Topic: Really Old Casamassina Interview (by Jonny)

[Jonnyboy117]

I just spent an hour browsing through my hundreds of backup files from the Nformant, my first Nintendo website.  (I was the only staff for 18 months and wrote at least one article per day, seven days a week.)  I did a lot of crazy things for the Nformant, including this lengthy interview of Matt Casamassina sometime in 2000 before Billy hired me.  We did the whole thing over AIM, and it took a couple of days for Matt to type out his long responses, piece by piece.  Since Matt and I are both still involved with the industry, and he's still a somewhat controversial guy, maybe you'll enjoy learning more about his early days at IGN.

Jonathan Metts: Ok, I’d like to start from the beginning: most of us know how Peer started Nintendojo and then joined IGN, and eventually became a bigshot exec there. But I for one have never heard your story...how did you come to work at N64.com?

Matt Casamassina: I had an interesting entrance to the world of videogame fanaticism -- err, that is, journalism. Like so many geeks, I used to read the online games magazines in search of news, previews and reviews. The official Next-Generation Magazine website was, at the time, my personal favorite, as it was really the only destination providing worthwhile gaming news updates with an intelligent edge.

During this point in my life I was going to college and working for Pacific Bell as a directory assistance operator, or, as most people probably know it, "the 411 guy." I was just about ready to shoot myself when I decided to search the Internet for various writing jobs, preferably gaming related. I applied to just about everyone, from the now defunct Gamefan to Ultra Gameplayers with no luck.

When I had just about given up on the idea and was resolving myself to more wasted days at Pacific Bell I came upon a job opening to write for Next-Generation's online site as the associate editor. Naturally, I applied. The site asked applicants to write a sample piece about a fictional gaming system. I can't remember the specifics of what I ultimately decided to rant about, but I believe my submission poked fun at the then drowning Sega Saturn system.

A few days passed and I received an e-mail from Imagine Media that explained that I had basically made it to 'Round Two,' and that I would eventually be called for a telephone interview. I was flattered that I was still in the running, but didn't expect any further contact from the company. My girlfriend, who only knew that Imagine Media was located outside of San Francisco, firmly believed that the whole affair was some twisted plot to lure me up to the city and subject me to homosexual activities. Perhaps she also thought that Dr. Doom was the company president and that the instant I stepped foot into the Imagine HQ I would be shot dead with a laser gun. Who knows? At any rate, it never happened. Though, I must admit, I would have liked to meet Dr. Doom.

Despite my own skepticism, I did receive a call from the company -- and only a few days later at that. The man on the other end of the phone, a snobbish, feminine sounding fellow with an English accent named Colin Campbell, chatted with me for 15 minutes about the industry, why I was interested in it, when I could start if I got the job, and so on. Campbell later went on to create and run FGNonline. I lied my arse off, told him I was a gargantuan fan of all systems including the Jaguar, and that I would love to cover them all equally, or whatever -- anything that I thought would suit the fancy little lad. Interestingly, at that point I was really only a major fan of Sony's PlayStation. I had just broken off a five-year relationship with Nintendo in favor of the 32-bit console, and was rather discouraged at Nintendo's decision to stick with the cartridge format.

Campbell asked if I would be interested in flying up to San Francisco for a face-to-face interview and I said yes. It was only an hour plane-ride from my residence in southern California and I was extremely interested to see the Imagine Media offices, as I was a longtime, borderline psychotic reader of Next-Generation's magazine and website. Plus, I wanted to get a good look at that Bill Donahue guy at UGP, whom I was certain was secretly the evil lady from Goonies.

So a week later I flew up and met with Colin Campbell, who it turned out was even more hideously deformed in person than I had imagined he would be. In addition to the poor soul, some Swedish fellow named Sven and a Mr. Clean-like chap who went by the title of Doug Perry also greeted me. The three of them interrogated me about the industry, passing questions back and forth. I tried to address all of their concerns, but it was useless. Sven asked, "So what do you think of the Jaguar?" and I knew it was a dooming query that, regardless of what answer I provided, would simply not do.

The interview ended and I flew home. A few days later my fears were confirmed. Campbell called to tell me that I didn't get the position at Next-Generation Online. "Well, that's that then," I thought to myself. But to my surprise, another position was presented to me. Campbell proposed I work alongside the insane Doug Perry and run a site called N64.com -- dedicated solely to the fiendish Nintendo company that had stripped me of CD games in favor of ancient cartridge technology. I accepted. Two weeks later I drove up to San Francisco and unsuspectingly rented an apartment with the then newly hired Craig Harris, who now runs IGNpocket.

That, give or take a few hundred details, is the story of how I came to work in the industry.

JM: We gamers have a hard time imagining what life at the IGN offices must be like. How much of your day is actually spent playing games?

