Classic Home Video Games 1985-1988

My publisher, McFarland & Company, has the official description and order form for my second book up on their website (though the cover art is not yet available). It's nice to see that it will be published in hardcover, like the first book:

Classic Home Video Games, 1985–1988
A Complete Reference Guide
Brett Weiss
Foreword by Bill Kunkel

ISBN 978-0-7864-3660-6
ca. 55 photos, glossary, appendix, bibliography, index
hardcover (7 x 10) 2009
Price: $55.00

Description
A follow up to 2007’s Classic Home Video Games, 1972–1984, this reference work provides detailed descriptions and reviews of every U.S.–released game for the Nintendo NES, the Atari 7800, and the Sega Master System, all of which are considered among the most popular video game systems ever produced. Organized alphabetically by console brand, each chapter includes a description of the game system followed by substantive entries for every game released for that console. Video game entries include publisher/developer data, release year, gameplay information, and, typically, the author’s critique. A glossary provides a helpful guide to the classic video game genres and terms referenced throughout the work, and a preface provides a comparison between the modern gaming industry and the industry of the late 1980s.

About the Author
Former comic shop owner Brett Weiss lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. In addition to his reference books about classic home video games, he has written for numerous industry magazines.

Recently published in...

Comics Buyer's Guide #1651...

..., where I review The Flash #244-255


The Flash 244-245
DC Comics
Writer: Alan Burnett
Artists: Paco Diaz, Carlo Barberi
Grade: 2.5 Stars (Out of 4)

The Flash has been a particularly dull title of late, bogged down by Wally’s annoying kids (who have been aging at a progressively fast rate), and by Linda (who has been stewing with worry over their seemingly dire fate). As this fresh story arc begins, Iris and Jai have been cured, freeing Wally to take them on a trip to Dinosaur Island, which, of course, they complain about.

With his kids cured, Wally does get to have some fun, but, unfortunately, he discovers that he dare not risk going over the speed of sound, which is a similar problem he faced years ago as Kid Flash. The notion of Wally’s powers acting up doesn’t exactly send the senses soaring, nor does the attacking bees storyline involving The Justice League and Amanda Waller.

These two issues are competently written and drawn (certainly more so than the last dozen or so issues), but a reader gets the feeling that Flash is simply running in place waiting for the highly anticipated Flash: Rebirth (Spring, 2009).

Geek-in-Chief?

My wife sent me this story from the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON — Get ready for the geek-in-chief.

President-elect Barack Obama used to collect comic books, can't part with his BlackBerry, and once flashed Leonard "Mr. Spock" Nimoy the Vulcan "Live Long and Prosper" sign.

That and other evidence has convinced some of Obama's nerdier fans that he'll be the first American president to show distinct signs of geekiness. And that's got them as excited as a Tribble around a Klingon.

Obama is good at "repressing his inner geek, but you can tell it's there," especially when he goes into nuanced explanations of technical matters, said Benjamin Nugent, author of the book "American Nerd: The Story of My People."

"One imagines a terrifying rally of 'Star Trek' people shouting, 'One of us!"' Nugent said, in an interview conducted by e-mail, of course.

Others see only some geek qualities, qualifying the president-elect as merely "nerd-adjacent." After all, he's an athlete and kind of cool, some experts demur. Still, there's enough there for geeks to celebrate.

Psychology professor Larry Welkowitz of Keene State College in New Hampshire hopefully speculated that there's a shift in what's cool and that "smart can be in. Maybe that started with the computer programmers of the '90s. The Bill Gateses of the world are OK."

The Obama transition team would not comment on the president-elect's geek qualities, even when it was suggested those could be positive. And his old college friends give the geek idea a split vote. While Margot Mifflin, now a journalism professor in New York, said she saw no geeky signs in Obama as a freshman at Occidental College in California, Amiekoleh Kimbrew Usafi recalled it differently, despite the lack of technology back in 1979.

"He's a geek because he was smart," Usafi said, noting that Occidental was a geeky school to start with, billing itself as the Yale of the West. "I remember he would be hitting his books. I would see him in the library. ... There were a lot of girls that liked him because he was cute, but he kept his head in the direction he was going in. I would see him studying all the time."

Wired magazine first crowed about Obama the geek, complete with five reasons in its GeekDad blog. A lot depends on definition of geek, which to Wired is more a compliment than insult.

GeekDad contributor Matt Blum, a software engineer in Reston, Va., defines geeks as having high intellects, embracing technology, "getting excited about things in the future especially, particularly fiction," having a science viewpoint and being steeped in the geek culture of science fiction and fantasy.

Geeks know and use references from "Star Trek," "Dungeons and Dragons" and comic books. And, he added, they are nit-picky, unafraid to correct mixed science fiction metaphors, such as confusing Star Trek's Andorians with "Star Wars" Iridonians.

So a quick geek cultural check for Obama:

• Technology. Click that icon. He's the candidate who tried to announce his vice presidential pick by text message and embraced Facebook as a campaign tool. He's seldom seen without a BlackBerry and talks of a chief technology officer for the nation.

• Comic books. As a youngster, Obama collected Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comic books. His Senate Web site used to have a photo of him posing in front of a Superman statue, and in October at New York's Alfred Smith dinner he joked: "I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the planet Earth." Jor-El was the father of Superman, born on the planet Krypton.

