Game Rant was borne from the desire to bring the same news, reviews and opinionated editorial to the video game arena that Screen Rant brings to movie and TV news.
The goal here at Game Rant is to cover video game news and review games from a middle ground/average person perspective. We try to take a common sense approach to video game news: Stepping back and looking at the big picture to determine whether something is a good idea… or an idiotic one.
Game reviews are written from the point of view of “was it a fun/exciting/scary/compelling game” instead of from some high-brow, esoteric level. On the other hand a game has to have more than just cool graphics and fantastic CGI to be considered great by the folks at Game Rant.
Rob Keyes (Editor-in-Chief)
Robert Keyes started writing for Screen Rant in September 2008 as its only Canadian writer. He was offered a writing position at Screen Rant based on his participation on the site as a long-time commenter and story-submitter. Not long later, Rob became an Editor where he continues helps publish the growing number of articles we write, and writes a ton himself, specializing in comic book and video game movies. Check out his resume of X-Men and Transformers editorials…
Rob is also the Editor-in-Chief of this newly launched sister site for Screen Rant, GameRant.com which keeping in the style of the flagship site, covers video game news/previews/reviews (without the sugar coating of course).
Rob is 24 years old with a Masters Degree in Economics. He wishes to eventually mesh his business, computer, economics and finance backgrounds with his love of the media entertainment industry with hopes of a career in one of the fields down the road.
Rob is an avid viewer of all kinds of film and television and is also a big video gamer. Much of his spare time is spent with friends playing and/or watching sports and all of the entertainment forms listed above. That is, when he’s not working at his day job or the two sites.
When it comes to games, Rob still holds his love for PC gaming but plays most new titles on the consoles, holding favor for co-operative play which sadly is becoming a fading phenomenon.
Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes
Follow Game Rant on Twitter @gamerant
Rory Young (Coordinating Editor)
Rory Young found his heart in gaming at a very young age. Born and raised in rural Oregon, the weather and wilderness created the perfect atmosphere for a young nerd and his hobbies. Those hobbies grew into a natural aptitude with computers and led to an eventual Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Though, it’s no argument that Rory spent just as much time with a controller in his hands as at his studies.
A dedicated proponent for the ‘games as art’ argument, Rory likely has a strong opinion in any gaming discussion. Always interested in furthering a discussion, he’ll often listen in the background or play the devil’s advocate despite his opinions. Video games are serious business, don’t disrespect.
Some of Rory’s favorite games include Suikoden II, Leisure Suit Larry, Mega Man 3, A Link to the Past, Lord of the Rings: Online, and Dune 2. You might also run into Rory playing League of Legends or a number of different competitive games, representing the motto, “Inept and Outmatched”.Naturally, that’s only the tip of the iceberg!
When he’s not gaming you’ll find Rory coding something or other, permanently chained to his PC, laptop and iPhone.
Follow Rory on Twitter @bluexy
Ben Kendrick (Editor)
Ben Kendrick is a graduate of the New School’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, with an emphasis in fiction. Currently, Ben is nearing completion of his novel: How I Saw Myself on America’s Most Wanted and serves as the co-editor of the literary magazine LIT.
In his professional life Ben is a college english professor in Brooklyn and is already the author of a theological curriculum based on the ABC television show LOST, as well as numerous columns in various publications.
Ben has been avid gamer ever since he received his first console, an NES he discovered, and subsequently set-up, after snooping through his parent’s closet a week prior to Christmas. He is especially interested in games that successfully advance the player’s ability to interact with narrative and characters in a meaningful way.
Please visit his website if for no other reason than to get a better sense of the conditions under which he was conceived.
Follow Ben on Twitter @iambenkendrick
Jason Weissman (Editor)
Jason Weissman is one of Game Rant’s “Yankee” editors and assists Rob on the PR side of things. He is a long-time gamer and pop-culture observer. While tempted by the siren song of the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, Jason decided to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Communications instead while also also majoring in Psychology. He now utilizes both disciplines in order to achieve his dreams of world domination…or at least a consistent paycheck.
Jason enjoys the latest RPG, FPS, action, and sports titles, but games that explore the human condition interest him most. Some of his recent favorite games include Bioshock, the Mass Effect series, Fallout 3, The Witcher, and Shadow of the Colossus. One of his guilty pleasures was the Xenosaga series, and Jason still holds out hope for a next-generation sequel.
In his spare time, Jason likes to focus his time on baseball, football, nightlife, and good beer.
Follow Jason on Twitter @AtticusSays
Jeff Schille (Editor)
Jeff Schille, a primary content editor for the site, hails from the deep, piney heart of the Pacific Northwest. Though he shares a writing-focused college background with several of his Game Rant peers, Jeff had the good sense to throw off the shackles of academia in favor of the unbridled hedonism and minimal compensation afforded the semi-professional rock and roll drummer.
Remarkably, Jeff emerged from this experience not only married to an intensely intelligent, beautiful woman, but as the father of three unaccountably delightful children.
A dedicated food nerd and serious cook, Jeff likes to spend his non-gaming time brewing beer, flying stunt kites, and playing the ukulele.
Follow Jeff on Twitter @HakenGaken
Riley Little (Writer)
Riley Little was born in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada and landed a gig with Game Rant along with Ryan and John, by running into Rob Keyes at Comic-Con and on the flights back to Canada. After keeping in touch and sharing some common interests (i.e. video games) Rob offered Riley and the trio a chance to write articles for the site.
Riley’s best memories of videogames come from the SNES with Donkey Kong, but games really took his personal interest with the arrival of N64. Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and Mario 64 revolutionized gaming for Riley and he instantly fell in love. The best game series of all time in his opinion… SUPER SMASH BROS. No, it’s not perfect but the nostalgia puts it over for him.
