meet-the-team
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Meet the Champions Online community manager
If you've got a few minutes to spare, we recommend taking a look at the Champions Online official website. They just posted up their newest Meet the Team article all about their online community relations manager Victor Wachter. This is the guy to find to if you're going to PAX next month, as he'll be there with a playable build of Champions Online and answers to your questions. Well, as many answers has he can reasonably give without punting you down the exhibition hall.Strangely enough, if you want to get on Victor's good side you could probably bring Japanese pop-music paraphernalia and lots of Diet Pepsi. We know that we'll be doing just that, because a person can never have enough community manager friends. They have access to those mythical, magical beta keys that everyone wants sooner or later.
Meet Joe Wreschnig, Champions Online's resident UI coder
Meet the man behind both the in-game user interface and character creation interface for Champions Online. He's into Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy and anime -- which sort of goes hand-in-hand with the first two. He's also into Dungeons and Dragons and happens to play with the rest of Cryptic every Monday. We just thought that was kind of cool to know. Oh and of course he's a coding guy, so be careful or he might just melt your face off with some kind of demonic, alien script.Joe is also one of the many people looking forward to the Nemesis System in Champions Online and mentions that, "Showdown combat looks really cool." Hm, we're curious about how that looks ourselves, actually. Sadly we'll just have to keep waiting it out and watching for any new information as these weekly "Meet The Team" articles continue to flow out of the Cryptic website. You can read the rest of his interview in case hotdog re-enactments give you a cause to be curious.
Lead artist-ing with Champions Online's Christopher Chamberlain
Would you believe that this week's edition of Cryptic's meet the team is all about Christopher "Absinthe" Chamberlain, the lead artist in charge of characters, animation and FX for Champions Online? Yeah? Good. We were sure you'd believe, but we still had to check. It's not that Mr. Chamberlain is some kind of famous developer, he's just a very cool individual -- which also makes him an interesting interviewee. That is unless he used is crazy backwards-talking skills whenever you asked him a question. Then he'd just be a startlingly confusing interviewee.As far as his workday goes for creating characters and animations, we're once again forced to feel a little jealous. Most grown-up men don't get to play with form swords all day anymore, but Christopher does just that. Then after getting to play around for who knows how long, the man gets to sit down and decide how villains in the game will look. It doesn't stop there, but we'll let you discover what other madness this man is involved with on a daily basis.
Champions Online content is king for Brian Gilmore
You'd be right to think that Brian Gilmore -- a content designer for Champions Online -- is an interesting fellow. In fact, you'd probably be right in wanting to play some Champions tabletop with him, too. All in all, we have to wonder what sort of contacts, missions and spawns Brian has been concocting for our most anticipated superhero MMO. Will there be Victorian era zombies wearing Frock coats and Top Hats. What? We can dream!While there isn't any new game information in the article you can find a very cool story about one of Brian's GM (Game Master) experiences with the tabletop Champions game. We're kind of jealous that we'll never get to do battle with "The Demon's Hand" supervillain group. Anyhow, the fact of the matter is that with each of these Meet the Team articles we find out that the group of people working on Champions Online are a pretty unique lot.
Meet Champions Online's Q&A lead
Say hello to Alan Salmassian. He's the man in charge of ridding Champions Online of those pesky code bugs everyone hates encountering. Sure, it may not be the most glamorous job on the team, but it's definitely got some benefits. We're not sure what those benefits are -- presumably you get to laugh at crazy bugs that make inanimate objects flee in terror -- but we're sure that they're great. Also, it sounds like being a Q&A lead requires you to have tons of management skills, which means we could never do the job. All right, we're removing our tongue from its resting place in our cheek now. Like all the other people developing Champions Online Alan is equally important. If it wasn't for him and his team we'd all end up playing a game that crashed whenever we tried to open a door in-game or press the 'G' key. Also, we think that Alan's got a killer smile.
Meet Avery Wong, Environment Artist for Champions Online
The Meet the Team blogposts put out by the Champions Online developers is a great series. Far from being faceless, nameless, shadowy entities remaining behind the scenes, we find that these front-line troops are just as interesting and clever as we'd want them to be.Case in point: Avery Wong, CO's Environment Artist. He answers the tough questions with straight-shootin' answers. We now know the best way to curry favor with him is to bring him slices of melon heated in a microwave. For these and other important tidbits, check out the full post![Thanks, Christine!]
