About Us

SmashPad got its start as a commentary supplement to Gamer 2.0 (formerly Inside Gamer Online, which got bought over by an eSports publication brand called Amped News) founded by Amadeo Plaza and Anthony Perez.

Plaza and Perez recruited and built the staff under different brands including Gaming-Nation, Inside Gamer Online, Amped IGO, Amped News, Gamer 2.0, and now SmashPad.

After struggling to get back on its feet as Gamer 2.0 continued to lose funding thanks to Amped ownership, the SmashPad blog eventually became the main outlet for the site’s editorial staff.

Now headed by senior staff Danreb Victorio, Chris Selogy, and Filippo Dinolfo, SmashPad has slowly but surely regained attention as a legitimate source in independent gaming journalism.

SmashPad doesn’t exist to report the news, which is seemingly the task of many other gaming publications today. Our intention is to take a good look at the things happening in the gaming space and give a critical, and usually well supported, view on the goings-on that take place.

That said, although you will see it from time to time, don’t come to SmashPad expecting to see breaking stories.

Review Policy

Game reviews are among SmashPad’s most common written pieces to be published.  We use a 5-Star scale, ranging from 1 (a bad game) to 5 (a must-have game).  As a staff, we most often pick a staff member most fit to review a game in question in order to avoid judging a game unfairly i.e. we’re not going to have someone who primarily plays RPGs review a first-person shooter.

In regards to how games are acquired for purposes of review, given our size, a large portion of the games SmashPad reviews are purchased or rented with a staff member’s personal funds. At times, SmashPad is provided with review copies or codes by publishers through their public relations teams. As part of our policy, nothing is promised to the publisher in return for a review copy or code.

All games reviewed by SmashPad will contain a note stating whether or not the game was purchased by the reviewer or given to the reviewer for review purposes.

MASTHEAD

Executive Desk

• Danreb Victorio | Executive Editor, Head of Content
• Chris Selogy | Managing Editor, Day 0 Update Host
• Filippo Dinolfo | Senior Staff Writer, Web Admin

Editorial Staff

• Alex Quevedo | Senior Editor, Field
• Brandon Perkins | Senior Staff Writer, Let’s Weekend Host
• Myles Obenza | Associate Editor
• Kimi Arquines | Copy Editor
• Mike Fertitta | Staff Writer
• Kayla Merritt | Staff Writer
• Kurosh Jozavi | Staff Writer
• Adriana Rodriguez | Video, Social
• Jon Yelenic | Staff Writer

Contributors

• Marie Ablaza | Magic the Gathering
• Jordan Elek | Editorial
• Andrew Farrell | Editorial
• Leigh Lamb | Commentary
• Patrick Mifflin | Commentary, Podcasts
• Christian Paraguya | Editorial
• Anthony Perez | Commentary
• Theresa Samons | Commentary, Copy Desk

Alumni

• Sarah Aenerud
• Ted Dedon
• Andy Giese
• Scott Gualco
• Carolyn Petit
• Amadeo Plaza
• Daniel Phillips
• Josh Schwartzman
• Lucas Stephens
• Kevin VanOrd

JOIN THE TEAM

Have a passion for gaming? Can you type up your thoughts on this passion in ways that make sense? Then you just might be a great fit for SmashPad’s staff.

Take a look at these available positions you can fill.

If any of these positions interest, e-mail Danreb at dvictorio@smashpad.com.

Contributor
Contributors are writers and guests on the podcast on a limited basis.

Staff Writer
Staff Writers are the backbone of our content, as they write whatever they are assigned to write or volunteer for.

Copy Editor
Copy Editors are one of the most important members on our staff, as they’re the ones that keep our copy clean.  No article gets published on SmashPad without going through peer editing with a copy editor or two.

Social Media Specialist
While the Social Media Specialist probably won’t have too many bylines, they live and breathe SmashPad’s social networking culture, managing Facebook posts, tweets, and everything social media-related.

User Integration Specialist
We don’t have a lot of stuff on our page we don’t need. Everything is to the point, and that’s what the UI Specialist is responsible for–making the site as easy to access as possible.  Are you a coder?  Do you like building websites?  Wanna work on a gaming site?  That’s what we need you for.

Compensation Transparency

This is a purely volunteer gig, and nobody on the staff gets paid. There are, however, some rewards and great benefits to being a part of the staff, and it all depends on the work put in.

In addition to possible early review copies of the games you review, you’ll also instantly be a part of the gaming press, discovering, meeting, and networking with contacts of those in the industry. Many of our writers have gone and taken their talents to the next level by writing for such publications as GameSpot among others.