Aside from gaming, Riley loves fishing and plays hockey (yes, very Canadian I know). He is a Toronto Maple Leaf fan, but most of the time he wishes he weren’t. Riley recently returned from shooting a Bruce Lee travelogue for Northern River Productions, a project which details all the locations Bruce Lee shot his movies in, very cool stuff.
Yes, you may click the image to enlarge and see this awesomeness that is this Ninja Turtles cover starring Riley.
Follow Riley on Twitter @GnarleySquid
John Jacques (Writer)
John Jacques was born in Bracebridge, Ontario and ran into Rob Keyes while nerdin’ it up at the San Diego Comic-Con. He was was later invited to join Game Rant’s team as a writer along with hometown friends Riley Little and Ryan Blanchard.
John’s favorite games include the original Mario Kart, Perfect Dark, Fallout, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike and Gears of War. Having worked in a Cyber Cafe and then in an Electronics Department, he pretty much makes sure his life revolves around games – seems to be a pretty good theme so far.
When John isn’t being an nerd (every now and then), he’s a football (read: soccer) fanatic and worships Manchester United and Toronto FC, even though one of those clubs isn’t quite as successful as the other (it’s the Toronto Curse). Also, by far his favorite band is JOURNEY – and he damn well encourages you to play some right now as you read this!
Follow John J on Twitter @makelevi
Ryan Blanchard (Writer)
Ryan Blanchard, born in Bracebridge, Ontario, is a self-proclaimed cinephile, gamer, musician and above all else, geek. Having attended San Diego Comic-Con 2009, Ryan and two of his friends, Riley Little and John Jacques, ended up meeting Rob Keyes during their flight back to Canada and were later offered the opportunity to write for Game Rant.
Having played games for as long as he can remember, Ryan can still fondly remember multiplayer bouts of Goldeneye, Super Smash Bros. and Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64. As gaming has evolved over the years, so has his gaming preference, as he currently gravitates more towards Modern Warfare 2 and League Of Legends. Even so, that doesn’t stop him from playing a mean game of Super Smash Bros. Brawl or Unreal Tournament 2004.
While gaming takes up a large portion of his life, Ryan also attends York University as a Film Production major and plans to make his way into directing music videos in the future as he works his way through the industry. Aside from his love for all things film, music, specifically ska and punk, also play an extremely important role in Ryan’s life, providing the inspiration for almost everything he does.
Follow Ryan on Twitter @skatality
Trung Bui (Writer)
Trung Bui is a student of criminal justice and of life. When he’s not out cavorting and gallivanting with his friends, he’s playing Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder RPG. Occasionally, he edits Solano Community College’s literary magazine, the Suisun Valley Review. An early adopter of video games at the ripe young age of five years old, he built his gamer abilities through the NES, Super NES, Genesis, PlayStation, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, and the PS3. And a few PC games here and there when they didn’t require crazy rigs. To prove his hardcore Asian video game skills, he was put on academic probation for spending too much time not going to class and playing Marvel vs Capcom 2.
Trung enjoys long, moonlit walks along the beach and can 3-ball juggle (giggity).
His favorite games include the Mass Effect franchise, Rock Band, Modern Warfare 2, Final Fight, Earthbound, and Chrono Trigger.
Follow Trung on Twitter @TrungleFever
Steve Pendlebury (Writer)
Steve Pendlebury was born amongst the fog-covered cobblestone streets of 1970′s Northern England and first cracked his knuckles over an Acorn Electron home computer when he was 7 years old. Since then, Steve has played pretty much every computer and console made since that time.
Steve emigrated to the United States in 2000 and can still be found writing about games, playing games, talking to his wife of 13 years about games, and telling his two children game-related bedtime stories.
Steve spends his days working for the man as a Microsoft SQL Server DBA, and his nights writing for Game Rant and his personal blog at bionicgranny.com. Occasionally, he gets a whole hour to play and enjoy games the way he used to on his Acorn Electron all those years ago.
Follow Steve on Twitter @BionicChango
Evan Jacobs (Writer)
Evan Jacobs got his BA in Mathematics from the University of Chicago, and then got his MFA in Creative Writing from New York’s The New School. He is a freelance writer in New York City and an aspiring stand up comedian, seeing comedy as his ultimate goal. He recently finished a novel which should be published between sometime next year and the death of the universe. He currently writes for Game Rant, Paw Nation (www.pawnation.com), Urlesque (www.urlesque.com), Uinterview (www.uinterview.com) and his own website (www.evanjacobs.org).
Once an avid gamer, Evan doesn’t find as much time as he would like to play videos these days, wasting his time with such distractions as real human interaction. When he does play, however, it’s either on his Wii, Xbox 360, or free flash games online. He likes shooters, RPGs, platformers, puzzle games and sandbox games. He has never found an RTS that he can stand and Guitar Hero hurts his wrists.
In his other spare time, Evan is going through a series of operations that have resulted from a birth defect which gave Evan a horse’s body where most people have legs. Although many have claimed that Evan is the first real centaur, he rejects this praise and just wants to lead a normal life. At this point, he can wear pants, but cannot find a pair of shoes to fit his hooves.
Follow Evan on Twitter @esjacobs
Alex Sanderson (Writer)
Alex Sanderson started writing for Game Rant in January 2010. He works for a tech company and is currently trying to use all of his worldly experience to eventually enter the video game industry.
Alex is a gadget geek and likes to have all the latest and greatest toys. He’s also an avid fan of movies and TV shows. On the gaming side of things, Alex is a a big fan of the Zelda, Metal Gear and Splinter Cell franchises.
Alex has just moved from North Dakota to the heart of the video game world, the San Francisco bay area. Alex is happily married with a 2 year old daughter.
Follow Alex on Twitter @alex_sanderson
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