Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Ikari Warriors Publisher Passes On
After a lengthy battle with illness, businessman and civic leader Leland P. Cook Jr. passed away on Friday, November 6, 2009. He was 75. Gamers might find this significant as Cook was one of the founders of Tradewest, the now-defunct video game publisher that reached prominence in the mid-‘80s.
In 1985, Leland and his oldest son Byron started Tradewest, which initially licensed and marketed coin-operated arcade games, such as the top selling game of 1986, Ikari Warriors. SNK’s developers were so enamored by Cook’s likeable attitude that they changed the name of Ikari Warrior’s last boss from General Kawasaki to Colonel Cook.
As one of the first licensees of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Tradewest went on to produce classic hits like Double Dragon, Super Off Road, and Battletoads. Leland Cook has certainly left a lasting legacy in the video game world, and later in life, the horse racing industry, and our best wishes go out to his friends and family.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