MC: Life at IGN offices varies from day-to-day and just how much time we have to play games is really dependent upon what's happening in the industry. If 15 Nintendo 64 or GameCube related press-releases hit the wire -- which I might add probably has never happened -- then the lot of us will spend the majority of the afternoon working on stories related to the news. If, on the other hand, Nintendo goes absolutely quiet and there is no news to be found in this solar system or the next -- which certainly has and does happen -- then we have more free time to play the limited selection of games we're presented.

For me the days are unpredictable, especially during these months before the GameCube's launch. I spend the majority of my time on the phone with various software houses in an attempt to squeeze any information I can out of them. It usually doesn't work despite my bribes, but occasionally it does. This leaves me very little time to play software, which works out quite nicely as there is no Nintendo software to play. When I do receive the occasional game from Nintendo, I usually opt to take it home and play it when I can fully concentrate. Otherwise, it's bound to get mixed up in a mess of phone calls and shouted profanities at editor Fran Mirabella.

JM: Do you ever feel sorry for Craig, hunched over his tiny LCD screens with the latest Mary Kate & Ashley “game”?

MC: Indeed, it's hard not to feel sorry for Craig. Sitting there, hunched, grasping at his tiny Game Boy with his gigantic, rock hands. Knowing that at any second The Nothing could sweep him out of The Neverending Story forever. My heart goes out to him, really.

JM: Has your job changed very much through all the personnel changes, working first with Doug, then Peer, then Aaron, and now Fran?

MC: There has definitely been a lot of change to deal with during my stay at IGN. First, as you mentioned, the maniacally insane Doug Perry. He has always been crazy, which at least is one constant. But at the same time, well, he's crazy. I mean, the man is insane.

After almost six months of Doug treatment, one fateful day Peer came into my life. He had just arrived from Germany and was still clutching his signed copy of Mein Kampf when I stumbled into him on my way to fetch Doug some Ritalin. Okay -- that's not exactly how it happened. Rather, Peer came to us from Nintendojo, the Nintendo-loving fansite he started in his spare time. At that point, Doug was still running N64.com and ordering me to do various lunatic-inspired things, I'm sure. I can't rightly remember the details, but I'm sure they were grotesque and impressively disturbing.

Peer and I immediately took to each other. He enjoyed making fun of me and I liked the way he smelled -- a lot like Germany strangely. Seriously though, we got along right off and by this time I had even forgiven Nintendo for subjecting me to cartridges again and had developed a blossoming love for everybody's favorite 64-bit console. Peer shared my enthusiasm. Plus, his European background made him perfect for reviewing all of the platform's soccer titles, which he cutely defended as "football." We worked together for quite a good while, and got along splendidly save for the occasional fight to the near death, but alas it was a happy ending not meant to be.

Long after the Cold War had ended and well into the life of Nintendo 64, Peer decided to leave the site and take over as dictator of IGN. His replacement was a communist spy named Aaron Boulding. Peer recommended him and was integral in his hire so I probably should have realized that a conspiracy was at hand, but I didn't. Boulding liked videogames, but his background was really in sports reporting. My glowing, demonstrated sports illiteracy made us the perfect team, but Aaron's devotion to Russia prevented the bond from flourishing.

After Nintendo threatened to sue our asses off, we decided that perhaps we would like very much to change the name of our site from N64.com to IGN64.com. Aaron and I continued to work on the site, but with crap software like Milo's Astro Lanes becoming more and more commonplace on the 64-bit side, it was having a profound affect on our work relationship. One morning I arrived at IGN's office to find a note from the former site editor. He had decided to leave our rapidly crumbling team to work on the official NFL Under the Helmet website, which I suspected was based somehow in Russia. I never heard from him again.

Now this left me in quite a situation. I had been covering Nintendo's next-generation system -- at that point called Dolphin -- whenever I got the chance. The console was slowly, but surely becoming a reality and promised to show itself in true form at Space World 2000. I needed a cohort in crime to help me cover both IGN64 and our new website IGNcube. Naturally, I turned to the fansites. One in particular, a little place calling itself Dolphin Cove, piqued my interest. A female Nintendo loyalist named Fran Mirabella ran it. "Absolutely unheard of," I can remember saying to myself. "I must date her." Later I found out that she was actually a he -- or I think.

Fran flew over to our San Francisco based office and interviewed to fill the decidedly Communist shoes of Aaron Boulding. He was in competition for the job with another character named Cory D. Lewis -- a shaved head bloke who loved The Fight Club. Eventually Fran landed the job and Cory took on work as our out-of-building editor. And that pretty much brings us up to date on what happened -- except for that brief period when I worked alongside Carrot Top and Gallagher. But that's another story entirely.

JM: Last question. Are you or are you not Ed the Janitor?

MC: A fine question indeed. Hey -- what's that over your shoulder? Well, I really should be going. Talk to you later then.

[ShyGuy]

Wow, that's going back. I like the fact that Matt, Craig, Peer, and Fran are still at IGN. I appreciate the consistency.

