November 12, 2009
Countdown to the end of David Tennant’s reign as Dr Who strikes 2 (of 4 specials) on Sunday, Nov 15th, airing at 7pm GMT.
No sign of it on the schedule for SyFy channel (what’s with that stoopid name?) but anyone sufficiently interested will know how to see it Sunday!
November 12, 2009
Did a preview/interview for GameRevolution.com, and it’s here:
http://www.gamerevolution.com/preview/xbox360/army-of-two-40th-day
July 7, 2009
What better accompaniment to Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts than the actual games themselves that helped shape the company’s legacy? Or should that be the other way around, what better support to the games being rereleased than getting insight into their creation in the book…
Whatever the case, for fans everywhere, Wednesday July 8th is a happy day. LucasArts has announced it is making a slew of the classic games available for download over Steam.
Which ones? Here’s the list (no mentio of price or bundle deal options):
Armed and Dangerous™
Indiana Jones® and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones® and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
LEGO® Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure
LOOM™
Star Wars Battlefront® II
Star Wars Republic Commando®
Star Wars Starfighter™
The Dig®
Thrillville®: Off the Rails™
And don’t forget that the revisit of the classic Monkey Island is also hitting Steam on July 15th.
A little light reading in the book will set up that experience just perfectly… Honest.
May 25, 2009
Okay, dropping the book chat for a change of direction because this has been on my mind for days, building into–appropriately–a fever pitch!
1975 I attended my first Sheffield United game. 1976-77 I got my first season ticket. I’d be hard-pressed to find a reasonable defense against the charge that this apparent positive gesture wasn’t in fact child endangerment. I was, as the club nickname dictates, a Blade. As a 7-year old how was I to understand the psychological trauma and torment (mixed with admittedly occasional euphoria) that 32 years later would still be so ingrained, so infectious, so potentially…yes, euphoric.
On Monday, March 25th, at 7am Pacific Time, Sheffield United will kick-off a game against Burnley dubbed “the 60-million-pound game” in recognition of the possible TV and sponsorship cash windfall that comes hand in hand with a place in England’s top soccer division, the Premiership. I just care about us winning something significant.
Best guess, a dozen other people among the entire population in these United States give a crap. (I know there’s a guy in Florida, one in Chicago, and I saw Blades stickers on a car in a parking lot in Maui that had me taking photos of a sight I never imagined I’d see). Though I’ve developed a great appreciation of “American” football, and though never lived on the east coast (or even Midwest) where I understand the passion factor behind the local teams reaches fever pitch (for all of those 16 games, whoop-di-doo), it’s impossible to explain what it means to feel like you do bleed your team’s colors (in my case a handy red and white stripes, but doctors would still be freaked).
One of the reasons I adore Nick Hornby’s brilliant book Fever Pitch is that—in his description of the lead character’s reaction to Michael Thomas nicking the First Division title from Liverpool…at Liverpool…with virtually the last kick of the entire season—he manages to put into succinct words the, yes, euphoria, that I could never similarly convey. Because really, you can’t describe it. You can’t explain how two total strangers, two young lads bred of harsh northern England stock, two comrades in colors who had likely never shed a tear or exuded a true emotion in any kind of company, even among the tightest family, could suddenly, spontaneously, embrace in a clinch of jubilation that, if you looked closely enough, would certainly have also featured the shedding of real tears.
Alan Cork, Wembley, 1993, just before half-time, sliding a weak shot past the hapless Chris Woods, and the evil Chris Waddle unable to catch its seemingly endless role into the corner of the goal. That moment was “football euphoric,” which is to say, it’s euphoric to a mathematical power unfathomable by scientific computations. Euphoria to the power of deep, deep emotion. That’s powerful. That’s what happened between me and a total stranger sat in the seat in front. I never got his name.
So when I saw this video, compiled by a YouTube poster known—and I understand why, but only other Blades will get the gag—as SirBobBooker it captured in simple statements and video compilations the emotion Hornby puts into words in Fever Pitch. But this time it’s for my team.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsSa6aJE2Ds
And I know, if I wasn’t that same stoic Englishman underneath, I’d have balled like a 7-year old less than half way through.
Monday, May 25th, 2009 at 7am I’ll be on my couch, in my red-and-white striped shirt, kicking every ball, yelling at every decision, and hoping, just hoping for the right breaks. And I know, if the same situation occurs May 25th, 2059 I’ll be just the same way (but probably a little crankier).
Come On You Red And White Wizards.
COYRAWW
March 16, 2009
If you’re serious about your gaming knowledge, you know Edge magazine. Published in the UK, it’s Future’s flagship magazine. To celebrate its 200th issue they’ve actually produced 200 separate covers (the one I just picked up featured ZX Spectrum classic–and one of my all-time faves–Jetpac. Plus, in its exhaustive feature well is a six-page excerpt from Rogue Leaders.
The book is published by Titan Books in the UK.
February 1, 2009
Emmy-award winning videogame TV show Electric Playground has been around for years, with host and producer Victor Lucas traveling the globe to cover games and the people that make them. And, in this segment, the people and products that write about games. Vic had a crew come to the book launch event where host Jose Sanchez interviewed editor Kevin Toyama and myself. It’s now posted on the G4TV web site:
http://g4tv.com/electricplayground/videos/36090/Rogue-Leaders-Profile.html
January 30, 2009
Ages ago I was asked to answer some questions about the book, its background, my background, etc. for Chronicle Books (the publisher). I forgot to mention that it’s up and available to peruse at your leisure should that kind of thing tickle your fancy.
http://www.chroniclebooks.com/blog/?p=2485
January 22, 2009
Gamasutra–the web-site for games industry professionals of all stripes–has posted a chapter excerpt from the book. It’s actually one of my favorite stories in the book, the background to the development of a project called Habitat, which was essentially the first online social networking/massively multiplayer game. And it was developed for the 300 baud modem for the Commodore 64!
It’s a great story illustrating the kind of innovation being fostered at the company in those early days, and though Habitat in its original design doc format never made commercial release, the fact that so many of its design features (and even use of words, such as avatar to describe your in-world character) live on today is testimony to its true visionary status.
You can read it all at:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21883
Rob
January 16, 2009
Missed this before the break, but the excellent online thinking man’s videogame magazine, The Escapist, posted a quick write-up about the book, and I’ll pick out one specific–and very short–piece of the review: “a gem.”
That is all!
Read the full thing at:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88001-Rogue-Leaders-Geeky-Reading-Goodness
January 13, 2009
Since the book shipped just before the holidays, and a number of people have stopped me to say “Hey, I got your book for Christmas!” If that’s the case, thanks for either adding it to your Wish List, or to your friend/family member who thought you might like it. In that spirit, reviews have started appearing on Amazon, generally positive.
To address the 1 star commentary, at least he states that if the price were cheaper the content would be worth a few more stars! Related to that, a couple of other reviews have appeared at respected online videogame sites. One very thorough study at Adventure Gamers — http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,962/ – comments on the lack of detail in the book about several games. It’s a fair comment that I didn’t delve into the minutae of every game. There simply wasn’t the space in the spec that we sketched out for what we thought the book should be. By the same token, I hoped that the balance of commentary on the numerous games reflected the overall direction of the company. I believe it did that, and if the balance was perceived to fall away from the classic adventure games towards Star Wars universe games, then I think it was an accurate macro level portrayal of the company’s progress.
Anyway, if you have read the book at all, would love to see your reviews and comments. All of them!