Meet the Team: Kevin Kelly
In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories. Name: Kevin Kelly Job Position: Contributing Editor, Los Angeles Area Monkey For Hire Past Experience/Education: I studied radio, television and film production and writing at The University of Texas in Austin, and although I never planned on moving to Los Angeles, I've now been here for umpteen years. To think, it all started with one simple internship. Life Outside of the 'Stiq: There's life outside the 'Stiq? What the?! In the spare time I'm able to muster up, I also write about movies, television, and other pop culture things for various sites around the web. I also hike a lot in the Los Angeles area, hit the beach (literally, with my fists) and try to be a well rounded dude. And no, I haven't tried surfing out here yet. Why I'm Blogging: I still don't know the answer to this, because it happened by accident. I worked in the movie industry for ten years, and a good deal of those were at The Jim Henson Company. When Disney bought the Muppets, I went into limbo. Somehow I emerged into the realm of blogging, as if from a wormhole. First game experience: Pong. The original version, so very long ago. I still remember bouncing between friend's houses because one had a ColecoVision, an Odyssey, an IntelliVision, and we had the Atari 2600. Ah, the heady days of practically no-bit gaming. A few years later, and I had a subscription to Coin-Op Monthly. It was a good day when you'd come home from school and that was in the mail. Favorite games: Literally anything from Infocom (interactive fiction, ftw!), Full Throttle, King's Quest, The Last Express, Myst, Alternate Reality, The Bard's Tale, Ultima III, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, The Dig, Day of the Tentacle, Elevator Action, Cliffhanger, Dragon's Lair, Halo (1, 2, and 3), Catan, Um Jammer Lammy, LocoRoco, Super Mario Galaxy, and tons and tons of board games. I have a closet full of 'em, almost like that scene in The Royal Tenenbaums. What the hell kind of clown are you?!: The crying on the inside kind, I guess. There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
Meet Danny Southard and an 800lb flaming gorilla
Danny Southard is an animator for Champions Online who gets to help make all the cool superpower animations players are expecting to see -- when they eventually get their hands on the game. He works on both player powers and specifically NPC powers for characters with all types of limb combinations. From the sounds of it Danny just recently wrapped up some work on super strength and is now working on some martial arts powers. You gotta have the basics covered, y'know.As far as new Champions Online information goes, Danny does give us a nice hint when asked about his favorite character from the game world. He says, "I can't reveal his name, but he's the biggest flaming gorilla in the history of videogames." Images of the Human Torch combined with Gorrila Grod burst into our minds when thinking about this mystery character. You can never go wrong with pyrokinetic primates.
Meet the Team: Scott Jon Siegel
In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories. Name: Scott Jon Siegel Job Position: Blogger / Columnist Past Experience/Education: Four years as a Literature and Integrated Arts major at Bard College; Game Politics correspondent from way back in the day. Live Outside of the 'Stiq: Just moved to San Francisco, following a six-month stint living it up in the South of France (Bonjour! Où est la bibliothèque?). When I'm not blogging, I'm designing games, and blogging some more. I'm also engaged to an awesome blogger. Imagine that! Why I'm blogging: I like writing, I like video games, and I like paying my rent on time, so it made sense. I started as a columnist (Off the Grid's coming back soon, I swear), and graduated into a full-time blogging position once I got out of college. First game experience: I really can't remember. Must've been so awesome it erased itself from my consciousness, lest I become incapacitated by its glory. Obviously. Favorite games: Rez, Metroid II, Chrono Trigger, and basically everything in this photo. What do you really look like? This, plus 16 years or so. There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
Meet the Team: James Ransom-Wiley
