How I got Hired at GF

[Shin Johnpv]

i think youve either told me the story or posted it before on GG!

anyway either way always an interesting read

you always promissed to tell more stories on GG! and you never did you limey bastard :P

[MVS]

Yeah 30K was great then. Keep in mind, I was making about, oh 12K a year at the warehouse, so, an increase of 18K to do a dream job, was just that. A dream come true.

Originally posted by Hero
Matt, how long were you at GFO before doing mag reviews, and were there any differences in the work?

Not quite sure, actually. I would peg it around May 1999-Dec 2000, but I might be short by a couple months.

Anthony Chau wanted to move to the Internet, to become the code/strategy guy, and I was asked if I wanted to take his place on the magazine. Until that time, I had done Japan now for a couple months and I think 1 magazine review (SC5, IIRC).

Both were good, but I preferred the magazine. Many days, on the Internet, I would stay at work, read and translate the Japanese news (or play EverQuest or Quake 2 for hours on end), and then rush to put that up before other sites. I also had to sit down when the Japanese magazines came and scan the interesting parts in and all that.

Magazine had a different feel, as well as the once monthly deadline (versus a daily 1 or 2), and also had that great sensation of going into a bookstore in some part of the country and actually seeing something that I did in there. That was a great feeling.

Magazine also more fun, IMHO, due to the team aspect and all that.

[Prince Planet]

Originally posted by Hero
I live in CA and would like to know about what's up. As much as I can, anyway.

It's pretty tangential, but suffice it to say that the subsequent purchase of the magazine and it's e-commerce component (that is, the business entities) ultimately spawned several pieces of litigation generally involving alleged breaches of contract and allegations of securities fraud, the latter of which is still being litigated.

I was pretty good friends with some of the GameFan guys going back to 1992-93, and was an extremely good friend (and still am) of the guy who managed the mail-order/e-commerce component, so I knew a little bit about the general goings-on. Thus, you can imagine my surprise when one my colleagues (who knew I was into videogames) recently asked me on a whim if I had ever heard of Die Hard Game Fan, rattled off a bunch of familiar names, and proceeded to explain the whole mess.

Like I said, small world.

[MVS]

And, thanks to all for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed it.

And, as for the website's and magazine's demise, I know I've written about it before here and there, but, I guess I have nothing more to say on that one. Call me sappy, but I prefer to remember the exhilleration of getting the job, the good times and good friends and all of that, rather than the abrupt end to it it.

[Josh]

What are you doing now?

[MVS]

Training to go in the Army in 6 months.

[Josh]

Good deal... lets hope your instructor is not as bad ass as the man in my avatar.

[Prince Planet]

Originally posted by 88mph
Good deal... lets hope your instructor is not as bad ass as the man in my avatar.

"Private Van Stone, I believe we may have found something you're actually good at..."

[MVS]

Hah!

Actually, I'll go in as a Private First Class. Woo!

[gamevet]

Great story MVS. Gamefan and the website, were my favorites. I'd read both the magazine and the website religiosly. Was'nt your car posted in Sausage of the month, in Gamefan?