PowerUp! is the culmination of my 30 year long passion for video games, gaming culture and the written word. On the surface it looks like “just another video games website” and in some regards it is. But, my ambition is to make it so much more than that.
I want PowerUp! to be a hub. For games. For friends. For a community. To me, PowerUp! isn’t just a catchy name, it’s a mantra. PowerUp! means something.To PowerUp! is to move forward, to grow and to become better, stronger and happier. PowerUp! isn’t just about games. It’s about people and how the games we play affect us. How our environment shapes the games we play. How we look after our bodies and our minds and how video games can help us achieve greater mental health.
Video games are one of our generation’s greatest forms of expression and they deserve their place in the Pantheon of great artistic endeavour. They can make us laugh and cry. They can move us and enrage us. They are a representation of their creators’ purest artistic endeavours. To so intimately share so much of oneself is daunting, but I applaud those who can do it; especially in the world in which we live.
I hope that PowerUp! can be the antithesis of this culture. A welcoming, friendly place where we are all equals. We’re all brought together by our love for gaming, so our differences don’t and shouldn’t matter. Nobody is better than anyone else. Not because of their gender, race, sexual orientation or religion. We are all human and we all play games. PowerUp! is a celebration of the coming together of all of these things, and more.
It’s been a long, difficult road back from ruin and PowerUp! is the beginning of a brand new road. A brand new journey and it’s one I hope we can all take together. PowerUp! is my heart and soul poured onto the page.
I hope you enjoy it.
Much love.
Leo Stevenson.