The Orange County Register, February 27th, 2007
When Christiaan Allebest was a boy, he wanted to be Batman because the superhero was an ordinary person who did extraordinary things.
Allebest, now 31, grew up to become a technology writer. But he continued to dream of super adventures. With ideas brewing, he quit his writing gig at tech review site Tom’s Hardware to go into business with his best friend and father, Edward Allebest. This week, the two Orange County residents officially unveil GameAlmighty.com, a super-sized gaming site with graphics inspired by comic books.
“Christiaan was always telling me about his great ideas, but Tom’s Hardware wasn’t interested in implementing them because it’s a hardware site. It was really at my instigation. I said, ‘Why not do it all ourselves,’ ” explains the senior Allebest, a co-founder of Allebest & Associates law firm in Laguna Hills and general manager of the venture.
GameAlmighty, also based in Laguna Hills, goes head-to-head with other game portals, such as CNET’s GameSpot, 1UP.com and IGN GameSpy, which has an office in Costa Mesa. But the competition is huge. IGN GameSpy has an arcade with 19 million registered users. Still, GameAlmighty may have a chance, said David Riley with market researcher The NPD Group.
“Regardless of the industry, news and reviews sites are a dime a dozen nowadays. While consumers are creatures of habit, it isn’t terribly difficult to grab their attention and get them to visit a new Web site. The trick is to keep them interested and on your site,” Riley said. “At first glance, GameAlmighty.com appears to by a hybrid site, taking the best concepts from other news and reviews sites and integrating them into a one-stop shop for gaming enthusiasts. It’s fresh, clean and easy to navigate.”
The Allebests are quick to point out how it is different. GameAlmighty mixes the usual staff-generated news and reviews with input from gamers and the industry. Developers and publishers can rebut negative reviews. Reader reviews have a chance of landing on the home page. The company is also working with developers and publishers to respond to suggestions by users.
The company recruited writers from all the established game sites, including Chris Jensen, who has also written nearly two dozen game strategy books. There will also be staff-produced videos plus user-generated videos through partner VideoEgg, a video-sharing site.
“We’re trying to get as big of a community as possible with as much cross-integration as well,” said Christiaan Allebest, editor-in-chief. “We’d like companies to interact on the site and create dialog with the gamers. That’s just not happening anywhere.”
The senior Allebest, who turns 60 this year and was on the verge of retiring, handles the business side. Funding comes from investors, but he won’t say who or how much.
“We have a lot of technical investors,” the senior Allebest said. “People who are familiar with the Internet and the gaming industry think this is the most exciting thing they’ve seen. It’s not difficult to raise funding.”
GameAlmighty employs 10 staff writers. It also has about a dozen freelancers and is looking for more writing talent.
“I just posted another position for another journalist last week and have gotten over 100 résumés. A couple of them were FedEx’d overnight,” Christiaan Allebest said. “People are so excited.”
Creators: The company was started by Edward Allebest, center, and his son Christiaan Allebest, joined here by Captain Amazing, left, their mascot.
Images: The fist of Captain Amazing bursts from the GameAlmighty Web site.
