John Romero

Alfonso John Romero (born October 28 1967) is a famous figure in the computer gaming industry. He co-founded and worked at id Software from its incorporation in 1991 until 1996 and was involved in the creation of several milestone games including Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II (in which Romero also appeared as the end game boss) and Quake, as well as serving as an executive producer on Heretic and HeXen.

Related Topics:
October 28 - 1967 - Computer gaming industry - Id Software - 1991 - 1996 - Games - Commander Keen - Wolfenstein 3D - Doom - Doom II - End game boss - Quake - Heretic - HeXen

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Romero later co-founded Ion Storm Inc. in Dallas, Texas with id co-worker Tom Hall, where he designed and produced Daikatana. This ambitious shooter was announced in 1997 with a release date for the Christmas shopping season of that year. However, this release date slipped repeatedly in the coming months, and the game began to accrue negative press. In particular, an infamous 1997 ad (by Ion's then-CEO and Marketing Exec Mike Wilson) with the slogan "John Romero's About To Make You His Bitch" upset many. It took until April 2000 before the game finally released, an interim in which Daikatana became synonymous with vaporware in industry press.

Related Topics:
Ion Storm Inc. - Dallas, Texas - Tom Hall - Daikatana - 1997 - Mike Wilson - April 2000 - Vaporware

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Upon its eventual release, the long overdue game was a major critical failure. The game's critical panning damaged Romero's reputation, who received popular blame for questionable development decisions, the hyping of his own name in the press, and the generally poor management of the Daikatana project. Romero left with Tom Hall immediately after the release of Hall's Anachronox game and the subsequent closing of the Dallas Ion office. They then co-founded Monkeystone Games in July 2001.

Related Topics:
Anachronox - Monkeystone Games - July 2001

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Between 1999 and 2003, Romero was involved with Stevie Case, a prominent female gaming industry figure who achieved early notoriety for beating him in a Quake deathmatch. Until their breakup in early 2003, Case was the COO of Monkeystone Games. In 2002 he put his Ferrari up for auction on eBay. The heavily modified Ferarri included a parallel port on the back of the passenger's seat which one could plug a laptop into, and tune the engine while the car was running.

Related Topics:
1999 - 2003 - Stevie Case - Deathmatch - COO - 2002 - Ferrari - EBay - Parallel port - Laptop

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In mid-October 2003, Romero joined Midway Games as Project Lead on '. While he continued to maintain his working relationship with Monkeystone, Lucas Davis took over running the office. The Monkeystone team moved to Austin, Texas to work on Midway's Area 51 title until its release. Monkeystone Games closed down in January 2005.

Related Topics:
October 2003 - Midway Games - Austin, Texas - Area 51 - January 2005

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In January 2004 he married Rhaluka Alexandra Plesca in her hometown of Bucharest, Romania. At the end of June 2005, Romero left Midway Games before the completion of Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows.

Related Topics:
January 2004 - Bucharest, Romania - June 2005

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On August 31 2005 Romero confirmed that since leaving Midway he has been hard at work on a yet-to-be-announced project at his newly opened development studio. "For the record," Romero writes, "I'm co-founder of a new game company in the Bay Area and am much better off in many ways than I was at Midway."

Related Topics:
August 31 - 2005 - Bay Area

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Romero's domain name, rome.ro (Planet Romero), is one of the most popular domain hacks in use.

Related Topics:
Domain name - Domain hacks

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