René Meyer

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René Meyer

René Meyer (born July 25, 1970 ) is a German journalist. He works in Leipzig with a focus on computers and digital media, especially for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . He is the author of more than sixty specialist books.

His private museum House of Computer Games was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest collection of game consoles and regularly exhibits at trade fairs and festivals. With partners such as HTWK Leipzig and Koelnmesse, he organizes events such as the Long Night of Computer Games in Leipzig and the retro show at Gamescom in Cologne.

Career

As early as the 1980s, during his school days, Meyer was concerned with home computers. He learned programming languages ​​such as BASIC , Assembler , Forth , Pascal and C and developed games, learning programs and tools.

After graduating from high school in 1989, Meyer completed a practical year as a developer in a software company and twelve months of community service . In 1991 he started studying computer science at the University of Leipzig , which he broke off in favor of a journalistic career. From 2006 to 2008 Meyer studied part-time at the SAW - Academy for Marketing and Communication in Leipzig .

Meyer is committed to a better image of computer games and supports the developer scene. In addition to his activities around the House of Computer Games , he is invited to lectures and discussions as well as by television and radio stations. Meyer has been networking the Leipzig game scene since 2001 and inviting developers, lecturers, artists, journalists and dealers to monthly meetings.

In 2004 and 2006, Meyer wrote the official books for the Games Convention , which were intended as basic primers to familiarize people with the world of computer games. Since 2007 René Meyer has been organizing the Long Night of Computer Games at the HTWK Leipzig together with Klaus Bastian . The festival for the culture and history of games has developed over the years into the largest event for retrocomputing and retrogaming in Germany, but also covers related areas such as indie development , e-sports and board games.

Since 2009 Meyer has been designing the special retro gaming show at Gamescom together with other collectors and associations . It now comprises a joint stand of more than 1,000 square meters. Meyer was co-founder of Kreatives Leipzig eV in 2010. As a board member of the FKSFL - Freundeskreis Science Fiction Leipzig eV, he is involved in the organization of the Elstercon literature festival .

Until its dissolution, Meyer was a member of the Academy of the German Developer Prize ; since 2012 he has been on the jury of the Gamescom Awards.

In 2002 and 2003 Meyer published two books on programming with Blitz Basic , an entry-level language for games. Meyer still writes little games every now and then. 2013, for example, a remake of the classic Hunt the Wumpus ; For Gamescom 2014 he developed a GDR quiz for a Schneider Euro PC .

Meyer has been married since 1996 and has two children.

Cheat Power

Since 1993 Meyer has been maintaining the MogelPower database , a collection of cheat codes and solutions for computer games. Around 25 books, several CD-ROMs and the website Mogelpower.de emerged from it. The sister project EasterEggs.de has been collecting Easter Eggs , hidden gags in computer programs and DVDs , since 1999 . They were also published in book form in 2000.

In 2005 Mogelpower.com started as a German-English meta search engine for game content. It searches 70 online magazines for news, reviews, cheats and downloads.

House of Computer Games

House of Computer Games at Gamescom 2010

As part of his work, Meyer has compiled a world-class computer games collection that was included in the Guinness Book of Records in 2007.

It comprises 25,000 exhibits, including 1,000 game consoles, home computers and LCD games, 10,000 games, accessories such as input devices and monitors, as well as several thousand specialist magazines and books. The collection is shown as a traveling exhibition under the name of the House of Computer Games at public shows such as Gamescom , at congresses and festivals.

Books (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Retro-Gaming: Time travel through the history of computer games , Computerbild, August 21, 2013
  2. ↑ Finally invincible , mz-web.de, December 28, 2015
  3. ^ Eggs without cholesterol , WAZ, March 21, 2008
  4. ↑ "World Record for Mr. Console" - Focus
  5. ↑ a b "The Console King from Leipzig" - Spiegel Online, October 12, 2009
  6. ^ House of Computer Games , Digital Game Culture Foundation
personal data
SURNAME Meyer, René
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist
DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig