Computer Games Magazine alumni [Archive]

Cubit

07-03-2008, 09:06 AM

Tyjenks

07-03-2008, 10:41 AM

Phil posts here regularly and has a blog about games and such believe it or not. He left Pop Top awhile back, I believe.

Rock8man

07-03-2008, 10:41 AM

Ooooooo! Great topic Cubit. I've love to know the whereabouts of all the contributors myself. I was also a big fan of the magazine for many years.

From the top of my head: (I'm sure I'll think of others later)

I know Denny Atkins works for Microsoft now. He does the excellent "Inside Xbox" advice bits that show up on the 360 every week. (And he's a frequent poster here of course).

Steve Bauman works at Gas Powered Games, working on unannounced project.

Last I saw of Cindy Vanous, she was in the game credits for Rez HD, but I forgot what the game credited her with. I finish the fifth level of Rez a lot, so next time I play, I'll update you on what I saw.

Jason Cross ..... actually I don't know what Jason is doing these days, but he's frequent poster here, so he can tell us.

Ben Sones....... the same, I don't really know what Ben is up to these days.

Case

07-03-2008, 11:21 AM

Jason is working at ExtremeTech (http://www.extremetech.com).

Jason Cross ..... actually I don't know what Jason is doing these days, but he's frequent poster here, so he can tell us.

Robert Sharp

07-03-2008, 11:25 AM

Ah good. Now if we just knew what Lloyd Case was up to, we'd have all our tech guys tracked down ;)

Rock8man

07-03-2008, 11:32 AM

Kelley Wand is a writer in the games industry now. I believe the last game he was credited for was the video game version of 300. He was credit with dialog and story for that game.

And I believe Cindy Vanous was credited as doing content review for Rez HD, as well as some other XBLA games. I suspect it's the same Cindy Vanous, that seems like a pretty unique name.

divorced

07-03-2008, 11:35 AM

Way back when CGM was my favorite gaming mag. I enjoyed Tom's reviews, as well as many of the other contributors that made it a great read every month. Cindy Yans was a fav. Is she writing for anyone now? I remember that for awhile the last article was by a PopTop guy discussing Tropico development. Was that Phil Steinmeyer? Anyway, where are they now?

I know Cindy Yans did jump ship briefly and write for CGW, but that didn't last long. I do know she married Bob Mayer (another formet CGM editor), but I have no idea what he's doing. He has a doctorate in history or some such thing so he's probably teaching again. One of the smartest guys I ever met. I'd like to know how Cindy and her dog Mothra are doing as well!

Alex Handy

07-03-2008, 11:40 AM

I'm right here....

Ah good. Now if we just knew what Lloyd Case was up to, we'd have all our tech guys tracked down ;)

Last I knew, he was at... AMD?

Gabe Lewis

07-03-2008, 11:49 AM

I know Cindy Yans did jump ship briefly and write for CGW, but that didn't last long. I do know she married Bob Mayer (another formet CGM editor), but I have no idea what he's doing. He has a doctorate in history or some such thing so he's probably teaching again. One of the smartest guys I ever met. I'd like to know how Cindy and her dog Mothra are doing as well!

Cindy Yans had articles in GFW all the way up until the end.

TheWombat

07-03-2008, 12:31 PM

I'm still around (Bob Mayer that is). I haven't done much with games, other than play them, though I do teach one of our introductory game development classes each spring, the one on the history of e-gaming and intro to the game business. It's mostly a class to get freshmen to understand things like deadlines, group work, and professionalism, and that they are preparing for a real industry and not some lark.

I've been a full-time faculty member at Champlain College in Burlington, VT for several years now. I started teaching mostly history (my MA is in Foreign Affairs and my Ph.D. in History) but I've spent the past two years working mostly on developing our new general education curriculum, an interdisciplinary integrated four-year sequence. So I spend a lot of time doing course development, curriculum committee stuff, conferences on pedagogy and stuff like that. I teach our gen ed stuff and history as well, the latter mostly in our continuing ed division (online and evening, mostly).

I still play games, especially MMOs, and am addicted to my DS and PSP. Don't really read much game writing any more, I must confess. Cindy and I still live on a dirt road and have two dogs, and yes, Mothra is nearly 14 and still going strong.

Tyjenks

07-03-2008, 12:33 PM

You = Bob?

How did I not know that was you or you were him or you were you? Man, I need a legend to identify posters.

Phil_Stein

07-03-2008, 01:16 PM

Was that Phil Steinmeyer? Anyway, where are they now?

