{"id":15294,"date":"2016-08-05T00:01:41","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T00:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=15294"},"modified":"2016-07-24T15:22:31","modified_gmt":"2016-07-24T15:22:31","slug":"carys-20-year-anniversary-reviewing-video-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/05\/carys-20-year-anniversary-reviewing-video-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary’s 20-Year Anniversary Reviewing Video Games!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PACICON\"<\/a>Hey folks, I\u2019ve got a big announcement to make!\u00a0 This August, I will have been writing video game reviews semi-professionally for 20 years!\u00a0 Yup, it all started back in 1996.\u00a0 I bet most game reviewers don\u2019t even last that long!\u00a0 So in honor of that, I decided to write an article about it, and share with you all how I got started, what I\u2019ve done in the past 20 years, and some of my highlights and favorite memories.\u00a0 Oh, and I\u2019d like to apologize in advance if this article sounds a little too self-absorbed and \u2018braggy,\u2019 as it is all about me.\u00a0 I promise I won\u2019t be like this all the time in the future.\u00a0 But I figured that 20 years really IS a reason to celebrate, so I hope you don\u2019t mind this, just this once.<\/span><\/p>\n

Long before I even thought I\u2019d ever want to be a game reviewer, there were little clues here and there that guided me to where I am today.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always had support from God, my parents, teachers, and friends.\u00a0 You know how when you were a kid and sometimes have stupid dreams like wanting to be an ice cream truck driver or a Disney animator?\u00a0 Well I had goals and dreams like that as a kid and no matter how stupid they were, my parents always supported me.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t try and change my mind and say things like, \u201cDon\u2019t you want to grow up and do something more marketable?\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m sure they WANTED to say that, but never did.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s undying support!<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also ALWAYS loved video games, ever since I played my first game of Pac-Man at an arcade cabinet in a Kroger grocery store (I first thought it was a vending machine).\u00a0 Even before then, we had Pong hooked up to our TV, but I never realized it was a video game because my dad built our first TV and he just attached a Pong game right into it.\u00a0 But as a game reviewer, not only do you have to like video games, but you also have to like to write.\u00a0 As a kid, I hated writing because we all had to handwrite all of our reports and papers, and I couldn\u2019t stand that!\u00a0 But once I learned how to type in middle school and high school, I discovered that I loved to write, and I made good grades in any writing classes after that.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a kid I also loved to read game magazines and guide books.\u00a0 I think I read those just as much as I actually played video games.\u00a0 I even base my writing style after the style the authors of the Unofficial, Unauthorized Nintendo Strategy Guide books they had when I was a kid.\u00a0 Anyone remember those?\u00a0 They had weird artwork on the covers.\u00a0 I also discovered how much I loved previewing games and talking with game developers at events as a kid, when I attended the Nintendo World Championships back in 1990 (I even wrote an article about it a while back<\/strong><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Heck, even when I first entered college I didn\u2019t know I wanted to review games.\u00a0 I even started college as an Undeclared major (PROTIP: when you go into college, it helps if you know what you want to major in right away).\u00a0 But I knew I was good at writing because in my Freshman English class, I made all 100\u2019s on my papers.\u00a0 And at the college I went to, Freshman English was considered a \u2018weed-out\u2019 class.\u00a0 I remember when the professor would hand back our papers and people would shake their heads and mutter \u201cHow you are supposed to get a C in this class?\u201d\u00a0 My secret?\u00a0 Learn what writing styles your teachers like, and write about what you know, if you can.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, so the first summer after I started college, there was an ad in The Dallas Morning News and it had Buzz Lightyear on the front and it said, \u201cTo Infinity and Beyond: Calling All Gamers!\u201d\u00a0 The newspaper was going to take submissions from people who wanted to write game reviews for the paper, and they\u2019d hire the best ones.\u00a0 Now, I think this ad was geared towards kids writing reviews, but that didn\u2019t stop me from trying it anyway!\u00a0 You had to write two reviews: one of a game you liked and one you didn\u2019t like.\u00a0 Since I was into 16-bit RPGs at this time, I wrote about Final Fantasy 6 as the game I liked and EarthBound as the game I didn\u2019t like (yeah I think I\u2019m the only one in the world who didn\u2019t like that game as much).\u00a0 Back then, we actually had to print off our review submissions and mail them in!\u00a0 Email wasn\u2019t as commonplace yet!<\/span><\/p>\n

