The GameFan history thread

[crithit5000]

Is right after the shakeup when ECM came on board? I'd never remembered him being in the magazine until after almost everybody died in the comic.

ECM began appearing in the mag in Volume 5, Issue 11 (Crash 2 cover), I think. Just before Halverson left.

[Dolemite]

Hey Wolfie- how did the process of creating the pics of the editors work? Did Halverson dictate to you exactly what he wanted each one to look like, did he just give you a rough idea, or were you given complete freedom to come up with whatever you and the editor in question wanted (with the exception of Shidoshi and his "mad scientist" character)?

Also, did each editor get to pick their name, or was that assigned as well? I'll assume they got to pick it, since Shidoshi is still, well, Shidoshi and not Bastardmulletboyforcedmetobeshidoshi or something.

[JefmcC]

No, Glass Joe is right--"Murdoc" was the evil nemesis of MacGuyver and Mr. Des Barres was it. Not the same as the A-team one.

Foot in mouth tastes like humble pie.

My mistake.

[isamu]

Holy crap there is a lot of ex-GF guys here!! This is seriously awesome for us GF devotees, which there are tons of. And the idea of resurrecting a GOOD gaming mag in the vain of GF's beautiful, witty, drug-induced greatness!! It's just got to happen.

I strongly agree with this statement! It's so awesome to have all the guys here in one thread! Gamefan was a major part of my life and I took an issue with me EVERYWHERE I went. I even got written up at my job for reading the magazine on post when I wasn't supposed to! I didn't even want to subscribe to the mag, because I knew issues would not get here as fast as they hit newsstands so I opted to drive to the magazine rack every month and get the copy earlier even if it meant paying more on an issue to issue basis.

please guys....try and get something going with Gamefan again and let's create another mag with all the Ex-GFers here in this thread!!! WE CAN DO THIS!!! AND YOU HAVE MY FULL SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!

now if only we can get Nick to come to this thread, the genesis would be complete!!!

[kdeselms]

Kevin? Wow, how's it going man? I lost track of you after GFO flatlined, how's life? Heh, Prodigy. Memories...

Ryan, zat you? What's up man? Things have been going well, can't complain! Hit up www.videowrestling.com, that's my blog and message board. I've been doing a lot of television and a little feature work, here and there...mostly as assistant editor but I've been getting more editorial work lately. I spent two seasons as the assistant editor on Hollywood Squares, most recently I was the lead associate editor for a show called American Candidate on Showtime. Right now I'm just freelancing at a couple of local post houses I've worked with for several years, doing various shows. I'm about to start cutting a documentary on gaming for some guys in Florida (not video games, but pen/paper and Warhammer style stuff).

Not playing games the way I used to, but still do from time to time. Got married, which cut down my idle time significantly.

[ChaoofNee]

I'm just rather sad that I only started to read GameFan near the end of its life...

[Ex Ranza]

I'm just rather sad that I only started to read GameFan near the end of its life...

Eh. The early issues were great, but in my opinion the writing and character were just as good near the end of the magazine's life (1999-2000). I guess I just like 2D rants.

I always kind of felt like the mag took a downturn around 1996 and 1997, but maybe that was just the kind of games they had to cover. During the last two years, though, the magazine got awesome again.

[isamu]

Dan was just sort of a unique personality. I've never known a bigger or more knowledgable pro wrestling fan, either.

I know from Dan's stories that Dave H. would actually take everyone's copy and "Blissify" it - that's something that just infuriated Dan. He took his writing very seriously and every time it got copy-edited by Dave, it ended up being peppered with those patented Nick Rox-isms that he loved so much.

I can personally attest to this. It's too bad his relationship with GF ended on a sour note. But I miss the little guy nonetheless.

[Dolemite]

Eh. The early issues were great, but in my opinion the writing and character were just as good near the end of the magazine's life (1999-2000). I guess I just like 2D rants.

I always kind of felt like the mag took a downturn around 1996 and 1997, but maybe that was just the kind of games they had to cover. During the last two years, though, the magazine got awesome again.

Gamefan's quality was pretty consistent, but I have a soft spot for the old days of Rox and Takuhi.

[djpubba]

Hey, good to see you around Waka.

I'll add in a little of what I know to the where are they now's.

OMG.
Bruce Stockert (Reubus) went back to North Dakota. For what? I have no clue. I guess I would since there was practically nothing left after GF imploded.

Bruce went to work with Jody Seltzer doing guide work for Prima. Things slowed down for Jody at one point so Bruce moved back to CA and helped us make the SMT: Nocturne and Phantom Brave guides. After those gigs were up we ran out of stuff to have him work on, so he's looking for work last I heard.

George (former GF designer that started the mag with Tim back in the day) was working at Atari last I heard.

After G left GF he got a job at SCEA, later left there, started a dev house called Player 1, developed a game called Robotron X and five or six other games for Midway and Crave, which didn't take off. So now he's back at SCEA doing game design again. Sounds like he's doing pretty good there. George is, like, my best friend in the world. Went to high school with him.

Jay Puryear (Kid Fan) is still messing around in the gaming industry last time I heard. As for what company or position, I have no idea.

I bumped into him in the hallway at E3. He gave me his card that's from a company that appears to be developing some VR goggles or something.

Matt Taylor (yes he worked at GF at one time and did the Mortal Kombat guide.) He went on and started Versus Books. Pretty successfully I might add.

OMFG. I got an email a few years ago from Matt announcing that he was leaving the game industry completely to dedicate his life to helping children, and was changing his name to Matt Love to show his love for children. Shortly after than, Versus Books went out of business. WTFLOLOMG.

Tim - I'm not sure if you remember, but I went up with Kei to Weising's house to meet up with you guys about adding his section in your mag. Don't know if you remember or not. I was sleeping on his couch the whole time after I got there. I'm all for resurrecting a mag. That sounds like a freaking awesome idea! I was doing layouts in GameFan for a good 5+ years or so. Not my best work, you know how them GF crunchtimes were. Shoot me an e-mail and let's hook up sometime.

Yeah, yeah! I remember you now. Email sent.