U.S. National Video Game Team is rebooted for the 21st Century

DENTON, Texas - Sept. 27, 2015 - EntSun -- The first-ever national team of video game experts is rising from the ashes.

Video game advocate Patrick Scott Patterson and veteran arcade gaming champion Tim McVey have announced a reboot of the U.S. National Video Game Team. The announcement took place today in Austin, TX at the world premiere screening of documentary film Man VS Snake, which chronicles McVey's gaming story.

The original U.S. National Video Game Team formed in 1983 with McVey among their first members. Together, the USNVGT advocated for the video game industry and came together for charity events. In the late 1980s, the Team began to endorse products, appear in television commericals and founded Electronic Games Player Magazine, the first multi-platform gaming publication in the United States after the North American video game industry crash of the mid-1980s.

In the 1990s, the Team slowly faded away, a fact that Patterson said has never sat well with him.

"The work the U.S. National Video Game Team did in the late 1980s inspired me to do a lot of what I'm doing now," Patterson said. "Sadly, as important as that work was back then, it has largely been forgotten about today. With eSports growing so rapidly and gaming growing to what it has, we need the USNVGT more than ever."

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After discovering the fate of the original teams, Patterson filed the necessary motions to reboot the concept in early August after a conversation with McVey and several other former members. Following today's announcement, he says he plans to reach out to former members to ensure the new USNVGT lives up to its legacy.

"I will be extending invites to former members and captains of the team," Patterson added. "I'd like them as advisers, so that this new generation of the Team can keep to the standards set by the original incarnations. Their input is vital."

To kick off the membership side of the new team, California exergame champion Carrie Swidecki has agreed to join the new USNVGT. A multi-time Guinness World Record gaming champion who has raised thousands for charities such as the Children's Miracle Network, McVey stated that Swidecki sets the bar for what is expected of a Team member.

"Carrie is the gold standard of what a video game champion should be," McVey stated. "She is positive and giving and we couldn't think of anyone better to kick off the new Team."

Patterson promises more information about the U.S. National Video Game Team reboot within the week ending October 3.