So that happened about late May, early June.\u00a0 Later that summer, in early August, 1996, I got a phone call from one of the editors of the Lifestyles section of the newspaper that I was one of the ones chosen to write reviews!\u00a0 That editor would be the one in charge of the game reviewing section.\u00a0 So soon after that, I thought to myself, \u201cWell that was easy, I guess I\u2019ll major in Journalism in college!\u201d\u00a0 That may seem like a stupid idea now, but back then, it made more sense at the time.\u00a0 But we\u2019ll get more into that later, maybe.<\/span><\/p>\n

One really cool thing about this is that I had no help whatsoever with submitting my try-out reviews and getting that job at the paper.\u00a0 Now, granted, like I said earlier, I\u2019ll always give credit to God, my parents, teachers, and friends.\u00a0 But as far as submitting and sending off the initial reviews, I had no help.\u00a0 I did it all by myself.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t even rely on any connections at the newspaper or anything.\u00a0 That\u2019s why getting the game reviewing gig at The Dallas Morning News is one of my most proudest achievements.<\/span><\/p>\n

Within days I was already writing reviews for the paper.\u00a0 I think the first ones I reviewed were Lemmings Paintball on the PC and the SNES version of Ms. Pac-Man (a port of the earlier Genesis version).\u00a0 The N64 came out about that time, too, and while I didn\u2019t get to review anything for it right away, I still got to review Donkey Kong Country 3 on the SNES, which was still a pretty big holiday title.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s a special game to me because it\u2019s the first \u201cbig\u201d game I got to review.\u00a0 A year or so later, even though I couldn\u2019t afford it, I got a PSOne so I could review more games.\u00a0 That was one of the smartest gaming purchases I ever made because after that, I was reviewing games left and right!<\/span><\/p>\n

