GX Internal April 2000: More Reports! Newsletter GX Poll: What’s Your Handle? Jim Burns’ War Stories: Dead Lady new @ Sven’s Weird Games: Of The Jungle Total GX: >83 name - dept - handle/icq GX Profile: Taylor Murphy Colin Adams - Creative - 71986047 (rogue3) Terence’s Murphy’s Law Shane Bettenhausen - Production - 69676755 (thray) Terence’s Trip to IKEA Andrew Burwell - Creative - 20436896 (Mandrew) Rik’s Time in PlayStation Nirvana Serdar Copur - ProdDev - 70598590 (Quicksilver) Hank’s FinK.L. Experience Brian Darnell - Production - 71986047 (Brain) Quake III Astrology with Nightasha Scott Foreman - Ops - 69850268 (Mufasa) Gabe’s March Madness Naomi Garcia - Ops - 70925090 (names) GX Classifieds Francisco Gonzalez - Production - 69732125 (gunslinger) Marnie Hrones - Ops - 72186670 (Q) Llana Ivanovich - Production - 64367262 (Nightasha) I’d sell that Patrick Lynch - Dev - 69004258 (Patrick) for a dollar! Zach Macfarlane - Production - 10937234 (HaggisMaximus) Mike McGrath - Dev Jacob Nguyen - Production - 69000002 (anger) Christian Nutt - Production - 2705592 (ferricide) Produckshun Report by NemK: Mark Shlagenhauf - Dev PRoduckshun is chuggling along. We now haev Zachary Stern - Production - 24733421 (Zack) for new KEWL hax0rs working on the Databass 2 of PART-TIMERS: them work on council gaems liek KARNOV and ULRTA TURBO MAN 6: CHAMPANEANSHIP EDITSHUN the Nicole Martin - CustServ - MissLady other two work on Mr. smarty man STEEVE JOBS Thomas Akiyama - Production - 70745369 (thomas) appple games and adventshure games like Lizard suite Larry. WE meet our goals for E# becuase I hax0red Ying’s Return to the Bat Cave [DevBerk]: staging1 with a screendoor orifuss and made the re- We are the children of the darkness. We hide in shadow and ports say 9999% complete!!!! (Shhh don’t tell Keen). live in the land of confined chaos. No more CTF at night. The daTAbass is getting biggar eceryday when we add No more female sighting in the office. Free parking is a term games like UNREALE 3: NALI HEALING FRUIT ORGY of the past. The only free parking we will ever get is that in / ARENA and intarviews with famouse persons like obj/0076/76310.asp. Give us food, drinks and a projector CLIFFY BELZINSAKISKI (big smarty mann whom wears to play FINKL video and we will be happily married to our gold rings around his neck to look tough like Jason Hall). projects. GFG. Funny moment fo the week: I was playing the EverCwest expainshun: SUPER LINE DANCING FROG Trish dishes out E3/PartyTime Express: ROUNDUP when that regis fillbarn wannabe Nemisis E3 prep is crazy! We are sorting out the Flights, hotels, and (haha he can spell is own name! YUO SIR NEED A party. We are having party at my good ole buddy Hef's SPEEL CHECKAR!!) told me that it was actualy place and everyone at gamers that is going to E3 is attending DAIKANASTA and it sucked. I couldn’t let him say that the Gala. IF you have any questions or concerns at E3 please about my LOVE goddess Joan ROMEREO so I threw my moose at him and kicked him in the butt. Then i let me know! went back to playing EverCwest with CHEEE and saw JamesM offers up a Product Development Update a dancing lizard. Focus Study Progress Status Document: The Product Development Group was formed to help people Inquiries: Justin “Fusty” Hall - [email protected] get stuff done. Product Managers help bridge the gap be- Help & Attitude: tween all the different groups at Gamers, acting as facilita- Ter ence “Nemisis” W ong & Sam “Ren” Par ker (G .I.P.) tors and liaisons. They track timelines, break down com- Photos: Nat “Binky” Baldwin munication barriers, and leap tall buildings in a single bound. Proofreading: Nat “Binky” Baldwin status? pulse is strong, outlook is positive. 75% chance of Humour: Scott “Mufasa” Foreman survival. gx internal - April 2000 - Page 1 More Editorial Styley from John Ricciardi: Reports In the interest of deviating from the norm (which would be to The FiringSquad Report by James: say that everything is either chugging along or full steam FiringSquad is doing pretty well. We're on track for 9 mil- ahead), I’ve decided to invent a new catch-phrase to be lion, and we're preparing for a big week to close out the used just this one time: here in editorial, we are “creamblastin’ month. We have the Voodoo5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce all the way,” folks. First things first: As many of you know, 2 GTS previews in the works. Bob's currently down at Bliz- Mr. Sam Parker has departed Gamers.com for the poi- zard South gawking at Warcraft 3 (and all the lovely SoCal soned—err, beautiful—waters of Gamespot. We’re all sad women no doubt). to see Sam go, and we wish him the best of luck, but for the Nat represents with The Fun Report: rest of you, be warned — the cake/cookies/free drinks deal Sometimes, we here at Gamers are so wrapped up in finally was a one-time-only affair. accomplishing the corproate vision - establishing a puppet Now, on to bigger and better news: We be consolidatin’, government in Belize - that we work long, arduous hours foo. That’s right—no longer will the Production and Edito- without rest. I started to feel, after a while, that some of us rial departments be two separate entities with differing agen- were losing focus on the fun-loving premise on which the das, cliques and fashion styles. Even though the roles of Prod company was founded; namely, an addiction to ninja midget and Edit are still pretty defined and, well, different, the two pornography. I knew that a problem was present, like a bodies of water will come together like chocolate and pea- thorn in my mind - but for weeks, a solution eluded me. (In nut butter to form one powerhouse team in each depart- all fairness, I should note that those were the same weeks ment (Video Games, Computer Games, Unplugged Games). when I frequently emerged from the women’s restroom, This streamliney-ness (new words are fun) means things will coked up to my eyeballs, and yelled things across the room be more efficient, clear and all-around downright funtastic like “Dennis is a graham cracker! CRUNCH!”) than before. A couple of people may or may not have been Then, one day, as I was meditatively forging expense re- promoted through all this, too, but since I don’t know the ports, the answer hit me like a sack of kittens - the company specifics of that, we’ll save the “congrats” for next issue. needed a way to express its desire for enjoyment - a “fun- Also in the news... The E3 redesign is just about finished. lovin’ orifice,” if you will. I set about on my quest to create The design and dev folks did an amazing job for having such such an outlet - a quest which would eventually lead me to a short time to pull things together, and while on the inside the far reaches of the office, into the cave of IT - a geophysi- we may not be all that different come the morning of May cal anomaly which even light cannot escape. After correctly 11, the outside will be lookin’ spiffy like Mr. Clean’s bald- guessing that Andreas’ last name was, in fact, unpronounce- tastic dome. able with a human tongue, he was required by cosmic law to One last bit of gooey goodness: all y’all put your hands grant me one wish. I selflessly used that wish to create, for together now (c’mon, I know you watch Showtime at the you, the workers of Gamers.com, the “FUN” mailing list. Apollo) for Nao Higo, who, with me in tow, trudged through Upon annoucement, membership skyrocketed to more than the entire show floor of the Tokyo Game Show in one day thirty people, which is rather astounding, since it means that to spread the word about Gamers.com to a legion of (mostly) all those people were out of meetings long enough to check receptive Japanese game company representatives and ex- email. After the popularity surge of the mailing list, I felt it tremely attractive booth babes. Thanks to Nao’s hard work, fitting to create a web page for people to share their at- we might someday be able to conquer Japan as well (after tempts to colletively feign social lives. I commited my own we take over America, of course). Well, I guess that’d be computer to serve up the page, which unfortunately marked the big news for this month. Otherwise, everything’s great. the death of the Barbara Wenzel Fan Page, and with a little With E3 right around the corner, things are rather hectic, but help from the Magical Internet Gremlins, coverage plans are coming together nicely. We’ve got a Con- fun.internal.gamers.com was born, for all of you to love. sole News Editor coming in just before E3 (almost had two, Further bullitens as events warrant. but Crappy Puppy counter-offered—damn), and Sandy’s doing an amazing job with the PC side of news. Barring any Previous issues of the newsletter are natural disasters, our E3 coverage should be pretty solid, available on the intranet as PDF files: and going forward into phase 2 (or 3.. or whatever your department wants to call it), our overall content is gonna http://www.internal.gamers.com/ continue to get stronger and stronger. Page 2 - April 2000 - gx internal That’s all for now. mata raigetsu! (until next month...) Joel Downs Presents... A Short History of Gamers.com Every once in a while, people ask me about the origins of formally banned all competitive hamster fighting. It was a dire Gamers.com, this fine company that we all devote our time, day for the Gamers.com staff – we would have to find another energy, and otherwise-unused brain cells to. You may not business model. know that this company has been around for over three years Bob and our newest enterprising recruit, Terence Wong, sug- now, and has had a varied and colorful history. So, in today’s gested a shift to hamster pornography, but we ran across vari- newsletter, I’d like to enlighten those of you who are curious ous legal issues due to the fact that very few hamsters live as to how this company started, who started it, and how we past the age of four. Terence’s hamster wrestling idea was came to be where we are. short-lived because he was having trouble getting them into In mid-1996, Lyle Fong and I started a web design busi- the little tights that he made for them. Our remote hardware ness in Berkeley, California where we did contract work de- writer from Texas, Brandon Bell, suggested a shift to hamster signing web pages for other companies. It was interesting barbeque recipes and the shipping of Omaha Hamster Steaks, work, but we knew that eventually we wanted to work on but the FDA took issue with some of Bob’s genetically altered our own project, and we were anxious to find something ap- hamsters, so we were back to square one. propriate. Our new employees that year had several good ideas, but It was around that time that Lyle’s brother, Dennis, was for various reasons, we couldn’t stick with any of them. Nat beginning to become famous on a national scale for his ham- Baldwin helped us enter the hamster escort service industry ster breeding and training skills. Lyle, Dennis, and their