The GameFan history thread

[mollipen]

I've got a new wiki-powered section of my website, and I'm working on the page for GameFan magazine. One of the pieces of the history of GameFan I'm really sketchy on, though, is the part where Ziff Davis game in. I've heard a few things - that Ziff tried to purchase the rights to the name GameFan but failed, they purchased the rights but never used the name, and that they even ran gamefan.com for a short time before putting it down.

Could anybody clear things up concerning the connection to GameFan that Ziff had?

[Clash!]

[MVS]

Heard a lot of other things, but never anything about Ziff-Davis.

[Revoltor]

I think what happened was that ZD wanted to launch a Gamepro style magazine, one for the kiddies, that they wanted to name GameFan. For some reason they couldn't obtain the name (perhaps that website that fucked you guys over still had it) and went ahead with the name "GameNow".

Oh, that magazine crashed pretty quickly soon after

[Fe 26]

Shidoshi make sure to put a transcript of that review where one of the eds goes crazy and writes nothing but racial slurs against the Japanese.

[MVS]

Search for it on fatbabies.

It was filler text written by someone who thought it would be funny when they were quite stoned, and, not surprisingly, never caught until it printed.

[mollipen]

Shidoshi make sure to put a transcript of that review where one of the eds goes crazy and writes nothing but racial slurs against the Japanese.

Already planned on that.

This page is one of the things that confuses me, specifically:

Sam was hired to relaunch GameFan.com, where he managed to quadruple traffic in a matter of weeks. He then accepted a News Editor Position at GameSpot; where he played a key role in raising the site's traffic to record levels and helping formulate a massive relaunch strategy.

Now, I'm not so familiar with the end-of-days GFO crew, but I've never heard of Sam. As well, saying that he was in charge of the "relaunch" of GameFan.com makes me wonder.

[Dolemite]

Search for it on fatbabies.

I was just about to say that. They have most of the dirt on what went down.

Matt, I heard rumors back in the day that some GF editors caught shit because were selling review copies of games to pirates. Any truth to that as far as you know?

[Integrity]

Already planned on that.

This page is one of the things that confuses me, specifically:



Now, I'm not so familiar with the end-of-days GFO crew, but I've never heard of Sam. As well, saying that he was in charge of the "relaunch" of GameFan.com makes me wonder.

When Sam left Gaming Age, his first "paying" gig was for GFO, but he was there for just a couple of months before he left for GameSpot. His "name" at GF was Captain Smak (it was during the ECM era that he was writing for GFO, not after the magazine shut down).

As far as the supposed 'relaunch', GFO hit a dead cycle for a period of time and when Sam came on board, started updating way more frequent and thus worked miracles according to his bio.

[mollipen]

Matt, I heard rumors back in the day that some GF editors caught shit because were selling review copies of games to pirates. Any truth to that as far as you know?

From my said GameFan information page on my new site:

GameFan found itself in a tight spot when a pirated copy of the pre-release version of Resident Evil 2 was found by Capcom at a local SoCal video game shop... a copy that contained information showing it to have been copied from the preview release given to GameFan.

A member of the staff stupidly let the copy of the game get into the hands a friend who was know for pirating games. What would result would be pretty obvious to most people.

When Sam left Gaming Age, his first "paying" gig was for GFO, but he was there for just a couple of months before he left for GameSpot. His "name" at GF was Captain Smak (it was during the ECM era that he was writing for GFO, not after the magazine shut down).

As far as the supposed 'relaunch', GFO hit a dead cycle for a period of time and when Sam came on board, started updating way more frequent and thus worked miracles according to his bio.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to GameFan.com after I stopped running it, so I wasn't always up on who was part of it. I remember Hi-Fi, but that's pretty much it.

[Dolemite]

From my said GameFan information page on my new site:

Well, that answers that. Thanks 'doshi. Were there any repercussions from Capcom?

And when will your Gamefan page be finished?

[adol]

MVS, tell the Fury drug test story again.

[mollipen]

Well, that answers that. Thanks 'doshi. Were there any repercussions from Capcom?

Being that I was just a lowely peon, I didn't get the full story. I know that we had to seriously kiss their ass, and I think we agreed to do some special projects for them in one way or another.

And when will your Gamefan page be finished?

Here is what I've got so far. It still isn't finished, and things like the staff listing and links to stuff like the "Jap Bastards" incident haven't been touched yet.

[Jeremy]

Great read, Shidoshi, kudos. Mind if I spread the word around about the page? Some folks on the Death Valley Driver boards have been wondering about the mag and they'd probably get a kick out of this.

[mollipen]

The moma.bible project isn't officially open yet, but sure, go ahead. Just put a note that the page is still a work in progress, so more information will be added to it in the near future.

[djpubba]

Being that I was just a lowely peon, I didn't get the full story. I know that we had to seriously kiss their ass, and I think we agreed to do some special projects for them in one way or another.

