Julian Rignall
Julian "Jaz" Rignall is a writer and editor. He has also produced content for corporate websites such as GamePro Media, publisher of GamePro magazine and GamePro.com, marketing collateral and advertising campaigns.
Career
Early 1980s: Teenage gaming journalist
Rignall's career as a gaming journalist began in London in the early 1980s as a student competing in video game tournaments. During his teenage years, Rignall held the UK and World Record high scores on video games such as Defender, Pole Position and Crossfire. He also won Computer and Video Games magazine's 1983 UK Video Arcade Game Championship, beating more than 500 of the country's top arcade players to win the title. Rignall's success at winning international video game tournaments launched his career as a video game journalist writing gaming hints and tips for magazines such as Computer and Video Games and Personal Computer Games.1985–1988: First magazine launch
In 1985, the former editor of Personal Computer Games, Chris Anderson, invited Rignall to join the launch team for Newsfield Publications' Commodore 64 magazine, Zzap!64. Rignall admitted that when asked about Commodore 64 games he described his experience of playing the Atari versions, as he had no experience of the 64 at the time. As a staff writer, Rignall continued to display his gameplaying abilities as he repeatedly emerged the victor of the monthly ZZAP! Challenge, where readers challenged the magazine's reviewers to one-on-one gaming contests.In December 1987, Rignall became editor of Zzap!64, a position he retained until August 1988.
1988–1993: EMAP publications, media appearances
In 1988, Rignall joined Computer and Video Games magazine, an EMAP publication. Upon his promotion to editor, Rignall changed the magazine's editorial direction focusing more on the newly emerging Japanese video game consoles instead of the fading 8-bit generation of microcomputers.In 1990, recognising the console market was large enough to warrant a magazine of its own, Rignall launched Mean Machines. Covering the top-selling video game systems of the time, such as the Super NES and Mega Drive, Mean Machines became the largest-selling multi-platform publication in the United Kingdom. At first the print run of the magazine was kept limited, to create demand. In 1992, Mean Machines was split into two separate publications: the officially endorsed Nintendo Magazine System, now known as Official Nintendo Magazine, and Mean Machines Sega.
In late 1993, Rignall launched his final British publication, the officially endorsed Sega Magazine.
During this period, Rignall appeared regularly on TV as a games reviewer on the British TV programme GamesMaster, and made numerous appearances on BBC Television and BBC Radio as an industry commentator and field expert.