Arnie Katz is an American journalist, writer, and video game designer . A pioneer of video game journalism, co-founder of the world's first video game magazine - Electronic Games [1] .
| Arnie Katz | |
|---|---|
| Arnie katz | |
| Citizenship |  USA |
| Occupation | journalist , writer , game designer |
Biography
For the first time, Arnie Katz began writing notes about computer and video games with his friend and companion Bill Kankel (later nicknamed “The Game Doctor”) in 1978 . In the magazine Video, they allocated the column "Arcade Alley". Thus, Katz and Kankel became the first journalists in the world to regularly publish reviews of video games in a national publication. [1] [2] [3]
In 1981, friends decided to create their own publication and founded the Electronic Games magazine, which became the first periodical in the world devoted entirely to video games - arcade, computer and console [1] [3] [4] [5] . The third companion of Arnie and Bill was Joyce Worley ( Eng. Joyce Worley ) - the wife of Katz [1] . For the first time, the journal formed the principles of gaming journalism, laid the foundations that later became the standard for publications of this type [1] . Arnie Katz himself acted as editor of Electronic Games. Many concepts of the description of computer games were introduced by him, for example, “playfield” and “ shoot 'em up ” [1] .
The magazine lasted until 1985 , after its closure, Arnie, Bill and Joyce continued to work in the video industry, in particular in the magazine VideoGames & Computer Entertainment [1] . They founded Katz Kunkel Worley Inc. with the subway software division involved in the design of computer and console games [4] . Among the works of Subway Software: The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare , Superman: The Man of Steel , Batman Returns , First Contact , Blood Bowl , Borrowed Time and others [2] . Until 1998, Arnie Katz also worked as a journalist in the online magazine Inside Games [5] .
While Bill Kankel continued to engage in gaming journalism until his death in 2011 , Katz finally left the video game industry from the beginning of the 21st century [1] .
Arnie, co-authored with other writers, has written several books on games: “The Player's Strategy Guide to Atari VCS Home Video Games” and “Home Video Games Handbook” (both published in 1982, co-authored by Bill Kankel), Fear of Fun: The World of Computer Entertainment (1985, co-written by Bill Kankel), Inside Electronic Game Design (Secrets of the Games Series), and Front Page Sports Football Pro `95: The Official Playbook (Secrets of the Games) ”(both appeared in 1995, the first was written independently, the second - in collaboration with Andrew Hooper) and“ The Pop Culture Collector ”(appeared in 2004, written independently) [6] .
In 1999, Arnie Katz was included by the magazine “ Great Dragon ” in the list of the most significant names of the game world in 6th place out of 30 [3] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Electronic Games: The Arnie Katz Interview
- ↑ 1 2 William Kunkel - Developer BIO
- ↑ 1 2 3 Agent Cooper. The 30 Most Important Names of the Game World // The Great Dragon: Journal. - Moscow: AST Publishing House, April 30, 1999. - Vol. 43 . - S. 77 .
- ↑ 1 2 Playing Catch-Up: Bill 'The Game Doctor' Kunkel Lets Loose
- ↑ 1 2 Classic Gaming Expo Distinguished Guest: Arnie Katz
- ↑ Arnie Katz on GoodReads