But last night things changed. Last night, Natali sailed past her goal and she’s currently at 112%.

I’m proud to be part of this, humbled by the number of people willing to make someone’s dream come true and I don’t have the word to describe how I feel watching this unfold as a shared experience through Twitter. It’s like the taupe or mauve of emotions, or some other color I can’t identify.

However, I’m also realistic. $5000 is a good start, but she’s going to need more money. And since there are still 25 days left to give, I decided to still run this interview with her about UberDork Café and her reasons behind it.

Game Couch: Hi Natali! I guess we should start with the idea behind UberDork Café.

Natali: I am an ambidextrously-brained geek girl who just happens to be a single mom to two geekling girls. When trying to find new, fun things for us to try or places to go, I noticed the pickings were super slim. It got me thinking about what it was like being a geeky kid growing up and made me realize that the majority of our geeklings and even us as adults are really limited in places to go that really get us. That got me thinking about what the ultimate place would be for us. After I came up with it, I realized that unless someone actually created it, it may not exist for quite some time. So, I figured why can’t I be that someone?

Game Couch: I think that’s why I believe in this so much. A place like this would have had a huge impact on my life. But why would anyone not living in Wisconsin want to support this?

Natali: The simple answer is: this is just the start. I’ve had so many people tell me how much they wish a place like this existed near them. So much so that it has been added to the business plan- to open other locations across the… well who knows maybe world. :)

Ultimately though, the reason I think it is so important is what it stands for. UberDork Café is not just about a place you can go hang, grab coffee, game with your friends, listen to a lecture from a guest comic artist or throw your 5-year-old a build your own robot birthday party. It’s about a symbol of our community. Our community is strong but hidden- in back rooms of game shops, in basements with controllers in hand, behind computer screens with the online community we seek solace in.

What if there was some place to go do all of that while surrounded by people that got you? What if there was a place where geeky kids could go hang and meet other kids instead of avatars? Where people that believed in them so much that they might have a chance at a scholarship to go build the best video game ever or gadget that would save lives? What if we could all go someplace where everyone knew our gamertag? Or what a Dalek is? Or peacefully argue whose ears are more awesome- Spock’s or Yoda’s? Where we could wave our lil geek/nerd/dork flags high and proud?

But that all needs to start somewhere. Why not here? :)

Game Couch: What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from the Kickstarter campaign?

Natali: There are two huge things that I have learned.

The first is that I was absolutely right about my community. The amount of love and support I have gotten from my geeky peeps is overwhelming. I have cried move over these last couple of weeks than I can remember. And they have all been tears of joy, pride and gratefulness. We are a tight group that love and support each other. That love meeting others that are like us and extending the love and support to them. That together, there isn’t anything we can’t accomplish.

The second was how much UberDork Café is really needed. It’s a bit more of a sad lesson. After I launched this campaign, people started reaching out and telling me their stories. About how they’ve always wanted to go to a Con, but never had anyone to go with them. About how many hours they’ve spent online with the community they’ve met because most of the people in their lives just don’t get them like their online friends do. About how they could never tell their other friends they camped out at GameStop for a midnight new release. How they often wonder what they would be like if their childhood was different- if they didn’t have to change on the outside to fit in or if they had other people that believed in their geeky dreams and aspirations.

Game Couch: After the end of the Kickstarter campaign, Friday, August 13th, what happens?

Natali: Phase II kicks in. Clearly it takes more than $5,000 to open a place like this. The money from Kickstarter is a huge part in getting all the lovely little business details in order and having money to secure location. More funds will be needed to obtain equipment, supplies, etc. The raising of those funds is already being worked on due to more amazing support from my geek community. I can’t tell you how excited I am for when I can finally announce what it is!!! :)

Rebecca Mayes, Audio Gamer

Game Couch: Your bio makes it sound like you’re new to gaming. How new are you and why did you take the plunge?

Rebecca Mayes: I’m as new to gaming as my first song is. I took the plunge because I wanted to explore something new and gaming seemed like an unobvious choice. Like the opposite of everything I’ve done before.