In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories. Name: James Ransom-Wiley Job Position: Managing Editor / 3,750 posts and counting... Past Experience/Education: Joystiq plucked me fresh from the "outside" in July 2004. I did manage a BA in Sociology from Wesleyan University a year before that. Life Outside of the 'Stiq: Is a mostly quiet, mostly Hispanic, quickly gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn. (Call it "East Williamsburg," or just plain Bushwick.) Lex and I share an Astroturf'd yard set away from the street between buildings, where she really got her flower pots going this spring and on warm evenings we dine at Brittany Perez's just-painted baby blue (from pink) picnic table. On late nights back from the city we hit up the best sandwich place no one's heard of: T&A Deli. There, Alex greets us with, "Goodmornin! The usual, baby?" Why I'm blogging: I needed to supplement my income, so I responded to a Craigslist ad for a part-time writing position on a developing video game blog. I submitted three samples in the style of a site I'd never heard of: "Engadget." Five weeks later I got a response. I was hired and began blogging for Joystiq alongside the then only contributor, Ben Zackheim. Coming up on four years later, Joystiq has grown far, far (far!) beyond my naive expectations and completely sucked me up with it. First Game Experience: Big bro's ColecoVision. I remember Tarzan, mashing the 5-key to set off the monkey-man's signature cry; and thrashing the mini-wheel on the mammoth alternate controller to flicker around the bases in Super Action Baseball; and helping my color-blind brother figure out which blocks he'd changed in Q*bert. Plus: River Raid, Time Pilot, Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle, Cosmic Avenger, Donkey Kong, Venture, Zaxxon, Front Line, Looping, Mouse Trap -- yeah, they got me hooked young... Favorite Games: Contrary to what GTA IV reviewers will tell you, there still isn't anything quite as "perfect" as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night -- but I'm gonna go with five close to my heart: The Legend of Zelda, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Ninja Gaiden (NES), F-Zero, and Halo ... and five shoutouts to: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game, Tecmo Super Bowl, Gitaroo Man, Pac-Man C.E., and Shufflepuck Café. Stick or Automatic? Stick. There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
Meet the Team: Alexander Sliwinski
In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories. Name: Alexander Sliwinski. Job Position: Peon (zug-zug), but my official Joystiq business card says "Contributing Editor." Past Experience/Education: Started a newspaper way back when I was at Brookline High School and have been doing the journalism thing ever since. Yes, I'm well aware of the Jonathan Coulton song about Brookline (and yes, it's true). I got my Broadcast Journalism degree from Hofstra University in New York and then somehow ended up in print/online. Every so often I dream of messing around with B-roll, voice-overs and sound bites again. Life outside of the 'Stiq: I watch lots of movies, television and am generally a pop culture sponge. No, seriously, I watch a lot of movies and television. Why I'm blogging: Holding down another job is hard when you've got a blunt honesty compulsion. See! I was supposed to lie and say something endearing there, possibly even heart-warming. First game experience: Hunt the Wumpus, along with other TI-99 games like, The Chisholm Trail, Parsec, Congo Bongo and pretty much the rest of that console's library. Favorite Games: Alpha Centauri, Max Payne, StarCraft, Grand Theft Auto, God of War, Civilization, Smash Bros., Sins of a Solar Empire and many more. The Dog: His name is Parker and he's a 16-year-old dachshund. He's not even mine, but he makes an adorable distraction in the photo. There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
A look at Champions Online's newest programmer
Meet Ben Foxworthy, the newest programmer working on Champions Online. He's apparently responsible for all sorts of gameplay elements including missions, contacts, NPC spawning and world interaction. With so much content to program, Ben must be an incredibly busy guy -- or so you'd think. All joking aside, we have a deep appreciation for programmers here at Massively, since many of us are math-inept when it comes to anything beyond basic addition and subtraction required for our table-top gaming jaunts.It seems like Ben landed at Cryptic rather early on in his career, having only graduated from the University of California last year. We'd say he's a lucky man, but then we found out he bought a thousand glowsticks on eBay once. Everyone knows that's almost five times more bad luck than breaking a mirror across the back of a black cat that's crossing your path. At the very least Ben's wearing a pretty awesome Champions Online shirt that we claim in the event of his untimely glowstick-related demise.
