GameFan (originally known as Diehard GameFan) was a publication started by Tim Lindquist, Greg Off, George Weising, and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and import video games. It was notable for its extensive use of game screenshots in page design, contrasting other U.S. publications at the time. The original magazine ceased publishing in December 2000. In April 2010, Halverson relaunched GameFan as a video games and film magazine. However, this relaunch was short-lived and suffered from internal conflicts and low advertising revenue. History The idea for the name GameFan came from the Japanese Sega magazine called Megafan. Although it began as an advertising supplement to sell imported video games, primarily from Japan, the small text reviews and descriptions drew attention for a lack of refinement and sense of passion. Editor profiles featured caricatures drawn by Terry Wolfinger. The anonymized approach allowed certain editors like Dave Halverson to write multiple reviews of the same game under different pseudonyms. GameFan was well known for its extensive coverage of import games and its expansive coverage of emerging interest in anime. Another major feature that separated it from other gaming magazines was the high-quality paper used to print it. GameFan's game screenshots were more colorful and accurate to in-game graphics. The downfall of GameFan is usually attributed to several factors. The primary cause was a series of lawsuits which targeted the magazine for most of its run (most stemming from investors who felt they had been cheated out of their money during the early years of the publication), following it through numerous corporate iterations and change of hands. A lawsuit prevented the sale of the print magazine and its continuation, derailing a deal. After its dissolution, several staff members attempted to have the brand reinstated by the publisher of Computer Strategy Plus, based in Burlington, Vermont. A deal could not be reached and the magazine was shut down shortly thereafter in 2001. Controversy In the September 1995 issue of GameFan, an article was printed that contained several derogatory comments about Japanese people (calling them "little Jap bastards", a racially derogatory term that was used to insult Japanese descendants and Japanese Americans during the years of World War II). The text took the place of one of the paragraphs of one of the sports games reviews. The article discussed a Namco combat flight simulator, Ace Combat, rather than College Football