for a brief stint, but we soon ran across legal issues with un- younger brother Bryant had been breeding hamsters for years derage hamsters again. Hank Peng, Tim Hsu, and Wayne at home under the tutelage of their parents, and they were all Chiang helped us make a B2C e-commerce move to supply pretty experienced, but Dennis’ hamster husbandry skills truly immigrant hamsters with blonde fur dye, nylon warm-up pants, began to shine through in early 1997 as breeders and trainers and oversized tennis shoes, but the market proved to be too from across the country began to challenge niche for us to turn a profit. him. They claimed they could breed bigger, I was instantly ex- Finally we decided that we should use faster, and more ferocious hamsters, but Den- cited by the opportu- our domain name more to our advantage, nis’ hamsters would rip them to shreds every nity, because hamster so we asked Dennis to adapt his strategic, time. breeding and fighting hamster-breeding mind to the online gam- Lyle and Dennis approached me to help them ing world. While the gaming industry was build a web site where Dennis could dissemi- was a huge, growing very uncertain and more of a long shot, nate his hamster-breeding strategies and tips industry, and it was a we decided to go out on a limb. The to the masses. I was instantly excited by the great chance to get in gamble worked surprisingly well - Dennis opportunity, because hamster breeding and became a top-notch Quake player in no fighting was a huge, growing industry, and it on the ground floor. time, and the site prospered. was a great chance to get in on the ground floor. With the Investors that had previously been interested in our ham- recent successes of HamsterKremes.com, iHamster, and ster-related enterprises were suddenly scared off, so we had HamstersSecret.com, we figured it was a sure bet. to begin our search for investors anew. After much convinc- We quickly brought on Kenn Hwang, a promising young ing, coercing, and with the help of the Korean mafia, we finally chinchilla breeder, who set a world record by breeding the landed investors who were willing to take a chance on a small, first 45-lb chinchilla. It was obvious that Kenn had a bright non-hamster dot-com. We were then able to ramp up and hire future ahead of him, so we hired him and he and Dennis a complete staff to help us fill out the content on the site and together worked to perfect their breeding skills. help with the marketing, sales, etc. John Joh, a local hamster portrait artist was also brought We never forgot our roots – you will notice that there are on, and his skills transferred over nicely into the website. He several hamsters located in various locations around the office assisted with all of our hamster sketches, anatomically cor- in accordance with the strict Feng Shui hamster-placement rect hamster drawings, and, of course, the retouching of our guidelines. These are some of Dennis’ champion hamsters – vast library of hamster photographs. A few months after the ones next to Hank’s desk are known to cruise on their John came on, we also discovered a young biologist at UC wheel at almost two miles per hour which is a staggering num- Berkeley named Bob “Calbear” Colayco who was studying ber for a hamster, as I’m sure you’re all aware. The white ways to genetically engineer larger hamsters with more one in the dev room once devoured a cow in under forty-five muscle mass, smaller brains, and five asses. seconds, and Brandon’s hamster got a 1560 on the SAT and With this killer team, the site’s content and audience grew can solve basic Fourier Transforms. rapidly. The public’s response to authoritative, comprehen- Perhaps someday we will find a way to return to the exciting sive hamster-breeding strategies was unprecedented. Just business of hamster breeding, but for now I guess we’ll see as the site was really starting to take off, however, the ASPCA how this gaming thing works out. gx internal - April 2000 - Page 3 To Appease Gabe’s Aged Suggestion and Marnie’s Burning Desire to Know: Assassin, I picked it when I was 12, and Paul gave my that name. He also calls me I usally put in quarters on both sides so I feel just never bothered to change it “Larsenator.” But Tammy “Larsenator” like an old west gunslinger. The nick name well my alias is guido. which is short for Larsen was just a mouthful. is also in part inspired by a high school joke father guido sarducci. Hmm...is my mom reading this? It’s sp1nn3r about a “Nicaraguan Gunslinger”, and that he was a character on saturday night live. and I think I remember saying in my bio for just spells comedy. one of my friends in high school called me the newsletter way, way back that it came fat-al: i luuuuuvvvvv fat albert! hey! hey! that and now it sticks from working at a laundromat...so umm, err hey! Tarthulhu - a warped combination of I’m gonna stick with that answer? I mean, Jim Burns (GX-Grognard). Grognard is a Sweettarts candy and Lovecraft’s Elder god I’m gonna stick to that answer! :^) word taken from the French that translates Cthulhu. DarkFarmer, it used to be the name of my as vetran soldier or grumbler. It was used to Nemisis: Part dyslexia and part being 12 paper and pencils game company. I came refer to the men in Napoleons Old Guard years old when I came up with it playing the up with it when I was a freshman in HS and Corp in the early 19th century. When original X-Wing. it replaced Saber Games as my label. When Wargaming became popular in the 50’s and I go by Monkey because I’m just so damn I first fired up AOL ... 6 or 7 years ago, it 60’s, rules arguments became a very com- cute (no really)... but actually it used to be was the obvious choice for a handle. mon part of the gaming experiance and DarkMonkey, because my friends and I My alias is horkin-fiber because Tim’s name Grognard was the moniker given to indi- were sitting around one day trying to think is “horky-diaper” and he wanted a horky viduals who were unusually knowledgeble of crazy animal names (luckily I wasn’t the brother. in the rules systems and won many rules ar- one who got The Fluffy Bunny of Chaos). FatGreek.. heh.. used to be just greek... guments. They were the guys who kept My nick has since been changed just to but a friend that I kept beating down started interupting play to grumble about an over- Monkey. calling me FatGreek just because he’s a looked rule. Wemmick - A very minor, entirely insignifi- bitch.. I kept it. Sven the Ogre, since that was my high cant character in Great Expectations was i am anger, the very emotion itself, i am the school nickname and it kinda stuck as my called Mr. Wemmick. And no, I hated gaming name, too. As a freshman, I the book. I also hear that Wemmicks was still the biggest guy in school, are small wooden people carved by GX Poll: Handles: so my friends came up with the say- a man named “Eli”, but I believe that ing, “Sven the Ogre: beware of to be only a myth. thrown trees.” Works for me. my alias is “billis” because of john What’s your Alias: ThumP Why: It has to do joh. he used to always say “whadja with my philosophy on disciplining talking ‘bout billis?” back in the day nickname and why? my children and the name kinda stuck. damn you J3ST (pronounced “Jest”), which john!!! (Not to coincide neatly with is actually contracted from J3ST1 the new cube-labelling.) Luxor - While traveling around the (“Jest one”). i’m into “urban art” world with my wife. When we were in master of anger and therefore display no an- characters - the funky and innovative Luxor, Egypt 68 tourist were kill at Hasputs ger, to that end i try my best to be devoid of styles people come up with to write letters (sp) temple. We were planning on going anger and numbers, or to draw stuff. i had to there the day of the killings, but I slept in. JackMoves - because I was young and think of a name to write for my sketch- That event changed my outlook on life. I stupid back then, and now it’s on my busi- book. Jest came about because I joke could say more about this event, but this is ness card (btw, thanks den). around a lot and am pretty silly by the short ICQ version. I wanted something random to keep anony- nature.... “surely you jest” kind of thing. Cross Cuz I couldn’t think of any other name mous, so I picked Natasha Fatale from the “1” behind it adds flavor. at the time Rocky and Bullwinkle. After a while I real- Mine’s mad_. It’s actually short for ares: the god of war in Roman (or Greek) ized my online hours were generally from madoushi, which means “user of magic” in mythology. I choose it as my user name in 8:00 pm to 4:00 am during the night so natu- Japanese. Literally, the characters mean Stanford because I considered my educa- rally I changed Natasha to Nightasha. It “heresy/evil ways” (madou) + “person” tion as a battle that I would win. Now I con- has stuck for the last 5 years or so. Kinda (shi). I got it from one of the enemies in my sider myself as a warrior that will help lost its anonymity though. favorite game series, Dragon Quest gamers.com ensure its position as the num- “Gunslinger” mostly refers to my love of (known as Dragon Warrior in the U.S.). I ber one game portal on the web. all things gun-related. Movies and espe- don’t like it as much as I used to, but I’ve Tamster, bc I transferred the GX hamsters cially video games involving some form of yet to come up with a replacement that’ll from the new office to the new office. Also, shooting are definitely at the top of my list. stick. The search continues... Page 4 - April 2000 - gx internal My favorite are the arcade shooters where What’s your nickname and why? consider myself a true musician. A true mu- Crazy Toon meep meep! NoComment - because you can silence sician loves get the gruuv on! Alias = CalBear why: I never had a steady an entire crowd by saying “nocomment”, if Shoe: ‘cause I stink. nickname until I used that one. It’s based a horde of reporters are all eager to get some My two aliases are Kraftsman and on my university affiliation (CALifornia kind of quote from you, you just have to say MoLuv. Kraftsman is derived from my golden BEARs). I basically got hired into “nocomment” and there’s nothing anyone last name, Wright. I wright is someone who the company because of it - during the makes stuff out of wood. A wood crafts- Starcraft beta I was using that handle and man. MoLuv is kind of a play on words. Lyle was able to determine that I was a Ber- Mo is the nickname that has been forced on keley student. After playing him, he asked me by all my friends who don’t have the me to come in for an interview since I was energy to say my full name. Love is what local. I got hired on to do GX Starcraft, makes the world go ‘round. It’s what makes and I eventually got stuck using “CalBear” us treat each other nice, and which in turn because I built up that name to a semi-de- helps us build ourselves into something cent ranking on the beta Starcraft ladder. greater than we would be alone. MoLuv Changing the