Boris Schneider-Johne

Boris Oliver Schneider-Johne (* July 5, 1966 in Grevenbroich as Boris Oliver Schneider ) is a former German journalist specializing in computer and video games . Schneider-Johne has held various positions at Microsoft Germany since 1997 .

Life

Boris Schneider attended the Vaterstetten grammar school in the Munich suburb of Vaterstetten , where he also passed his Abitur. His first software project was in 1984 a fast loading software for the Commodore 64 called Hypra Load , which he developed together with Karsten Schramm. Hypra Load was published as “Listing of the Month” to type in in the magazine 64'er . His entry into the games industry began as an editor for the magazine Happy Computer , which was published by Markt + Technik Verlag in Haar (near Munich) . Initially still a technical writer, his field of activity quickly shifted to computer games. Together with Heinrich Lenhardt , Schneider designed the Power Play , which initially appeared as a supplement to the Happy Computer and contained the computer games part of the Happy Computer. From the beginning of 1990, Power Play finally appeared as an independent magazine.

In 1988 Schneider left the Happy Computer / Power Play editorial team in Munich and worked as a game producer at Rainbow Arts in Düsseldorf . There he met other pioneers in the German computer game scene, including Chris Hülsbeck and Teut Weidemann .

While still working at Power Play in Munich, Schneider began translating computer games. With his German version of the Activision adventure Murder on the Mississippi , which he "hacked" on his own initiative without access to the source text using a hex editor , he did pioneering work in the field of game translations: The game is one of the first German translations in the industry in general. From 1987 to 1992 he also worked as an official translator for Lucasfilm Games, later LucasArts - but this time in a regular technical way.

• 1987 Maniac Mansion
• 1988 Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
• 1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• 1990 Loom
• 1990 The Secret of Monkey Island
• 1991 Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
• 1992 Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

From Monkey Island 2 , Heinrich Lenhardt , another Power Play editor, was at his side as an “advisor on stupid jokes” (Monkey Island 2 credits).

In 1991 Schneider did his community service and began to work again as a freelance journalist, including for the SEGA magazine Gamers . In 1992, together with Heinrich Lenhardt, he founded the games magazine PC Player , which quickly established itself as the market leader. The duo Schneider and Lenhardt achieved cult status in computer gaming circles. Schneider worked for PC Player until 1997. In 1996 he was editor-in-chief of the Internet and multimedia magazine Hyper .

He then started working for Microsoft Germany in Unterschleißheim near Munich . Until December 31, 2010 Schneider-Johne worked as product manager for the entire Xbox product catalog. At the beginning of 2011, he switched to the Windows team, where, among other things, he was responsible for the marketing of Windows 7 .

From April 2009 to March 2014 operating Schneider-Johne together with Anatol Locker , Heinrich Lenhardt , Joerg Langer and Winnie Forster the Games veterans - podcast in which he and other veterans of the video game journalism discussed current events in the computer and video game industry.

Schneider-Johne was a member of the highly gifted Mensa Association until June 2020 .

Boris Schneider-Johne is again responsible for the German translation of the classic point 'n' click adventure game Thimbleweed Park by Lucasarts legend Ron Gilbert ( Monkey Island ), which was financed through Kickstarter in 2014 .

In 2018 Schneider-Johne is a member of the jury for the German Computer Game Award .

See also

• Starkiller - The Scourge of the Galaxy

Web links

• dreisechzig.net - Boris Schneider-Johne's private weblog ( memento from October 18, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) (as of 2017)
• Game Veterans - Weblog
• Interview from March 2006
• Interview with Boris Schneider-Johne about his time at Power Play on Videospielgeschichten.de
• Interview with Boris Schneider-Johne on Warsow-Arena.de
• Interview in the podcast Die Drei Vogonen with Boris Schneider-Johne about the time at Happy Computer and Power Play but also more current topics

• Interview in the podcast game veterans with Boris Schneider-Johne about the time at PC Player

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 64'er 10/1984, 67
2. ^ Boris Schneider-Johne: Many happy returns. (No longer available online.) December 15, 2004, archived from the original on October 18, 2014 ; accessed on October 13, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Boris Schneider-Johne's LinkedIn profile  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ On giftedness and skeptics - Boris Schneider-Johne. Retrieved August 25, 2020 . 
5. ↑ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thimbleweedpark/thimbleweed-park-a-new-classic-point-and-click-adv/posts/1060890
6. ↑ Jury . In: German Computer Game Award . ( deutscher-computerspielpreis.de [accessed on March 16, 2018]).