U.S. National Video Game Team
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It has been suggested that this article be merged with Twin Galaxies. (Discuss) Proposed since May 2015. |
The U.S. National Video Game Team was founded on July 25, 1983 in Ottumwa, Iowa, USA by Walter Day and the [Twin Galaxies]Intergalactic Scoreboard.
In 1986, the USNVGT continued on without Day with Donn Nauert [1] as team captain. Eager to increase their reach, the Team purchased Twin Galaxies from Day for $1,500 [2] and began to extend their reach to include publishing the Top Score Newsletter and Electronic Game Player Magazine, which became Electronic Gaming Monthly a short time later. [2] Nauert appeared in television commercials for the Atari 7800 [3] and served as the referee for Incredible Sunday on That's Incredible!, a three-game competition on the Nintendo Entertainment System that served as a precursor to the Nintendo World Championships 1990. [1] The USNVGT also endorsed various video game products with a Player's Seal of Approval from 1988-1989.
Members
The first five members chosen by Twin Galaxies for the team were:
- Billy Mitchell, Hollywood, Florida (Had five listings in Guinness that year, a record)
- Steve Harris, Gladstone, Missouri (Later founded Electronic Gaming Monthly [EGM])
- Jay Kim, Miami, Florida
- Ben Gold, Dallas, Texas (Won history's first Video Game World Championship, televised by ABC's That's Incredible)
- Tim McVey, Ottumwa, Iowa (Achieved history's first Billion-Point-Score on a video game.)
Additional members accepted in 1983:
- Tom Asaki, Bozeman, Montana
- Tim Collum, Boyd, Texas
- Eric Ginner, Mountain View, California
- Todd Walker, Milpitas, California
- Mark Bersabe, San Jose, California
- Jeff Peters, Etiwanda, California [2]
Additional members accepted in 1984:
- Mark Hoff, Ottumwa, Iowa
- Leo Daniels, Wilmington, North Carolina
- Chris Emery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Additional members accepted in 1985:
- Perry Rodgers, Seattle, Washington
- Donn Nauert, Austin, Texas [3]
- Dwayne Richard, Alberta, Canada
Additional members accepted in 1986:
- Gary Hatt, Ontario, California
- Jim Allee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Brent Walker, Austin, Texas
- Todd Rogers, Bridgeview, Illinois (First paid pro video game player)
- Scott Rogers, Bridgeview, Illinois
- Eric Gater, Oskaloosa, Iowa
Additional members accepted in 1994:
- Terry "Trickman" Minnich, Lombard, Illinois
- Ken "Sushi-X" Williams, Lombard, Illinois
Additional members accepted in 2005:
- David Nelson, Laconia, New Hampshire
References
- ^ a b Patterson, Patrick Scott (June 25, 2015). "ICONS: Donn Nauert is one of the fathers of eSports competition". G4@Syfygames. NBCUniversal. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
- ^ a b c Patterson, Patrick Scott (May 8, 2015). "ICONS: Jeff Peters has left his mark on multiple aspects of gaming culture - Part 2". G4@Syfygames. NBCUniversal. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
- ^ a b Owen Good (13 Apr 2012), There was Once a U.S. National Video Game Team, and This Guy Was Its Captain, Kotaku, retrieved 7 Aug 2013