Does anyone know what happened to the GameFan re-launch?

bell wood's jet cola · Apr 30, 2018

A couple years ago, there was a little bit of fanfare surrounding the re-launch of Game Fan and their new partnership with Destructoid. They released one magazine that was seemingly pulled from the shelves as soon as it was released and Destructoid & Game Fan went completely silent about the partnership. We've heard nothing from Game Fan or Mr. Dave Halverson since. There were also a couple issues of the new GameFan that came out prior to this partnership deal. I flipped through one at Barnes and Noble. The format was odd: I believe the magazine was about the size of a Reader's Digest.

I'm guessing it's just another in a long line of failed Halverson-backed magazines, but it was kind of nice seeing an old friend on the shelves for a short while.

bell wood's jet cola · May 7, 2018

Oh man, in semi-related news, I found out recently that ECM passed away last year.

RIP.

Phunkydiabetic · May 7, 2018

bell wood's jet cola said:
Oh man, in semi-related news, I found out recently that ECM passed away last year.

RIP.

Whhaaaaaat? How did he die? That's brutal. Gamefan was one of, if not my favorite game mags back in the day and I remember hearing about a reboot but completely forgot all about it. EGM and Gamefan was my shit with a bit of Next Generation thrown in.

I always found Gamepro corny and Nintendo Power to be nothing more than a glorified advertisement but Diehard Gamefan really had an identity of it's own that I loved, from the different writers to Terry Wolfinger's art.

Not sure if you or other fans have seen this but it's a very interesting look at the behind the scenes at Gamefan....

https://hg101.kontek.net/gamefan/GameFAN.htm

Some truly wild stories in there.

bell wood's jet cola · May 7, 2018

Phunkydiabetic said:
Whhaaaaaat? How did he die? That's brutal. Gamefan was one of, if not my favorite game mags back in the day and I remember hearing about a reboot but completely forgot all about it. EGM and Gamefan was my shit with a bit of Next Generation thrown in.

I always found Gamepro corny and Nintendo Power to be nothing more than a glorified advertisement but Diehard Gamefan really had an identity of it's own that I loved, from the different writers to Terry Wolfinger's art.

Not sure if you or other fans have seen this but it's a very interesting look at the behind the scenes at Gamefan....

https://hg101.kontek.net/gamefan/GameFAN.htm

Some truly wild stories in there.

Not sure. Came across an obituary when I was looking for information on GameFan. It is definitely him (they mention GameFan and his game guides).

Yes, I've read that. It's almost as fun as reading the back issues. I really loved GameFan. They defined my 'gaming personality' as a very hardcore, Japanese-centric kind of gamer. I day dreamed about the stuff in that magazine, particularly the prohibitively expensive Japanese imports in the back. I lost a little bit of my soul when the magazine started coming out sporadically and then folded completely. I enjoyed the Halverson and the ECM years, though the latter issues started getting a little 'bro-ey' for my tastes, if that makes any sense. Gamer's Republic was also awesome. I didn't follow Halverson to Play, unfortunately, but that Sonic '06 review is legendary. I find it hard to hate Halverson having not known him personally, but it sounds like he was a real piece of work. Can't deny he produced some of my greatest early gaming memories, though.

bell wood's jet cola · May 7, 2018

http://diehardgamefan.com/about-us/

Someone also posted about it on the sidebar here.

bell wood's jet cola · May 7, 2018

https://www.podbean.com/site/EpisodeDownload/PB85C3A5I8AS4

One last post (since no one seems to be reading this thread). Found a Podcast where former writers, etc. memorialize ECM.

Beer Monkey · May 7, 2018

ECM turned out to be a major alt-right Trump supporter. Ugh. Sorry for his passing, though. I don't wish that on anyone.

carlosrox · May 7, 2018

bell wood's jet cola said:
ECM passed away last year

This is sad to hear :(

-------

I was huge into Gamefan when I was a kid. A large part of the way I am as a gamer is related to those guys.
E Storm and Nickrox were great, along with most of the others. I love their reviews and previews. Real excitement.

Such a gorgeous magazine and these guys knew their games. The passion was real.

I'm with you OP. I remember when gaming personalities were people like this with a real love for gaming and not obnoxious douchebags (in terms of perceivable behavior that is).
-------

Never heard of a relaunch, but I would be super down if the same folks were involved.

bell wood's jet cola · May 7, 2018

Beer Monkey said:
ECM turned out to be a major alt-right Trump supporter. Ugh. Sorry for his passing, though. I don't wish that on anyone.

I remember him alluding to his political leanings in a couple editorials. Unfortunately, I'm finding out a little more after reading a thread on The Next Level. Will just leave it at that and give another RIP to a writer I enjoyed when I was younger.

Kage Maru · May 7, 2018

I had no idea this was supposed to be rebooted! GameFan and Next Generation were my two go to magazines. Both were excellent quality and provided good coverage. Disappointed this fell through.

bell wood's jet cola said:
Oh man, in semi-related news, I found out recently that ECM passed away last year.

RIP.

Man that's crazy. RIP.

bell wood's jet cola · May 7, 2018

It seems like only Halverson wrote for the reboot, as far as veterans were concerned. I remember the list of contributors looking fairly sparse and unfamiliar. It was a nice attempt, but he should've considered just starting a new site. I wonder what The Mullet is up to these days...

CO_Andy · May 7, 2018

Dave Halverson supposedly (according to the The Next Level) got into a sexual harassment suit with the first female editor at Play Magazine. Wonder what he's been up to.

bell wood's jet cola · May 9, 2018

CO_Andy said:
Dave Halverson supposedly (according to the The Next Level) got into a sexual harassment suit with the first female editor at Play Magazine. Wonder what he's been up to.

I'd never heard that. Hard to follow all the winding roads of GameFan's illustrious editorial history. Apologies for inquiring about his whereabouts.

bell wood's jet cola · Dec 21, 2020

Well, I guess this answers my original question:

GameFan Magazine (2010 version) Retrospective Chat with Special Guests Rob and Jim! | RPC | Renegade Pop Culture - Podcasts on Animation, Movies, and Video games

In this episode of the RPC podcast, we speak with Rob Duenas and James Bacon, two of Keona’s buddies who worked on the 2010 version of GameFan Magazine, a truly unique gaming publication which saw many editorial turnovers and crazy shenanigans occur behind the scenes. Was the relaunch any different?

www.renegadepopculture.com

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another special edition of the Renegade Pop Culture podcast! This one is a very cool and unique episode, where I basically just chat with a couple of friends about video games, comic books, gaming magazines, art direction and graphic design, and even a little bit about Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot since one of our guests worked on the modern versions of those games as a character designer. I'm talking about Rob Duenas, who also works under the name Sketchcraft, and who was gracious enough to spend over two hours talking to me about his time as Art Director at GameFan Magazine, which was relaunched in 2010 (after going defunct in 2001) and lasted about nine issues before it stalled out again. My other guest, James Bacon, was Managing Editor at the magazine beginning with issue six, which meant that he and Rob did most of the work for Editor in Chief Dave Halverson and received little to no compensation for their efforts.

He didn't have money to pay anyone.

I wonder where ol' Dave is these days.