According to Ruebus, who worked for us at DoubleJump briefly, the federal marshals actually showed up and searched the place. This was long after I left (which was shortly before the move to Agoura Hills).

[Jeremy]

The moma.bible project isn't officially open yet, but sure, go ahead. Just put a note that the page is still a work in progress, so more information will be added to it in the near future.

Done. http://board.deathvalleydriver.com/i...40#entry309316

[mollipen]

According to Ruebus, who worked for us at DoubleJump briefly, the federal marshals actually showed up and searched the place. This was long after I left (which was shortly before the move to Agoura Hills).

You know, this might then connect to what I thought was the IRS investigation. I know we showed up for work one day, the place was locked down, and we were each given like two minutes to be escorted in to retrieve any personal belongings. That would make sense.

[djpubba]

The original magazine was handled by three main people: Dave Halverson, Jay Puryear, and Guy Whose Name I've Forgotten.

The original was handled by Halverson, Greg Off, Terry Wolfinger, George Weising, Kei Kubuki, Andrew Cockburn, Mas something and Tim Lindquist (me). Jay mostly worked the counter at GameClub until a little while later.

We printed the first issue (and the catalogs) at my old place of employement, TV Fanfare in Valencia. Jay drove around to the local newstands with the first issue in the back of his pickup truck and basically gave it free to whoever would put it on the racks. By the 2nd issue we had a deal with the people who distributed Low Rider magazine to distribute us nationally -- in liquor stores across the country. We were on our way.

[mollipen]

See... this is why I love the internet.

Thanks for the info. I'm updating as we speak.

[cka]

::seedy eyes::

GameFan Network (surely this was seperate from GameFan the magazine) was run by eFront, and eFront were a bunch of real cheap pricks who rarely paid their hosted sites for advertisement hits. They eventually closed up shop (WITHOUT PAYING US MIND YOU), and all the sites got the shaft -- including my old prodigy fighters.net, somethingawful.com, and a handful of PC gaming sites.

[Diff-chan]

Andrew Cockburn

Heh.

[mollipen]

::seedy eyes::

GameFan Network (surely this was seperate from GameFan the magazine) was run by eFront, and eFront were a bunch of real cheap pricks who rarely paid their hosted sites for advertisement hits. They eventually closed up shop (WITHOUT PAYING US MIND YOU), and all the sites got the shaft -- including my old prodigy fighters.net, somethingawful.com, and a handful of PC gaming sites.

If you (or others) can expand a bit on GameFan Network, I'll put up a page for that as well.

[cka]

I explained pretty much all I remember about them... We got a shitty server, they never paid us, and they folded after only a few months because they couldn't afford to pay hosted sites for advertising.

[mollipen]

Heh.

Yeah, from the moment you're born you've got a lot of wonderful times to look forward to with a name like that. Might as well be home schooled your entire life.

[Dolemite]

Nice job on the page so gar, Shidoshi. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.

Tim Lindquist (me).

Who were you? Your alter ego in the mag, I mean.

[MVS]

I was just about to say that. They have most of the dirt on what went down.

Matt, I heard rumors back in the day that some GF editors caught shit because were selling review copies of games to pirates. Any truth to that as far as you know?

I know what you are reffering to, but it was this:

RE2 review copy came in.
Andrew Cockburn took it home and, no pun intended, burned it.
2 days later it was brought to the attention of he president of Capcom Japan that it was released in HK, a copy was brought to him and he wasn't happy.
Federal Marshals raid GF office.
Took at least 2 years for Capcom to leave a review copy of a game at GF, usually they were there waiting as it was played.

So, true it happened, not true it was sanctioned or intended by GF.

The January 2001 Issue was finished and burned onto CD, btw. I assumed Bruce had it, but he might not have taken it.

The 55,000,000 'investment' is shady as well. Rumor has it that Dave Bergstein 'lost' 30,000,000+ of it and it's a mystery to most why a hitman hasn't shown up on his doorstep.

There was also 2 different and yet unnamed buyers for GF that were in negotian's to buy GF from around December 1st-15th (Shit Birthday Luck again) and then on to about the end of the month.

MVS, tell the Fury drug test story again.

Post CS tonight.

[sonic6]

Very informative thread. Can't wait to see the finished product Shidoshi.

I still miss me some GF

[mollipen]

The January 2001 Issue was finished and burned onto CD, btw. I assumed Bruce had it, but he might not have taken it.

Really? Damn, that's be nice to see, if for no other reason than just curiousity's sake.

[Fe 26]

hmm, could one of you clear one thing up for me? What were the politics behind the chat going pure java? I think I've been told, but it was so long ago I have forgotten.

The funny thing about them doing that was that most of the original GF chatters used mirc, so they couldn't refused to use the java version. Because of that a mirc GF Tavern clone was made.

Despite the site dying, the clone chat is still around. It is on the same server that neomega, gamego and later, TNL chat was put on.