that I follow religiously – the butt of many jokes from the PSU.com staff, it must be noted, but I enjoy it – and adhere to only a daily basis. Aside from that, I like to check out the latest flicks at the cinema with a couple of close friends usually every Wednesday. When I’m not doing any of the above, I work through my backlog of games. This week as mentioned has been Mass Effect and DuckTales exclusively, although with the amount of titles I want to play (some that haven’t been touched in years, mostly retro stuff) you’ll likely to hear a new story every week. I’ve always prided myself in the fact I have a diverse taste in video games and have no problems dusting off the SNES for some Mario World and then switching over to a modern game like Assassin’s Creed a few hours later – juggling games is something that I do best.
Cheerio, everyone.