Can you believe it? Early this morning I just found out that yesterday was Justin Wood’s 26th birthday. Well, although we missed the chance to be accurate about it, we still want to get the party started!

I met Justin Wood at my very first E3 (1999 in Atlanta) where he had traveled as a retailer with his partner Jeff and my colleague Bryan Dawson. I was immediately impressed by Justin’s efficiency and organization while covering the show, just so he could play all the games he had been hearing about over the past year. He also impressed me by being able to say a few basic phrases in Japanese, (I was taking the one Japanese class offered at my university at the time, so I was like “whoa!”). By the show’s end, I asked Justin if he’d be interesting as contributing to the 64 Source (Justin Nation’s old site, which Dawson and I worked for) as a “retail reporter,” giving us inside scoops on what deals and goings-on Nintendo was planning.

It worked out great. The following year, I found myself introducing Justin to John Benyamine and before I knew it, Justin went on to work at several other Cloudchaser websites (including Segadojo & SonySource). As Planet GameCube prepared to re-launch, I actively sought to recruit my old friend, and was delighted when he agreed to join our staff. Once joining, to avoid confusion with “the other Justin” (Nation), he elected to adopt the nickname “J-Dub” which he came up with, but admits to hating.

Not only has J-Dub been successful in “online game journalism” he’s also managed to work with Jeff and others to establish their labor of love, Gaming Edge a reputable online game retailer, which offers its service worldwide. Gaming Edge has grown considerably over the years, and I’m proud of everything they’ve accomplished, and am excited of PGC’s association with GE.

Although we missed his birthday, J-Dub is probably having the experience of his lifetime covering SpaceWorld 2001 in Japan for PGC! It’s his first trip over there, and we have a feeling it won’t be his last. Best of all, he apparently got to meet and speak with Peter Main yesterday over coffee, which is the best experience any Nintendophile could ask for!