Really, while EGM made me a fan in its early years, the friendships I made with the editors, the atmosphere of that office, the ideals the magazine represented - those meant a lot to me during my career, and personally.ĮGM wasn't the first video game magazine I read (that distinction goes to Nintendo Power or maybe Game Players), but it was the first one that I was really enthused about, and the first one I spent my own money to subscribe to. That joy is the kind of thing you'd think you'd never forget, but I hadn't thought about in ages it till this happened. I'd been laid off from my first industry job, but seeing my name and my words inside that magazine made me forget it. The most exciting moment for me - just a bit more exciting than those days in the early '90s when my latest issue would come in the mail and I would shut down everything and just read - was when I first saw my work in the magazine in 2001. The magazine changed so much from year to year, from editor to editor, and my relationship with it changed every time. Guess what I made sure to bring when I finally made that move from Illinois to San Francisco?įeatures Director, Gamasutra (opens in new tab)ĮGM has been such a part of my life for such a long time it's difficult for me to actually talk about it yet - I'm still processing what it being gone really means. From the review crew to the editor banter to the back-breaking, 400-page issues from 1994, it was a cherished magazine I'll never forget. I eventually landed some freelance gigs at PSM and ultimately helped launch GamesRadar in the ancient months of 2006, but the inspiration behind it all was EGM through and through. Was I prepared to hop 2,000 miles away for this dream? Hell yes.įinished college, sent emails around, did a lot of legwork to find some kind of in. The dream took a crushing blow, though, when they announced -mere months before I finished school -a move to San Francisco. Imagine my squealing delight when I found out the mag was located in Illinois, the very state I was in.
I would graduate college and be working at EGM by 26, no matter the personal sacrifice. Above: Inspiration bound and stapled in magazine formĬutting to the late '90s, I realized that games journalism was my passion, that I simply had to work in this industry andEGM was the Holy Grail.