nick might have confused the means more of that kind of stuff. entire 6 people who visited GX Starcraft Wilda - One of my friends called me wilde- for my esteemed name ;) beest one day because I hadn’t shaved and chespace - because i love spiritualized. else can do or say about it, its the final slam. it stuck, got spelled wrong and then short- I chose the alias “Lilith” because it is the That, and the fact that its originally my irc ened. Some of my friends from school still name of a female demon. I wanted a name name, and I mostly idle like a mute. call me Wilda, Beast or WildaBeast. that exerts feminine power but is also very “number1fan” - it used to be one of my My nick name is Mandrew and it was aggressive. I was told that people feared screen names when I played Quake and given to me by Junior Astronaut at EGM. this demon. Besides, I’m a Huge fan of Starcraft back in the day, but I also used a Peon- well, look at the company, and look Sarah Mclachlan and remembered that she lot of other joke names like “UrethraFranklin at my position... doh! also used the word “Lilith” for the Lilith Fair. (no offense, I know Thump has her entire My online name is Rogue 3. If you know (Oh yeah, Lilith was Tim’s idea) catalog - I mean him no dis-r-e-s-p-e-c-t), your Star Wars that was Wedge Antilles’ GX Archangel I chose the alias due to my spacecase, UZISuicide, Suicide4Life, call sign in the Ice world of Hoth scene in own Catholic Christian identity and the fact suckapunch, LyleFong, etc.,” mostly to piss Empire. I have always thought that was cool. that I was named after the angel from the the other online players off; but when we I go by a lot of names. Tentacle, SonOfShao, New Testament stories in the Bible. In ad- had to put the name on the card, uh... well. Son of Shaolin, BigcockaZn, jerk, asshole, dition, I love how various artists portrayed “Number One Fan” originally came from a etc. But I will stick to what I am commonly the character Angel/Archangel from the X- song on a punk album by Subincision (East known as around here which is ZhiZi. The Men comics as well as the depiction of how Bay punk!!), but from those that knew the short version of this story is: One day I was powerful and glorious an archangel was in song, it was about a crazy fan who yelled in sitting at my computer playing Quake. I hap- various sci-fi/fantasy settings. chorus, “I’m your number one fan... Now I pened to have an old school Hong Kong Az short for AzAzeL - its the name of a have to kill you.” Obviously, it’s a joke, and action flick going on. It was Shaolin theme fallen arch angel. Azazel is usually referred I have no intention of killing anyone, but it and while booting up Quake I saw a scene to as satan’s right hand man in many spiritual sort of worked with the Quake thing and where a woman (who was not a Shaolin documentations. The name was made Starcraft thing. If you’d like to hear the song, monk) jump onto a 2 story balcony from popular by the movie Fallen staring Denzel and it’s pretty funny btw, come by and I’ll simply tapping a puddle of water. It reminded Washington. I loved the name, and hook you up. East Bay punk, it’s in your me of rocket jumping for some reason, so I appartnely so did a lot of pepole. ‘Cause roots. wanted a kung-fu like name. Thus Son of there are quite a few others with the same Cadaver is the name of a character I por- Shaolin was born. A year or so later I was name. Which is why I spell mine the way I trayed in a table top RPG a long time ago. sick of Son of Shaolin because it sounded do, case sensitive, and thats why I’m so sen- He was a mortal who became undead after corny like “Doctor Death”, “Wizard of the sitive about the casing. Its the only way to being cursed by some dark gods. He be- Light” or “SoSo”. So I asked a friend of distinguish myself from the other “ordinary” came rather popular with the group I played mine who spoke Mandarin how to say Son azazels. if I had known just how evil it was, with, and the name just stuck. of Shaolin. After she told me I combined the who knows I may have still picked it my alias is “Gruuv” - cuz I started playing first 2 words and came up with ZhiZi. For (mwaaahahahaha). the piano and singing since I was knee high all I know the girl was lying and ZhiZi means Binky, the name is from Garfield’s Binky to...my parents, and I’ve been a serious song “Shriveled whale balls”. the Clown pic here: composer for over half of my life, so I to gx internal - April 2000 - Page 5 and drawn out fashion possible, or repeat- What’s your nickname and why? edly in a nasaly singsong. I don’t know if Well I got the handle “Haggismaximus” at work i became depressed and changed they thought they were funny. I might have at my friend’s house when we decided to my nick to “ferricide.” it stuck, and it’s unique picked Chester to be my official nickname, stay up all night (7am) and terrorized people and no one has ever tried to winnuke me since it has a slight bit more heft than Fusty, on IRC. I came up with the nic and take it. it sounds good, i think. =) but it rhymes easily with molester. So either “Haggismaximus” and the mayhem began. Ramses II, Son of Seti I- fl. 13th century I’m musty or molesty. sigh. We started off by creating our own channel BC - byname RAMSES THE GREAT, My alias is "WhiteFang" because I like “Hardcore Mule Nasal Sex” and then pre- also called USERMARE RAMSES, third wolves and the book by Jack London (as a ceded to go into Christian channels and the king of the 19th dynasty of Egypt, whose note, I didn't think much of the movie be- like which would post publicly that we were reign (1279-13 BC) was the second long- cause it changed the story from the book). in a “bad” channel. We would get a whole est in Egyptian history. In addition to his wars I've been using it for over 7 years. There's bunch of responses, wich would then lead with the Hittites and Libyans, he is known no space between White and Fang because us into many an argument. We also went for his extensive building programs and for some years ago I used it on IRC a lot and into channels that would not kick us for be- the many colossal statues of him found all only 9 characters were allowed, so the name ing in that, well, ‘other’ channel. Basically over Egypt. He was a ruthless warrior who without the space stuck. the whole night we started shit with people, conquered many battles. The Ramesseum, Q - it just works. A phone list situation in getting into arguments over anything we or mortuary temple of Ramses II the Great, college - a lot of murky water. I prefer to could, it was fun, we were bastards. After was described by a Greek historian, remain a mystery! that day I decided to use “Haggismaximus” Diodorus Siculus (fl. 1st century BCBCE, When I started at Berkeley Systems (as the as my personal nic. as “the Tomb of Ozymandias.” Ozymandias first employee) in 1985, the father & son My Alias is “Quicksilver”. I have had this means “Disposer of many” which was a fit- founders were trying to develop first-of-its- alias since I was 12 years old. Both of my ting name for Ramses. [According to leg- kind disability access utility software for the parents are Chemists and they taught me end, Ramses II had over 105 children, so Macintosh GUI: screen magnifiers for that Mercury is the only common metal to he might also be called “Dispenser of many” people with low vision and screen readers exist as a liquid at ordinary room tempera- – ed.] Since I “dispose of many” in my quak- for the blind. (This was 3 years before the ture. I always thought that was cool. An- ing adventures, I thought this was an appro- After Dark screen savers (Flying Toasters, other name for Mercury is Quicksilver, so priate name. I shortened it to Ozy after us- Fish, the Simpsons, Star Trek) became the that is how I became known as “Quicksil- ing Ozymandias for the first 3 years. I’ve company cash cow, and even longer be- ver”. had this nick since I was 13. -Chris aka fore You Don’t Know Jack). I was a guinea I chose my moniker, “ever”, back when i Ozy(mandias) pig in that early design work because I’m first logged onto dwango on Dennis’ pentium GX-Arutha: Figure it out yourself! Toy legally blind, then was hired to do QA & 90. It originated as “Everlast”, in honor of surprise for anyone who guesses right. “EOD tech support (and MIS, office supplies, etc). the my favorite House of Pain rapper. Dutch”, uh... I’m in EOD and... I’m Dutch. Well it turns out that speech synthesizers I was in a skit (for my kids school) in which So there. [EOD = Explosive Ordnance Dis- pronounce my last name (Schutte) as “skut”, my character was a lot like “Mufasa” from posal] like the “sch-” in “school”, with the final -e the Lion King. After that, friends (and fam- Fusty – a friend in gradeschool, his name silent. So I adopted it as a moniker, naming ily) called me Mufasa. Not very interesting. was Josh. I thought his name was Joey and my hard drive SKUT, or using It was either that or Spaz. Spaz seemed to I liked that name better for him so I wouldn’t “[email protected]” where even lack leadership overtones. give it up. He retaliated with “Fusty” – ac- “schutte” was taken. So on Gamers I’m GX- “murph” name given by baseball/soccer/ cordingly taking Justin, hacking it up, and Skut. basketball/tennis/lacrosse coaches since very adding a Y sound. I stuck with Fusty and TOJ - There is a mystery behind this one. young age. when I started BBSing it was one letter No one seems to have the answer that un- my nick’s ferricide. it derives from the fact shorter than Justin so I used it. That and it locks the secrets behind this handle. Is it an that my original nick on IRC was “ferris_b” afforded me the chance to inhabit an alter- acronym? Is it just an all caps version of the (as in ferris bueller) but i got sick of it cos i nate identity, an identity rife with mystery and word Toj? or Did TOJ just bang his head thought the underscore was tacky. i aban- passion – an identity closely affiliated per- on the keyboard? I guess the world may doned it for a bit to try a variety of other haps with the dictionary definition of “fusty” never be able to answer this question. If any- nicks but everyone still called me ferris. i – either, “smelling of mildew or decay [after one has any leads or and ideas please re- tried to go back to it, but i got winnuked dropping a 5 gallon jug of water on carpet – port them to the Nickname Interegation and/or yelled at by other “ferris_b”s and are you happy now John?]” or “old-fash- Service. “ferris”es. eventually, in desparation, one day ioned; antique.” In college Ben and Wil Page 6 - April 2000 - gx internal started calling me Chester, in the most long Taylor, where are you from? interview: Sam “Ren” Parker - G.I.P. I was born and raised in Los Gatos, CA. Are you still living down there? GX Profile: No, I actually live out here in the city now. I lived out in Berkeley after school, and moved to the city about 6 or 7 Taylor Murphy months ago. ICQ: Taylor / 