Harold Goldberg

Harold Goldberg has written for these magazines and newspapers: The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Vanity Fair, Talk, Radar, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Time Digital, USA Today, Family Circle, Boys’ Life, Wired, Esquire, Playboy, New York, Smart Money, The Village Voice, 7 Days, Rolling Stone, Travel and Leisure, Interview, Slate/The Big Money, The Industry Standard, Cosmopolitan, Kotaku, and others.

In 2000, Goldberg won the Western Publishers Award (the Maggie) for Best Feature Article, beating Wired and 85 other fine entries. The year before, the issue of ID magazine Goldberg wrote and edited as guest writer/editor was part of a package that won a Folio Award.

In May, 2004, William Morrow published “My Life Among The Serial Killers,” which Harold Goldberg co-authored with world renowned psychiatrist Dr. Helen Morrison. In addition to the U.S. editions, the books have recently been published in the U.K., Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and elsewhere. It was serialized in the Times of London and was a selection of seven book clubs, including the Today Show book club.

From 2006 to 2008, he was a writer/consultant to Viacom’s videogame sites, including VH1 Games, Comedy Central Games and CMT Games. He also created the critically lauded VH1 Game Break blog, which was featured in Newsweek. He developed its irreverent tone (including the Idiot of the Week feature), culled prizes for contests and wrote five pieces each day for two years.

In 2007, he began to write for the American Movie Classics Web site, shaping content and interviewing directors and actors for a new generation of viewers of shows like “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.” Here, he wrote seven pieces daily about movies and popular culture. He was the first person to write about videogames for AMC. He also improved the site’s voice, brought in established writers, developed a payment structure and made certain that movie companies supported the site. In 2008 as a writer, he helped to launch a landmark gaming site called Crispy Gamer, the only one that refused ads from video game companies. Sadly, it imploded in 2010.

As the former editor in chief of Sony Online Entertainment, Harold Goldberg helped to shape the words for dozens of games, including “EverQuest,” one of Time magazine’s best games of 2000. At Sony, he created “Motherboard,” an online magazine about the culture of games featuring famed writers like Michael Crichton, Nick Tosches and John Saul. Also contributing were actress Michelle Williams, director Gus Van Sant and animator Bill Plympton.

Goldberg was one of the original videogame reviewers for Wired and Entertainment Weekly and is currently the videogame critic for Boys’ Life. As a syndicated newspaper columnist for three years, Goldberg penned a weekly column called “Gameplay of the Week.”

On April 5, 2011, Random House published All Your Base Are Belong to Us, How 50 Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture. It is based upon 200 interviews and many hours of unprecedented access to Sam Houser within Rockstar Games New Headquarters.

James Ledbetter, editor in charge at Reuters.com, says the book is “a story that is as riveting and addictive as the games (Goldberg) writes about.” Matt Helguson, senior editor of Game Informer, says “if you’re one of the millions of people who have fallen in love with videogames, this is required reading.” And Ken Levine, creative director at Irrational Games, the makers of BioShock, says “Harold Goldberg’s portrait of a weird, often dysfunctional and amazing videogame industry makes a great, great read.”

In October, 2011, Goldberg joined forces with Emmy Award winner musician Anton Sanko, twice-Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton and Steven Spielberg/Sam Raimi storyboard artist Dave Lowery. Together, they created the online movie event, Playing With Fire.

In 2012, Goldberg became a regular contributor to the New York Times culture section. He is also a consultant for the Tribeca Film Festival.

In 2015, Goldberg became a contributing critic at The Washington Post.

In 2015 into 2016, Goldberg was featured in four documentaries, including one for the National Geographic Channel and another for Business Insider.

Goldberg founded The New York Videogame Critics Circle in 2011. He oversees a talented, multicultural group of 35 writers and critics. Hundreds of thousands have watched the New York Game Awards stream in the five years of its existence. The show is hosted by Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and features guest like Wyclef Jean – along with the world’s best game makers.