My reviews were first in the \u201cToday\u201d Lifestyles section of The Dallas Morning News.\u00a0 But later, they added a new section to the newspaper, called Person@l Technology.\u00a0 My reviews were in a section called \u201cElectronic Adventures.\u201d\u00a0 (I didn\u2019t choose that name) Later on, I even wrote reviews of game accessories under the \u201cGadgets and Gizmos\u201d area of the tech section.\u00a0 I reviewed a lot of controllers and even memory cards in that section.\u00a0 One time, when Tomb Raider was first starting to get popular, a company made a PSOne memory card shaped like Lara Croft.\u00a0 Well I got to review it!\u00a0 I really wanted to say in my review that it was \u201cthe only memory card with boobs,\u201d but I declined to do that, even though it sounded funny.\u00a0 I really wanted to write educational kids game reviews for the newspaper, too, but they already had a staff writer doing that.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wrote game reviews for The Dallas Morning News all through college.\u00a0 I felt very successful considering that most other people in my major hadn\u2019t even been published yet, and here I was with several articles with a major newspaper under my belt.\u00a0 I also wrote game reviews for The University of Texas at Austin\u2019s college newspaper: The Daily Texan.\u00a0 I did that for about three or four semesters in college.\u00a0 In their Lifestyles section, they had a huge area for music reviews called Sound Bites.\u00a0 For my game reviews, I named that section Game Bytes.\u00a0 I stopped doing it when the cool editors graduated and the new ones were jerks.\u00a0 They treated me poorly and even questioned the importance of having game reviews in \u2018their\u2019 newspaper.\u00a0 So I figured that wasn\u2019t worth the measly paycheck I was given and I stopped writing for them and continued to focus more on the major Dallas newspaper.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have a lot of reviews at the Dallas newspaper that I\u2019m especially proud of.\u00a0 One time, as a joke, I turned in a review of Chex Quest.\u00a0 It was a free game that came in boxes of Chex cereal back then.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think they would publish it, but they did and I got a lot of positive feedback for it!\u00a0 When the live action Grinch movie came out, they made a game of it that I reviewed on the Dreamcast.\u00a0 And in Seuss fashion, I wrote the review entirely in rhyme!\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember the whole thing, but it started out, \u201cPresenting for the first and maybe last time, a game review written entirely in rhyme.\u201d\u00a0 I got a lot of praise from readers and staff about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m also proud of some of the major games I got to review at the newspaper.\u00a0 Especially my reviews of Pac-Man World and Donkey Kong 64, as I also got to pick out the artwork and design the layout of those reviews, and they really stood out.\u00a0 I also reviewed both Banjo-Kazooie games and some of my reviews even got front page blurbs in the tech section, like Kirby 64.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the first years I went to E3 and saw how Nintendo was going to market the new at the time Pok\u00e9mon franchise, I immediately told my editor that I wanted to cover all things Pok\u00e9mon.\u00a0 He was like, \u201cyeah sure, whatever.\u201d\u00a0 But after reviewing the first Pok\u00e9mon games, I was designated as the resident Pok\u00e9mon expert and was writing tons of articles about the craze and attending all sorts of Pok\u00e9mon related events, from card game tournaments to preview events like Pok\u00e9mon Stadium mall previews.\u00a0 I even got to go up on stage for that one!\u00a0 I actually got paid for writing reviews back then, so while I was writing tons of Pok\u00e9mon articles, I liked to say that Pok\u00e9mon helped pay my way through college!\u00a0 I stopped being the Pok\u00e9mon expert years later when one of the editor\u2019s sons was old enough to review Pok\u00e9mon games.\u00a0 Don\u2019tcha just love office politics?<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m also proud of all the times I got to go to E3 while at the Dallas paper.\u00a0 This was when E3 was a huge spectacle, and I got the red carpet treatment a lot of the time.\u00a0 I have so many good E3 memories that I could write a whole separate blog about them.\u00a0 In fact, I think I did a few years ago<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 One time, there was a local tech convention and The Dallas Morning News had set up a booth there, and I even flew home from college to help run it!\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

But of course, my time at The Dallas Morning News wasn\u2019t always a bed of roses.\u00a0 My editor wasn\u2019t very nice to me.\u00a0 I hate to say bad things about him since he has since passed away, and I can\u2019t figure it out since in his obituary, it said that everyone liked him and he was nice to everyone.\u00a0 But he must\u2019ve not liked me for some reason.\u00a0 Sometimes people are like that.\u00a0 I remember one time after I graduated from college, I went up to the newspaper office to help my editor distribute games to the other reviewers.\u00a0 I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to get to know him and show him that I would be good to hire.\u00a0 But he told me in his office right to my face that I didn\u2019t have what it takes to work there.\u00a0 That really hurt my feelings.\u00a0 But I did end up continuing to write there for another year or so, and have been reviewing games in other places since.\u00a0 So if I don\u2019t have what it takes, I must be doing at least something right, maybe.\u00a0 My editor at the Gadgets & Gizmos section was nicer, but still tough!\u00a0 So why did I put up with so much crap from them?\u00a0 Because it was the freakin\u2019 Dallas Morning News!\u00a0 I guess I did learn a few things form my editor, like how to request review copies of games and what to do at conventions like E3.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I guess majoring in Journalism wasn\u2019t such a good idea either.\u00a0 In fact, college in general hasn\u2019t helped me AT ALL in real life.\u00a0 But in my defense, it did make sense at the time, since I had articles in that major newspaper nearly every week.\u00a0 And when I got out of college, at first, publications and news sites were emailing me, asking me to come write for THEM!\u00a0 One in particular I remember was a business that was making a web site called Zgadz.com, and it would specialize in game reviews for kids.\u00a0 Sound familiar?\u00a0 They even printed off business cards for me to hand out at E3!\u00a0 Unfortunately, when I got back, they backed out of the deal, since this was about the time of the dot com bubble bursting.<\/span><\/p>\n

