I'll admit it: I'm attracted to geeks. That ashen pallor accrued only through an almost clinically-disturbing lack of sunlight...the unruly glasses that forever slide roguishly down the nose...the unspeakable love between a geek and his machine. It's almost overpowering. So you can imagine my excitement when the guys here at GameSpy asked for my opinion on who the sexiest game designers were. And now, dear readers, I can impart that wisdom to you. You can have your Steeds, you can have Romero's hair (which has become such a sex symbol in its own right that it recently filed for its own social security number). Give me a skinny coding guru any day who shares my love of curved surfaces. So without further adieu, allow Hellchick to bring her considerable experience to bear and enlighten you with her top four picks for the title of Sexiest Game Designers.

4. Chuck Jones (Valve Software)

This is not the same Chuck Jones of Bugs Bunny fame. But if it were, he'd be twice as sexy.
It's the fact that he's a former animator on Duke Nukem and Rise of the Triad that puts Chuck Jones on my list. Maybe it's Duke Nukem's brusque, macho persona, or maybe it's the slightly expired milk I drank this morning, but a guy who's worked on these two titles just makes me feel all funny inside. His former life as a tattoo artist gives him a sexy, other-side-of-the-tracks mystique, and I'm willing to bet that he's got tattoos he can't legally show me. Aww, yeah.



3. Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart (Epic MegaGames)

I've always had a thing for Sid Vicious. (Brandon Reinhart)


Two words: Unreal Tournament. Oh, wait, I was supposed to talk about the sexiest designers. My apologies.







2. Corrinne Yu (3D Realms)

Pretty and smart -- the two main criteria for sexy designers. (Corrinne Yu - Pic courtesy 3D Realms)
And I'll bet you thought this was going to be some chick-pleasing girl-toy list. But in the interest of keeping things fair and non-sexist, Corrinne Yu makes the number two slot. And why not? If I ever thought about playing for the other team, if you get my meaning, a woman like Corrinne would be the one for me - a woman who understands the finer points of matrix theory, a subject near and dear to this astrophysicist's heart. In terms of intelligence, she certainly fits the bill of the classic geek - and even I can't help feeling a little thrill when she talks about rasterizers. Ooh la la!

1. Graeme Devine (id software)

A Brit in a cowboy hat gets me every time. (Graeme Devine)

Anyone who has to stand in the shadow of Paul Steed's sexual mystique has their work cut out for them, and when they can stand out despite Steed, you know they have to be all that and a can of Cheez-Whiz. The fact that id Software's Graeme Devine is British and appears to be equipped with the Monty Python brand of British humor earns him extra marks in my book. But what really gets my horses out of the gate is the sultry, suave way his .plan reads when he talks about compiling smbmount.c. Mmm-mmm. And hey, his name is Graeme, for God's sake - how much sexier can you get?

Few people seem to truly appreciate the sex appeal with which the gaming industry practically oozes. But there you have it, folks - proof it exists in the definitive list of the four sexiest gaming developers. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to tell Paul Steed I'm washing my hair tonight so I can go out with Graeme Devine.

  Hellchick is an astrophysics researcher and a physics lecturer at the University of Wyoming. She's also one mean Quake mamma, a finalist in the recent "Female Frag Fest" all-womens' tournament. Along with her research, she's also working on hitting up developers for the first ever Gaming swimsuit calendar. We'll keep you posted.