Dan Ryckert

Daniel Joseph Ryckert (born June 16, 1984 in Olathe, Kansas) is an American producer, writer, and former video game journalist. In 2011, Complex magazine named Ryckert one of the twenty-five "raddest" game journalists to follow on Twitter. Ryckert has made three non-player character (NPC) appearances in video games; in 2011's L.A. Noire, 2014's Infamous Second Son and 2017's 2064: Read Only Memories.

Dan Ryckert
Born (1984-06-16) June 16, 1984
Lenexa, Kansas, United States
NationalityAmerican
OccupationVideo game journalist, producer, writer
Notable credit(s)
Game Informer magazine senior associate editor (2009–2014)
Giant Bomb senior content producer (2014–2020)
WWE podcast producer (2020–present)
TitlePodcast producer
Spouse(s)
Bianca Ryckert
​
(m. 2017)​

Joining GameStop's Game Informer magazine in 2009, becoming senior associate editor, Ryckert reviewed games and made video content for its website. This included celebrity appearance videos featuring Gwar and Andrew W.K.. During his time with the magazine, Ryckert broke two Guinness World Records, after playing two gaming marathons. In 2014 Ryckert, along with Game Informer video producer Jason Oestreicher, would both join CBS Interactive's Giant Bomb website, with Ryckert later moving from their San Francisco office to their New York office. In addition to weekly appearances on the Giant Bombcast and Giant Beastcast podcasts, Ryckert continued to produce video content such as playing the video game Super Mario Bros. 3 while riding the Medusa roller coaster and creating the Metal Gear-based "Metal Gear Scanlon" series with Drew Scanlon. In 2020, Ryckert became a podcast producer for WWE.

In 2017, Ryckert and fiancé Bianca Mondo were spotlighted in the media when they won a competition to be the first couple to be married at the Taco Bell Cantina in Las Vegas. The ceremony was held in June 2017. Ryckert is also an author and professional wrestling manager.

Early life and career

Ryckert graduated from Olathe East High School in 2002 and the University of Kansas in 2007.[1]

Game Informer (2009–2014)

Ryckert joined Game Informer in 2009, becoming most known for his video content produced, as well as breaking two Guinness World Records. Upon the release of the 2010 Xbox 360 peripheral, the Microsoft Kinect, Ryckert invited American rock band Gwar to play Kinect release Dance Central. Gwar, who were scheduled to play in Minneapolis, Minnesota where Game Informer is based accepted, with Oderus Urungus and Beefcake the Mighty joining Dan Ryckert to play the game.[2] Following the death in 2014 of Oderus Urungus, real name Dave Brockie, the original article was updated and the video reposted in a tribute, thanking them for their appearance.[3] 2011 saw the first of Ryckert's two successful Guinness World Record attempts. Ryckert broke the record for longest fighting game marathon along with three other editors, playing the Nintendo Wii title Super Smash Bros. Brawl for 30 hours of non-stop play during 474 matches.[4]

His second world record was set in accordance with five other Game Informer editors, with each of the six individuals setting gaming marathon records at the same time in different video game genres or franchise. Ryckert's record was in the Super Mario franchise, setting the record at 50 hours.[5] In response to the Game Informer staff being resistant to playing games from the Mario Party franchise with him, 2012 saw Andrew W.K. visit the Game Informer office in the same vein as Gwar at Ryckert's behest, to play the new release Mario Party 9, the meeting a pun on Andrew W.K.'s song Party Hard.[6][7]

Giant Bomb (2014–2020)

Following the death of co-founder and host Ryan Davis in 2013, Ryckert and fellow Game Informer staff member Jason Oestreicher joined Giant Bomb in 2014 as senior content producer and video producer, first introducing themselves on the July 1, 2014 episode of the Giant Bombcast.[8] Succeeding what Vice described as a year of emptiness, mourning and with a gap in editorial, the magazine said that the hiring of Ryckert, Oestreicher and news editor Austin Walker together ensured that "Giant Bomb has a future."[9]

I wish I could've known Ryan better – Whenever I spoke with him he was just the nicest, funniest guy in the world, I never considered myself a replacement and it was never presented to me as such. I'm just the new guy. I'm pretty public about my issues with anxiety so doing these panels and being in front of camera is certainly nerve-racking, but I've really enjoyed getting my personality out there. I love pro wrestling, and I've always loved the idea of these big personalities, but I never could be a wrestler because I'm tiny and weak. When I first came to Giant Bomb I could finally be that. It was a release for me.

