CORGSCON 2023 SPECIAL GUESTS

Programmers and Artists (and the games they are best known for): Howard Scott Warshaw (Yars Revenge and E.T Programmer), Tim Kitzrow (Voice of NBA Jam), Paul E. Niemeyer (Mortal Kombat Artist), Warren Davis (Qbert Creator)

First Time Guest: Howard Scott Warshaw is the most famous person you’ve never heard of. He created several of Atari’s most famous and infamous titles. He’s a video game pioneer, award winning filmmaker, innovative technologist, author and even a MoMA artist. Now he employs this eclectic skill set as a psychotherapist in California’s Silicon Valley. His latest book, “Once Upon Atari” details Howard’s exploits at Atari and how they reshaped his life.

Once Upon Atari: How I Made History By Killing An Industry is an intimate view into the dramatic rise and fall of the early video game industry, as seen through the eyes of one of its pioneers. This book offers eye-opening details and insights, laying bare the issues and dynamics of working in modern software companies. A must read for anyone in high tech production, delivered in a compelling narrative, with a fresh voice and unorthodox style.

First Time Guest: Tim Kitzrow is the iconic voice of your favorite sports franchises — NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, NHL Hitz and MLB Slugfest — and over a dozen classic pinball games. With NBA JAM, which grossed over $2 BILLION to date, Kitzrow introduced BOOMSHAKALAKA to the NBA lexicon and earned pop culture immortality. He has appeared on television and radio with ESPN and FoxSports; worked with marquee NBA franchises such as the back-to-back 2017 and 2018 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Hornets and Milwaukee Bucks; and launched games with  EA Sports, Acclaim, Bally and Midway. Kitzrow’s in-game highlights with the Houston Rockets received a 2016 industry award for all four major sports leagues. His latest game, Mutant Football League, released in 2018, is garnering acclaim as a fan and industry favorite. For 25 years, Kitzrow has enjoyed a legendary run as the signature voice of classic games like NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, NHL Hitz and Wayne Gretzky Hockey, MLB Slugfest and Big Hurt Baseball, and NCAA College Slam. Unique in the industry for his ability to write and produce commentary and voice talent, Kitzrow is the only talent in gaming to voice all four major sports leagues, the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL, as well as the NCAA. He is currently working on number of gaming, book and creative projects. He enjoys engaging with fans through Twitter @Tim_Kitzrow and through his custom voice message service, Who Said What Now?!

First Time Guest: Daniel Pesina is an American martial arts expert and a former freelance employee of Midway. He started his work in martial arts films as an extra in 1991, appearing as one of Shredder’s foot soldiers in the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. He was brought in by John Tobias to work on 1992’s Mortal Kombat, a fighting game featuring digitized characters, where he played Johnny Cage and ninja characters Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Reptile, and served as a martial arts coordinator for the game. Then for Mortal Kombat II he reprised his roles from the previous game, as well as playing the roles of Smoke, and Noob Saibot.

First Time Guest: Carlos Pesina is an American martial artist and employee of NetherRealm Studios. He is most recognized as the actor who played Raiden in Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, and Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Since 1995, he has worked for Midway Games as a motion capture artist and animator. He is currently an Advanced Artist Animation/Mocap at NetherRealm Studios.

Second Time Guest: Paul E. Niemeyer’s game art career began at Bally/Midway in 1982, working for pinball legend, Paul Farris. Paul did art on “Tapper”, “PacMan Plus”, “Super PacMan”, “Professor PacMan”, “TRON”, “Satan’s Hollow”, “Spy Hunter”, “WACKO”, and “Midnight Marauders”, as well as dozens of prototype games. In 1984, he went freelance and worked on games like “Time Killers”, “Aeroboto”, “Star Guards”, an endless list of prototype games, and the huge success, the Original “Mortal Kombat”. Paul had simultaneous careers as a designer/illustrator in the Chicago ad agencies, a nature artist for the DNR, and a game art designer/illustrator for the video/pinball game community. Movie properties like “Little Mermaid”, “Jurassic Park II”, “Men in Black”, “Star Trek 5”, “Star Wars: Phantom Menace”, “Pirates of the Caribbean” are among the many projects in his years in the ad agencies.

Third Time Guest: Warren Davis’ career in the videogame industry spans three decades. He began in 1982 at Gottlieb where his first game was the hugely successful arcade classic, Q*bert. He also created the digitizing system that Williams/Bally/Midway would use for many of their hit games of the 1990s. In 2018, he was inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame.

Wrestlers: Madman Fulton

First Time Guest: Madman Fulton is an Ohio Native professional wrestler. He made his pro-wrestling debut for Mid-Ohio Wrestling as the name Big Jake South. His career there took place from 2009-2012. In 2012, he was signed to WWE under the name Sawyer Fulton and was under WWE contract until 2017. He was a part of Major League Wrestling in 2018 as a member of Death Machines Stable. From 2019-2022, he took part in Impact Wrestling under the name Madman Fulton. Ohio Versus everything took place from 2019-2020 and Alliance with Ace Austin took place from 2020-2022. A special thanks to Professional Gerald Promotions for the appearance of Madman Fulton from 11:30am-1:30pm.

Authors, Youtubers and Publishers: John Hancock, Adam Koralik, Jay Malone, Retrowolf88, Mr. Wrightway, Retro Gaming Pandemic, Michael Thomasson, Leonard Herman

First Time Guest: John Hancock is a longtime collector of video games. As one of the original organizers of the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, John went on to establish a YouTube channel where he uploads weekly content that covers everything from Atari to Xbox. John is espically passionate of oddball consoles and systems of yesteryear. He focuses many of his YouTube videos on these as well as current independent releases.

First Time Guest: Adam Koralik is a content creator who has been producing videos for fourteen years on YouTube. Whether he’s unboxing a PS5, cleaning and restoring a Sega Saturn, or just giving an engaging history lesson on previous console generations; Adam’s videos are a must-watch for any gamer. He is a video game console expert known Keep Dreaming, Console Retrospectives, and PlayLoad. An avid game collector, Adam owns nearly every video game console ever made and, as a self-proclaimed nomadic traveler, he even has a YouTube travel channel all about this.

First Time Guest: Stephen Heywood is a content creator who has a passion for retro video game collecting, and broadcasting. He is the host of the show “Game Time” on YouTube. He is attempting to collect the full North American NES Collection.

Second Time Guest: Jay Malone started his video game journey in the 80’s, when his cousin sat him down in front of an old TV and played him in Atari Super Football. Since that day, a love of all forms of interactive entertainment has been his primary obsession. Hours upon hours of playing Mega Man 2 and Earthbound eventually led him to work in the game industry for the better part of a decade on titles like NCAA Football 2004, Mirror’s Edge, and Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure. In 2019, Jay used that lifelong love of video games to launch the YouTube channel Square Pegs, dedicated to the best in retro and modern gaming. With a love of the Sega Genesis, Nintendo GameCube, and Nintendo 3DS as his favorite consoles, Jay dives into a wide variety of subjects – from platformers to sports, his sincere desire is that we all Play More Games and Stay Square!

Second Time Guest: RetroWolf88 is a game collector and YouTuber who had a complete US GameCube game set and sold it. Now he is rebuilding the complete set a 2nd time and sharing his journey through EPIC Retro hunting videos.

Second Time Guest: Mr. Wright Way is a Retired United States Navy Veteran who has always had a passion for Video Games, Collectibles and Photography. He has photographed for All the Major Pro wrestling companies like WWE, AEW, NJPW and more. You can catch his bi-weekly videos as he shows you his tips and tricks on how to Game Hunt, Video Game Collection Videos, and how to get Wright deals, The Wright Way.www.youtube.com/mrwrightway

Second Time Guests: Retro Gaming Pandemic features twin brothers and Columbus natives — Eric and Jared. Their YouTube journey began Summer 2021 when they were nicknamed the Super Mario Bros by Pixel Game Squad. Join them on the hunt for retro games and toys as they build a collection nostalgic for their childhood days. 

Third Time Guest: Ryan Burger is the publisher of Old School Gamer Magazine. The magazine focuses on retro video gaming from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Content includes consoles, arcades, pinballs, retro computers and so much more!

Fifth Time Guest: Brett Weiss is a gaming historian who is the author of 13 books, including his latest, The 100 Greatest Console Video Games: 1988-1998.

Michael Thomasson is one of the most widely respected videogame historians in the field today. He currently teaches college level videogame history, design, and graphics courses. For television, Michael conducted research for MTV’s videogame related program Video MODS. In print, he authored Downright Bizarre Games, and has contributed to over a dozen textbooks. Michael’s historical columns have been distributed in newspapers and magazines worldwide. He has written business plans for several vendors and managed a dozen game-related retail stores spanning three decades. Michael consults for multiple video game and computer museums and has worked on nearly a hundred titles on Atari, Coleco, Sega and other console platforms. In 2014, The Guinness Book of World Records declared that Thomasson had “The Largest Videogame Collection” in the world. His organizations sponsor gaming tradeshows and expos across the US and Canada. Visit www.GoodDealGames.com.

Leonard Herman – The Game Scholar is regarded as one of the most respected videogame historians. His book Phoenix IV: The History of the Videogame Industry has been called the Bible of videogame history. He has written articles for Videogaming & Computer Illustrated, Games Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly, the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, Pocket Games, Classic Gamer Magazine, Edge, Game Informer, Old School Gamer Magazine, Gamespot.com and Video Game Trader.