Those of you who have followed video game broadcasting for a number of years, no doubt know who Amanda Mackay is. She made her video game hostess debut on G4TV’s Pulse a few years ago and went on to host a number of video game specials on MTV, eventually working with Gametrailers.com to host GTWEEKLY and GAMEONE. Most recently she has been hosting segments on the Spike TV’s Gametrailers TV; a cable broadcast show of the website, hosted along with Geoff Keighley and Daniel Kayser.
The first few episodes have aired with rave reviews among the gaming community and Amanda Mackay has taken some time for us here at Unleaded Logic Dot Com for an interview!
Mike Mertes: We know you’ve hosted a number of different shows for Gametrailers.com, but how did you get involved with working with them in the first place?
Amanda Mackay: Very soon after I left G4 I got a call from Jon Slusser at GameTrailers asking me to come out and cover a gaming launch for them. The site had been posting video game trailers for awhile and were looking to expand the site by making their own videos and covering gaming events. About a half hour into that first shoot, they talked to me about covering the upcoming E3. Of course I said yes, and at the end of E3 they pitched a weekly show called “GT Weekly” to me. I thought it was a great idea and so away we went. I have been with them ever since, and am proud to be a part of their tremendous success.
Mike: Speaking of all the shows, now that you’re on TV each week, is it more hectic to get a show produced compared to the work needed on GAMEONE or GTWEEKLY?
Amanda: It is more hectic because there are many extra steps involved in getting the show ready for broadcast (closed captioning, etc), and so the show has to be ready a lot earlier than it used to. The GT team does a great job making sure nothing gets overlooked each week.
Mike: Do you get to work in close proximity with Geoff and Daniel for the shows or are you all placed at different locations?
Amanda: We don’t often host segments together but we’re always all together behind the scenes. We spend a lot of time together at different events and have a lot of fun!! Daniel and I have been known to bust out the karaoke during late nights in Tokyo.
Mike: On a more individual note, you’ve worked on several side projects in the past like movies, among other things. Do you have any current movies or side projects you’re working on?
Amanda: I’ve been doing a lot of work for Spike’s website. Right now I’m in the middle of a film festival tour and they also had me cover the Adult Entertainment Expo (aka the Porn Convention) in Las Vegas. That was … interesting, ha ha!!
Mike: Out of the three current game systems what is your favorite and why?
Amanda: I hate picking favorites but I guess the Xbox 360 because it had the best games last year. Looks like that might change in 2008 though.
Mike: What game systems did you play growing up?
Amanda: Every system Nintendo made and a few from Sega.
Mike: Out of the many places you’ve been to on location for Gametrailers, what was your favorite?
Amanda: Definitely Tokyo. I love everything about Japan except the whale hunt!!
Mike: You’ve mention on your blog that you’ve recently had a lot of travel time lately. What is your week typically like when it comes to getting segments filmed?
Amanda: No week is typical for me but to give you an example, last week I was in San Francisco, right now I am in Miami and next week I will be in Austin. I’m pretty sure my dogs are going to disown me.
Mike: You’ve really started to attract quite a fan base, what do you think about sites like MySpace and others that let you interact with your fans?
Amanda: I think they’re great. I love using myspace to hear from people who watch the show and I try to answer all their questions. I am an internet junkie and I don’t know how humankind survived without it.
So there you have it folks! If you haven’t taken the time to check out Amanda on Gametrailers TV, you can watch it every Friday night at 1AM Central time on SPIKETV or you can watch every episode that has aired right on Gametrailers.com.
Also don’t forget to stop on by at www.amandamackay.net or Amanda’s Myspace page to see what else is new in the world of Amanda Mackay!
Thanks again for taking the time to answer some questions Amanda!