Game Couch: What inspired you to take a musical approach to game reviews?

Rebecca Mayes: I think and breathe in music. It is my language.

Game Couch: How long does it take to put a song together?

Rebecca Mayes: I try not to take too long over the song – I want it to be impulsive, like the first word that comes into your head. I don’t want to over think it. So I’ll take a couple of hours to write it (instead of weeks, months, years like other songs I’ve written) and then it takes me roughly two full days to record it.

Game Couch: Can you describe the recording process? What kind of equipment are you using?

Rebecca Mayes: I record at home in my very basic little studio. I use Cubase. I start by recording the guitar part and then add instruments as I go. I tend to use live instruments rather than samples and I let it build itself organically. It’s great fun.

Game Couch: Are you surprised at how receptive gamers have been?

Rebecca Mayes: I’ve loved the warm reception I’ve received from gamers. I didn’t think they’d be interested in my musings on their games. When I started it was something I was doing for myself, as an experiment and I wasn’t sure that it would be something anyone else would pay any attention to.

Game Couch: What’s the weirdest place you’ve seen yourself mentioned?

Rebecca Mayes: The weirdest place I’ve seen myself mentioned is on a Japanese site, there were a lot of exclamation marks. I love putting blurbs into Google translate and reading a strange kind of English.

Game Couch: As your audience grows are you feeling more pressure to deliver?

Rebecca Mayes: There is pressure to deliver for sure. I try to pretend it’s not there and just carry on doing my thing, otherwise I’d never be brave enough to pick up the guitar. I want to keep experimenting and seeing what comes out of it. As soon as I bring too much judgment into the process it puts the brakes on. Same goes for life in general.

Game Couch: I see you have a video for your Hotel Dusk song, “The Infuriating and Alluring Case of Mr Kyle Hyde.” Where do you see Audio Gamer going? Any chance you’ll be doing live performances?

Rebecca Mayes: Live performances have been mentioned, so you might catch me on radio podcasts or at a festival. It would be interesting to perform my latest song, for Peggle, it’s totally a cappella.

Game Couch: Are there any games which have been resistant to your musical interpretation?

Rebecca Mayes: Well I’m doing Resident Evil 5 next so if anything’s going to be resistant it’ll be this one. I’m looking forward to the challenge

Game Couch: What’s your relationship like with Game People? How did you join up with them?

Rebecca Mayes: We have a great relationship. It’s like a big family. They approached me and I jumped on board.

Game Couch: It looks like you play a variety of games across a variety of systems. What are your favorite games/genres? And how much do you kick ass at music games?

Rebecca Mayes: I haven’t played many music games. I should. Kicking ass is by no means over-rated. I like the variety of different games and genres. At the moment I’m just drinking in the many flavours. Ask me in a week’s time and I’ll probably be exclusively into zombie head-shots.

If there’s any genre of gaming which would be at home on the Kindle it’s interactive fiction (text adventures) and if there’s anyone who can get IF onto a device, it’s Howard Sherman. Sherman runs Malinche, an IF company which produces content that works across platforms and put games on the iPod before iTunes did.

Sure enough, Amazon has Malinche’s library of titles (all authored by Sherman) for the Kindle, but the descriptions say nothing about the titles being playable. I decided to check in with Howard to see what was going on.

Game Couch: Are these titles games, novels or transcripts?

Howard Sherman: Our Kindle titles are actual transcripts and not re-writes. From beginning to end our transcripts read like novels so it’s a perfect fit.

GC: So what’s the issue with putting actual interactive fiction on the Kindle?

HS: The issue boils down to the Kindle being locked up tighter than the technical design plans to the NEXT iPhone Apple is working on. There’s no easy way in there. Even though Kindle runs in a Linux environment it’s far from an open plane to deliver outside titles on. The platform itself is inaccessible from the outside no matter what and the severely controlled access to the Sprint network make any Internet approach to loading IF impossible.

