G4TV

Oh, hello. I didn't see you there.

I'm Andrew Pfister, your new Senior Games Editor. What I'll actually be doing for the site is in that nebulous and exciting "planning stage," but it will definitely involve writing words about videogames. That much I can promise you.
 
If you've seen or heard my name before, you're either a long-time reader of Electronic Gaming Monthly, a listener of the 1UP.com podcasts (of which I was producer), or you went to high school with me. Sadly, I am not the heir to the Pfister Pfaucet Pfortune, I am unrelated to Academy Award-nominated Director of Photography Wally Pfister, and I am unaffiliated with the Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee, though it is indeed a lovely hotel.
 
Who I am is a guy who paid close enough attention in school (go Bucky), made the right friends, wrote the right things, and found myself with excellent jobs, working with excellent people in excellent places: now that list includes G4tv.com. I'm platform-agnostic (everyone has high points and low points), terrible at real-time strategy but can hold my own in nearly everything else, and I can grow a wicked beard in a matter of weeks. My favorite game is your favorite game -- how crazy is that?!?
 
Oh, I'm also incapable of answering interview questions seriously.

Interview: Andrew Pfister - Senior Games Editor, G4tv.com
By: Patrick Klepick

Patrick: You've moved from Milwaukee to San Francisco to Los Angeles. Tell me, how did you end up at G4TV?
 
Andrew: Billy's hiring protocols are entirely geographic. "Senior Games Editor" is actually code for "Only Other Guy in Office Who Knows How to Properly Cook Beer Brats," but that won't fit on my business card. I'm actually one of the worst writers you've ever seen, and I hold controllers upside down because I think these game things are silly.

Patrick: What's your most vivid first memory playing a video game?
 
Andrew: Our neighbors down the street had a Commodore, which was unfortunate for them because I would frequently knock on the door solely to play Summer Games and Ghostbusters. But that was just flirtation -- I fell in love the day when our family went over to a business friend of my Dad's, and while the adults had dinner downstairs, his son had this "Nintendo" thing up in his room. At first sight of Super Mario Bros., it was all over. We got an NES (with Zapper and R.O.B.) the following Christmas, and that's why I'm here today.
 
Patrick: Describe the last time you threw the controller at the wall while playing a game. (Note: he does this all the time.)
 
Andrew: This question made me throw my keyboard across the room. (Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena -- Cheap A.I. that magically knows my exact location and movement can die in a fire.)
 
Patrick: If you could only play one game series for the rest of your life, which would it be?

Andrew: Super Mario Bros., just as long as Miyamoto, Koizumi, and Kondo are allowed to live as long as I do.
 
Patrick: What will you do with your life when the last LOST episode airs next year?

Andrew: I'm glad you asked! I'd like to take this opportunity to announce Nikki and Paolo Are Dead!, my new off-Broadway roller-skating musical that explores what happens to the other survivors -- the original Others! -- when Jack and Friends are off moping or torturing each other in the jungle. It's 10% Abrams mystique, 90% Starlight Express, and 100% Fun for the Entire Family!

Featuring such songs as:
"Ol' Smokey Doesn't Care About Me"
"Every Rose Has Its Bernard"
and
"Love Explosion (Arzt's Theme)"

Patrick: How do you feel about the fact that the Packers will never be as good as the Bears? Does that make you sob at night? I hope so.

Andrew: Number of Super Bowl wins in the past 20 years:

• Packers: 1
• Bears: 0

And since you said "never"...

Number of overall Super Bowl/NFL championships:

• Packers: 12
• Bears: 9

Patrick: Your feelings about Pearl Jam and Rock Band working together. Describe them in 140 characters or less. I'm counting!

Andrew: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOM
GOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOM
 
Patrick: So, the big one -- why do you play video games?

Andrew: It's the interaction. I love movies, music, television, and books, but there's just something about being actively involved in my media that those forms can't reproduce. I'm fairly open when it comes to entertainment, and there's not one thing I'm looking for a game to be. I get a little frustrated when I hear people try and dictate what or for whom a game "should" be (art, fun, challenge, product, story, et al). That all of those elements can peacefully co-exist is why I play games.

*hugs and rainbows*