64481434 So did you go to Cal? DOB: 23 March 1973 Ah no, I went to Colorado. I was one of the few to get out of here and go to school outside of the state. You know, I stopped playing games probably right around So when did you move back? college. I played PlayStation, then when I got out of col- I graduated in ’95, so I headed out to the city. All my jobs lege, I was working 70 hours a week and I didn’t have time. have been out in the city, up to this one. 6 months ago I On the weekends, I was just trying to get out in the sun. I moved out to the city to eliminate the commute and now wasn’t going to hang out. So, there was that element in me here I am doing the reverse commute. that said this is a high school or college kinda thing. And that How is that? was one of the concerns coming for advertising: will that It’s not bad at all. I’m kind of a morning guy, so I like to mean that I’ll have to dispel theories that gamers are all young head in here when there’s no traffic. Coming back, that 80 guys that don’t deep enough pockets to buy big products strip is brutal — but no need to get angry. [laughs] and stuff like that. But in a nutshell that’s how I did it. So, how did you come to work at GX? So what exactly are you doing now at Gamers? Long story short, I met Dennis via my father. Dennis had Right now I’m just heading up the sales department and it some interesting insights as to some of the shortcomings of seems like what I’m really doing is putting together all the Disney and the GO Network. And I guess it was purely one ingredients in the pie, so to speak, before we take the prod- of those things where I called up and asked Dennis to talk to uct to market. I think it’s been good to be kind of quiet him about his perspective. He’d never worked there, he about driving traffic, but there are certain things that I know didn’t have any reason to say it was good or bad, but had advertisers are going to ask of us that we don’t have yet. So some interesting insights into the management team at Disney it’s really like, do I want to go out and push the product and how Disney is definitely a credible player in the media when it’s in its young phase or do I want to wait? Let’s do space. But when it comes to online, maybe they’re a little these couple surveys. Let’s do E3. Let’s potentially tweak behind the times and a little out of their expertise. around what ad server we use, for when we see a spike in So I talked to him and within 10 or 15 minutes of talking, we traffic. talked about GO and then just kinda went into Gamers. Then, Right now primarily I’m an interviewing fool. I’m just trying the next thing I know, I found myself seeing if I could get an to find a lot of, not friends, but colleagues I’ve worked with interview with Dennis and seeing if I could somehow get in, in the past that are credible guys. We’ve got to get repre- and frankly be part of it. There’s something cool about sentation on the east coast. Just trying to get things up to working for companies and hitting your numbers as a sales speed so that when our phones start ringing off the hook, as guy and all that, but there’s also something cool about an they will, we’ll be prepared to take opportunity where you can stand back say, wow I could in many advertisers at a high actually look back in a couple and say I was really an inte- dollar. gral part of growing this team out. Not just being another So you did spend sales rep, not just being a manager, but being one of the guys some time gaming at who can come in and bring in what I know works and doesn’t college. What types work and what I hear in the market, and some of the repu- of games did you tation and relationships I have in the market. And that fact play? that CMGI is our backer is one more faith slip for me. Oh yeah... Well, to this Also, recognizing that this is the fastest growing segment of day my favorite game is this industry is to me huge. When you see EA and Gamesville Tempest. In PC, Con- and some of the deals they’re doing with these big portals, it sole ... Well, I like leads me to believe that - hey - maybe I don’t understand playing cards, dice, what’s going on here, but when you see $7.4 million in film pool and stuff and $7.2 million in games... like that, but gx internal - April 2000 - Page 7 Taylor Murphy Continues book before you see the flick. Also, I’d heard from a couple I found in high school it was Madden. It was all football, all of good buddies that also enjoy reading that, hey you gotta PlayStation stuff. All Sports. Though I liked flirting around read this, the kid’s 26 years old. Where were you at 26? with the action games. Why don’t we have the intellectual capacity to write a novel Getting together with a couple buddies... like this. I don’t know if you read the book... It’s about Yeah, Let’s play 18 holes, or let’s play some baseball or European travels after college. A lot of stuff most or some let’s play some hoops. It was generally sports. And when I guys did, throwing a backpack on, leeching a grand from got out, I still had my PlayStation, I went and got Syphon your parents to go out and hike and check out Europe. And Filter... man that game’s bad. And Metal Gear. I found it that’s exactly what this is all about. How he got into trouble. was those 007 action games are definitely a great way to let But it’s because he was 26. I just turned 27, so it’s like I can off... Even that stupid Terminator 2, ya know how old is jump into a kid’s head that’s my age and see what’s ticking that? But the other day I was a little frustrated, I was like I’m in his brain. Here I am selling a gaming portal and he’s writ- going go burn some steam. I went in there and just shot ing bestsellers that get turned into a movies. some shit. That was it, kinda that gratification of blowing Did you get to travel after college? stuff up, as Schwarzenegger-esque as that is. That’s it pri- Yeah, I did the whole Europe thing right out of school. And marily. I go down to Mexico at least once every 6 months. A couple When I was growing up, it was Atari... not so long after of buddies and I get together. We’re getting ready to go Pong came out. Pong was a big deal. And then Atari came down to Acapulco right now in July. And we generally do a out and it was Asteroids and Defender, Frogger and all. In like a November/ December kinda cheap trip. We just our skateboarding days, I’d go blow 20-30 dollars in quar- went down to Cabo San Lucas. ters at the arcade and play random various games. Again, What kind of music do you like? to this day it’s the Sports and the Action games. Uh, gosh... all music. Seriously If there’s anything at all So what do you do when you’re not in the office? random about my personality it’s that I love Reggae, I love The work thing, I try desperately for it not to become rou- Jazz, I love Blues — if I were to categorize music. But if I tine. I don’t think any of us want to say we’re here from 7 to hear anything from Pink Floyd to Tears for Fears come on, 7 every night. I like to read a lot. I like to run. In the I find myself rocking out. I you look at my CD collection, summer, like about now... I have a group of buddies I went I’ve got everything from Billy Holiday to Willie Nelson, to to high school with out here in San Francisco, where we Elvis Presley, to Bob Marley, I’ve got a very wide range. If kinda got the love of the ocean. So even if we’re just out anything it’s easier to say, I don’t like Country. That’s pretty there body surfing or boogie boarding or just out there with much it. Classical ... I find myself slowing getting into Clas- our wetsuits talking in the water, we all seem to find some sical. On a long day after work, sitting in traffic on the way tranquility in the ocean. During the summer months, also, I home, you don’t really want hear electric guitar, you don’t love to play golf, and ski like a fool in the winter. really want to hear ... Ozzy Osborne. It’s kinda cool just to I like doing anything outdoors. I like hanging out with my throw on the Classical. Though I’d never be able to identify girlfriend, hanging out with my buddies, I like getting intel- it if I’d was put at gunpoint. lectual debates and conversations. But as far as my own One last question, if we’re to spend 10 hours a day personal preferences, I could be a loner til I was blue in the with you, what should we face. I love being out taking long mountain bike rides. I know? have a couple dogs – gotta hang out with those guys, so they I’m an early bird. If learn how to catch the Frisbee. there’s anything that What’s your favorite ski resort? continues to boggle a lot Probably Squaw Valley. of my buddies and fam- What was the last book you read? ily, it’s that I’m always up. It’s funny, because I kinda profess to a couple of my bud- Even on weekends, I’m dies that I still really enjoy reading — despite reading the up early. Something in me, newspapers we all have to read everyday and all the indus- I think it’s the guilty try information and research. But go figure, I go read Trin- Catholic, thinks that ity. It’s all about Ireland — a 1300 page book. And just you’re vagrant if this last month, I finished The Beach. Some of it’s because you sleep in past it’s coming out in the movie and it’s always cool to read the 10 am. Page 8 - April 2000 - gx internal War Stories This month I’d like to continue the theme started in body when that person dies in their sleep. There was last months column and discuss another frightening no blood on the covers or floor around the body, so I episode in my career as an Oakland Police Officer. This ruled out foul play. Procedures now required me to make story takes place in West Oakland again, except this a closer inspection of the body to look for any knife one occurs in China Town. There is a large apartment wounds or other signs that this had been anything other building down on Webster street in the 1100 or 1200 than a natural death. I walked towards the foot of the block. It is a nice building and is not prone to crime so I bed and was careful to look for any possible evidence had not been there very often except to check on prowler of a crime before I placed my foot down. reports and what not. There is a great line from a movie I once watched Dispatch had received a call asking us to check the which states “assumption is the mother of all f**k-ups”, well being of an elderly woman who lived in the building. and up to this point I had been making way too many Her daughter placed the call stating she had not heard assumptions. By assuming this was a natural death from her mother in several days. She told dispatch I was not ready for anything unexpected to hap- this was unusual since she regularly spoke with her pen. I was simply looking closely at the floor to mother on the phone. She had asked the manager see if there was any possible evidence there. The to check on her mother, but there was no answer correct thing for me to have done was to secure and the door was locked from inside. the apartment and be sure that I really ‘KNEW’ I took the call and responded to the build- what I was dealing with first before taking ing where I met the manager. He informed action. By securing the apartment I would me that the door was locked from in- have done things like look in closets or side, and he did not have a key for the under the bed before I just walked into heavy deadbolt that the resident had a room with my guard down. put on the door. Since the building was As I walked towards the bed the in Oakland, there were special secu- silence was suddenly shattered and rity measures taken that are not usu- my heart jumped into my throat. The ally present in most buildings. One of By GX-Grognard woman sat bolt upright in bed and these measures now prevented me screamed “who’s from forcing entry into the apartment. there?”