In late 2001, I was let go from the game reviewing gig at The Dallas Morning News.\u00a0 My editor moved to the Home and Garden section, so they let go all of the free-lance reviewers like myself.\u00a0 They did hire one person from the bunch to write for them full time, and it was someone who was there half as long as I was (told you my editor didn\u2019t like me).\u00a0 While I was really sad about this, in a way I\u2019m glad I got let go, as it taught me an important lesson in humility.\u00a0 No matter how big and important you may feel you are in a company, you can be easily replaced.\u00a0 It kept me from getting too big of a head, and taught me to always have a backup plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

One cool story came out of this, though.\u00a0 While writing for the paper, I got to really know the team who made Pac-Man World.\u00a0 I was let go at the time that Pac-Man World 2 was coming out, so I wrote the team a letter telling them to not send me a review copy of the game, since I didn\u2019t have an outlet to review it on.\u00a0 Well they sent me a copy of it anyway and they all signed the cover.\u00a0 I thought that was really nice of them and it really meant a lot to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

2002 was a pretty rough year for me.\u00a0 I was having trouble finding a good job after college, and I even had a small bit of family problems as well (not anything really bad, so don\u2019t worry too much).\u00a0 But I still count it as a year that I reviewed games because I wrote a few on a friend\u2019s now defunct site.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

But when you hit bottom, the only way to go is up, and in 2003, I certainly did just that.\u00a0 That year I got my first real full-time job at a church and I mostly enjoyed that job.\u00a0 Also, that was the year I started writing for GamerDad.com.\u00a0 And as you can tell, I\u2019m still doing that today!\u00a0 The GamerDad site has changed a lot since I first started, but it\u2019s the perfect place for me to write.\u00a0 Most of the games I have an interest in reviewing are also good picks to feature on the site, and I have a lot of freedom here.\u00a0 Heck, even though I had more clout and was actually paid at the newspaper, you know what?\u00a0 I actually like writing for GamerDad.com much better than I did at The Dallas Morning News.\u00a0 The head guy at the site, Andrew Bub, THE GamerDad, is a heck of a lot nicer of an editor than the one I had at the newspaper.\u00a0 And so are the other folks who have been involved with the site over the years.\u00a0 The cool thing is that at GamerDad.com, I\u2019ve still gotten some chances to go to E3, and I\u2019ve also gone to a new convention for several years called PAX, which is probably the next best thing to E3.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve had lots of good memories at both places.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

There were a few times at GamerDad that I tried to branch out and write for other sites.\u00a0 There was a year that I also wrote for GameHelper.com.\u00a0 That was fun at first, but later on, I turned in some reviews only to have a new editor just butcher them in the edits, and it made me feel like a horrible writer.\u00a0 I imagine I\u2019m probably not as good of a writer as I was when I was in college, but I wasn\u2019t getting paid at GameHelper.com and since it stopped being fun writing for them, I quit after that.\u00a0 I also tried to apply for many jobs at 1up.com, but never made it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think some of the editors there liked me very much. Although I have to say that even though I didn\u2019t work there, I think I still had a fairly big presence at 1up.\u00a0 Interestingly enough, both GameHelper.com and 1up.com are now both defunct, and yet GamerDad.com is still around!\u00a0 GamerDad.com may be a small site, but lots of people have heard of it and it has surprised me sometimes.\u00a0 Many times when I talk to game developers and companies, panelists at PAX, and even the founders of the National Videogame Museum, they\u2019ve all said, \u201cOh yeah, I\u2019ve heard of GamerDad!\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