GC: So the Kindle’s security makes it restrictive?

HS: That’s before we even get to the issue of actually deploying an interpreter that could load a Malinche story file. Would Frotz Linux work on a Kindle? Maybe but I suspect not for a number of reasons. Chief among them, the Kindle is pretty closely tied to a read-only file system so game saves would probably fail without serious coding changes. Sure, the Kindle can save your place in a standard ebook, but the methodology is probably very different.

GC: Do you think you’ll be able to crack this?

HS: Nobody has any hard numbers on actual unit sales of Kindle making it impractical to devote a respectable chunk of resources to develop for a platform with an unknown audience size. So we went with Plan B — load a full transcript of each Malinche title onto the Kindle and sell it as a conventional Kindle title through Amazon.

Conveniently during this kerfuffle, I was already conducting an interview with Beth Gallaway. Beth runs Information Goddess Consulting which helps libraries bridge the connection between librarianship and gaming.

“Games are information and stories, conveyed in an interactive digital format, and thoroughly legitimate. Gamers should expect librarians to treat games like any other material in the library.”Game Couch: Beth, if I were to draw a Venn diagram showing gaming and libraries, you would be in the overlap. How did you get there and is it a lonely place?

Beth: It’s not very lonely, because there are a lot of librarians who play games!

We didn’t have a console at home until 1987, and that was at my younger brother’s request not mine! My brother was a more serious gamer who wanted every new system. I’d rather be reading a book than gaming, most of the time, but I loved Gauntlet and Bonk, and came in second place in a Tetris contest at the local video store (I think I was 14, and broke past level 20). In college, I discovered simulation games, like Sim Earth and Sim Ant and Sim City, but I didn’t have my own computer to play on until the middle of junior year.

I am a casual gamer who dabbles in a lot of different types of games, and then goes right back to the Sims 2, where I build Frank Lloyd Wright inspired houses. I already pre-ordered my copy of the Sims 3, which is due out in June 2009. I’ve been playing WoW off and on for a couple of years, and currently play a level 73 prot-specced paladin.

My work study job at my college library led to exploring a Masters in Library Science. I volunteered in the children’s room at the local library throughout library school, and a young adult services position serendipitously became available less than six months after I graduated. One of my first tasks was to develop a guided access web portal for teens, with teen input. The teens asked for links to games, and I added cheat code websites (see how the page evolved).

It never occurred to me this was a cutting edge thing to do.

I added strategy guides and gaming magazines to the collection. When the teens saw we supported gaming in all these ways, they asked for a collection to be established. A handful of kids did research on the benefits of games, came up with a list of titles to purchase, and made a pitch to the director that included loaning him a PSOne for the weekend. He approved a request of $1000 for a circulating collection of games that could be rented for $1 a week. I took a new job, as a regional youth services consultant, before the collection debuted.

The first week of my new job, I attended a workshop on gaming at the library, facilitated by Linda Braun. That’s when it clicked that what I was doing was unique, and this was a cause I could champion.

Game Couch: As a librarian, I’m aware of how game-friendly libraries have become, but I know the general gamer might not associate libraries with gaming. How are libraries reaching out to gamers?

Beth: Some libraries are more gamer-friendly than others; many libraries are only focusing on teenage gamer patrons. Libraries are reaching out to gamers by offering a variety gaming experience that draws in current cardholders and new users. The method varies from community to community. Some offer family board game nights, others focus solely on competitive tournaments, some are running Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, some buy a Wii and bring it everywhere from the senior center to the charter school; school librarians are connecting with teachers to use board games as educational tools that align with curriculum. Big Games are growing in popularity, activities like integrating a geocaching or scavenger hunts with clues based on books like To Kill a Mockingbird and October Sky.

Libraries are also doing things connected to gaming, that don’t necessarily involve gaming. College libraries are hosting career nights with people in the game design industry, public libraries are hosting game design sessions using Scratch with teens, academic librarians are integrating gaming principles directly into information literacy and bibliography instruction sessions (i.e. using fantasy football as model for how to research a subject and evaluate a website).

