As a journalist John has covered everything from rural town meetings to the U.S. Congress and even done time as a crime reporter and photographer.|His first venture into writing about the game industry came in the form of a computer column called "On the Chip Side," which grew to have over 1 million circulation and was published in newspapers in several states. From there he did several "ask the computer guy" columns in magazines such as Up Front! in New Mexico and Who Cares? in Washington D.C. When the Internet started to become popular, he began writing guided Web tours for the newly launched Washington Post online section as well as reviews for the weekend section of the paper, something he still does from time to time.
His experience in trade publications came as a writer and reviewer for Government Computer News.
As the editor of GiN, he demands strict editorial standards from all the writers and reviewers. Breeden feels the industry needs a weekly, reliable trade publication covering the games industry and works tirelessly to accomplish that goal.
We are so proud of Sega, throwing a monkey wrench into the pending console war. Just when all the industry pundits had concluded that Sony was going to be the undisputed winner in this battle, Sega comes up with the proverbial rabbit out of what everyone thought was an empty hat. Last week Sega announced that it would give a $200 rebate on a Dreamcast, plus a Dreamcast keyboard, to anyone who signed up for its soon-to-be-launched Internet Service Provider for a two-year contract. Essentially, if you get the ISP, you can have a Dreamcast with a keyboard for free. … Continue reading Dreamcast’s Last Hope→
Star Wars: Force Commander puts you in charge of ground level operations of the Empire. Long have Star Wars fans played the many flight and space simulations set in the most popular sci-fi universe ever created. But while the flyboys and a few jedi knights have thus far gotten all the gaming glory, lets not forget that the Empire was built on the backs of those white clad, lightly armored front line stormtrooper grunts. This is the game where they get to shine. Loading up the game at first was quite daunting. I was expecting an interface more like Bungie … Continue reading Star Wars: Force Commander demands respect→
Welcome to this brave new world. You are one of the first visitors to the new daily Game Industry News, and I wanted to take a moment to welcome you. One of the major changes is that GiN is now free. Simply click on the Free Subscription or the Free Prizes link to sign up. As a special gift, in addition to getting the e-mail version of GiN each week, we are having a prize blowout. Our friends at Codemasters, SouthPeak Interactive and Westwood Studios are providing very nice prizes in the form of games for both the PlayStation and … Continue reading Welcome To The New GiN!→
Disciples: Sacred Lands is the latest entry in the turn based strategy gaming arena. It comes from a Canadian company, Strategy First, which is known for highly detailed strategy war simulation games like Man of War. The game almost got delegated to the lowest shelf of the "to review" library after a quick glance. When you look at the game from a distance, it seems to be a clone of the highly successful Heroes of Might and Magic series. It’s only after you have spent a little time with the game that you realize that it is really different, and … Continue reading Disciples: Sacred Lands is a pleasant diversion→
Planescape: Torment has a lot of things going for it. Unfortunately it also has a lot of things against it. These competing factors seems to be in constant battle as you play the game.
Ok, let me get this out in the open. I’m a closet hunting simulation fan. There, I’ve said it. That out of the way, if anyone thinks this makes me soft, you can find my e-mail at the bottom of the page if you want to challenge me to a game of Half-Life. I know these hunting games are mostly aimed at the non-traditional gamer and perhaps I am a bit of a 3D environment freak, but I have in the past enjoyed stalking virtual mule deer in Texas and bringing home a nice computerized 12-point buck from the woods … Continue reading Carnivores 2 takes a bite out of hunting simulations→
The beauty of Asheron’s Call is difficult to describe. Having been a devoted fan of the reigning champion of online-only games, Origin System’s Ultima Online, for years, I was used to a somewhat lower standard. Play Asheron’s Call just once or twice and you will never want to go back to Ultima. Asheron’s Call was not the first online-only game to use a first-person interface, which until recently was nearly impossible due to bandwidth constraints as well as the difficulty of programming a fully interactive 3D environment. That honor goes to Sony’s EverQuest, which we reviewed just before it went … Continue reading Gamers will answer Asheron’s Call→
When I was first given Touring Car Challenge, one of the first products released in the United States from European-based Codemasters, I figured it had a few strikes against it right off the cricket bat. For one, the product was a simulation of British racing. And like Dr. Who and boiled beef, its not often that British games take off in the fickle U.S. market. But forget all that. Touring Car Challenge is more like The Beatles than Dr. Who. It’s an amazingly beautiful and highly detailed game that has the potential to climb the ranks of racing simulations and … Continue reading Touring Car Challenge doesn’t lose horsepower in translation→
Anyone who has seen the movie Wild Wild West, or been a fan of the television series, can appreciate the wonderful action-packed nature of this game, and how it couples both humor and puzzle solving to make an excellent package. Those of you who are unfamiliar with either the movie or the show can still enjoy this delightful title, but it may take a few scenes – what the game calls chapters – to get a feel for the game world. The setting for Wild, Wild West: The Steel Assassin takes place a few years after the Civil War and … Continue reading Wild, Wild West: The Steel Assassin is on target→
Being a fan of the horror side of computer games, it was easy to get into the concept of Nocturne, which features a monster hunter named The Stranger who goes around killing werewolves, zombies, vampires and other creatures of the night. One of my favorite games of all time is called Realms of the Haunting, and playing Nocturne reminded me of it a lot. Even though Realms did not enjoy widespread commercial success, it none the less earned mine. Another type of game in the same vein as Nocturne is the entire Alone in the Dark series. All of these … Continue reading Nocturne is so good, it’s scary→
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