As a journalist John has covered everything from rural town meetings to the U.S. Congress and even done time as a crime reporter and photographer.|His first venture into writing about the game industry came in the form of a computer column called "On the Chip Side," which grew to have over 1 million circulation and was published in newspapers in several states. From there he did several "ask the computer guy" columns in magazines such as Up Front! in New Mexico and Who Cares? in Washington D.C. When the Internet started to become popular, he began writing guided Web tours for the newly launched Washington Post online section as well as reviews for the weekend section of the paper, something he still does from time to time.
His experience in trade publications came as a writer and reviewer for Government Computer News.
As the editor of GiN, he demands strict editorial standards from all the writers and reviewers. Breeden feels the industry needs a weekly, reliable trade publication covering the games industry and works tirelessly to accomplish that goal.
When I was first given Touring Car Challenge, one of the first products released in the United States from European-based Codemasters, I figured it had a few strikes against it right off the cricket bat. For one, the product was a simulation of British racing. And like Dr. Who and boiled beef, its not often that British games take off in the fickle U.S. market. But forget all that. Touring Car Challenge is more like The Beatles than Dr. Who. It’s an amazingly beautiful and highly detailed game that has the potential to climb the ranks of racing simulations and … Continue reading Touring Car Challenge doesn’t lose horsepower in translation→
Anyone who has seen the movie Wild Wild West, or been a fan of the television series, can appreciate the wonderful action-packed nature of this game, and how it couples both humor and puzzle solving to make an excellent package. Those of you who are unfamiliar with either the movie or the show can still enjoy this delightful title, but it may take a few scenes – what the game calls chapters – to get a feel for the game world. The setting for Wild, Wild West: The Steel Assassin takes place a few years after the Civil War and … Continue reading Wild, Wild West: The Steel Assassin is on target→
Being a fan of the horror side of computer games, it was easy to get into the concept of Nocturne, which features a monster hunter named The Stranger who goes around killing werewolves, zombies, vampires and other creatures of the night. One of my favorite games of all time is called Realms of the Haunting, and playing Nocturne reminded me of it a lot. Even though Realms did not enjoy widespread commercial success, it none the less earned mine. Another type of game in the same vein as Nocturne is the entire Alone in the Dark series. All of these … Continue reading Nocturne is so good, it’s scary→
Shadow Company: Left for Dead is a good attempt at marrying realtime strategy gaming with actual man to man combat. When I first got the Shadow Company box, I thought UBI was going to try to piggyback on the success of one of my favorite turn-based strategy games, Jagged Alliance 2 by Sir-Tech. The plot was similar enough, with the player being in charge of a band of mercenaries going out on a series of difficult missions in return for large paychecks. But whereas Jagged Alliance is turn-based, Shadow Company is a realtime game. My interest rising, I loaded the … Continue reading Shadow Company: Left for Dead is a stealthy hit→
Jagged Alliance 2 gives armchair mercenaries the ability to travel to exciting places, meet new and fascinating people, and kill them. Jagged Alliance 2 is actually the third in the mercenary-for-hire series on the PC, and by far is the best one yet. I love turn based combat games, especially the ones where you can maneuver in real time till the shooting starts. This gives you the ability to wander around and explore without having to worry about your characters annoyingly running out of action points. It was this type of interface that was missing from the second game in … Continue reading Jagged Alliance 2 is locked, loaded and ready for action→
When I reviewed MechCommander, the realtime strategy game, about a year ago I begged FASA and Microprose to make a sequel. When MechWarrior 3 came out however, I was a bit wary. I like shooters and I love real time strategy games, but I’ve never really been a fan of trying to control a giant robot from within the cockpit, as MechWarrior 3 challenges players to do. I normally feel too removed from the action, nudging my mech to do my bidding just does not seem as satisfying as picking up an MP40 and doing damage myself. But MechWarrior 3 … Continue reading MechWarrior 3 is a blast→
Gamers these days are getting pretty picky, but the Montego II Quadzilla has enough features, support and raw power to round out any high-end system. Opening the box, the first thing you will notice is that the card is in two pieces. The main part of the card that plugs into a standard PCI slot contains everything a gamer will need to get 3D sound with a two speaker setup. Now, this method is not truly 3D sound and is achieved by tricking the listener with various Doppler shifts and other audio clues that mimic a 3D environment, but unless … Continue reading Montego II Quadzilla will rock you→
What do an excellent value, fun for the whole family and fierce competition have in common? They are all elements of TriBond by Patch Products. For those of you unfamiliar with the board game of the same name, Tri-Bond is the game of threes. Players are given three items and asked to try and figure out how they are related. A winning answer lets players move their pieces around the board in a Parcheesi-like race to get all their pieces home. The game has full voice support, with different actors reading different categories of questions. Some of the actors are … Continue reading TriBond makes the grade→
"You’re gonna die, mother f*****!" is probably the last thing you will hear in the grimy, crime filled world of Kingpin. (Note: we added the *’s, expect the full language in the game) Kingpin is a lot more than the average johnny-come-lately shooter. It sports amazing textures, a solid plot and some of the best sound support I’ve ever laid ears upon in a shooter. But of course all anyone is talking about is the violence, the blood and the liberal use of the "F word." So let me get that out of the way first. The first thing you … Continue reading Kingpin is a bite out of crime→
I think we have finally found our first serious contestant for the GiN strategy game of the year award. Total Annihilation: Kingdoms raises the expectations bar for gamers by giving them an intelligent artificial intelligence coupled with graphics that are truly spellbinding. The first thing you will notice about Total Annihilation: Kingdoms is that the game is completely beautiful. I found myself being overrun by enemies several times when I was just starting out because I was too busy looking at the pretty scenery to concentrate on strategy. I won’t fault Cavedog for using the Total Annihilation name, after all … Continue reading Total Annihilation: Kingdoms takes the strategy game crown→
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