………………For an in- The door frame and door were made ...I was five stories up, stance,……………. just a split sec- of steel and would require major but I figured it was a ond,……………… I reached for my structural damage to the surrounding gun to shoot the woman. Not to men- wall for me to remove them. better option than de- tion the fact I practically jumped out Luckily one of the neighbors was of my boots. My mind was whirling, I home and allowed me to climb out on stroying the wall around said to myself “AAAGGGHHH!!!, she their balcony so I could shimmy the front door. should be dead”. It gave me such a across to the woman’s balcony. I was fright I think it was the closest I have five stories up, but I figured it was a better option than ever come to actually passing out for no reason. destroying the wall around the front door. As I reached A second or two later I regained my composure and the woman’s balcony, I observed that her sliding glass shone my flashlight on myself so the woman could see door was opened and only the screen door was closed I was a police officer. Waking up and finding a strange and locked. There were no signs of forced entry here or person in her bedroom had scared her just as much as on the front door, so I determined she had probably died it had me. of natural causes. It turned out the woman had gone deaf and was un- As I forced open the screen door I heard the televi- able to hear the phone ring , or the banging on her door. sion playing in the back bedroom. There were no signs I assume the light from my flashlight had been what had of a struggle in the apartment so I assumed there was awakened her when I shone it on her face. After calm- no need to be on guard for a murder suspect in the ing her down and getting her medical attention I went apartment. In my mind I was simply dealing with a natu- back to my patrol car and just sat there for a very long ral death and I preceded to take action in that regard. time. I entered the bedroom and observed the woman ly- Later, ing on her back in bed. Her head was tilted back and her Jim mouth was agape which is a natural position for a dead gx internal - April 2000 - Page 9 Terence: Murphy’s Law of Everyone’s probably heard of IKEA by now – They’re a worldwide furniture chain from Sweden that special- izes in contemporary furniture with affordable prices. Gamers.com: IKEA is notorious around the world; their stuff is good quality, and you won’t have to mortgage your house to · If you have a good parking spot and buy it. For example, I’m looking for a 6’ bookcase. At leave it for more than 30 seconds, most furniture stores, you can get one for about $100, someone else will take it. but it’s made from particleboard so heavy books will bend the shelves. At IKEA, I found the perfect bookshelf, · As soon as you get back to your desk made from real wood, for $109. from a meeting, you’ll realize that you Anyway, Wednesday the 12th was the grand opening have to be in another meeting in 5 of the Emeryville IKEA. They were giving out chairs to minutes. the first 100 customers, so there were people camping out overnight for the grand opening. I decided to avoid · They will put onions on your In-and-Out. the place and try to go at the most optimal time. I chose · The phone that’s ringing is never for you. Friday at 6:00 pm, figuring people would still be going · Meetings make the day go faster, but home from work, or going out on a Friday night. I was right about the time; it only took us (me, Alex, and Rob- you never get anything done. ert) about 30 to get a parking spot (I’ve heard it can take · Your pre-meeting meeting will take longer more than an hour and a half). The freeway wasn’t than the actual meeting. backed up because of it, which it usually is. · The soda that you want always runs out The actual IKEA store is a feat in social engineering. When you walk into the entrance, there is a playroom/ first. daycare where parents may deposit their children while · The new e-mail in your inbox is they are shopping. You take an escalator up, where you addressed to [email protected]. see sets of fully furnished and decorated rooms (miss- · There are always people walking around ing a wall or two). However, upon further examination you see that every single thing in the room has a price in the office that you’ve never met tag hanging from it. You can poke around the rooms as before, and they work here! much as you like; some of the kid’s rooms even had · No matter how hard we try, we can’t working N64’s (kids included!) that you could play; Mario Party was the only game I saw there. get Joel to stay in Berkeley. After walking around the fractal patterned isles for · The doll/toy/stuffed animal on your about 45 minutes, we realized, “Damn this place is big!” desk will be put into compromising They must have had a few hundred of the showrooms positions. setup. Even scarier was the fact that we only saw the showrooms; we didn’t see any of the furniture you could · Az will own you (in his mind). take home. · Justin will never cease to surprise you We finally made out way to the stairs down (passing with his attire. a small Swedish themed café/diner) to be greeted by · If someone has voicemail on their Nextel mounds of carpet and endless rows of boxes. The first floor of the building is a giant warehouse of all of the cell phone, they will leave it on their desk furniture being shown on the second floor. Everything is while they’re away for the day. in boxes and labeled neatly, and it was pretty easy to · By 4 pm, there will be no more paper find what you wanted from upstairs in the warehouse. All in all IKEA is a great furniture store. They have a towels in the bathroom. wide variety of furniture, so I’m sure you can find a style · There will never be enough desks. that you like. That, and you can furnish nearly every room · When you need to talk to someone, in your house, and then some. Just about everything they’ll be in a meeting. there is well built and affordable. Except for couches. Their couches suck. · When someone walks over to your desk, Page 10 - April 2000 - gx internal they’ll leave you with more work. Rik’s three-day trip to the American Mecca of PlayStation gaming Last month, I had the thrill of joining Brody Giles and On the second day, two eager young guys, named Mark Sears in a three-day trip to the American Mecca of Chipper Gerritsen and Ray Bautista, handled our train- PlayStation gaming, Sony Computer Entertainment ing. They covered all the possible installation configu- America, or SCEA. Granted the main objective was to rations possible with the PlayStation (RFU Adapter, RCA learn Sony’s Consumer Service (CS) policies, but I cable, and S-Video cable – not many, I know) and com- looked at it as an opportunity to see more of how Sony mon problems encountered with hooking up to either a works. You want to know the surprise experience? Find- television or VCR. They then went ing out about the consumers that are out there using through the logic tree on the the PlayStation. Yes, mainstream America and Canada intranet that steps you through the are a far cry from our world of hardcore gaming. It never troubleshooting process to find really hits you until you listen to someone having actual where the problem trouble hooking the PlayStation to the television. Or when lies. We learned the service agent has to explain that you can’t immedi- one of the less ately load any of the Tomb Raider levels when you pur- well-known prob- chase a brand new Memory Card – you must first PLAY lems is called the the game and save it. It’s not their fault they don’t know “Bouncing better and though at first it may seem laughable, the Screen”. With sober reality is that they will be our future audience. You certain television heard me correctly; our company goal is reach these sets (mostly Ze- very same folks who have trouble with their VCRs. nith), the timing will not be correct and a Terms and phrases we accept as everyday in our com- jittery screen will appear. Sony has a solution for the munity will be a foreign language to them. Should we problem and will install a “mod-chip” into the customer’s tone ourselves down? Nah, but we need to remember PlayStation free of charge, even if the warranty is ex- to be clear and be prepared to educate them so they pired. Unless of course, the unit has already been can share our joy of gaming. opened, then Sony won’t touch it. Yep, all you mod- On to what I learned at Sony: the first person I met chippers out there, if your modded PlayStation breaks, was a fine gentleman named Sam Messler, who used you have to find someone other than Sony to get it fixed. to be an eighth-grade teacher. He gave us a tour of the At lunch we sat down with all the supervisors and chat- “campus” which has Consumer Services on the 20th ted. Then for our second afternoon, we went to the and 21st floors of the Tower, business offices on the phones to listen in on actual calls being made to Sony’s second floor of 919 East Hillsdale Blvd and game de- 800-number where I heard the mainstream folks I talked velopment across the way at 989 East Hillsdale Blvd about earlier. (so that’s where 989 Studios got their name!) He took The third morning was a short wrap-up of all the ar- us up to Training Room inside the Tower where we got eas discussed then we met the fun-loving guys in charge to see the incredible view of Foster City and the Bay. In of the 900 Tips phone number. They also used the this room we each had our own desk with a computer intranet with their own in-house made collection of hints hooked into Sony’s intranet of incredibly good informa- and tips on Sony’s first-party software. Each one of tion. Sam taught us a brief history of Sony and the them had the special blue De-bugging PlayStation that PlayStation and then using the intranet, covered all the can play all the beta and import games. Mark and I models and peripherals sold in North America. He also participated in a little CTR (Crash Team Racing) four- showed us all the “scripting” used to explain answer player action with them and had fun. We made sure we problems presented by