(Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the September 2007 issue of GameCola, back when GameCola was published in a monthly online magazine format.)
GameCola Headquarters
Trenton, NJ 08619
September 1, 2007
Dear Readers,
Hello world, and welcome to GameCola—live, from just outside Trenton, NJ, from myself and Miss Cola’s new apartment. Which is why the issue’s a few days late this week—moving, as it turns out, takes a bit of time.
But, in the meanwhile, I have had the most brilliant idea in the history of hit counters.
Do you own a videogame Web site? Do you publish a videogame blog? Are you somehow involved in the videogame industry? Do as much as moderate a videogame forum, play in a band that performs songs that somehow relate to videogames, or work at a used videogame store?
Have you ever, in your entire life, ever done anything that in any way involves videogames?
THEN YOU’RE JUST THE MAN OR WOMAN WE’RE LOOKING FOR.
We’re looking to expand Versus Mode—you know, Versus Mode—to include more than just our current and past writers, and you’re pretty much perfect for the job.
If you agree to help us out, you’ll be agreeing to the following: being added to a list. A list from which I randomly choose two persons every month to participate in Versus Mode. If selected, you’ll be given a month’s notice, and you’d be sent topics for the column about two weeks in advance. If you’re chosen and you can’t do it that month, it’s no problem; you’d just have to let me know, and I’d handle it from there. For the column itself, you could write as much or as little as you want. For a perfect example of just how little you could write and get away with it, check out last month’s edition of Versus Mode.
So, are you in? You’d get to write with the best group of pontificators since Mark Twain passed to the great beyond, and, of course, you’d get plugs out the wazoo for whatever you’d like.
In other news, we’ve got four bullet-point-worthy things going on this month:
- We’ve altered our ratings system slightly. In an effort to make our Five-is-Average system more understandable for both writers and readers, we’ve added one-word descriptions after the overall score for each game that describes how wonderful or terrible a game is. Check out one of our reviews this month to see how it works.
- And speaking of reviews, we’ve got a guest review this month! From one of the people who’s signed up for Versus Mode, even. Sprite Monkey, over from Secret of Mana Theater—an animated Web comic that sheds its own light onto the Secret of Mana saga—is in reviewing Mario Strikers Charged for the Wii, so be sure and check that out.
- And speaking of people who write reviews, we’ve lost one of our veteran writers this month. Steve Hamner gave his notice just the other day—gave his notice with the hope of coming back at some point later, that is—so I just wanted to say thanks, Steve, for the 1.5+ years of writing you’ve given us.
- And speaking of people who used to write for us, a big congratulations goes out to Zack Huffman, who was voted by you, the readers, to be the best GameCola writer of all time in this year’s staff battle.
Finally, with that said, you’ve got an issue to check out! Good stuff all around, as always. Be sure, especially, to check out Low Rent this month and help Richo decide what sort of karaoke he’ll be singing for us next month. And, also, do not read Top of the Heap this month unless you’re of age or have somebody’s permission. This is your warning.
Enjoy GameCola!
Love,
Paul Franzen
editor in chief
e-mail: pfranzen@gamecola.net