Meet the Team: Griffin McElroy
In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories. Name: Griffin McElroy Job Position: Weekend Editor/Japanese Hardware Sales Past Experience/Education: Broadcast Journalism major at Marshall University, gaming feature contributor for Herald-Dispatch (a widely circulated local paper), and Editor for a Herald-Dispatch video game blog (the quaintly titled "Blog: The Video Game"). I've also been involved with a plethora of local journalism enterprises in my fair city, including an indie rock shift at the college radio station, a stint at the college paper, a PR gig with Marshall's alumni association, and an Editor in Chief position at my high school Broadcast News program. Life Outside of the 'Stiq: I'm a political blogger with the MTV Choose or Lose Street Team '08, where I cover the national election as it happens from the state of West Virginia. I'm entering my senior year of college and, unsurprisingly, play no small amount of video games. Why I'm blogging: To pay for my unslakable hunger for synthetically crafted methamphetamines. Also, because my infatuation with journalism only applies when I'm writing about things I care about, i.e. video games. It sure beats the hell out of covering weekly city council meetings or sports (ewwwww). First Game Experience: At the tender age of three, I sat on the corner of my brothers' bunk bed, and would put myself through the unforgiving gauntlet of Super Mario Bros. I often claim that I beat the game before I could read, the truthiness of which has come under much scrutiny over the years. Favorite Games: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Pokemon Blue, Burnout 3, World of Warcraft, the Quest for Glory series, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Bioshock, GTA: San Andreas, You Have To Burn The Rope Favorite Animated Film, Graphic Novel, Type of Sandwich, Olsen Twin, Soda, Travel Author, Former President, and Contestant in Cycle 10 of America's Next Top Model: "The Iron Giant", Watchmen, pepperoni pizza sub, Mary-Kate, Cheerwine, Anthony Bourdain, James K. Polk, and Katarzyna, respectively. What's with the Tattoo? Glad you (didn't) ask There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
Meet the Team: Kyle Orland
In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories. Name: Kyle Orland Job Position: Contributing Editor; nega-reviewer Past Experience/Education: Bachelors degrees in computer science and journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park (Go Terps!). I've written (and write) about games for a variety of other outlets, as detailed on my personal site Life Outside of the 'Stiq: Fan of good TV (and some bad TV). Budding political junkie. Married. Juggler. Why I'm blogging: As a fun excuse to keep up with gaming news; as an outlet for regular, creative writing; to make a little dough. First Game Experience: A kid on my block got an NES and Super Mario Bros. when I was six. I went to his house practically every day even though I wasn't a big fan of the guy. On my seventh birthday I got an NES of my own and the rest is history. Favorite Games: Super Mario 64, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario Kart, Dance Dance Revolution, Subspace/Continuum, Yoshi's Island Who's your favorite Planeteer? Wheeler. There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
Meet the Team: Randy Nelson
In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories. Name: Randy Nelson Job Position: New Guy, West Coast Guy, "Who's that guy?" Past Experience: I'm a reformed tree murderer from what your history books refer to as "games magazines." I was the executive editor of the late, great PSM and senior editor on the short-lived Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine ... however, in one of those "full circle" deals, I actually got my first break in the field working on Ultra Game Players' website. Life outside of the 'Stiq: I collect stuff: action figures, movies, computer parts, cats, gadgets, penguins. Can't quite figure out how to build a doomsday device with 'em, though, so I spend most of my downtime snapping photos and playing games with The Navigatrix, a.k.a. my game lovin' girlfriend. Why I'm Blogging: At first it was merely a sort of penance for killing all those poor (mostly) defenseless trees. Now I do it because A) I love games, B) I love to write, and C) I can still hear the trees screaming. First Game Experience: I was born and raised (well, at least raised) in an arcade. The first game I ever put a quarter in was Pac-Man; my first console was an Atari VCS with ... Pac-Man. Favorite Games: Gunstar Heroes, Metal Gear series, Tempest 2000, Ghouls 'N' Ghosts, God of War, Blazing Lazers, Okami, Resident Evil 4, Bioshock, Super Mario Galaxy No matter where you go? There you are. There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
Meet the Team: Ludwig Kietzmann
