Martin Mathers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Martin Mathers, also known by his stage names of "Mr Mathers" and "The Megabyte Millionaire", is a British videogames journalist and TV personality. He is currently the deputy editor of Official Nintendo Magazine, having joined Future Publishing after serving as editor of Nintendo Wii magazine nRevolution, published by Imagine Publishing.
Contents |
[edit] Rise to fame/TV personality
Mathers first came to fame as a contestant on the first series of the Sky One videogames TV programme, Games World. Although he was eliminated in the finals of the competition, he so impressed the show's producers that he earned himself a role as a "Videator" on the second series, under the name of "Mr Mathers - The Megabyte Millionaire". He was particularly known for his ability to trash talk.
According to the Games World entry at UKGameshows.com:
In series 1, there was an entry into the tournament by the name of Matthew Mathers, who was so cocky it was unreal, but it was deserving as he made it to the final very easily. He was eliminated in the second round of the final, gave a brilliant post-game interview and stormed out to a huge round of boos. The show's production crew watched this guy (who was truly brilliant, he treated everyone with disrespect especially Mills), and signed him up immediately. He reappeared in Series 2 as Mr. Mathers, promptly destroying anyone who came up against him, and then would trash-talk the crowd.
Mathers would later appear on the Channel 4 videogames TV programme GamesMaster (also produced by Games World creators Hewland International) in 1997, competing in a challenge where he played two Virtua Cop 2 lightgun arcade machines simultaneously, with one gun in each hand, shooting at two separate screens. Although he did admirably, he failed the challenge when he accidentally shot an innocent bystander. Living up to his reputation as a quick-witted talker, when asked what happened by the presenters after the challenge, he replied that the bystander "Looked too much like Peter Andre" and that the only humane thing to do was shoot him. One of the most memorable moments in the series' history, it was one of the top moments relived in the final episode of the show. This final episode was included in full on a free DVD on the tenth anniversary edition of GamesMaster magazine in 2003.
[edit] Videogames Journalist
Mathers went on to work on the celebrated Nintendo GameCube magazine CUBE for Bournemouth-based videogames magazine publisher Paragon Publishing. He would later move over to accept the role of deputy editor on games™, before moving up to the position of editor.
A convoluted series of events had seen Paragon Publishing director Damien Butt sell the company and its portfolio of popular games magazines - including CUBE and games™ - to rival publisher Highbury House Communications. HHC had been a woefully mismanaged company and ultimately accumulated over £27 million in debt before being asset-stripped, whereupon its portfolio was split up and sold to various companies - including Imagine Publishing, a new publishing house created by Damien Butt, which bought all the videogames publications.
Mathers moved from games™ to become editor of X360 in January 2006. He remained with the Xbox 360 publication until September 2006, when he was responsible for helping to launch the Nintendo magazine, Revolution (later renamed nRevolution, on which he currently serves as Editor. This is an appropriate and full circle move for Mathers as, after his work on CUBE and his staunchly pro-Nintendo leanings while in charge of games™; he is largely identified as an advocate and strong supporter of the company and especially the new Wii console.
On January 29 it was announced in trade publication MCV that Mathers had joined Future Publishing (the market-leader in specialist videogames publications and longtime rival of both Paragon/Highbury and Imagine). He serves as deputy editor of Official Nintendo Magazine, where he has reunited with former Highbury colleagues Chandra Nair (ONM editor, who along with Mathers was part of the original team behind CUBE) and Charlotte Martyn (production editor, who had long served as senior sub editor on games™, including during Mathers' duration as the magazine's editor).
[edit] Trivia
- Mathers' participation on both Games World and GamesMaster, coupled with his gimmick of "The Megabyte Millionaire" led to a bizarre urban legend that he really was, in fact, a millionaire, and that he owned both shows and/or their production company, Hewland International.
- Mathers remains friends with another key character from Games World, "Big Boy Barry", played by Alex Verrey. Verrey still works in the games industry as a PR representative for a third-party producer of videogames peripherals.
- Though he may no longer be competing as a Videator on televised videogames programmes, Mathers is still active in vieogame tournaments and competitions, winning a Joystick Junkies tournament in October 2005 to win an Xbox 360 console.
- While on vacation in Japan in late 2005, Mathers attended a karaoke night in "suitably otaku attire". A photograph was taken and subsequently leaked within the games industry to the amusement of all but the man himself.