Also, Jonny, you seems to be the best person on staff when it comes to networking and making connections to other people in the industry. Could you teach some of these skills to Kairon to help him as the news editor?

[BeautifulShy]

Wow nice insight.Have you any other interviews with industry members?

[Kairon]

This is great. Thanks for dredging it up Jonny!

Also, Jonny, you seems to be the best person on staff when it comes to networking and making connections to other people in the industry. Could you teach some of these skills to Kairon to help him as the news editor?

Awww... that cuts, cuts me deep.

[Jonnyboy117]

I think that's the only time I interviewed another writer.  However, I have a verbal agreement from Cory Lewis to be on the podcast soon.  :-)  Should be interesting since he worked at both IGN and Nintendo's PR agency.

[ShyGuy]

I'm not trying to cut you Kairon, I just want you to achieve the point where you have Ngai Croal, Charles Martinet, and Will Wright on speed dial.

A small part of my self image is tied to the success of NWR (just like people identify with their local sports teams) and when Jonny name drops it makes me feel like I'm part of something successful.

[Jonnyboy117]

Hah, I just posted this interview because I think it's interesting to look back on.  I'm not star-struck by Matt anymore -- we've known each other too long.  I once marched into IGN's "War Room" at E3 and personally complained about them taking credit for my MP2: Echoes questions in a shared interview.  Bloodworth probably remembers that little episode.

On the other hand, I saw Shane Bettenhausen a few times at E3 '08 but was too nervous to approach him.  (They also weren't really appropriate times.)  Billy was supposed to introduce me since they are good friends, but it never happened.

[Plugabugz]

Hah, I just posted this interview because I think it's interesting to look back on.  I'm not star-struck by Matt anymore -- we've known each other too long.  I once marched into IGN's "War Room" at E3 and personally complained about them taking credit for my MP2: Echoes questions in a shared interview.  Bloodworth probably remembers that little episode.

Jonathan Metts taking no prisoners. I can imagine that in an episode of 24 with dramatic close ups of a murderous stare at Matt C....

[bustin98]

Jonny walks up to a stall Oh Shane! Hey man, can I like get your autograph? And say, I run this fan site maybe you've heard of? Can I get you to do a podcast with us?

Hmm, I haven't really joked around with JB so I don't know how far I can take it so I'll stop there...

Thanks for posting that interview. I've been reading Matt's work since the N64 days and never really considered him a 'star' or whatever, but I am envious of the contacts he has. This just does go to show that most people do have humble beginnings.

[D_Average]

Hah, I just posted this interview because I think it's interesting to look back on.  I'm not star-struck by Matt anymore -- we've known each other too long.  I once marched into IGN's "War Room" at E3 and personally complained about them taking credit for my MP2: Echoes questions in a shared interview.  Bloodworth probably remembers that little episode.

Did you place a curse on him by saying, "One day you will hype up a secret Kid Icarus remake for Nintendo that will never come to fruition.  The entire industry and all its fans will mock you and this will lead to your inevitable termination...."

[ShyGuy]

Shane bumped into me at the 2008 PAX. He was visting some old friends in the crowd. I saw him at the airport after the 2007 PAX. He was reading Variety magazine.

[Jonnyboy117]

buh buh but everyone knows that Shane reads Entertainment Weekly!  Now I feel lost in this chaotic world.

[Jonnyboy117]

Jonathan Metts taking no prisoners. I can imagine that in an episode of 24 with dramatic close ups of a murderous stare at Matt C....

Here are links to each version of that interview, so you can compare...

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/specialArt.cfm?artid=2181

http://cube.ign.com/articles/514/514185p1.html

In IGN's original version, all of the questions started with "IGN: ".  They changed it to "Q: " after I complained.  And just to be clear, I have no hard feelings about it -- Matt said it was formatted by one of their interns, and they fixed it quickly after I said something.  But I think it's an interesting little chapter in the long relationship between IGN and our site.

[D_Average]

Jonathan Metts taking no prisoners. I can imagine that in an episode of 24 with dramatic close ups of a murderous stare at Matt C....

But I think it's an interesting little chapter in the long relationship between IGN and our site.

Have any other editors gone over beside Mike?  Man, that dude cracks me up, he is always so depressed and critical about everything he speaks about.  Its so over the top its funny.

[Jonnyboy117]

I think he is the only one so far to go to IGN; we've had staffers go on to many other websites, publications, and TV networks, of course.

On the other hand, you might say that we all worked for IGN back in the affiliate days (2000-2001 or so).

[NWR_Lindy]

I still remember that IGN shirt they gave us at E3 1999.  I gave it to Goodwill, so there's probably some homeless guy on the streets of Atlanta wearing an IGN shirt.

There's a really funny joke in there somewhere, but I'm too tired to find it.

[ShyGuy]

Wait, I think Jonny is right. Variety magazine is the one that looks like a newspaper. Entertainment Weekly looks like a magazine. It must have been Entertainment Weekly.