• "Star Trek," the long-running TV show. According to the actor Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock in the series, Obama flashed him the split four-fingered Vulcan salute when the two crossed paths last year. In May in Des Moines, Newsweek caught Obama teasing wife Michelle about her belt buckle, saying it was studded with Star Trek-powering dilithium crystals and adding, "Beam me up, Scotty!" As he laughed at his own joke, Michelle Obama rolled her eyes, as geek wives often do.

Yes, geeks have wives. That's one of the things that separates them from nerds and dorks.

"A geek is someone who has the knowledge of the geeky type stuff and has social graces," Blum said. "A nerd is someone who has the knowledge but not the social graces and a dork is someone who has neither."

By that definition Obama is a geek, not a nerd or dork, Blum said. Nerds are the type who live in their parents' basements until they're 45, whereas geeks are more normal, he said.

"I'm a geek because I'm a dad," Blum said. "I managed to find a woman who wished to marry me and have children with me."

Blum said Obama qualifies as the first geek-in-chief because George W. Bush was too much a cheerleader and Bill Clinton too wonky and not technological enough. The other presidents came of age before geek culture did, so don't qualify.

But don't discount John Quincy Adams as a geeky guy who steeped himself in government as a teenager, contends author Nugent (who just by adding that historical reference reinforces his geek expertise).

In some ways, though, experts say Obama is just too cool, too athletic, too normal to wear the geek cape. Obama did use drugs and was a high school athlete, missing out on two prime nerd qualities, Nugent said.

Dan Sarewitz, a professor of science and society at Arizona State University, said calling Obama a geek is unfair both to the president-elect and geeks.

"He's too cool to be a geek; he's a decent basketball player; he knows how to dance; he dresses well," Sarewitz said. "It's too high a standard for geeks to possibly live up to."

All the nerds at home can at least try, though, courtesy of a heavily muscled "beach blanket Obama" action figure for $29.95.

So is Obama a geek?

In the words of Alan Leshner, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which had two past leaders appointed by Obama to high posts: "I hope so."

Free Online Video Game Newsletter

Joe Santulli and the guys at Digital Press have made the first 50+ issues of their newsletter available for free online via convenient, printer-friendly, PDF formatting. You can read the issues here.

Classic Home Video Games Vol. 2 Update!

I put the manuscript for Classic Home Video Games Vol. 2 in the mail on Tuesday, which means the book should be out sometime in late 2009, maybe as early as the fall.

My kids helped me celebrate the occasion.

The book includes descriptions/reviews of every U.S.-released game for the Atari 7800(updated/revised/expanded from Vol. 1), the NES, and the Sega Master System. The entries are longer than those in Vol. 1, with most falling between 125-185 words. When possible, I compared the games to their arcade, computer, and other-console counterparts, and plenty of historical data is included as well.

The book also includes an introduction by Bill "The Game Doctor" Kunkel, which I'm really excited about. As a teenager, I eagerly devoured every issue of Electronic Games Magazine, which Bill co-founded, and I'm honored that he wrote the intro.

One of the pleasures of writing the book was discovering certain titles that I had never played before, such as the surprisingly enjoyable The Ninja for the Master System and the delightful Kiwi Kraze for the NES. And it was fun to revisit old favorites, such as Contra, Mario Bros., and Popeye. And of, course, there were drawbacks as well, such as trudging through such dreck as Hydlide and Wolverine for the NES and the "great" series of sports titles for the Master System.

As soon as I get more info (release date, cover scan, etc.,), I'll post it here.

Thanks to those of you who purchased Vol. 1, helping make a second volume possible.


Now that I'm finished with the book (at least until the proofs arrive), I should have plenty of time to play Guitar Hero World Tour...


...which Santa was kind enough to put under (make that beside) the Christmas tree.

Recenly published in...

Comics Buyer's Guide #1650!

With the end-of-the-year deadline for Classic Home Video Games Vol. 2 looming large, I haven't had time to do much other writing, but I did manage to squeeze in a review of The Stand: Captain Trips #1 for CBG. I've been a huge Stephen King fan since I was a teenager, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to review this comic book that is based on what I think is his best novel.

The Stand: Captain Trips #1
Marvel Comics
$3.99, color, 32 pgs., available now
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Artist: Mike Perkins
Grade: 3 Stars (out of 4)

Despite its disappointing ending, which contains one whopper of a deus ex machina, The Stand is Stephen King’s greatest novel. It’s also one of King’s most popular books, thanks in part to a cast of fully realized characters, from lovable Frannie Goldsmith to everyman Stu Redman to rock star Larry Underwood. Thanks also goes to King’s deft descriptions of a post-apocalyptic landscape, including a harrowing journey through a nightmarishly cluttered Lincoln Tunnel.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Issue #1 (of 5) of Marvel’s adaptation of The Stand does indeed introduce the aforementioned trio, but it’s too early to talk post-apocalypse. What we do have is set-up and impending doom, including an expanded (in terms of emotional impact) scene of the car ramming into Bill Hapscomb’s Texaco, which dramatically portrays the effects of the virus that kills almost as quickly as it spreads.

Aguirre-Sacasa’s script does a commendable job keeping the essentials (Frannie’s pregnancy) while leaving out the non-essentials (Frannie biting her tongue), and Perkins’ realistic style is an excellent fit for the story’s dead serious tone.