Jax said:
obviously having moved on from gaming journalism, I guess its not that much a stretch to ask, how difficult/hard was it to transition then from this field into whatever it is you're doing now. Because in the discussion with Greg about him moving to "games making" in response to others from 1up leaving to do so, it seems like everyone would be, what's the phrased you guys used "hustling"....
was there a point where you decided that the field/industry wasn't right for you, couldn't land something, and then had to find alternate means of making ends meet and how that realisation/point came to the 2 of you?
In my case, I'd been doing the EGM/News editor thing for 8 years and was looking to do something a little different (still in journalism). But there wasn't a specific point where I decided the industry wasn't right for me. I've loved games and talking/writing about games since I was but a wee teenager, but when you're in it for a long time especially up against monthly deadlines that are sometimes grating it begins to wear you down. Plus when you have to play games for work, some of the enjoyment and love you have for playing 'em goes away. I figured I'd done what I could in gaming journalism at the time, plus working at EGM was a dream job so there wasn't any other gaming outlet I wanted to work for. I figured if I left it, it would need to be for something totally different.
The opportunity presented itself to go work for Newtype USA, an anime magazine, and I took it. (Anime being another one of my hobbies/interests that I was almost as crazy about as games.) It was the chance to help a magazine that was bleeding money become profitable/successful. And while at the time no print magazine in a niche market such as anime was gonna light up the world, Newtype turned around and made a bit of money for the publisher. I'm proud to say it was the #1 anime magazine in the US, at least until the anime market went completely bust in 2007.
Lucky for me, just as the anime market was going in the toilet, a friend of mine who worked at Adult Swim told me he was leaving to go to Kongregate and asked if I'd like to take over his job as AdultSwim.com's Games Producer. I sent off my resume, and while the corporate wheels were turning on that anime REALLY went in the crapper. When your pay gets cut just a few months after getting a raise to an amount LOWER than you were getting when you were first hired, it's time to look elsewhere.
I was offered the job at Adult Swim, which I took, then Newtype USA was closed a week later (unrelated to my leaving -- the Japanese publisher yanked the license, but the timing on my departure was lucky!). So I'm still in gaming, producing games for the web. And I imagine that I'll at least be tangentially "in games" for the rest of my working days be it at Adult Swim here or at a different publisher. Would I go back to journalism? Sure, if that was in the cards. Part of the reason I started this podcast with Greg and that we do it so regularly is because I still enjoy playing and talking about games.