Dan Ryckert, September 30th, 2015[9]

October 2014 saw Ryckert and Jeff Gerstmann compete against each other at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, California. The mock competition saw them attempting to make the most progress in Super Mario Bros. 3 on the Nintendo 3DS while riding on the theme park's Medusa steel roller coaster.[10] Publications with articles on the video such as Polygon and The A.V. Club joined in with the joke, with Polygon saying that it was "a glorious display of video game endurance. Possibly stupidity as well. But mostly, endurance."[11] Metal Gear Scanlon was a Let's Play show for paid subscribers that ran from 2014 to 2017 in which Metal Gear Solid expert Ryckert guided Drew Scanlon through his first playthroughs of the Metal Gear franchise games. In a Metal Gear guide, James Davenport of PC Gamer cited Metal Gear Scanlon as his favorite method of watching start to finish playthroughs of Metal Gear Solid games.[12] At the end of 2016, Ryckert relocated to New York to live closer to his wife's family and starting working out of Giant Bomb's New York office, becoming a permanent fixture on the Giant Beastcast podcast.[1]

WWE (2020–present)

On the January 3, 2020 episode of the Giant Beastcast, Ryckert announced his departure from Giant Bomb, having accepted a position as a podcast producer for WWE.[13][14]

Video game appearances

Ryckert's first non-player character video games appearance was in the 2011 video game release L.A. Noire, with LA Weekly detailing the motion capture techniques and equipment used to recreate his likeness in the game. This included the lack of a traditional motion capture process, the facial markers associated with facial motion capture.[15] Another facial motion capture technique was used for Ryckert's appearance in 2014's Infamous Second Son, an "advanced 3D scanning process."[16] Ryckert made his voice acting debut in 2017's 2064: Read Only Memories, playing a character called Broke.[17][18]

Publications

As an author, Ryckert has published six books. Two are of the fictional Air Force Gator series, inspired by action films of the 1980s. The books are described as a story of a military alligator pilot who is searching for his missing partner in the Middle East. After an altercation on Twitter between Ryckert and former Baseball player Jose Canseco, Canseco agreed to write the foreword for the sequel, Air Force Gator 2: Scales of Justice. ESPN reported that Canseco wrote the foreword under the impression, or pretending to be under the impression, that the book is a "thinly disguised metaphorical depiction of Canseco's life."[19] Other books include Anxiety As an Ally,[20] an autobiographical book based on Ryckert's experiences with anxiety disorders and panic attacks, and a memoir titled The Dumbest Kid in Gifted Class about his time growing up in Kansas.[1]

In professional wrestling

A noted fan of professional wrestling,[9] Ryckert is known for appearing on WWE pay-per-views holding video game signs based on Waluigi.[21] Ryckert joined the PAX video game wrestling league, League of Heels, as "Dirty Dan Ryckert",[22] a villainous heel character that uses nefarious methods to win video game matches.[23][24] During his time working for the San Francisco Giant Bomb office, Ryckert carried over his character to independent professional wrestling organizations in Northern California such as All Pro Wrestling as a professional wrestling manager.[18][25] After transferring to Giant Bomb's New York office, Ryckert began appearing at Battle Club Pro events in New Jersey.[26]

Personal life

Ryckert is said to have an eccentric personality which leads to a lot of ideas that think outside the box. Former Game Informer co-workers Jeff Cork and Ben Hanson have commented on Ryckert that his time working for Game Informer was "kind of like a Make-A-Wish Foundation for Dan. His life is ridiculous" and "You realize you need to kind of reset your own gauges onto what works and what doesn't, because I've been proven wrong time and time again. Never bet against Dan's is kind of a constant refrain."[4][20] Ryckert is a fan of 1980s action films, which both lead to the creation of his Air Force Gator series and being voted as one of the 25 raddest game journalists to follow on Twitter by Complex magazine.[19][27] Complex commented on its choice of Ryckert because his posts are just as much about Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Die Hard as any given game review he's worked on. Ryckert is known to suffer from anxiety disorders and panic attacks.[20][9]

Taco Bell wedding

In 2017, media outlets reported that Ryckert married Bianca Mondo after winning a Taco Bell competition, the Love and Tacos contest, to become the first couple to be married at the fast-food restaurant chain's new in-house wedding chapel in its Las Vegas flagship Taco Bell Cantina.[28] Both are said to be fans of Taco Bell, with Ryckert noted as once spending 90 dollars ordering everything off of the Taco Bell menu.[1] Listeners of The Giant Beastcast informed Ryckert of the competition which had entrants submitting their entries via social media.[29] Ryckert learned that he had won while in Orlando, Florida for WrestleMania 33.[1] The competition was said to have 150 entrants and that 17,000 votes were cast to decide the top ten, with a winner being selected by a Taco Bell panel.[30][22]