That fabulously handsome gentleman has been seen here and there, but he has to lie low so he doesn't get swarmed by all his female admirers.

Or something like that...

divorced

07-03-2008, 02:53 PM

All that's left is the lil general, Scott Udell. I know he left to go work at some thinktank in the midwest. Anyone know what he's up to these days?

Rock8man

07-03-2008, 03:12 PM

Yeah, Scott's still here in Kansas City, working in that same job I believe. He offered to get together when I moved here from Seattle, and I've corresponding with him a few times over email since I moved, and we keep meaning to get together sometime to play some Ticket To Ride, or some other board game, but it hasn't come together yet. He lives here with his family, and it sounds like he's doing great.

Tom Chick

07-03-2008, 03:30 PM

All that's left is the lil general, Scott Udell.

Whoa, is that really Scott's nickname? Because that sounds for the nickname for, uh, something else.

-Tom

Case

07-03-2008, 03:32 PM

Well, I never wrote for Computer Games (though I loved the mag enough to steal Jason from them.) Mostly wrote for CGW (but occasionally Home PC, pre-CNET Gamespot, Computer Shopper and PC Magazone.

But currently, I'm Jason's boss (http://www.extremetech.com).

Ah good. Now if we just knew what Lloyd Case was up to, we'd have all our tech guys tracked down ;)

Oh, and my name is spelled with one "L".

Robert Sharp

07-03-2008, 06:02 PM

If it helps, I am now using my 10,000th post to apologize for mispelling your name.

I'm sorry.

I did, however, know that you wrote for a different magazine. I just wanted to include you in the alumni love.

Lloyd Heilbrunn

07-03-2008, 08:16 PM

Oh, and my name is spelled with one "L".

Your folks got it wrong! ;)

divorced

07-03-2008, 09:35 PM

Dave Markell

07-03-2008, 10:02 PM

Nice to see so many familiar names. Though I doubt many remember, I did some freelance work for the late, lamented CGM. Bob "Wombat" Mayer, Ben, and Cindy were great to work for/with, and I miss it.

Shadari

07-03-2008, 10:07 PM

If it helps, I am now using my 10,000th post to apologize for mispelling your name.
I love posts like these. ;)

Scott Kevill

07-04-2008, 01:36 AM

Scott got married?!?! Man, I wouldn't have pictured that in a million years. I'm glad for him of course...

That's pretty amusing with your forum name. :)

Robert Sharp

07-04-2008, 05:31 AM

I love posts like these. ;)

Gah! I misspelled misspelled! Damn you, Shadari. Your bolded quote means my misstake will live in inffamy!

Geo

07-09-2008, 10:46 AM

My brushes with CGM fame:

* Scott Udell once mailed me a couple free movie passes for a theater in Virginia (we knew each other through a message board). A friend and I used them to see Galaxy Quest back in 1999. I thanked him profusely. :)

* Back when there was a Computer Games Online site and forum, I used to always post these Top 10 humor lists in the forums. For a while, the magazine would use pull quotes of posts by people in their forums, including a couple of times me. It was a thrill. :)

* Robert Mayer (the CG Online editor) tried to get me to write a regular column based on my top 10 lists stuff. He even e-mailed me the "employee handbook" and "rules for freelancers." I got cold feet about it, esp. about the requirement to have multiple screenshots with columns. I wasn't sure how that would work with my top 10 lists. Anyway, that was my only shot at gaming journalism, and I blew it. :D I wish I hadn't blown off the opportunity, in retrospect.

Joel

07-09-2008, 01:19 PM

I remember sitting in my dad's office as a kid flipping to Loyd's pieces in PC Mag since they were the only thing the least bit interesting to me then. Even as a child I knew something was wrong with Dvorak.

DennyA

07-09-2008, 01:28 PM

So do I get an apology for being pluralized? Actually, given the kind words for Inside Xbox, I'll give that a pass. :) But yep, nowadays I'm Games Editor for Xbox.com, and cohost of the Insider Moves (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/insidexbox/video/insidermoves/) show every Saturday on Inside Xbox on Xbox LIVE.

Cindy Vanous is out here in the Seattle area as well. She did some work for MS Game Studios, and is now taking some time off to write.

Don't forget CGM contributor Dave Long! I understand that nowadays he's proselytizing platforms, touting his l33t gaming skillz and lamenting the lack of comparable skills in others, staring nervously at his Xbox 360's power button, and occasionally questioning my posting motivations. :)

Lee Johnson

07-09-2008, 01:37 PM

For that matter, I freelanced for Strategy Plus/CGS+/CGM on and off between 1992 and 1999. My favorite assignment was a preview for a promising little 4X space game called "Master of Orion". :)

Dave Long

07-09-2008, 02:01 PM

I write for Crispy Gamer (http://www.crispygamer.com/GameTrust.aspx?AssetType=Author&AuthorID=45) right now and do all those things Denny talks about above. :)

Now I know some of you will say, "Dave wrote for CGM?" and when I direct you to this page (http://davelong.wordpress.com/games-for-windows-the-official-magazine-reviews/), you'll say "Oh... I never read any of those racing game or Eastern European games reviews. And man did I hate the console section!"

davidf

07-09-2008, 02:03 PM

You forgot a few of my favorites.

Pete Smith - Editor for a short time if I recall, and worked several other roles on staff. Good guys runs his own forum still :)

Auzzette- I *loved* his reviews, more than once made me laugh out load. I consider his writing legendary and even had one of his reviews hanging on the wall for a long time...to remind me what to aspire to.

Wan't Jason OCampo News editor for awhile? :)

I was very proud to have gotten the chance to write for them freelance for a few years. Some very memorable times, and the chance to get to work with and meet most of the people I most admired in the industry was a blessing.

Meeting Scott was a treat, and got to recall a pleasent train ride with Cindy back from E3 on Amtrak :) Shared a room with Bruce G, but sad to say I only met Tom briefly at E3, though we did have several great games of Empire of the Fading Suns, which I immensly enjoyed.

I had to stop writing anything journalism related when I got my job at Intel in 2000, last time I wrote for a mag was 2001 and I still miss it. It's probably for the best anyway since my area interest in games has passed from mainstream years ago. On the other hand, I always did love visting the smaller booths at E3 and finding the hidden gems in the B market. Talking up a game no one ever heard of and sharing it with others was more enjoyable and rewarding for me anyway. Fond memories

DennyA

07-09-2008, 02:11 PM

BTW, Ben Sones is a frequent Qt3 poster under the weird handle "Ben Sones."

Cindy Yans is also on Qt3, but under a double-secret username.

Troy S Goodfellow

07-09-2008, 03:20 PM

Cindy Yans is also on Qt3, but under a double-secret username.

The true identity of Flowers is at last revealed.

Troy

Tom Chick

07-09-2008, 03:24 PM

I liked the stuff Cindy wrote under her Kelly Wand pen name. I'm glad to see she's still getting some mileage from that.

-Tom

JeffL

07-09-2008, 05:58 PM

I used to write a lot for CGM back in the good old CGS+ days, and one of my favorite memories of those days was my first E3. It was the one they held in Atlanta, and while everyone else was in fancy hotels near the conference center, Steve and his crew were at some Day's Inn or something quite a ways away. However, and I don't think it was a coincidence, it was pretty close to the Brave's Stadium. So, instead of going to some super cool industry party, Steve took a bunch of us to dinner at what I recall was a sports bar, then treated us to a Brave's game. We all sat out in the bleachers, drank beer, and had a great time. I believe the crew back then was Steve, Scott Udell, Bob Mayer, and Cindy. Just a super group of people. Steve was (I'm sure still is) a baseball fanatic, and it was a blast sitting watching a game with him.

I wrote a ton of flight sim, wargame, and sports reviews for them back then, covered everything except baseball because Steve covered all the baseball sims himself. Oh - speaking of sports, don't forget Bill Abner, who was the sports editor there for a while. Another great guy.

One of my favorite memories writing for those guys: EA had put out its latest NHL game, this was in the late 90s, and all the other reviews were glowing, effusive in their praise. I thought the game had serious problems, but being relatively new to CGS+ was not sure how Steve was going to react to a negative review of a huge franchise game for a huge publisher (EA Sports,) especially when it was so counter to all the other reviews out there. Steve read it, asked me a few questions, then gave me an extra page (one page to two pages) for the article. I've still got the email he sent me after he asked me if I was sure on the review content. I said I was, told him why, and his reply was "You've got two pages. Give 'em hell." :)

Cubit

07-09-2008, 06:07 PM

Thats a great story, Jeff. :) Makes me sad that I threw away all my old CGM magazines a few years ago...

rei

07-09-2008, 06:39 PM

any scan-to-pdf project of the archive like the cgw archive?

