R.I.P, Game Doctor

September 7, 2011 11:06 AM

Bill Kunkel, one of the co-founders of Electronic Games magazine and a pioneer in video game journalism, has died at the age of 61. His list of accomplishments is impressive and diverse, working on everything from strategy guides to graphic novels to feature films, but his enduring legacy will likely be the magazine (Flickr set), in which he and his team coined such enduring terms as "easter egg" and "screenshot."

Additional reading:

* A late 90s/early 00s interview with Bill
* A 2005 interview with Gamasutra
* A fan scan of what remains of his copy of the May 84 issue
* The ad that every young boy in the 1980s loved to hate
* Some more scans of old issues

posted by jbickers (22 comments total)

I just read his memoir recently, and I have to say that outside of his accomplishments, this guy fucking lived.

Also, his story about Alan Smithee-ing a Final Fantasy III strategy guide over the course of a single week is hilarious.

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posted by griphus at 11:14 AM on September 7, 2011 [3 favorites]

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posted by Aquaman at 11:17 AM on September 7, 2011

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I devoured every issue of Electronic Games when I was a kid.
posted by Legomancer at 11:18 AM on September 7, 2011

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I started collecting the mags again a few years ago to recapture some of my lost youth.
posted by bpm140 at 11:18 AM on September 7, 2011

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posted by Senor Cardgage at 11:35 AM on September 7, 2011

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posted by Meatafoecure at 11:36 AM on September 7, 2011

Sorry ladies, you know I adore ya, but Im afraid it has been all downhill for womankind since this lady 30 years ago.
She reached K2. The top. The peak.
Yet she will never have her face on the silver dollar.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 11:36 AM on September 7, 2011 [2 favorites]

Even though she clearly has no idea how to pretend to look like she knows how to play that game.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 11:36 AM on September 7, 2011

Rad jeans though
posted by Senor Cardgage at 11:37 AM on September 7, 2011

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posted by egypturnash at 11:37 AM on September 7, 2011

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Definitely check out Confessions of The Game Doctor, as linked by griphus. EG was my first favorite mag. I still get a bit teary-eyed thumbing through old issues.

Now it will be a little more difficult to hold back the tears.
posted by BoatMeme at 11:37 AM on September 7, 2011

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I remember waiting quite impatiently for every issue of EGM to come out...
posted by Lukenlogs at 11:51 AM on September 7, 2011

The greatest trick the Devil ever played was when Electronic Games folded and subscriptions (like mine) were filled out with 'Video' magazine, your source for cables and discussions of cables.
posted by Legomancer at 12:00 PM on September 7, 2011 [5 favorites]

Even more scans!
posted by pashdown at 12:28 PM on September 7, 2011

Oh, damn. Damn. I read the hell out of this magazine back in the day. I still remember this cover almost thirty years later, and reading the magazine itself makes me all nostalgic for that early golden age of video games.

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posted by Mr. Bad Example at 1:10 PM on September 7, 2011

The thing that I miss the most about the early days of this magazine - and video games in general, I suppose - are the colors. This was the most vibrantly colorful magazine all the way through, which reflected how bright and appealing the games themselves were. Video game magazines today also reflect the games - mostly browns and greys.
posted by jbickers at 1:14 PM on September 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

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ENTER HIGH SCORE_
posted by Smart Dalek at 1:51 PM on September 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

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posted by subbes at 5:00 PM on September 7, 2011

In case it wasn't made obvious enough from BoatMeme's link, Kunkel was the Game Doctor whose letters column livened up old issues of, if memory serves, Electronic Games and Video Games & Computer Entertainment. I seem to recall it even appearing in EGM for a short while.
posted by JHarris at 8:42 PM on September 7, 2011

I suppose it speaks to Kunkel's many talents that I didn't even know he had this other life as a video game journalist, since I knew him exclusively as a wrestling writer and cartoonist.
posted by The Gooch at 10:39 PM on September 7, 2011

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posted by HermanoBluth at 5:31 AM on September 8, 2011

Wow, and I only knew him as a video game journalist. I guess one does that which pays the bills.
posted by JHarris at 12:25 PM on September 11, 2011