Almost Working for Atari Games
An extremely long time ago1, when I was young and stupid, I "made" and released videogame-themed desktop wallpapers. What this really was, was that I used to write videogame reviews for GamerWeb.2 And me abusing having access to GamesPress, which offered untouched, high-resolution videogame art assets.
In an era when IGN and Gamespot placed their logos over screenshots, I thought "why can't I just put my name at the bottom of key art, blow it up to modern desktop resolution size3, and call it my own?" So, I did just that, through Cinder's Wallpapers, a subdomain of Retrogames, which was a contender for the best emulation-news site during that era.4
Apparently, i thought it was a good idea to release desktop wallpapers for San Francisco Rush 2049 as my own design. Not long after, I was contacted via email5 by Steve Riesenberger of Atari Games. He gently let me know that I didn’t own these, and that I could continue to share them, as long as I didn’t pass them off as my own. Deal!
Sadly, I no-longer have the email thread, but Steve recognized how much of a fan of Rush 2049 I was, and effectively offered me a job in their QA department. This was my big break into the videogame industry!
Slight problem - the job was in Southern California, and I lived in New England. I don't think I took very long to think about it. I knew nothing about California, I couldn't just basically take off on my family, friends, and a girlfriend at the time.
I bet QA work during this time moderately sucked, and the job I had at the time6 definitely sucked. This seemed like a way into an industry I wanted to work in, but, I just couldn't.
Over the years, I heard from Steve again. A communication from March 2006:
Since we last emailed, I've been laid off from two development studios and left one. Finished up Darkwatch for High Moon Studios; layoff. Hooked up with Midway in San Diego under contract; left to work for Electronic Arts in Redwood City on the Godfather. Laid off. Had a nice month vacation while I sweated over getting a new job, then EA Los Angeles called. Now I'm working on the Medal of Honor: Airborne Next Gen game.
Sounds a bit stressful, though he was taking things in stride. And then I reached out to him this month, 20 years later:
I'm still living my childhood dream; couldn't ask for more. I've been at Zynga for almost 10 years now. Super grateful for this journey and connecting with cool creative individuals along the way.
Due to the fact that Steve's one of the most consistent, talented, and approachable videogame developers I've ever met, sometimes I wish I had joined Steve's team, helping make games for Atari. But they shut down in February 2003, and who the hell knows where I would have ended up. The road not taken indeed.
1999-2001. I'm not positive on the start, exactly, because the page existed before the Internet Archive existed to archive it.↩
I wasn't technically an employee - on account of they didn't pay me. I mean, they didn't even send me the game for review - they gave me a list of games that needed reviews, and I chose a game from that list which was available for rental at my local Blockbuster.↩
Your choices were 800x600 or 1024x768.↩
But is now on long-term life support.↩
This was nuts, because 1. who the hell is actually looking at my site, and 2. my email address at the time - i checked that account from my actual Dreamcast via the broadband adapter. So, i received that email on the same device i played the game on.↩
Part time nights at a FedEx Ground facility. If you're stuck in this job, and reading this, know that it's only up from there.↩