a circus performer who bites the heads off of live chickens.
a human who has in-depth knowledge of terms such as bandwidth, floating point unit, or Amiga Guru Meditation Error, but has problems making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
That how le geek started, as a "geek link" page on my first website, created in the spring of 1997 for a computer art class.
That summer I would expand it to include videogame reviews. They were initially short blurbs on why I liked a particular game, and I would get friends to occasionally write a review here and there.
I was already a classic gamer, that happened earlier in the 90's when Atari dumped their remaining inventory at Big Lots. This event practically caused an Atari renaissance at my first college, and I later discovered the internet and rec.games.video.classic which sealed the deal. I subscribed to the 2600 Connection fanzine, learned of Atari games I never knew existed and was buying cereal boxes full of Atari games at $2 a pop from fellow collectors. This was before the World Wide Web and way before eBay.
By 1997, my Atari collection had been pared down a bit and I had branched out to NES (I had missed out on it during its heyday), as well as Playstation and N64 with my roommates. Depending on the semester, there were basically three games we played the crap out of: Mario Kart 64 (referred to as "Kart"), Goldeneye ("Shoot 'em Up"), and later Street Fighter EX+alpha (sadly no cool nickname). Each game would replace TV, and if another player came by, you would stop what you were watching/playing and start to set up the controllers.
Real World Atlanta
After graduation and while waiting to find job somewhat related to my computer graphics degree, I redesigned le geek and added a convoluted ratings system (figuring that after a certain point who cared how crappy the game was). I would later wish I had gone with a simple system and later had to write a ratings guide to explain the method to my madness. Still I was handing out 5 out of 5 ratings like candy, until I played a game that leveled the playing field—The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
The Legend of Zelda on Nintendo 64 blew me away. The epic story, the scope of the game world, the incredible boss battles and the spot on controls that redefined 3D combat all added up to truly be a 5 out of 5 game. It made me rethink many of my game scores, and now I won't give out the top score unless I really think everyone should try it.
Since then, I've tried different angles with the site from having open review submissions (better served by GameFaqs) to offering previews and more frequent updates (couldn't compete with IGN, 1UP, etc.). I settled on the fact that I was just one guy and that—slowly, but surely—I would continue to review games. Le geek would be an archive of reviews for all systems, kind of a poor man's Video Game Critic, but with a better layout.
So le geek got a third redesign, I started doing all the system illustrations myself and I got a video capture card to grab real screen shots. I had a cushy "dot com" job and blew lots of money on Atari and Amiga crap on eBay. I had just bought a PS2 full price and moved in with my girlfriend, then the "dot coms" crashed and I was out of a job.
Enter the Ruck
As I was making the transition from unemployed bum to nervous freelancer, I put out a call for some help on game reviews. I got a few nibbles, but none as promising as from some guy named Eric Ruck.
Not only was 'Rick' game for writing some reviews, he also needed a graphic designer for some of his programming jobs. What started out as a request for content, turned into much needed work and a long lasting friendship.
Older? Check. Wiser? Uhm...
So the formula was now in place. While I may drift off and spend more time making ShockBox inserts, le geek's mantra is updating at least 4 times a year, serving up game reviews for all systems. Now that I have a family to spend time with, my game time has shrunk a bit, but my passion for games remains. With a bit of luck, le geek will be around for the next ten years and hopefully, you'll stick around for the ride.
2008 ben langberg, all rights reserved.