This is me.

Well, not so much in the physical sense…it’s been a few years now, and I can’t say I know where that stuffed animal’s gone. Probably for the best that I don’t know where that onesie’s gone, either. But, at the heart, that’s still me every time I play a fantastic game. That’s why I created Intelligame: because I just can’t stop being enamored with games.

I’m Josh Boykin, founder of Intelligame, and jack of many, many trades. I’ve been a “game journalist” since 2009, and since this profession generally doesn’t pay the bills, I’ve done a whole host of other things in my day: I’ve worked for a high-power IT company, driven submarines at Disneyland, pulled espresso shots (like every good English major), even sold insurance for all of a couple days. But I’ve always kept an eye on gaming, and I even worked at a pretty well-known video game retailer for about a year just so I could be around games (which did nothing for my bank account; it sometimes felt like being an alcoholic working at a liquor store).

To me, it’s just as important to talk about games as to play them. For those who want to “let games be games,” I’m more than happy to let them do that. But I’ve always been the person who wants to talk all through the movie and joke around while analyzing the characters, plot, and writing, and I’ll be damned if I let someone deprive me of that experience with my games. (This does mean that there are folks who won’t watch movies with me; it’s ok, we’re still friends anyway).

You’ll see me write about game culture, plenty of opinion pieces about what’s going on in the industry and media, and how it applies to the world-at-large as well as the gaming space. I’ll also call out games that I think you should play, especially ones outside of the mainstream: indie download titles, lesser-known PC games, older games that have modern relevance, and mobile titles in general that strike my fancy. I’ll also use a lot of parentheses.

To me, Intelligame represents an opportunity to share my love of the heart of gaming: the stories inside games, the people that put them together, and the ways our virtual worlds are tied to our real one.

Welcome to Intelligame.