In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories. Name: Ludwig Kietzmann Job Position: Senior Contributing Editor, podcast host and typo killer. Past Experience/Education: I have a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, with majors in Computer Science, Mathematical Techniques and Organizational Psychology. Fat lot of good that did me. Before joining Joystiq, I awarded games 3 out of 10 at some more obscure review sites. Life Outside of the 'Stiq: If, hypothetically, I ever left my laptop, it would be to watch a movie, get lost in a good book or wrestle down marauding lions. Why I'm Blogging: Though the ability to mash words together in order to form coherent sentences has brought me nothing but trouble, I rather enjoy it. Blogging is a great outlet for creative writing, opinion and unrelenting use of puns. First game experience: Destroying invaders (from space!) on a hand-me-down piece of hardware attached to a yellowed, CGA monitor. How many aliens have died by my hand since then? Favorite games: Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Grim Fandango, No One Lives Forever, Half-Life 2, Jet Set Radio, Metal Gear Solid 3, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Beyond Good & Evil and ... Rayman 2. Can love bloom on the battlefield? I need scissors! 61! There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
Meet the Team: Jason Dobson
In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories. Name: Jason Dobson Job Position: Blogger, drinker of Kool-Aid Past Experience/Education: I graduated with a BA in MIS from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma in 2000. I began writing about games on my own website etoychest.org as part of a senior project, which got my foot in the door with a handful of other gaming sites, including Gamasutra, Serious Games Source, and of course Joystiq. Life outside of the 'Stiq: I'm 33, married, and a proud father of a young son who is well on his way to being a gaming nerd himself, and have 2 rambunctious miniature dachshunds and an Italian greyhound. The Dobson house is a zoo. Why I'm blogging: Since I've been old enough to know spikes = death, I've been in love with video games, and if there's one thing I like more than playing games, it's talking about them. First game experience: The first game I remember playing was probably Windham Classics' PC adventure game Below the Root, a game I have still never finished Favorite games: Wizardry 7, bar none. In fact, Wizardry 6–8 make up one of the best trilogies of video game nirvana ever put to code. Who shot the food? Duh, the elf. There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
Meet the Team: Zack Stern
In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories. Name: Zack Stern Job Position: Contributing Editor Past Experience/Education: I worked as an editor at Gamers.com in its (brief but glorious) 2000 heyday, and have since contributed to dozens of technology and gaming publications. Recent articles have appeared in PC World, PC Gamer, Maximum PC, Official Xbox Magazine, Mac|Life, Wired Test, Make, and many more. Life outside of the 'Stiq: I'm an improviser, photographer, videomaker, and cook. Those all blend together into a delicious, sometimes metaphorical hooch. Why I'm blogging: I'm entrenched in old media but want to maintain a presence online. The two styles inform each other; knowing their similarities and differences makes me better at both. First game experience: I used to play Chinese checkers at my grandparents' house growing up, and the pinball machine at my mom's ad agency was better than day care. Favorite games: Prince of Persia, Myth, Deus Ex, Pikmin, Kururin Paradise, Portal, Rock Band Compact Flash or SD? Compact Flash. There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
Meet the Team: Ross Miller
In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories. Name: Ross Miller Job Position: Features Editor, Webcomic Guru, Master of Ceremonies Traitor! Past Experience/Education: This is my first game journalism gig. Education-wise, I'm finishing undergraduate degrees in Telecommunication Arts and Math, and a certificate in New Media, at the University of Georgia. Life outside of the 'Stiq: Still schooling. I also get a kick out of playing drums and guitar, simultaneously, and obsessing over LOST. Beyond that, there's no time left. If only I had a time-turner or could Facebook friend Hiro Nakamura. Why I'm blogging: Don't like wearing clothes to work. Or ever. First game experience: Parents had two Atari 2600s and a shoebox full of games. I remember spending weeks on E.T. and that really bad Pac-Man port. Favorite games: Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, Fallout 2, Starcraft, Smash Bros, Portal, Rock Band "Ya know, you kind of look like ...": Gordon Freeman, Adam Savage, Rivers Cuomo, Elvis Costello, Jonathan Coulton, Nintendo Wii Fanboy's JC Fletcher More to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
Meet Michael McCarry, a Champions Online programmer
This week's installment of Cryptic's ongoing "Meet the Team" is all about Michael McCarry and his role as a programmer on the team. He spends most of his work time on the powers and advancement system in Champions Online. It's worth noting that Michael is also one of the only two Canadians currently on the team -- a fact that he's quite proud of. We have to mention that his gaze makes us wonder if he's got some kind of evil plot for those of us planning on eventually leveling up our heroes.Michael cites Champions Online's combat system as the feature he's personally most excited about. What's interesting about that is his current game obsession happens to be Age of Conan. While it probably doesn't mean much for the game he's working on, it does go to show that people at Cryptic are paying attention to similar games -- if only because they look pretty fun in their own right.
