Hardcasual

I’ve never met Dan Hsu, but I want to say thank you.

My parents bought me my first magazine subscription for my 5th birthday. GamePro. It arrived once a month, and I consumed it.  Recently, my parents claimed it taught me to read and write. Since then, I can’t look at myself in the mirror.

At nine years old, I bought an EGM at the Toledo airport. I wanted GamePro, but my parents wouldn’t budge on me reading two copies of the same magazine. Like coffee, beer, and heroine, EGM came on too strong, and took some getting used to, but eventually something clicked. Two months later, I asked my parents to cancel my Gamepro subscription. I’ve never looked back. Not even for the Beavis and Butthead cover.

Early on I admired Dan Hsu, even as an angsty pre-teen, when I didn’t know how to admire. He wrote intelligent previews, plus I suspected him to be the author of Sushi X. OK, I was sort of uncultured as a kid.

But it’s been the past couple years I’ve most enjoyed Hsu’s work. I thinj he brought a lot to the 1UP Network. He worked hard to seal great exclusives, and hired not only interesting writers, but also genuinely enjoyable people. There’s a reason I like to listen to over two hours of 1Up Yours and  Retronuats, and I believe Dan Hsu has a lot to do with it.

So thanks, Dan “Shoe.” It may come from a small blog in Nowheresville, Internet, but you and your work inspired me to write about games. And for me, that’s a pretty big deal.

-Chris Plante

BONUS:

Sam’s first encounter with EGM:

My first EGM moment was reading it in the library after having only read Nintendo Power and having them say some shitty thing about Zelda 2 and my mind being blown like, “HOLY FUCK I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS THAT GAME IS AWFUL.”

Image: EGM