The most successful programs have gamer input: participants get to pick what to play. Talking to gamers, getting gamers to volunteer to help at gaming events, and including surveys, including program evaluations, are all ways to get feedback.

Libraries great at a LOT of things; they are not so good at telling their stories or tooting their own horn. Some don’t get the press out beyond the library website (or even flyers hung in the building). Librarians need to do a better job connecting with the places their local gamers ARE, like posting their LAN party event to LANParty.com, and working with their local toy, hobby and game shops to partner on programs.

Game Couch: It looks like gaming in libraries has really taken off with this generation of consoles – why didn’t libraries have Atari night when I was growing up?

Beth: There are a handful of libraries that circulated Atari games; I don’t think anyone did programs with Atari. Videogames had a much more negative stigma, back then. Games like Doom and Mortal Kombat were getting a lot of negative press, arcades were regarded as pool halls of the times, and the book The Devil’s Web demonized Dungeons and Dragons in much the same way comic books were victimized in the 1950’s. Gaming was regarded as something social misfits did at home in their basements.

The folks who grew up gaming, never stopped playing, and now they are parents, gaming with their children. Parents and educators are increasingly well-versed in what games are, and aren’t. There is new research every week showing how videogames, among other things, are social and educational, build literacy skills, teach critical thinking and problem solving, help people in chronic pain escape from their medical issues, inspire youth to become more civic minded, and act as catharsis for those who are stressed.

Gaming has become ubiquitous with the public that libraries serve. It’s hard to ignore something that 97% of your teens and 25% of your seniors are doing!

Game Couch: As a gamer, what should I expect from my library? – and if they aren’t meeting my expectations is there anything I can do about it?

Beth: A gamer should expect to NEVER apologize for their reading habits, or the gaming habits. Any requests for games or gaming related items should be treated with the same dignity, respect and confidentiality as any other materials request. If a gamer asks for a cheat code, the librarian should treat it as a serious reference question, and not dismiss it.

Games are information and stories, conveyed in an interactive digital format, and thoroughly legitimate. Gamers should expect librarians to treat games like any other material in the library. If a gamer requests a game-related item, and the librarian can’t locate it in the system, the gamer should expect that the library will take the request seriously and try to purchase it, or request it from another library.

Gamers should anticipate that the librarian may not know how to spell, say, Mario Kart with a “K.” Give as much information as possible. Be polite, but don’t accept “No, we don’t have it” for an answer. Your tax dollars fund your public library and collections are built based on community interest. Ask to place a hold request, or to speak to the collection development librarian. Drop a note in the suggestion box and include your name and contact information for follow-up, request that gaming be put on the board meeting agenda and attend (usually, they are open meetings), or request an audience with the director and or collection development librarian.

Gamer should expect the library to pay attention to requests for game-related books, music and movies; if those requests are increasing, items should be purchased for the library’s OWN collection, instead of continually getting them from another library.

Gamers should expect that a library that has a collection of R-rated films for adults should be willing to consider a collection of M-rated games for adults. Be prepared to offer guidance, suggestions and resources.

In fact, gamers should expect their expertise to be solicited, and offer it, if it is not. Volunteer to participate in a Gaming Discussion Group or Gaming Advisory Board to entertain the notion of a collection, help librarians decipher game reviews, provide information about Game of The Year Awards, and pass along current research about videogames and violence, videogame legislation.

Gamers should recognize that not all libraries feel they have the time, space, staff or money to put on a formal gaming program, as some large urban libraries have done. Every community is unique. That said, gamers willing to donate time, materials, or money should step up. Chances are, if you want to play RuneScape or mini-golf or Apples to Apples or Rock Band at the library, other people in the community do, too. Request a meeting room to hold your own Gaming Club meeting and if there is sustained interest, approach the library to establish a formal, library sponsored event.

Game Couch: You have a book coming out soon.

Beth: It’s at the copy editor! