This year we explore the "who" of the site, starting with our rulers.
Billy Berghammer
Year joined: 1999
Where
is he now?
Billy Berghammer can be heard once in a
while on the Radio Free Nintendo podcast making fun of Lindemann’s bald head and
is still the keeper of Louie the Cat.
Former Director
says:
Happy 12th Birthday everyone!
It’s still amazing to see NWR trucking along after all of these years, and
exciting to see another birthday go by. While I haven’t been a part of the main
staff for eons, I still keep in contact with quite a few of people from the
many years this site has been around – whether old school PlanetN2000/PGC, or
new school NWR. One of the best
parts of being a part of this site is the many people I have met throughout the
years.
And while I’ve been continuing to write about games since I departed, it’s always a warm surprise when at industry events – such as last week’s GDC - and upon meeting new people get an occasional, “Hey didn’t you work on Planet GameCube?” Always fuel for fun stories and laughs.
Congrats to the hard working NWR staff, and their amazing dedicated community for 12 years of awesome! I look forward to many years more of excellent Nintendo coverage.
Jonathan Metts
Year joined: 2000
Where
is he now?
Jonny Metts is still with us in the form of Radio
Free Nintendo podcast host and Contributing Editor.
Former Director
says:
I have been a part of this website for 10 1/2 years, during which I
concurrently earned a PhD in Aerospace Engineering. Honestly, I'm not
sure which track taught me more, or which I'm more proud of. This
website has survived through countless tribulations and strange
occurrences -- I may yet write a book about the whole crazy thing. There
are too many individuals to thank, but special accommodations are due
to our founder, Billy Berghammer, and my successors: Steven Rodriguez,
Jon Lindemann, and Neal Ronaghan. I also want to thank all those staff
members who work tirelessly behind the scenes, their names rarely if
ever appearing on the website. Finally, thank you to all of our fans,
who give us an excuse to do this rewarding work.
Steven Rodriguez
Year joined: 2002
Where
is he now?
Since I left NWR I’ve been juggling real life with
school, working my way towards a degree in graphic design. Even though I
only have time for classes part-time, I know that slow and steady wins
the race. I’m also spending my free time taking photographs, going
roller skating, and watching hockey and roller derby, and talking about
other sports to anyone that would care to listen. Getting out of games
writing made me realize I’m probably a bigger sports nut than I am a
gamer.
But here’s the crazy thing, especially for how long I spent covering Nintendo: Over the last year or two, Nintendo has started to become more and more irrelevant to me.. Yes, I still have my Wii, but if I ever turn it on it’s to play GameCube or Virtual Console games Nowadays I dump virtually all of my free time and gaming budget into Steam on my PC and my recently acquired PS3. The games and services available on those platforms just blows Nintendo out of the water in everything that matters to me. And because I spend a lot of time on my phone, with all of the cheap and free games available on the Apple App Store, I’m starting to wonder if Nintendo will ever be able to keep pace and become relevant to me again.
Still, I’d like to get my hands on a Nintendo 3DS eventually. I believe 3D gaming will become the Next Big Thing, for consoles and handhelds alike. Especially after seeing how the Japanese launch went down and with the new info and updates that came out of GDC, I’m starting to get excited for a Nintendo device again. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess.
Former Director
says:
Each year the site gets older, I get a little bit more
nostalgic about my time with Nintendo World Report. I spent a good seven
years here, going through two console launches, multiple E3s (including
that travesty of a show in Santa Monica), and countless other events.
That I got to be the director for the switchover from PGC to NWR, a very
significant point in the site’s history, was very cool. I’m also very
proud of the fact that the version of the website you’re looking at
right now is pretty much like the initial designs I had sketched out
when we got the big redesign project off of the ground to begin with. I
wish I could have been here to have flipped the switch for that, but I
still had a mile-wide smile when I saw the new site go live for the
first time.
Twelve years is a long time for any website to be up on the Internet, but for this one to stick around and still be relevant when perhaps Nintendo isn’t as much so (at least to me), speaks to the quality that’s still coming from these pages, and the people behind them. So happy birthday, Nintendo World Report!
Jonathan Lindemann
Year joined: 2003
Where
is he now?
Much like Jonathan Metts, Jon Lindemann is a podcast regular on Radio Free Nintendo and continues to make the occasional contribution to NWR.
Former Director
says:
Twelve years is a mighty long time. Heck, in the span of twelve years you
can finish off elementary school and complete high school and college, even
completing post-grad if you're feeling up to it. It sounds crazy, but if you started reading Nintendo World
Report as a twelve-year-old back in 1999, you're likely graduating college
right about now! That really puts
this milestone in its proper perspective.
I know I'm not the only one that feels like they've grown up with this website. Since I'm still along for the NWR ride after all these years, I figured I'd do a "Where Was I Then?" retrospective rather than a "Where Are They Now?" update. 1999 was a pivotal year for me, and one that I remember well.
Back then I was living in Canada, working in Technical Support at my local university and really not doing much beyond working, drinking, and gaming. I was your typical single twenty-something video game fan. I had already dabbled in video game writing with sites like The 64 Source, Tendobox, and Nintendojo (and I would attend E3 the next year writing for the 'Dojo, at the time an IGN Affiliate), but my tenure at NWR was still several years away.
My tentative plan was to keep writing on the side to keep the review copies rolling in, probably attending a Journalism school somewhere so that I could put my B.A. in English to proper use. That's where my head was at around the time that Planet GameCube went live on March 7, 1999. Little did I know that I was only months away from getting a career-making, out-of-left-field job offer in Atlanta, Georgia, and that I would be moving across the border early the next year. The rest, as they say, is history.
As far as I can tell, I've been at NWR for at least seven years. I've been on staff in some capacity from at least mid-2004, if not earlier. My gaming-addled brain seems to remember coming on board in March 2003, but I'm too lazy to confirm that. Rest assured that I'm an old-timer (and also just plain old). I've had plenty of good times, though. I regret nothing and deny everything.
Now, I'm not going to get all crazy and say "Here's to another twelve years!", because I think a 25th anniversary for an independent Nintendo website is a little bit unrealistic. However, one thing I've learned is to never to underestimate the passion and dedication of everybody at NWR, along with their overwhelming desire to keep it going and going and going. If you would have told me in 1999 that I'd be sitting here celebrating the 12th year of a Nintendo enthusiast site being online, I'd have said you were crazy…
…but then, nothing about NWR has ever been normal. See you in twelve years!
Neal Ronaghan
Year joined: 2008
Where
is he now?
Right here as the 5th and current NWR Director! Pictured with the lovely Lauren Lewandowski, one of our contributing writers and future Queen of NWR.
Director
says:
While I have only been director for two months of Nintendo World
Report's 12-year history, the impact this site has had on my life is
extremely large. Planet GameCube is the very reason I'm still into
Nintendo, and why I even started following the games industry at all.
It's ridiculous to me to think that I now run a site I cherished so much
starting more than 10 years ago.
I'd like to thank every staff member who I've worked with, and all the ones that preceded me and paved the way for the site still being around today. It's continually an honor to contribute to a legacy that's older than dirt in Internet years.
The last thing I'll say is that I promise to keep running the site the best I can. And seriously, we've got some incredible things in the works.
