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[shuri]

During the time I worked at EGM, I never saw Ed Semrad pick up a controller, hold a joystick, or play a game. Not once.

So how'd he review all those games? He didn't. Andy Baran (aka Cyberboy) claims to have written a good lot of them, and I don't doubt that he did. Think about it, in the text of one of Ed's reviews -- I think for Shadowrun -- he recalled his days of playing Dungeons & Dragons. Could you really picture Ed...that guy...playing D&D?

Since I wasn't there at the beginning of EGM, I dunno -- he may've started out actually playing the games he reviewed. But he wasn't by the mid-'90s.

Holy crap? Is this legit? And i love the old egm pics, i still own the egm2 daytona and super star wars (with exclusive pics of mk2 snes fatalities!) issues

http://homepage.mac.com/chris_johnston/C1662594604/index.html

 

[Lakitu]

If that's true, then that's disgusting.

 

[DarienA]

Well I know chris does work for Newtype... but damn I can't find his friggin IM nick to ask him about this....

EDIT: I use to harass him about the Bubsy stuff. Great fun.

 

[Father_Brain]

:lol at the Bubsy 3D bit.

 

[rod furlong]

golden age, goddamn it!

 

[AbeFroman]

Welcome to 4 months ago...

http://www.ga-forum.com/showpost.php?p=81471&postcount=20

 

[Ninja Scooter]

I distinctly remember being in Accolade's booth with a friend at E3 '96, checking out Bubsy 3D. We were laughing at how horrible it looked. I can recall saying, "Good god Bubsy 3D looks like such SHIT!" just as this woman came up to greet us. Nanoseconds before I actually saw her, as the word "shit" was escaping my mouth, I looked down and noticed her badge. It read "Eidetic Inc." (the company that developed Bubsy). Oops. At that point I think I tried to cover it up by saying something like, "I mean, Clayfighter, again? What kind of shit is that?" (Clayfighter happened to be in a display right next to it, ya see.) But it was too late. She'd heard me say that Bubsy was shit, and she didn't seem too happy about it. A couple of awkward seconds later I decided it was best to just leave.

:lol :lol

 

[DarienA]

Eidetic at least briefly turned it around... the first two syphon filters were good... haven't played the 3rd, and though I own the PS2 version I have yet to pop it in...

 

[TekunoRobby]

Wow that was a fun read and really points out what a douche Ed Semrad and most of the early EGM employees were.

 

[Overseer]

Damn, that really sucks. Who the hell wants to read a review that they thought came from one person but really came from another.

 

[WarPig]

You meant to say, "who wants to read a review?"

DFS.

 

[rod furlong]

I want to read more reviews written by ninjas!

 

[mosaic]

Man, I always thought CJ was a bit older than that. I guess not everyone sounds 17 when you talk to them on IRC (Yes, I know he isn't 17 now. Referring to ~96)

These insider stories are always a hoot... always wondered if Ed actually played the games, since half the things he said in editorials never made sense. Same with Dave over at Game Fan too.

Three weeks to throw together an entire PlayStation book -- nice to know Ziff didn't originate the concept of wack fast deadlines. I think I actually remember CJ coming into #vidgames and moaning about needing a memory card too. Heh.

 

[border]

The way I figure it (and I'm guessing here, since he appeared in EGM before my time), the Sushi-X persona was inspired by Famitsu's Taco-X, a reviewer often dressed as a ninja. Since EGM's Review Crew style is a direct rip-off of Famitsu's, this hypothesis of mine probably isn't too far from the truth. The Sushi-X that most EGM fans know and love was the one that was a master of fighting games, hated Game Boy titles just because he could, and was often the "swing reviewer" who would pan something the other guys "liked." HIs real name was Ken Williams.

Is all this true? The story on Sushi-X is different everytime I hear it.

 

[Gazunta]

Mos - I know exactly what you mean. When I was starting in the game reviewing biz back in 96-97 I saw CJ as one of the old masters that I looked up to Had no idea that I was a few years older than him

Ah, #vidgames.

And ghost writing reviews for other people is fun, easy and profitable, as long as you don't tell people on message boar....oh, shit.

 

[Funky Papa]

and profitable

LIAR!!!

 

[WarPig]

Is all this true? The story on Sushi-X is different everytime I hear it.

Of course it is. That's part of the fun.

DFS.