Jessica Chobot

Biography

Jessica Chobot is a writer on Zombie Studios' survival horror game Daylight. Previously she worked at IGN, hosting shows like Weekly Wood and Strategize while contributing at G4, Fuel TV, and other outlets. She initially gained fame for licking a PSP, which helped her land a job at IGN.

Early years

Jessica Chobot was born Jessica Lynn Horn in Buffalo, New York in 1977. As a child, her family frequently moved along the east coast and around the midwest, to which her parents placated her with video games. As a teenager, she entered a punk/ goth phase and developed a deep fascination for comics and vampires. She attended college in Ohio and began roleplaying characters from Vampire: The Masquerade, and even attended LARP meetings.

Unsettled life

After college, she worked for several years as an administrative assistant for a real estate agency where she met her first husband. She enrolled in a part time graduate program to become an art teacher. When state laws about teacher certification changed, she had a "quarter-life crisis" that set off a significant chain of events. She became depressed, started playing World of Warcraft heavily, got a job at EB Games, and later spent all her savings on a ticket to Japan. Chobot calls the 3 week trip "transformative", a validation of her interest in games and Japanese culture. She returned to the US looking to get a job in the video game industry.

The PSP photo

During this time, Chobot started modeling to support her gaming and anime habit. On launch day for the PSP, she picked up her unit on the way to a shoot, where the now infamous photo was taken. She jokingly sent it to a friend who worked in video game product placement, who encouraged her to send it to Kotaku. She did, but expected nothing of it. Kotaku posted it however, and was deluged by emails asking about her. Encouraged by the photo's success, she accepted an offer from the Kotaku's editor to write game reviews for a partner site.

Career

Into the games industry

That year, she used her EB Games employment to get into E3, where she coincidentally stayed in the same hotel as Kotaku. She accompanied them to the IGN E3 party, where she met an IGN representative who encouraged her to talk to their entertainment editor as a potential booth model. Impressed with her gaming experience and fascination with Japanese culture, the editor instead offered her freelance work for their insider channel. So she left her old life, including her husband, to move to California to take her dream job.

Moving up

Once working at IGN, Jessica's career took off. She moved from freelancer to regular host of IGN Weekly, landed regular guest spots on Maxim radio, served as game advisor on The Daily Habit, and served as a dating advice columnist on IGN babes channel. By 2009, she had hosting duties for IGN Daily Fix and regular segments on Xbox Live and Fuel TV, as well as hosting one of IGN's most popular blogs. She also contributed at G4, where she met her husband Blair Herter. Chobot later hosted IGN's Weekly Wood and Strategize. In addition, she has modeled for the J!NX female gamers clothing line and for a limited edition anime sculpture, and co-authored a sci-fi script with Tron creator Steve Lisberger. In 2012, she played a journalist named Diana Allers in Mass Effect 3. Controversy surrounded the role as Chobot also previewed the game at G4.

Zombie Studios

After leaving IGN, Chobot was asked by her friend Jared Gerritzen, a director at Zombie Studios, about writing an outline for a horror game. They had discussed the genre extensively and Gerritzen was impressed with Chobot's knowledge. The game she pitched, called Daylight, will be published by Atlus for Playstation 4 in 2014. Chobot works part time on the project from her home in Los Angeles where she lives with her husband and son.

Nerdist

In November 2013 Chobot started hosting Nerdist News, a triweekly gaming, tech, and culture news show on YouTube.

Personal Life

Chobot's was previously married but it ended in divorce in 2006. Rather than reverting back to her birth name (last name Horn), she decided to keep her husband's last name Chobot. On August 24, 2011 Chobot was engaged with G4TV's Blair Herter and they married on February 18, 2012. They both have a son named Emerson.

Notable Facts

• Has owned the following gaming systems: Atari 2600, GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, GameCube, N64, NES, Nintendo DS, PS2, PSP, Playstation, SNES, Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3
• Voted 88th most desirable woman by AskMen in 2006
• Voted 14th hottest woman of business by Business Pundit
• Currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son.
• Chobot hates anthropomorphic animals, which is why she hates Disney movies (with the exception of Wall-E).
• Chun Li is Jess' favorite character in gaming. She knows every move in Street Fighter 4, for that character.
• Nicknamed the Baroness, due to her resemblance to the character.
• Was the model for Grand Theft Auto IV's cover girl.
• Chobot is a big fan of Wonder Woman and cites actress Lynda Carter (who played Wonder Woman in the 1976 TV series) as her idol. She also strikes a strong resemblance with the actress as pointed by fans.