As a Senior Gaming Content Producer, G4tv's Abbie Heppe is one of video gaming's ultimate multi-taskers, and one of the cable network's most talked about personalities.
Today, Abbie takes some time out of her busy schedule and Guitar Hero and Call of Duty play to tell us more about herself, how she landed her many roles at G4tv, who she credits for teaching her to type, and how it gets better.
Q - How did you discover video games?
A - "I don't really remember. Games were really prevalent (educational ones at least) even in my elementary school and as I got older almost all of my friends had consoles except for me, so I played a lot at school and at friends houses. I even went to computer camp where we learned Logo programming with the little turtle cursor and we'd fight over the computers with Oregon Trail or Arkanoid installed on them."
"I wish I had an 'oh, wow!' moment where I realized I loved video games but to tell the truth, I feel like they were always sort of around. I know when it all went downhill though...Wolfenstein 3D was cool but Doom and Quake let you play competitive multiplayer and that was the beginning of true obsession for me. I got into PC gaming just at the right time and my collection was amazing."
Q - What was the first video game you ever played?
A - I'm guessing but I think it was Number Munchers. My mother was not a fan of games unless they were educational so I had a giant library of educational games for PC. On the side I had a Gameboy my dad got for me with only 4 games that I played inside and out (Super Mario Land, Cat Trap, Tetris and Skate or Die: Bad 'N Rad) but I'm 100% sure the majority of my first video games were educational. I owe a lot to Mavis Beacon for teaching me to type.
Q - How did you come to work at G4tv?
A - "I had gotten my start with the amazing people at Tips & Tricks Magazine (at Larry Flynt Publications, no less) and then we all got laid off and I freelanced around for awhile. Since I was Los Angles based and there aren't too many LA outlets, I interviewed several times at G4 until a position opened up helping to plan E3 coverage. After that, they asked me to join the X-Play staff and I've been here since. In the interim that I was freelance I met a bunch of G4 people and we seemed to mesh well, so I just kept trying until they offered me a job."
Q - How did that translate into what G4tv viewers see from you on the air today?
A - "I'm not exactly sure! My past experience with on-camera work was hosting local public access news and a film fest show when I was in high school. It wasn't anything I actively pursued after that. The first time got asked to appear on camera was to play Rock Band and Guitar Hero in segments because I can play on Expert and it just took off from there."
"It's a lot of fun but it's not my primary job at the network and I like that. It's oddly fitting because when I first did public access TV I wasn't just a host either. Everyone who worked there was a host, editor, producer, videographer and writer. It's fun to be involved in multiple aspects of production."
Q - You had a role in bringing Steve Wiebe's Donkey Kong World Record attempts at E3 2009 to life. How did that come to be?
A - "Well, I can't take credit for the idea. I was simply asked to contact Twin Galaxies and figure out all the nitty gritty details of how one would make an official world record attempt and to see if Twin Galaxies were interested in being a part of our E3 stunt. It was kind of awesome 'cause I'd seen "The King of Kong" and it was oddly surreal to be working with Walter Day and all the people that were just previously characters on my TV screen."
Q - How did you react when you heard of Wiebe regaining the record from Billy Mitchell several months ago?
A - "Well, I wished it had happened at E3, but really, I just love to see the competition go back and forth. My dad was really competitive about Tetris and would sometimes stay up through the night to try to beat my high scores and vice versa. We'd @!#?@! talk each other, gloat, etc. I find competition very compelling."
Q - If you ever went for a world record on a video game, what would you try for?
A - "I'm pretty sure I could pull off a win for marathon gaming sessions. Well, maybe when I was younger and needed less sleep. These days I don't really feel like I have the time to get amazingly good at any one game but I always try."
Q - What has been your favorite game this year?
A - "Tough one. For some reason I keep thinking of Bayonetta. Something about that title really clicked with me. And of course, it isn't out yet, but given my past history with the franchise, I'll be playing Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer as much as humanly possible."
Q - How would you describe how you spend your time when away from G4tv?
A - "I'll be honest, a lot of what I do is play video games for work. More than I would recommend an average person play. But I love to go to the shooting range and I'm usually in the vicinity of a crossword puzzle or a book. I wish I had more time and money to indulge my love of travel and scuba diving with sharks."
Q - What would you say has been your proudest moment so far in video gaming and life in general?
A - "In video gaming? I'll have to go with actually getting a job doing this. It was a happy accident. My mom always told me playing video games wouldn't translate into a career and at the time I believed her, so it felt pretty awesome to say 'Hey look, I didn't spend all those hours playing Team Fortress for nothing!'"
"In life? I've done a lot of things that I'm pretty proud of. I was in a band and got to tour the US (believe me, no band you've ever heard of, but it was fun so that doesn't matter), I moved across the country and sort of figured out things for myself (which took some guts at the time) and I've gone diving with sharks, my favorite animal, which is still my favorite memory ever."
"I always want to have adventures and be excited about things so every time I'm able to do anything sort of bizarre or crazy, it's very fulfilling."
Q - What parting thoughts can Abbie Heppe share with us today?
A - "I feel very lucky to be able to do something I love for a living and to be surrounded by so many people who are just as passionate about it as I am."
"At our X-Play panel at PAX East this year, Adam Sessler said 'It gets better' to young kid in the audience who was talking about getting picked on at school and that really stuck with me because I was that kid once too. There aren't many socio-political platforms you get to take when you write about games for a living but it's really important to me to encourage kids to be who they are and embrace being nerdy or weird or different because I always have been and it's always been a good thing, even if I didn't think it was at the time."
"Despite the years of getting picked on, I'm so @!#?@! happy I was a weird kid."
****************************************************************************************************************
Special thanks to Abbie Heppe and G4tv for providing the opportunity for this article. Having had a chance to do some work last year with Abbie and the crew out there in Los Angeles, you are not going to find a more hardcore group of gamers working hard and having fun at the same time.
Sadly, earlier this week DirecTV decided to stop airing G4tv. Click here to find out more information and a number to call if you are a DirecTV subscriber to let them know you want your channel back.
Check out the slideshow and video attached to this article to see more about Abbie and click here to see her and the G4tv crews review of the new Microsoft Kinect.
****************************************************************************************************************
Feedback on this interview can be sent to the author at psp@patrickscottpatterson.com
Comments
Nice interview!
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!