Kelly Wand

07-10-2008, 01:35 AM

I liked the stuff Cindy wrote under her Kelly Wand pen name. I'm glad to see she's still getting some mileage from that.

-Tom

Damn you, Tom Chick! Stop confusing people.

XO,
Cind

Paul Travaglino

07-10-2008, 06:46 PM

any scan-to-pdf project of the archive like the cgw archive?

Yes. The (some-day-I-swear-it-will-go-live) relaunched cgonline.com will have all past print articles (we've loaded issues 196 back to 150 so far -- about 2700 articles) and all pre-press PDFs will be posted and/or converted to jpegs online. PM me if you are interested in any issue. We'll also be recreating the ancient online stuff, like this: http://web.archive.org/web/20040603235645/www.cgonline.com/cgm/200301-m1.html
and this: http://web.archive.org/web/19961018095457/http://www.cdmag.com/

-pt

Bill Hiles

07-11-2008, 12:16 PM

Not that many will remember me (editor at CGM 2000 - 2001) but I'm still around. Spent 2 1/2 years at NCsoft. Spent about 1 1/2 years developing Challnege Games' Duels. Now in the global logistics - security field running covert tech ops.

Bill

Tim James

07-16-2008, 07:26 PM

I see Tom Chick has a review in the latest PC Gamer US, on Theatre of War (poor Battlefront..). Is that a first?

Doug Erickson

07-16-2008, 09:45 PM

Now I am completely convinced no-one read the console gaming reviews!

Dave Long

07-16-2008, 09:48 PM

Ha!

I think all five of us that worked on them knew that already. :(

Tom Chick

07-16-2008, 09:58 PM

I see Tom Chick has a review in the latest PC Gamer US, on Theatre of War (poor Battlefront..). Is that a first?

Nope, it's not a first. Disparaging reviews of bad Battlefront games are almost a way of life for me. :)

But, yeah, that was my first time in PC Gamer. I was pretty honored to get to do it, even though it was, well, that particular game. I've got another article in the wings and my mother is constantly sending them anonymous notes to "hire that nice Tom Chick boy again", so we'll see how it works out.

-Tom

Tim James

07-16-2008, 10:13 PM

Nope, it's not a first. Disparaging reviews of bad Battlefront games are almost a way of life for me. :)

But, yeah, that was my first time in PC Gamer. I was pretty honored to get to do it, even though it was, well, that particular game. I've got another article in the wings and my mother is constantly sending them anonymous notes to "hire that nice Tom Chick boy again", so we'll see how it works out.

-Tom
I hate to ruin the mood, but I couldn't help notice the typo of "medals" to "metals" in the summary. If that was an editor's fault, you should have your mom chide them about it!

Hope to see more reviews in there.

Tom Chick

07-16-2008, 10:18 PM

I submitted "medals" in both the text and summary, so I can't take credit for that one. I'll get my mom right on it.

-Tom

pyrhic

07-17-2008, 12:30 PM

What about Bruce?

Cubit

01-17-2009, 07:45 AM

It looks like CGonline (http://www.cgonline.com/) is trying to get some type of online archive up and running. There are some articles up, but many of the links go to dead pages and there isn't much content yet. Keep up the work guys. I'd be at the site for hours if you put up some good scans.

Omniscia

01-17-2009, 08:39 AM

I'd love it if they ever did get an archive together. I'd savor each issue and dream of those carefree days when I had time to respectfully harass Steve about letting me volunteer (they were only about 10 miles away)...

Paul Travaglino

01-17-2009, 08:41 AM

We are. I know it's been a *really* long time. And I know many are disappointed.

Some of the broken links are due to arm-wrestling with the content management system. me no developer; me hack.

The plan, in this order:
- post articles online (we have completed this for issue 196 back to 150 -- about 2500 articles and tidbits
- post magazine replica images with navigation (this has proved to be harder than I thought - there is no inexpensive and elegant solution - I did not have $50,000 to use a digital magazine archive, so...)
- new content

For what it's worth, I won't sleep well until the archives are up and accesible for free.

Thanks.

Cubit

01-17-2009, 08:44 AM

Thanks Paul, thats good info. There are lots of people eagerly awaiting and cheering you on!

rei

01-17-2009, 11:00 AM

I'm sure some of the independently-wealthy QT3ers could divert their Midway-buyout funds to this effort.

Rob_Merritt

01-17-2009, 11:42 AM

Thanks for the update Paul. Hope everything goes well.

Cubit

04-19-2010, 04:40 PM