''GameRevolution'' (formerly ''Game-Revolution'') is a

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playing ...

website created in 1996. Based in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, the site includes

reviews A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a rating to indic ...

, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

s, screenshots, and videos. Their features pages include articles satirizing

Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports *Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City *Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Bright ...

, E³, the hype surrounding the next-generation consoles, and the

video game controversy Video game controversies refers to a wide range of debates on the social effects of video games on players and broader society, as well as debates within the video game industry. Since the early 2000s, advocates of video games have emphasized ...

. Cameo writing appearances include

Brian Clevinger Brian Clevinger (born May 7, 1978) is an American writer best known as the author of the webcomic ''8-Bit Theater'' and the Eisner-nominated print comic ''Atomic Robo''. He is also the author of the self-published novel ''Nuklear Age''. Career ...

of '' 8-Bit Theatre'' and

Scott Ramsoomair ''VG Cats'' (short for ''Video Game Cats''"All About the Site"
''VG Cats''"Internet pro ...

of ''

VG Cats ''VG Cats'' (short for ''Video Game Cats''"All About the Site"
''VG Cats''"Internet pro ...

''. The website has also participated in marketing campaigns for video games, including '' Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows''.

Company history

Net Revolution, Inc., a California corporation, was founded in April 1996 by Duke Ferris as a holding company and as the publisher of the ''GameRevolution'' website. Ferris served as president of the company until it was acquired in 2005 stock purchase by Bolt Media, Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

E3

The staff of ''GameRevolution'' are annual judges at the E3. Duke Ferris is a returning Judge for the 2010 show. Perhaps the most influential year for ''GameRevolution'' at E3 was in 2000, where they invited

Jerry Holkins Jerry Holkins (born Parkinson"Holkins is a combination of Holcomb (hers) and Parkinson (mine)." https://twitter.com/TychoBrahe/status/12073336701; February 6, 1976) is an American writer. He is the co-creator and writer of the webcomic '' Penny A ...

and

Mike Krahulik Michael Krahulik (; born September 25, 1977) is an American artist for the webcomic '' Penny Arcade'' and co-founder with Jerry Holkins of Child's Play, a charity that organizes toy drives for children's hospitals. He goes by the online moniker ...

of Penny Arcade to attend. They also bestowed '' Black & White'' the Best of E3 award.

Purchase by CraveOnline

Following the bankruptcy of Bolt Media, Inc., continuing to be frequented by hundreds of thousands of visitors, ''GameRevolution'' was purchased by the men's entertainment site

CraveOnline Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company Evolve Media, LLC. Mandatory focuses its contents into the male- ...

(a division of Atomic Online), for another undisclosed sum. It has since been integrated as part of the CraveOnline community while continuing to stand alone as a popular site. The purchase was announced February 25, 2008.

Features

The feature section commonly includes articles about important gaming events as the Nintendo Summit, and other developers' personal and public congregations and displays. For a number of years, it has also contained the GR Awards for Best, and Worst, of a year in gaming, as well as having buying guides for the Holiday Season. There are also a number of bizarre and unique articles describing phenomena in the gaming community, or simply, interesting news for gamers.

Jack Thompson controversy

Sometime in August 2005,

contacted Lou Kerner of ''GameRevolution'' and requested he remove an "offensive" AIM buddy icon from an affiliate site of ''GameRevolution'' known as ''Bolt.com''. Kerner complied and had the offending icon removed immediately. Thompson saw the removal as an admission of guilt and contacted the

NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

to have Kerner arrested; however, no such action was taken. Duke Ferris, another employee of the site, wrote an article on the matter and humorously pointed out the ridiculousness of the entire situation. To drive home this point, he even chose to present a primitively drawn image which had Thompson being devoured by a crocodile, and then challenged Thompson to go ahead and have him arrested.

References

External links

* {{Video Game Critics Video game news websites Video game Internet forums Internet properties established in 1996 Companies based in Berkeley, California