Randy Pitchford
For other uses, see Pitchford (disambiguation). |
Randy Pitchford | |
---|---|
Biographical information | |
Born |
April 21, 1971[1] |
Title(s) |
|
Nickname(s) |
DuvalMagic |
Randall Steward "Randy" Pitchford II is the president and CEO of Gearbox Software, which he co-founded in 1999.
Biography[edit]
Pitchford briefly worked at 3D Realms, where he contributed to Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition and Shadow Warrior. At that time, he started playing multiplayer games under the nickname "DuvalMagic", which he still uses today. He left 3D Realms in May 1997 to work on Prax War (which was never released) at the now defunct video game company Rebel Boat Rocker, for which Gearbox's Stephen Bahl also worked.[2]
With Gearbox Software, Pitchford directed/designed, co-wrote, produced and/or was executive producer for Half-Life: Opposing Force (for which he received the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences award for best PC Action Game in 2000), Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life: Decay, Half-Life for PlayStation 2, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, James Bond 007: Nightfire, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and Halo: Combat Evolved for PC.[2]
Trivia[edit]
In the Opposing Force sound files, there is an unused Easter egg sound named dsbossit.wav
that is related to the Gene Worm boss encounter. The sound is a sample of human speech that has been reversed and pitched down. After reversing it, it can be identified as a sentence saying, "To win the game you must kill me, Randall Pitchford."[3] This is a nod to a similar Doom II Easter egg made by John Romero.
Selected gameography[edit]
- Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999)
- Half-Life (Dreamcast port) (2001)
- Half-Life (PlayStation 2 port) (2001)
- Half-Life: Blue Shift (2001)
References[edit]
- ↑ Randy Pitchford's profile on Evil Avatar forums
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Randy Pitchford's profile on the official Gearbox Software website (archived)
- ↑ dsbossit.wav on YouTube