Ryckert met Mondo in 2015 during his time in San Francisco, with Mondo living in her native New Jersey, initially having a long-distance relationship, before moving together to New York. Ryckert describes Taco Bell as being one of the first conversations they had and that he "knew then that [they] were going to be a good fit.". Mondo describes her life since being in a relationship with Ryckert as "so strange and exciting," and immediately agreed to entering the competition.[31] The ceremony took place on June 25, 2017, with Taco Bell paying for the $600 wedding package.[28] The wedding featured Taco Bell designed bouquet, garters, bow ties and a Cinnabon Delights wedding cake.[28] Speaking after the wedding to Today, Ryckert said that despite the unique setting, "when I saw her walking down the aisle with her father – even in spite of the silly circumstances surrounding it – it was so easy to singularly focus on this genuinely important life event."[29] A second traditional wedding ceremony took place in August 2017.[1]

References
  1. "Awesome sauce: Olathe native is first to get married in new Taco Bell wedding chapel". The Kansas City Star. June 27, 2017. Archived from the original on June 28, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  2. "Game Informer asks: Will Kinect work if you're Gwar?". Engadget. December 21, 2010. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  3. "[Update] Does Kinect Work If You Are GWAR?". Game Informer. March 24, 2014. Archived from the original on May 16, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  4. "Game Informer editors break Guinness record for Longest Fighting Game Marathon". City Pages. March 24, 2011. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  5. "Game Informer Editors notch up Six Gaming World Records". Guinness World Records. September 14, 2011. Archived from the original on January 1, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  6. "Andrew Plays Mario Party with the Guys at Game Informer!". Andrew W.K. March 31, 2012. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  7. "Watch Us Mario Party Hard With Andrew WK". Game Informer. March 30, 2012. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  8. "Giant Bombcast 07/01/2014". Giant Bomb. June 30, 2014. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  9. "Giant Bombcast 07/01/2014". Vice magazine. September 30, 2015. Archived from the original on February 19, 2019. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  10. "Giant Bomb discovers that it's difficult to play Super Mario 3 while riding a roller coaster". The A.V. Club. October 3, 2014. Archived from the original on October 7, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  11. "Playing Mario on a roller coaster is way harder than it sounds". Polygon. October 3, 2014. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  12. "Become a Metal Gear expert before The Phantom Pain comes out". PCGamer. August 27, 2015. Archived from the original on August 28, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  13. Dan Ryckert [@danryckert] (January 3, 2020). "From a newspaper to a magazine to websites and podcasts, I've had the privilege of working in games for 15 years. Today, I'm stepping away from the industry that's been so great to me. Thank you to everyone that helped make the experience so special" (Tweet). Retrieved January 3, 2020 – via Twitter.
  14. Martinez, Phillip (December 19, 2019). "Kofi Kingston Talks 'Feel the Power' Podcast, Contract Extension & Future". Newsweek. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  15. "One Journalist Meets His Creepy-Real 'L.A. Noire' Video Game Counterpart". LAWeekly. August 27, 2015. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  16. "Infamous Second Son". GameInformer. March 24, 2013. Archived from the original on June 9, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  17. "Meet the people of Neo San Francisco in 2064: Read Only Memories". Destructoid. June 23, 2016. Archived from the original on June 26, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  18. "2064: Read Only Memories Gameplay Trailer & Cast Announcement". MidBoss. June 23, 2016. Archived from the original on June 27, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  19. "Fan insults Jose Canseco to pen foreword". ESPN. May 21, 2013. Archived from the original on December 19, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  20. "University alumnus and Guinness World Record holder determined to win Taco Bell wedding". The University Daily Kansan. February 22, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  21. "WALUIGI AMIIBO PLEASE". Kotaku. April 4, 2016. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  22. "Podcast: Why A Couple Would Get Married At Taco Bell". Kotaku. May 28, 2017. Archived from the original on May 30, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017. The top 10 were decided by votes and the ultimate winner was decided by Taco Bell judges.
  23. "PAXAMANIA". League of Heels. March 8, 2015. Archived from the original on September 7, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  24. "Dan Ryckert". League of Heels. March 8, 2015. Archived from the original on September 7, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  25. "Best Upcoming Pro Wrestling Shows Near San Francisco". KMVQ-FM. August 15, 2016. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  26. Battle Club Pro [@xBattleclubpro] (April 11, 2018). "Battle Club Pro-Dan Ryckert Arrives" (Tweet). Retrieved June 26, 2018 – via Twitter.
  27. "The 25 Raddest Games Journalists To Follow on Twitter". Complex magazine. January 11, 2011. Archived from the original on July 19, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  28. "See Inside This Couple's Lavish Taco Bell Wedding". People. June 26, 2017. Archived from the original on June 27, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  29. "This couple had their wedding at Taco Bell – and it was surprisingly beautiful". Today. June 29, 2017. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  30. "This Lucky Couple Just Won The Ultimate Taco Bell Wedding". Taco Bell. April 27, 2017. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  31. "How KU alumnus Dan Ryckert and his fiancee are preparing for their Taco Bell wedding". The University Daily Kansan. April 21, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
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