consumers. Each of the scripts gave away as many Gamer.com T-shirts, everglides, is the legally okayed explanation Sony uses to protect and stickers as we could. They were very well received. themselves from any inadvertent hassles. That after- For lunch on our last day, Colin MacLean, the project noon we sat down with Peter Kang, the CS representa- manager of Sony’s On-line business treated us to Texas tive responsible for answering all the emails coming in BBQ (even Brandon would have loved it). We also to Sony. They have an interesting program that identi- stopped by Kurtis Buckmaster’s office, Sony’s fies certain key words and phrases and picks the ap- Webmaster. A bit of trivia: his character in Everquest is propriate scripted response. Peter still reads over the one of the ones featured on the back box cover. Well, emails to make sure no weird miscommunications hap- all in all, it was a very productive trip and I hope will be pen. able to continue friendly relations with Sony in the fu- ture. gx internal - April 2000 - Page 11 by Joel “Wemmick” Downs AA Short Short History History ofof Gamers.com Gamers.com Gamers.com began as the brainchild of the Fong alternate domain names, and dis- brothers in December of 1996 in the form of “Gamers covered that ‘gamers.com’ had Extreme.” Lyle, Dennis, and Bryant were all hardcore become available. The company gamers who saw that all the major gaming websites purchased it immediately and at the time were written by amateur gamers who re- shifted Gamers Extreme onto it. ally didn’t know games that well. They were writers In August of 1997, Heat.net, an who played games, not gamers who wrote. The Fong online gaming service run by brothers wanted to start a site that changed this Segasoft, hosted a major Quake model. They wanted to deliver quality strategies and tournament – the Red Annihilation reviews to the gaming masses. At this point, Dennis Tournament. John Carmack, the designer of the game, had already won the national Deathmatch 95 Doom offered his 1987 Ferrari as the grand prize. The entire championship, and his name was well-known among Gamers Extreme staff entered the tournament, and Den- the gaming community, and they planned to lever- nis, Lyle, and Kenn all qualified in the top 16 out of 2500 age his popularity and connections to drive users to entrants and earned themselves a trip to Atlanta for E3 the site. where the finals were to be held. Dennis went on to win Earlier in 1996, Lyle had started a web design busi- the tournament, bring home the Ferrari, and sparked an ness with friend Joel Downs. After being pitched on incredible flurry of media attention – everyone wanted the the idea by Lyle, Joel agreed to shift from the doing scoop on the 18 year-old kid who won a Ferrari playing websites for other people to programming for the video games. Dennis’ story was covered in a plethora of Gamers Extreme site. Planning for the site began in publications immediately after, including US News and early 1997. Joel and Lyle then recruited Peter Kim to World Report and the front page of the Wall Street Journal. do business development, John Joh to do graphic Almost overnight he was widely known as the best gamer art, and Kenneth Hwang to help with the strategy and in the world. review writing. Kenn, Lyle and Dennis were all Later that year, another online service, the Total Enter- clanmates in the renowned ‘DeathRow’ Quake clan. tainment Network (TEN), was starting a major gaming Bryant Fong helped with the programming in his league that would feature three seasons of games per year, spare time while still in high school. simultaneous competitions in mul- The crew released the first version tiple games, and prizes including of Gamers Extreme at http:// 1997: The team cash and computers. The league www.gamersx.com on July 18, was to be called the Professional 1997. worked long hours Gamers’ League (PGL), and was tar- The site grew slowly but steadily, geted to launch on November 3, with Dennis’ reputation driving 1997. TEN needed help running the Quake players to the site to learn his that summer, with up tournament, and in their conversa- tips and secrets. The team worked tions with Dennis about Gamers long hours that summer, with up to to eight people in a Extreme, they realized that GX had eight people in a 200 square-foot the gaming expertise that they room with no ventilation. They 200 square-foot room needed to effectively run their tour- rented this ‘office’ from a local com- naments. puter retailer in exchange for shared with no ventilation. GX and TEN quickly signed a deal. usage of a T1 that GX paid for. The GX was to create the rules, consult initial equipment funding came from Lyle and Joel, on the structure of the competition, and be referees for the and maintenance work from their previous business matches, and TEN would compensate GX with cash – GX’s made just enough to pay for the T1. Due to relatively first revenue source. low traffic numbers, the company had no advertis- After a few weeks of running matches for the PGL, GX ers and drew no income. took a more active role in the tournament, taking over the Not long after launch, Lyle decided to look up some match reporting and web operations of the league. The Page 12 - April 2000 - gx internal AA Short Short History History of of Gamers.com Gamers.com Continued PGL match reporting was shifted to the Gamers Ex- have the mass-market appeal to grow dramatically. Only treme site because they could update more quickly than the most hardcore gamers could appreciate the con- could the PGL site staff. tent found there. The team then struggled to come up The inaugural PGL season which culminated in a final with a model with which they could leverage their gam- event in Seattle in January 1998 was again won by Den- ing expertise, Dennis’ reputation, and the mass-market nis, who defeated clanmate Jim ‘Reptile’ Dangcil 2-1 in potential of the Gamers.com domain name. the final match. This victory solidified Dennis’ standing Dennis championed the idea that ultimately became in the gaming community, and continued to build traffic the model of the new site – a games portal that would for Gamers.com. point gamers to the best resources on the web for By the start of the second season of the PGL, GX had games. While Yahoo and other portal sites cover games, won the contract to redesign the entire PGL site and most of their links are to fan sites that are either broken take over all maintenance for an increased fee. GX si- links or are largely useless. Gamers.com was intended multaneously maintained their own site and the PGL site to point users to game sites, reviews, files, screenshots, throughout 1998. With the revenue from the PGL and rules, strategies, and any other related information, and some modest advertising sales, the company could af- all links would be sorted and categorized so users could ford to move into their own office in downtown Berkeley, easily find any particular information. It would be au- down the street from their original office. The full-time thoritative enough to be a resource for hardcore gamers, employees could finally afford to pay themselves mod- and it would also be accessible to new users who were est salaries and were no longer dependent on the sav- just getting into gaming. The site’s scope began with ings and family loans that had kept them eating until computer games, but quickly expanded to cover then. PlayStation, Nintendo, and Sega consoles, and soon GX brought on Bob ‘Calbear’ Colayco in January to after grew to include paper games, board games, card help run the tournament and to build out a Starcraft strat- games, kids games, party games, and more. To keep egy guide for Gamers Extreme, and they added Terence their expert edge, the company hired experienced ‘Nemisis’ Wong to help run the PGL in the summer of gamers in each of these fields to fill out the database. that year, bringing the staff count to eight, five of whom To complement Gamers.com’s revenue, the were full-time. GXNetwork was formed. It was a hosting service pro- In the PGL’s third season, Dennis again won the Quake vided by the company for high-quality gaming and en- competition (Quake 2), and his clan won the Quake tertainment sites. The GXNetwork hosted the sites, sold Team competition. At this point, his dominance in the advertising, and took a commission on the advertising world of gaming was undisputed, as its revenue source. In a November and more press coverage ensued. 1999 Media Metrix report, the As 1998 came to a close, Gamers 1998: The full-time GXNetwork was rated the gaming net- Extreme’s traffic was growing work with the largest reach with males quickly, and they began efforts stand employees could aged 12-17. on their own two feet. They broke Gamers.com site development began ties with the PGL so they could fo- in the late summer of 1999, and the re- cus full-time on Gamers Extreme finally afford to packaged Gamers.com was launched and their newest property, Thresh’s on November 15, 1999 alongside an an- FiringSquad, a site devoted to re- pay themselves nouncement of an $11 million investment views of games and gaming-related from prominent Silicon Valley venture hardware. FiringSquad, with Kenn modest salaries... capital firm CMGI. The old Gamers Ex- as Editor in Chief, grew in leaps and treme site moved back to http:// bounds in early 1999, as did Gamers Extreme, for which www.gamersx.com, freeing up the gamers.com domain Joel had taken over as Editor in Chief. GX’s new advi- name for the new site. By that time, the staff had grown sor, Jimmy Wu, helped secure advertising contracts to to twenty, and the office was getting quite cramped. With increase revenue and support the company’s opera- their new funding in hand, GX secured a property in a tions. growing region of southern Richmond. They moved into In the spring of 1999, Jimmy helped GX raise $2 mil- a temporary space in Richmond in December of 1999, lion in its first round of funding on the basis of a new and then into the final office in March of 2000, at which idea the team had come up with. Gamers Extreme, point the staff had grown to 75. while an excellent resource for serious gamers, did not And here we are. There will be a quiz on Monday. gx internal - April 2000 - Page 13 The FinK.L. Experience by hank After a humbling FinK.L. experience in Atlanta by John, the most sensuous k-pop artist as of date, as well as Bob, Kirk, Wayne, and I, (no comment required), there sometimes referred to as once the most beautiful fe- were initial doubts and speculations about the 2000 male singer. She was very energetic during her perfor- Dream Concert in LA headlining Fin.K.L after hearing mances, even trying to encourage the crowd to get up various rumors and reading posts on message boards and dance along. But sadly, nobody got out of their and forums. For those that don’t know, Fin.K.L (which chairs. This can be attributed to one of two factors, one stands for Fine Killing Liberty and pronounced “Feen- being that the crowd was just warming up, two being kul”) consists of the following four females, Hyolee, Jin, that because she was speaking in korean, half of the Yuri, and Fatty.. err, I mean Ju Hyun. They currently audience (including all of us other than Agnes’ friend) have out 4 albums, Blue Rain, White, 2.5, a live album, couldn’t understand what she was saying. Starting off and various vcd’s with live shows and compilations of in an Egyptian-style outfit, she proceeded to sing 3 videos. (all of which are on various share directories songs, each of which she came out in fewer and fewer on the network). clothes, until she ended up in a sleek dress. After talk- For those familiar with LA, the concert took place in ing to the audience for about 8 minutes (more stuff we Shrine Auditorium which otherwise resembles an audi- didn’t understand), the hooting and hollering began, such torium like the one used in Showtime at the Apollo. Tim, as the “Uhm Jungwha saranghae!” (which means “I Agnes, John, Wayne, and Agnes’ love you” in korean) which she would friend were in 5th row, to the left of the ...one of Yuri’s smile and acknowledge the fan. Mov- stage, while Bob, Me, Kirk, and Lily ing on, they showed a 20 minute long (Kirk’s gf) were in the 6th row, front spaghetti straps video documentary of Ryu Shi Won and center stage. While waiting out- broke... (pronounced Roo instead of Rie-yu), side, we picked up some concert t- who is a young soap opera actor turned shirts. What’s great about k-pop concerts are that the singer. He can be compared to as a Jennifer Love Hewitt shirts only cost $10 each usually, instead of the 25 to exploding into the music scene, except that his power 30 dollars you usually have to pay for rock (Tool, ballads and stage presence are a lot better. So after Metallica, A Perfect Circle) and Britney (they’re real, btw) this documentary which dragged on a bit excessively concerts. And in the spirit of the event, we picked up while showing what seemed to be every instance he some of the traditional glow-sticks that you see fans was in for this one soap opera, he finally came on stage waving with in every k-pop concert video. In compari- in a white suit. He poured out good power ballads and son to the H.O.T concert that Wayne and I went to last while it was great and all, it was obvious all the guys in month, there was a vast difference in the average age the audience were getting fidgety in anticipation for of the crowd and the percentage of males and females. Fin.K.L to come out. After 3 songs and some more For H.O.T, the average age hovered around the 12 to 17 korean talk, he finally introduced Fin.K.L. year old range, with the ratio being roughly 1500 girls to The girls came out in the red and white outfits that 150 guys. For Fin.K.L, the average age was more around were first revealed to us in Atlanta. At the beginning of 18 and there almost an even amount of girls to guys. the first song, one of Yuri’s (Kirk’s favorite) spaghetti The concert began roughly 25 minutes late, and it straps broke. No peep show tho, since her top was still kicked off with Uhm Jung Wha. Now Uhm Jun Wha is on pretty tightly. Jin (Bob’s ALL-TIME favorite) was look- considered a little “old” because she is all of 28 years ing like her normal self and Hyolee (Tim, Wayne, and old, but she is the Madonna/Mariah Carey of the indus- my favorite) came out in a nice ab-revealing mid-riff top try because of her lasting power and also cause she is and poofy warm-up style pants. Now all the girls looked

Page 14 - April 2000 - gx internal The FinK.L. Experience con’t dumb, just flat out. We all carried in cameras (forbid- about 10 lbs thinner in person than in the videos (no den in the Shrine Auditorium) with plans to snap dozens surprise there), however when Ju Hyun came out, we of pictures for posterity. But when Hyori/Jin/Yuri popped were all taken aback in shock as it seemed like she had out on stage, it seemed as if all higher thinking capacity gained at least 15 lbs since the last pics we had seen in seeped right out of our ears. We were pretty much their Photobook. helpless except to gawk at them with slack jaws. Now, there have long been fights in Korean pop mu- If I have any regrets, it’s that I didn’t make a big enough sic discussions and forums about the rights and wrongs fool of myself. I managed to yell at of lip synching, the top of my lungs “I LOVE YOU since in Korea it JIN!!!” embarrassing both Hank and is an acceptable Kirk sitting next to me. But it’s de- practice in many batable whether or not Jin actually shows because heard it. I probably should have it is more about made a big sign like some people the performance. did, or brought in flowers - those with However, over here, it is heavily frowned upon most of flowers were allowed by security to hand them off to the the time, and as their Live album has demonstrated, performers on stage! What a wasted opportunity! *sigh* sometimes two members of Fin.K.L do not sing very Hindsight is always 20/20. well live. So imagine the surprise and irony when half- It was fun but I think sixth row, front and center will way through the first song, “Youngwon-han Sarang” aka have to be the highlight of my Korean pop star stalking Forever Love, the main speakers cut out completely, career. I just don’t have Wayne’s mad skillz. =( leaving the auditorium in almost a dead silence except However, Hyolee’s waistlet (belly chain) is worth it’s for the dull mumur of the rear speakers playing the mu- own paragraph and you can quote me on that!” — Bob sic in an almost whisper like volume. Fin.K.L didn’t even In total, Fin.K.L lip synched to five songs, and were blink, as they kept on dancing and their mouths kept on rushed from the stage immediately afterwards, to a ho- moving to the silence... except... no sound came out of tel or something. Both Ryu and Uhm Jung Wha came their mouths. (pause for laughter). OH, we could hear out to perform some songs to close, and Uhm Jung their feet tapping clearly on the stage, but absolutely no Wha wore this tight white top with a white pair of semi- sound came out from their lips. Most of the audience see through satin pants which we can sum up in Sisqo’s didn’t seem to mind or even think anything of it, as they “The Thong Song”. Sensuous indeed! As Bob pointed just kept watching them and as before. The rest of the out, cameras were forbidden in the auditorium, but de- audience that wasn’t used to a performance like this spite efforts by the tight security with the flashlights, we sat in shock and amusement. Eventually, about a minute were able to snap a few photos for our memories. Al- or two of this lip service, apparently the sound engineers though performance time was like 45% Uhm Jung Wha got yelled at by the manager and fixed the speakers and (no one complained about that), 35% Ryu, and 20% we were back in action. To the utter delight of the audi- Fin.K.L (wished they did more), unlike other concerts, ence, Hyolee threw her glowstick to the audience which there were actually assigned seats so we were not landed to a dad two rows in front of us. Almost immedi- forced to wait in line at 6 am just to get good seats. In ately, the dad turned around and asked if there were retrospect, we also should have taken advantage of any high bidders for the souvenir. Ju Hyun threw hers John’s domain of www.finekillingliberty.com to garner as well, however, to Bob’s disappointment, Jin held onto an opportunity to meet them. Overall, the Dream Con- to hers and never threw it. They performed like 3 songs, cert with Fin.K.L was definitely a treat. All the entertain- talked to the audience some, upon which audience mem- ers were great performers and very crowd conscious bers yelled out “saranghae Hyolee” and “saranghae Yuri”. while interacting with the audience in a fun (although For the second set, the outfits they came out in were not currently understandable) manner. Next trip: Con- scandalous! Especially for Hyolee and Yuri. Both of cert in S. Korea perhaps? them wore skin tight black vinyl pants, with high mid-riff “my least favorite part was when finkl fatty thought tops. In addition, Hyolee busted out with a sexy silver she was tori amos and started busting out little earth- belly chain. In Kirk’s words, “That’s a gg (good game).” quakes. in retrospect, favorite part was when we got Needless to say, there was a lot of whistling and drool- back to UCLA.” — wayne ing in the crowd (not to mention some jealous girl- “least favorite? FinKl was SOOOO scripted. the way friends). Now let me cut away to Bob’s take on the they each said something into the mic, taking turns. and experience: the lip synching was dumb too... ryu shi won video was “The part about the FinKL concert that struck me the KIND OF LONG. Uhm Jung Hwa was cool tho.” — tim most was of course, seeing them live and in person, a mere 15 or 20 feet away. That experience struck us gx internal - April 2000 - Page 15 QUAKE III ASTROLOGY Arians have little time for introversion or social nice- By: Llana Ivanovich ties while gaming. All bets are off! They take each op- ponent on as they come and play ferociously hard to aka Nightasha show the enemy what it means to hurt. They can be ation that they become too self conscious to control it. fiery, because they have little affinity with detail and tend Often then, they will lie in wait. Make one mistake, and to grab a flame thrower and torch sometimes completely you’re over. at random. A head on approach has its obvious draw- Libra - Lazy. Lazy. Lazy. If you are a Libra and you backs, like when you run headlong around a blind turn play Quake... Congratulations, you’ve come a long way! only to get sniped. Never down for long, an Aries jumps Scorpios are renowned for being sadistic and at times back up and usually makes the same mistake again. diabolically evil. Yes, you will feel their sting. This sign Taureans are a combination of natural class and relishes shooting you in the back, the front, the side, horns...sharp, sharp horns. Some say patience is a vir- above, below, and through all the crossfire in-between. tue. For Taureans, it’s an obsession. Watch out! Makes Be it uzi or sniper rifle, there is a bullet with your name for the perfect camper! They are also very aesthetic on it. Wait! Listen... Can you hear them laughing? and are usually more concerned with the skins they use Sagittarians aren’t interested in being ‘understood’. than how they play. Despite their sensitive side, world They are far too busy for introversion. If you are too easy beware! Push this sign past its limits, and you will know for them to take down, they re-invent your demise by what it means to get the horns. doing a backflip and plugging you while in mid air. They Geminis are some of the sorest losers you will ever may lack in caution, tact and reserve, but they make it meet. Don’t mistake their childlike enthusiasm for up by taking their luck for granted and