Attention Planet GameCube Community,

I’m officially announcing that today, April 18^th,

2003, will be my last day with Planet GameCube.com.

While I’ve been running Planet GameCube for 4 years, it’s

been rather difficult to make a decent living.  I was recently offered a job to

work for

Game Informer Magazine, and I have decided it’s a good time to pass the

torch on to someone else at Planet GameCube and take my career to the next

stage.

I went to college thinking I would go into psychology.  I

ended up graduating with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in

English.  At that time I was hardcore (note: music nerd) into alternative music

and really interested in radio, so I thought that would be fun.  I ended up

living a full career in radio.  I started this site in between radio jobs, but I

never would have imagined it would have led me into my new career.  It’s funny

how life turns out sometimes.

An ex-girlfriend of mine told me that this site would amount to nothing.  My

parents told me it was a waste of time. Most of my friends don’t get it at all

(they really aren’t gamers).  Personally, I never thought anything would happen

here either.  But the more people told me it was a waste, coupled with all the

challenges and struggles we faced, really made this a personal obsession.  Sure,

I still don’t know HTML that well (God bless FrontPage), and we’ve made some

mistakes here and there, but I think the current result isn’t too shabby.

Making this decision to leave was probably the hardest

thing I’ve ever had to do.  Doing this job everyday for over 4 years has been

one of the most fun and rewarding experiences that I’ve ever had in my

lifetime.  I’m not quite sure what it’s going to be like not rolling out of bed

every morning, firing up the PC, and hitting the morning news.  I think all work

environments should allow you to wear boxers and t-shirts and not have to take a

shower until about 6pm.  I really am going to miss it.  I’m going to miss being

at E3 with the staff this year; I’m going to miss the readers, trivia on Friday

nights, bullshitting with the staffers and readers at all times of the day…all

of it.  It’s been fun sharing my experiences and getting to be a total fanboy,

cultivating a community, and seeing how far you can actually take a hobby.  But

I think it’s time to move on.

While it is difficult for me to leave Planet GameCube, I am

really excited to take the next step.  The past couple months I’ve been getting

everything in place for my departure, and I did everything in my power to make

sure Planet GameCube has a secure future.  I’d like to thank the staff for their

hard work in making this transition as painless as possible.  Jonathan Metts

will be taking over as Director of Planet GameCube, and other people on staff

will be taking over the rest of my duties.  Planet GameCube will live on.  For

Christ’s sake, we survived the Internet drought, corporate screw-overs, server

problems, money problems, hackers, you name it.  I have faith in the staff that

we hired.  I still think I was blessed with the best and hardest working people

on the planet.  And remember folks, they all work for free.  So

buy a shirt and DVD!  Support these guys!

Most of you out there probably think we live in some happy land that

gets everything it wants from Nintendo and all the companies that we deal with. 

That couldn’t be further from the truth.  We have made great strides in the past

year or two (and we’re extremely thrilled and thankful), but in comparison to

the major corporate sites, no matter how big your numbers, it really doesn’t

matter.  We’ve had to fight for everything we’ve gotten.  I hope our support

from all these companies, and from you readers, continues to grow and expand in

the years to come.

Jonny, Rick, and Daniel are the core of the senior staff

and have a lot on their plates, but I think they can pull off the next leg in

the Planet GameCube journey.  The staff has a full load ahead of them, with E3

right around the corner.  They’ve got a lot of new stuff planned, and a bunch of

really good writers that they’re adding to the roster.  This website is capable

of amazing and wonderful things.  It’s kind of scary giving the keys to these

guys.  In a sense, I feel like I’m letting my child go to school for the first

time.  But I’d trust these people with my life.  They’ve been pretty much my

second family.  I think the staff and flavor (or flava as well call it) of

Planet GameCube is truly what has made this website stand out from the rest of

the pack.

A couple final thank yous are in order.  First and foremost

to my Mom, Dad, and my sister Stacy, thanks for dealing with the fact that I

love video games even though you don’t really understand and do not play games

at all,.  Thanks for all the quarters that cultivated this mess.  Your love and

support have not only allowed me to pull this off but have also helped me

achieve dreams that I never thought truly possible.

I’d like to thank my friends here in Minneapolis for constantly

dealing with my rantings about Nintendo or the industry, when I know damn well

you could care less when Mario Sunshine is releasing, or how awesome it is that

the Q will have a Game Boy Player.  Special thanks to my friend Ben, who takes

care of Louie on business trips and is primarily player two when I’m reviewing

games.  On that note, I’d like to thank Liquor Lyles for being the best goddamn

bar in Minneapolis with wonderful 2-for-1 drink specials, under whose influence

I often do said ranting with said friends.

Thanks to all the Team Nintendo Reps who’ve helped us with all our needs at E3

and events.  Super mad props to my boy Thom Leonard, who I’ve known since the

N64HQ days.  To all of our secret spies…well, on behalf of Louie the Cat, word

up to ya’ll.  Louie still needs you. J 

Thanks for the love!  Oh yeah, by the way, I’m not firing Louie.  You may not

see Louie in pictures standing on every freaking piece of Nintendo hardware

anymore, but he’s gotta do something while I’m at work instead of crapping on my

keyboard.  And his second-favorite hobby is digging up rumors.

I’d like to thank all of our advertising partners who have

kept us alive, especially Video Game Advantage/Games For Rent, Video Game Depot,

X-Arcade, UGO, Play-Asia, and Lan Kwei.  Thank you for your support.

I’d like to thank all the staff of Golin Harris, especially

Tom Stratton, who has taken more shit from me than probably anyone in the

industry.  Thanks for all of your support and help man, you’ve really taught me

a lot, and you’ve been a great friend.

I’d like to thank Shigeru Miyamoto, everyone at Nintendo, and

third-parties, for sending us amazing hardware and games to write about.

I’d like to thank Steven Kent, Raymond Padilla, Scott

McCall, Mike Hrusecky, Yutaka Ochiboji, Justin Nation, Jonathan Metts, Rick

Powers, Ravi Hiranand, Denis Dyack, Max Lake, and Daniel Bloodworth for

inspiring me and pushing me to push the envelope.

I’d also like to thank everyone at

Game Informer for being so accommodating, friendly, and welcoming.  You guys

are awesome, and I’m looking forward to working with you.

Last but definitely not least, I’d like to thank the wonderful Planet

GameCube Staff.  Thank you for your tireless effort towards making Planet

GameCube what it is today. From the people I’ve known for years, to the new guys

I just met this week, I love you all.  Keep on kickin’ ass. Keep the dream

alive!

And with that, I must say farewell.  It’s truly been an

honor and a privilege.

Word.

B