Welcome to Geekbox.net, home of The Geekbox — an audio podcast launched in January 2009, in the wake of 1UP.com’s harrowing downsizing/editorial shake-up. Every week, Geekbox editor and host Ryan Scott assembles a panel comprised of entertainment industry professionals, to sound off on all the latest happenings in the world of videogames, comics, movies, and TV shows (Lost and Burn Notice, hell yeah!). The Geekbox is a featured podcast in iTunes’ Games & Hobbies category, and is loosely allied with several other podcasts spawned from 1UP.com’s former talent pool, including Rebel FM, Co-Op, and the Mobcast.

And just who the heck are these so-called “professionals?” Glad you asked…

Ryan Scott
You may remember Ryan from such fine publications as Computer Gaming World, Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly, GMR, and 1UP.com, where he wrote and edited videogame reviews for over five years, and regularly appeared on popular podcasts like GFW Radio, Legendary Thread, and The 1UP Show. Ryan currently works at IGN Entertainment, where he serves as the executive editor for GameSpy.com, co-manages a staff of five editors, and attempts to supply unique editorial direction in an age of vapidly identical gaming websites. He also hopes somebody figures out how to monetize this whole “podcast” thing someday.

Karen Chu
1UP.com’s erstwhile artist exploded quite suddenly onto the gaming scene in 2004, when the site’s editors received a staff-wide e-mail from then-intern Karen requesting a free copy of Knights of the Old Republic II, and promptly wondered “Who the hell’s this?” Since then, Karen’s made quite a name for herself as a very creative graphic designer, and has spoken on a variety of game-related topics at conventions and trade shows. She’s currently a UI designer for casual game developer PlayFirst, and maintains a personal blog over at Chu Chu Rocketeer.

Mike Cruz
Mike entered the gaming press as Electronic Gaming Monthly’s assistant art director, and eventually moved on over to 1UP.com once he realized a magazine probably wasn’t the safest place to work in this day and age. And boy, was he right: Though EGM’s publication was cut tragically short in early 2009, Mike still perseveres as 1UP’s designer, and also hosts the weekly at1UP Podcast alongside occasional Geekbox guest host Jade Kraus.

Andrew Fitch
The legendary Fitchster — one of the single greatest writers still active in the gaming press today (and that’s no joke) — got his start as a cog in Konami’s quality assurance department. He eventually signed on with Ziff Davis Media’s copyedit team, where he acted as the last line of defense to ensure quality editorial content across 1UP.com and its sister publications. Fitch is currently a freelance writer and game localization specialist, and spends his days translating epic Japanese role-playing games into the backwards moon language we call English.

Ryan Higgins
“Master Higgins,” as he’s known among his adoring fans, is the owner and manager of Comics Conspiracy — undeniably the most awesome comic shop in Silicon Valley, and the site of The Geekbox’s weekly recording sessions. He hates moronic comic book writers, loves videogames with the words “Mario,” “Zelda,” and “Final Fantasy” in the title, spends waaaaaay too much time collecting dumb minipets in World of Warcraft, and DJs monthly at Club Satori in San Jose, CA.

And let’s not forget our former hosts and recurring guest-stars…

Greg Ford
Greg was one of The Geekbox’s founding hosts, and ascended to that particular level of greatness after a long stint as copy editor, reviews editor, and finally managing editor for the dearly departed Electronic Gaming Monthly. He skipped California in mid-2009, and is currently working on a business degree. He’s also reunited with his old EGM crew, moonlighting as a freelance editor at Bitmob.

Justin Haywald
After spending years as an English teacher and translator for various Japanese entities, Justin decided he was making entirely too much money, and left it all behind to take an internship in 1UP.com’s cheats department. He was eventually hired on full-time once 1UP management realized they laid off most of their capable editors; Justin now acts as an editorial Swiss army knife, occasionally guest-starring on The Geekbox when Fitch is busy hooking up with 15 different chicks.

Jade Kraus
Jade once worked as a customer service representative (that’s fancy-talk for “retail drone”) at GameStop, where she reminded the stupidest people on the planet that her store buys and sells used games, and that you can pre-order your copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. She eventually escaped to a production management position at 1UP.com, and fulfilled her dream of badgering editors for story headlines, making stuff up when they don’t respond to her nine e-mails, and co-hosting the at1UP Podcast with Mike Cruz.

Brock Sager
The Geekbox’s official roadie (i.e. the guy that magically sets up all our recording equipment before we arrive each week) is like a more mellow, ginger version of Brock Samson from Venture Bros. who could probably kick all our asses. He spends his time providing free labor at Comics Conspiracy, acting as a part-time bouncer for his stripper friend (seriously!), and partaking in really nerdy activities like Magic: The Gathering. Fun fact: Brock has never seen Venture Bros.

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