Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Game Informer Is Back, Baybeee
Last week, folks formerly employed at Game Informer, the much loved Minneapolis-based gaming news and reviews magazine, teased that big news was coming March 25. And they weren’t kidding: After abruptly shuttering last summer, the magazine/website is back. Like, really back. “The entire team that was working together at Game Informer’s closure has returned, from editorial to production and beyond,” Editor-in-Chief Matt Miller explains in an update on the site. “The entire team. Seriously—I’m still pinching myself.”
Not only has the publication returned, it’s updated like it never left, with 40+ new articles including a huge backlog of reviews covering games released since August as well as their annual Top 10 Games of 2024 Awards. Game Informer is also slated to return in hard-copy form with more news on that front coming soon.
So, how is this happening? No, former owner Game Stop didn’t have a change of heart. Instead, the company sold its in-house publication to Gunzilla Games, the developer behind the blockchain platform Gunz and the yet-to-be released Off The Grid, a free-to-play cyberpunk battle royale shooter that has faced criticisms for its in-game crypto/NFT market. Hm! Gunzilla was co-founded by sci-fi director Neill Blomkamp, whose films include District Nine, Chappie, and Elysium.
Miller is assuring fans that Game Informer will be operating 100% independently of its owners as Game Informer Inc. Subscriptions aren’t available yet, but you can register on their website for access to 30+ years of archived content. (It's always nice when the old and stupid corporate ownership doesn't nuke the archives.)
KQRS-FM Is Up to… Something
Speaking of brief hiatuses, classic rock radio station KQRS went DJ-free yesterday, proclaiming on its website that 92.5 FM will be “under construction” until April 3. Construction could mean bummer things like talent layoffs, though Chris Riemenschneider at the Star Tribune reports that the station has at least committed to keeping morning show personalities Steve Gorman and Ryder Rox. Nobody else has been guaranteed to return, and on-air host Brian Zepp was already let go earlier this month.
Construction could also mean a major format change, whether that's stretching the definition of classic rock (even further than Nirvana, which KQ now spins) or going in a completely new direction. Personally, I’d love for us to have an all-out modern hip-hop station, something listeners have been clamoring for since the Current launched two decades ago, but that seems unlikely. (RIP Go 95.3.) Regardless of whether or not the station keeps its employees or goes fully hands-free, DJ-less radio stations are already a thing in town, with JACK FM dominating the humanity-free format locally. And lord knows we don't need yet another Christian contemporary K-LOVE station...
Wow! Local Developer Buys Local Building in Uptown.
Uptown is alive again? Maybe.
Word on the street is Minneapolis-based development firm First & First has purchased the long-vacant Apple Store, formerly known as the Uptown Bar & Cafe, for $1.1 million. The 10,000-square-foot space at 3018 Hennepin Ave. has been closed for over five years. "I care about Uptown, I care about the city," CEO Peter Remes tells Christine Schuster at Bring Me the News. "I want there to be a vibrant, dynamic Uptown that I remember growing up in." Ah, so he’s an Uptown nostalgia chaser. Good thing nostalgia is in these days.
While there's no news on what exactly he plans to do with the space, the purchase could be promising. According to its website, First & First specializes in reviving long languishing urban properties. That includes the once overgrown Eat Street plot at 26th & Nicollet, which now houses Icehouse, Vertical Endeavors, and a cute little sculpture garden.
RIP Front Row Paul
Earlier this month, avid concert-goer Paul Engebretson, aka Front Row Paul, announced that he had pancreatic cancer, and the prognosis was grim. “I started in-home hospice today, the plan is to try and stay as comfortable as possible and then exit gracefully,” he wrote via Facebook. “A few months, a half a year, your guess is as good as mine.”
That exit came this week, as his friend Dan Humphrey announced that Front Row Paul had gone to the great concert hall in the sky. “He will be sadly missed,” writes Humphrey via Engebretson’s GoFundMePage. “I’m sure we all can agree that we’re happy he no longer feels any pain yet so very, very sad for Shelia and his family during this incredibly hard time.”
"Paul will live on in all of us who love the music of this city," adds UndercurrentMPLS. "His passion was bottomless and will continue to live on and inspire people forever! Next time you’re up front at a gig dancing around and having the time of your life, think of this legend."
