SNES Omnibus Contributor Spotlight #9 - Jason Heine

A professional musician, entertainer, and convention organizer, Jason Heine is an expert on sound and production, and his stories give the SNES Omnibus project a well-roundedness found in few other gaming books. It was cool meeting Jason at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo last year, and I look forward to seeing him this summer at the Game On Expo in Phoenix, where I’ll be a guest panelist and exhibitor. A good friend of my buddy John Lester, and a respected name in the industry, Jason has the kind of energy, creativity, and enthusiasm that makes gaming a fun and unique hobby.

Here’s Jason’s bio as it will appear in The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendoand Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M):

Jason Heine is a producer and entertainer from Phoenix, Arizona. His audio work includes soundtrack composition, sound design and voiceovers. His work can be found in video games available on Steam, Super Nintendo, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. Jason is Co-Owner of Game On Expo in Arizona, the largest video gaming expo in the Southwest. He produces the immensely popular All Gen Gamers Podcast featuring Pete Dorr, Gamester81, Happy Console Gamer, Metal Jesus Rocks, and Sexy Ben, as well as The Music, Games & Gear podcast. Jason is a professional drummer and performs nightly improv drum covers on his Heine House Twitch channel.

SNES Omnibus Spotlight #8 - Jeffrey Wittenhagen

When I first met Jeffrey Wittenhagen a few years ago, I didn’t quite know what to think. He was friendly enough, but a YouTuber writing books? What!? In the time since, I’ve discovered that he has a lot of energy and enthusiasm for gaming, and that he's been writing game reviews since the 1990s. Our writing styles are decidedly different, but he has a devoted following for his self-published books, his podcast, and his videos. This video (adult content warning), made by a fan, will give you some idea of the devotion I’m talking about.

Moreover, Jeff has a trait I appreciate: he can handle constructive criticism and still remain friends with said critic. When I gave his NES book a middling review, he took it in stride, which shows me a great deal of character and confidence. Further, he’s since collaborated with said critic, contributing some very interesting stories to my SNES Omnibus project.

Here’s Jeff’s bio from The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendoand Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M):

Jeffrey Wittenhagen is an avid retro video game author, collector and gamer, and he’s a member of the VGBS Gaming Podcast. Jeff has written and published several books, including Hidden Treasures and successful Kickstarter releases of The Complete NES, The Complete SNES, and NES Oddities & the Homebrew Revolution. Supplementing the books are “Video Game Compendiums” consisting of personal stories from contributors. Jeff is always working on tons of projects and puts as much passion behind them as he possibly can.

SNES Omnibus Spotlight #7 - Matt Raithel

Matt Raithel is a valuable contributor to the SNES Omnibus project, writing engaging stories that required very little editing on my part. He’s a professional through-and-through: a video game developer with a vital presence in the industry and by all accounts a bright future. He was featured in the Jan/Feb issue of Nintendo Force Magazine, a tribute he clearly deserves. I’m proud to have Matt on the SNES Omnibus team:

Here’s Matt’s bio as it will appear in TheSNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendo and Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M):

Matt Raithel has, within the past decade, held a production role in over 50 video games ranging from the iPhone to the Wii U, all while helping grow three different game development studios. He currently owns and leads the team at Graphite Lab, a video game development studio which was listed as “One to Watch” by Game Informer Magazine in 2015. Matt is also on staff at Maryville University in St. Louis as an Instructor of Game Design, where he teaches classes focusing on game design principles as well as the history of game design.

Pre-Order The SNES Omnibus by March 1 to get ALL the Free Bonuses

There's still time to get ALL THE PRE-ORDER BONUSES if you order The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendoand Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M) direct from me. You simply need to do so by March 1.

Bonuses include:

*My autograph in the book, personalized if you'd like

*YOUR NAME listed/immortalized in the patron section of the book's sequel, The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendo and Its Games, Vol. 2 (N-Z)

*A set of “Classic Home Video Games” book marks

*One of my signed Twin Galaxies trading cards

*A digital copy of my book, Retro Pop Culture A to Z:From Atari 2600 to Zombie Films (sent through Facebook)

*In addition, 1 out of every 10 people (chosen at random) who pre-order the book directly from me will receive a free download code for a digital copy of a game for a current console or handheld

Click HERE for more information. Thank you! 

Here's the centerfold art that will be in the book, which features more than 2,000 images total:

SNES Omnibus Contributor Spotlight #6 - Rob Strangman

I’ve never met Rob Strangman in person, but I hope to at some point in the near future. From corresponding with him online, and from reading his stories in the SNES Omnibus project, I surmise that he’s a personable and genuine dude, passionate about the industry and about his friends and family. Rob is a veteran writer about video games, and I’ve read and enjoyed a ton of his stuff in the long-running Digital Press fanzine. His magnum opus, Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman, is one of my favorite gaming books, thanks to its nostalgic bent and personal stories.

Here’s Rob’s bio from The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendo and Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M):

Rob Strangman is the author of Memoirs of Virtual Caveman, a book about his experiences growing up during the “golden age” of gaming. He’s a regular contributor to both Little Player magazine and the Digital Press fanzine. Rob first made a name for himself in the online classic gaming community in 1998 with his website The OPCFG, then later went on to found the Splatterhouse fan page, West Mansion: The Splatterhouse Homepage. Due to his work on West Mansion, Rob was asked to be a consultant on gameplay and authenticity for the 2010 video game, Splatterhouse (PlayStation 3/Xbox 360).

SNES Omnibus Contributor Spotlight #5 - Rusel DeMaria

One of the biggest thrills with writing and editing The SNES Omnibus set as been working with other authors, especially people like Rusel DeMaria, who has been at it even longer than I have. A true veteran of the industry, Rusel is an invaluable contributor to the project, writing stories and giving insights on certain key Super Nintendo titles as only he could. His reflections on creating strategy guides for various games are extremely interesting.

Here’s Rusel’s bio as it will appear in The SNES Omnibus: The SuperNintendo and Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M):

Rusel DeMaria played Spacewar! in 1967. After this experience, he wanted more from this new medium, which he got later with Pong, Atari, ColecoVision, Intellivision and the Bally Astrocade. Rusel then discovered PC games and wrote for A+ Magazine, PC Week, Byte and Macazine, where he became the PC DOS Editor. Rusel wrote a book about shareware in the mid-1980s, and by 1990 he was senior editor for PC Magazine and a contributing editor on GamePro. Rusel founded the “Secret of the Games” strategy guide division for Prima Publishing, and he was a gaming journalist during the Genesis and SNES era. More recently, he wrote High Score Expanded and is the author of Game of X, which is about Microsoft. He’s also a game designer and consultant, currently the narrative lead on a new space combat simulator, Starfighter Inc.

Video Victims - Arcade Game Episode of the Super Friends

If you like video games, cartoons, and superheroes, and I know you do, check out Video Victims, an episode of the Super Friends. Bizarro traps Superman, Wonder Woman, and Samurai in a deadly arcade game. There's some type of 3D Pac-Man going on, plus a different take on Asteroids. Click HERE to watch the entire episode. Enjoy!