pushing it to the innocence. If it looks bad enough for them, limit. Annoyingly, they usually get away with it. There they’ll cheat if they think they can get away will always be ‘close scrapes’ and ‘near misses’ but with it! The twins are an apt symbol for this in the end, BAM! You’ve been OWNED by a Sagit- sign. Sometimes, it really does seem as if tarius! there are two totally separate personali- Capricorns have plenty of common sense and ties battling it out inside their head! This if you don’t, they won’t feel sorry for you. A pessi- also explains their versatility and ability to mist may say, “There are too many of them. I’m jump weapon to weapon, class to gonna die!” A Capricorn would say, “Good, more class, and tactic to tactic. targets. Now you will die.” Their literal Cancer - Oh, they look safe honesty does not always endear them enough on the surface, but un- to others, as they can be inexorably blunt derneath, they’re as sharp as about why they think you suck. You may shrapnel! Cancers are instinc- be sharp and you may be fast, but if you tive rather than analytical but they rarely miss a shot. are a problem, the Capricorn will become a solution. On the run, this crab may seem to be retreating into it’s Aquarians are, most of the time, cool and level headed. shell, but you aren’t safe yet. Just because they don’t Few people understand their motivation, Aquarians are seem to be seething cocoons of venom does not mean often thought of as unpredictable, eccentric or just plain that they aren’t. odd! They are sure to come up with the strangest strat- Leos are king. Its that simple. Often confident and egies you’ll ever see. Capping you here, frying you presumptuous show offs, they like to frag out with a there...they have the ability to swing from laughing at bang. They are no more arrogant than anyone else, just you hysterically to stern sobriety and a refreshed focus more blatant and vociferous about their opinions. Leos on bringing about your doom. What freaks. like attention more than anything but they definitely earn To a Pisces, everything he does is right. If he’s win- it. They are of regal bearing and protect their honor with ning, “I’m gonna win!” If he’s losing, “I’m gonna win!” To a railgun. anyone else, this may seem like escapism. The Pisces Virgos could be the most dangerous and powerful expects to beat you blue, and when they do, they re- players on the planet, but it doesn’t always work out main FAIRLY gracious about it. If they are the ones who that way. Their power of analysis is can be over done at get worked, rather than act on their first instinct to cry times, leaving them crippled. It can be so easy for them like a 10 year old girl, they will pretend nothing happened. to gauge the potential ramifications of a dangerous situ- I lost? I didn’t lose! Man, you’re trippin’....

Page 16 - April 2000 - gx internal Gabe’s March Madness The month of March has come and gone, and this par- speaking, a floating thought came through ticular peon is in awe of all the wonderful changes that my head: “Some insane Mac or Linux fa- have happened here at Gamers.com. Each month, some- natic could end the reign of Bill Gates thing new seems to pop up around me and take me by right here if he so wanted with this surprise. There are even times where I felt I’ve been left lack of security.” But those out of the loop and have NO idea who’s who and what’s thoughts vanished with the onset what (the “Dennis who?” or “Who’s Dennis?” phrase in of the nice purdy pictures and the beginning applies to me but never let this dare leave demos that was shown. And I admit, those demos looked the sacred grounds of Gamers.com lest thou cherishes nice – from the ping pong ball demonstration to Afro thy life). Thunder’s zany “address” about his new looks (though This month has seen a lot of firsts for me. Some ex- fusty would argue otherwise). amples include the exchange: “Hey Dennis.” “Hey Gabe, The rest of the GDC wasn’t as “press”-exciting as the how are things?” *Oh my God!! He knows who I am!!!!* (j/ X-Box but had its exciting moments. Phil Harrison’s k… ^_^) Other examples include the infamous move to speech about the PlayStation 2 gave Rik more reason to the new office (FINALLY!), going to my first major gam- drool about its impending arrival in the U.S. (Unfortu- ing event, and, of course, the meeting of professional nately, despite Rik’s equal height status to Mr. Harrison, editors from (gasp!) major gaming magazines! In my Rik was unable to speak to him nor shake his hand. This desire to share my deepest and most profound thoughts, was most likely attributed to some Sony woman who gave I shall go into excruciating detail of my opinions and him the brush off.) Seeing all the developers and com- thoughts of each one. panies showing off their stuff was pretty cool. Nintendo, Regarding the move, I’m sure that anybody who has located in the far corners of the expo, showed off its been in the old office back in Berkeley was extremely “wide and varied” selection of games… ahem, as well as grateful for the move to our “interim” space at 1401. The give away a “developers’ kit” in the form of a cute, plush opportunity to grow and expand (read: stretching our dolphin. Even watching fusty interact with different people hands without smacking our neighbors) gave us room to was pretty amusing – God only knows what goes on in breathe and the chance to obey certain regulations and his head when he’s talking, spouting, and evangelizing laws (fire hazard? Huh?!). However, the move to 1389 his way through on Gamers.com’s behalf. has been a more exciting one since I, not being con- Last but not least, March was on hand to witness new nected to the information circle, had NO idea of what the staff to come on board for Gamers. Now, new people new office was like nor had access to the infamous No- come on board every so often (especially with its recent vember issue of the internal newsletter to see how the growth) but these people were different. These people office was structured. Being involved with the 2nd move, were special. These people were… sacred… (okay, I was among the firsts to see the new office in its entirety maybe not). Cutting to the chase, Dennis was able to and “98% completeness”. New desks, mini-walls to en- snag some (in)famous people from the gaming industry sure semi-privacy (um, Nao? Stop looking at Japanese – professional editors from popular gaming magazines! porn and get back to work!), and our own PHONE LINES! When I first heard about the possibility of their coming to Oh WOW!!! With our business cards about to come (of work for Gamers, I was ecstatic! These were people I’ve which I’m still waiting for), it almost makes me feel as if heard of and whose stuff I used to read… and they were Gamers.com has really become a full-fledged company going to be working at Gamers! Of course, I felt like a and it has made me all giddy for being a part of this com- complete idiot when I first met them especially with my pany and seeing it grow! lovely ability to speak incoherently when getting a little March was also on hand to witness my attending my anxious. Here’s a brief (slightly edited) example of such first huge event in the gaming industry, the Game Devel- a meeting: “And this is Gabe who works on the PlayStation. opers Conference (GDC). It wasn’t until a week before Gabe, this is Dan Hsu.” “Hello Gabe.” *hands shake* “Hi some of us inquired Papa Smurf (known as Kenn to some, Dan, it’s an… um…. er… HONOR to meet you!” (Okay Spear to others) about the possibility of attending the Gabe, how much more stupid can you sound?!?) Any- GDC. Giving us a “it’s a good possibility” and the even- how, after the initial jaw-dropping, semi-drooling, eyes tual green light, we were all jumping for joy and the ex- popping open experience, it’s nice to know that they’re citement of going! The first day was filled with numerous just a bunch of regular guys who love to play games just developers, companies, people, and the infamous Billy like the rest of us. Well, except for the jacked up bloke Gates Jr. and his new toy, the X-Box. Sitting amidst the who goes crazy about some 3D fighting game called masses, I was amazed by how even geekier Mr. Microsoft Tack’em or Drekken or something like that… looked in real life. At one random moment while he was gx internal - April 2000 - Page 17 Sven the Ogre’s: GX WEIRD GAMES (Your Name Here) CLASSIFIEDS

of the Jungle Terence - For Sale: Jensen car audio 600 watt (4 channel) “(Your Name Here) of the Jungle” by Inner City Games amplifier. Opened ONCE. $80. Designs - The jungle is a wide-open field for career-minded individuals such as yourself. If you can muster up a small Bob - Koosh Firestorm Vortex gun. Use- force of untamed animals to do your bidding with a yodel- ful for shooting your neighbor, your like yell, you’re a natural. If not, you’ll have to recruit your supervisor, and passing bobsoles. Six help before wading into battle. shot barrel. Deadly at close range. As with Battle Cattle, players must purchase their own Multiple shots means less time spent plastic animals to play, though this time, all manner of stopping and reloading. Will own any jungle animals are nerf gun toting fool. New In-Box, needed. First, get never used. Paid $25 you can have it yourself some for- for $20. Try before you buy! agers (the best are herd animals: gazelles, zebras, Sarju - selling. one slightly used vir- and deer). Forag- ginity. 10 millllllion dollars. what? ing for food plays throw me a bone! an important role, as new troops are Looking for a Devish Dude with some recruited for your free time to make a database for DVDs army by bribing owned within the company. Facilitate them with food. movie swapping! Avoid perntious late Apes, hyenas, fees! Talk to Justin. and wolves are the Che - want to sell: a nice tall glass best recruiters, of shutup for everyone who thinks followed closely they're being funny by making the by bears, wild 25312435st Everquest crack pigs, sloths, and elephants. Unless you want to do the JohnJ - grab bag of cds, $20. recruiting yourself, but that can get ThumpMecham - I've got tons of com- time-consuming. As your new army’s general, you’ll have puter stuff to sell if anyone is in- better things to do. Like sit back and orchestrate the car- terested. Meet me in the IT room at nage. A few avians and apes for ranged attacks, some 3:AM this Saturday. All prices are giraffes as lookouts, alligators for attacking across water, negotiable. elephants and bears to build treehouses (you want to com- mand in style, don’t you?), and you’re all set to become JohnR - I got a brand new Virtual Boy “Joel of the Jungle”! No? How ‘bout “Justin of the Jungle”? still in the box. But I'll only sell Hmm....”Thresh of the Jungle”? - Sven the Ogre it for crazy money, otherwise I can just pawn it off to some idiot on eBay who'd pay like $200 for it. (Did I just kill the sale? I think I did.) Page 18 - April 2000 - gx internal