Time to celebrate!

Hi, all! I just heard back from Sean, my editor at Focal Press. The manuscript has been received, and I’ll soon be assigned a production editor to get us to the finish line. I really think you guys and gals will LOVE this thing. I dug deep to find the stories, quotes, and context that will really suck you in.

Some of my favorite parts:

• Shigeru Miyamoto’s development of Donkey Kong. What will you use the fire button for, Miyamoto? Fire button–what fire button???
• Will Wright and Sid Meier’s struggle to get anyone to believe in their “stupid” ideas for SimCity and Civilization. Who in their right mind would want to play such boring games?
• An anxiety-ridden Iwatani hiding out in a movie theater to see if any of the couples filing out would notice his bizarre arcade game–Pac-Man!
• Grand Theft Auto was boring and full of glitches. But wait–one of them turned out to be its greatest feature!
• A smug journalist told Sega’s Nilsen, “The Super Nintendo has 32,768 colors. Your Genesis only has 512. What are you going to do?” Nilsen pointed at a screen behind him, where Sonic the Hedgehog was playing. “That.”

I wish the book was out already! I can’t wait to see what you all think about it. For those wanting signed copies, keep in touch. I’ll keep you posted on publication dates and such.

As you probably know, Retro Magazine is the coolest magazine in the world for folks interested in retrogaming. If you’re not already subscribed to it, I may have to come over to your place and slap you with a fish. For the next issue, I’ve been tapped by the editors to put to put together a feature article on spy games. Spy games? What the heck does Matt know about spy games? Sadly, not a lot! However, I’ve been giving myself a crash course in the genre and trying to get to know these characters:

• Duke Togo (Golgo 13)
• Gabriel Logan (Syphon Filter)
• James Bond (GoldenEye N64)
• Michael Thorton (Alpha Protocol)
• Sam Fisher (Splinter Cell)

Sadly, I only recognized one name from this list: Bond, James Bond! Thankfully, I have played all the way through GoldenEye, albeit on my DS rather than the N64 (though I’m pretty sure I own it for both). I’ve always been a James Bond fan–I grew up watching Roger Moore-era Bond movies that we rented from the local VHS place. The fact that the VCR came in a cool suitcase seemed appropriate for watching a secret agent movie!

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Back in 1954, a psychiatric whistle blower named Fredric Wertham published a book called Seduction of the Innocent, which made all sorts of alarmist claims about the comics book industry.  Unbeknownst to the general public, the supposedly kid-friendly world of comics was anything but, and were, in fact, dripping with filth and the vilest of themes, including excessively graphic violence and sexual obscenities.

While some of his claims seemed questionable then and now (Superman as a fascist? Batman and Robin as lovers?) Wertham did a marvelous job drawing the public’s attention to some of the worst excesses of the comics industry. The comics industry responded by adopting a “Comics Code” sanitizing regime that threw the baby out with the bathwater. These efforts stunted the American comics book industry, which soon lagged behind other countries in terms of art and themes. Serious comic book authors in this country either went underground, gave up, or produced childish, squeaky-clean stories purged of meaningful content.

My point is not that the comics industry needed no regulation–simply that the reaction went much too far, and ended up stifling creative freedom in the process. And, if we’re not careful, the same thing–if not worse–is about to happen to American video games.

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