So that\u2019s really my history of reviewing games for 20 years.\u00a0 I have some concluding paragraphs, both negative and positive.\u00a0 We\u2019ll start with the negative stuff first so I can finish this on a positive note.\u00a0 When I first started doing this sort of thing, I had all sorts of good advice to give to people who wanted to become game reviewers.\u00a0 But unfortunately, with the way things are now, my advice is not as good.\u00a0 I basically say, \u201cDon\u2019t do it.\u201d\u00a0 Things have changed a lot since when I first started, and unless you\u2019re as stubborn as I am, it\u2019s really not that lucrative anymore.\u00a0 Chances are, you\u2019ll never become the next PooPooPie or whatever his name is on YouTube, and don\u2019t expect to make game reviewing be a full-time job that pays the bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of YouTube, I have to say I\u2019ve fallen a little behind on that trend.\u00a0 For the past nine years or so, YouTube has grown in popularity, and a lot of game reviewers are migrating toward it as an outlet.\u00a0 But during all that time, I was working at a full-time job and didn\u2019t have much extra time to mess with YouTube (they don\u2019t call it a full-time job for nothing).\u00a0 So when I lost my job late last year, as I was looking for new work I had a bit more time and it really hit me on the head just how popular YouTube has become.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to be part of that trend myself, but unfortunately it\u2019s just not in the cards right now. \u00a0I have a new job so I don\u2019t have enough time to do that, nor do have I have the money or proper equipment or the knowhow to do things like that.\u00a0 And if I did do that, I\u2019d want to do it right.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to be one of those folks on YouTube who just sticks their face in a laptop camera and talks while you can see up their nose.\u00a0 And for that I\u2019d need help from others, too.\u00a0 Plus, I\u2019d have to worry about all sorts of legal things that I don\u2019t have to normally when I just write, and a lot of YouTubers seem to be more concerned on talking about games rather than playing them.\u00a0 But even so, if I had the help and equipment and knowhow, that would be something I\u2019d like to try someday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, I\u2019m so sorry for being so negative in those last couple of paragraphs.\u00a0 I just wanted to show that reviewing games hasn\u2019t always been a bed of roses for me.\u00a0 But I\u2019m still thankful for all my accomplishments.\u00a0 I bet not many people have been able to review games for 20 years.\u00a0 And I bet there aren\u2019t many gamers that have been lucky enough to experience as many things as I have.\u00a0 Writing for a major newspaper and recognizable web site, being able to go to E3 and PAX, being able to talk to industry professionals and celebrities, they\u2019re all feathers in my game reviewing cap.\u00a0 Heck, even this year alone I\u2019ve had many accomplishments.\u00a0 I\u2019ve gone to PAX South, got accepted into the National Association of Video Game Trade Reviewers, and I\u2019ve volunteered at the National Videogame Museum.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

While I\u2019ve worked hard to be able to do all this, I certainly couldn\u2019t have done it without the help of others.\u00a0 So I\u2019d like to thank all the people in the game industry who have helped me, as well as the PR professionals.\u00a0 Also thanks to all the editors I\u2019ve learned from over the years, as well as teachers, my parents, and most importantly, God.\u00a0 And I\u2019d also like to thank all the readers who have checked out my reviews over the years.\u00a0 If I didn\u2019t think anyone read my stuff, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d still do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

So you may be asking, why do I still do this?\u00a0 I\u2019m not famous and it doesn\u2019t pay the bills.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve worked so hard over the years to be a game reviewer, a dream that I\u2019ve had since college.\u00a0 And if I just quit something that has been a dream in my life for so long, it would be like I\u2019m quitting on life as well.\u00a0 Plus, it\u2019s hard to quit something that you\u2019ve done for 20 years!\u00a0 I hope I can continue to review games for as long as I can.\u00a0 I\u2019m a little worried about being able to do that for much longer, since all that VR stuff is becoming popular.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been blind in my left eye since birth, and may not be able to play the VR games that are coming out.\u00a0 But I guess we\u2019ll just have to see what happens.\u00a0 I hope you all enjoyed my trip down game reviewing memory lane, and I hope you all continue to enjoy reading my reviews and articles in the future.\u00a0 –Cary<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey folks, I\u2019ve got a big announcement to make!\u00a0 This August, I will have been writing video game reviews semi-professionally for 20 years!\u00a0 Yup, it all started back in 1996.\u00a0 I bet most game reviewers don\u2019t even last that long!\u00a0 So in honor of that, I decided to write an article about it, and share […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15294"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15296,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15294\/revisions\/15296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}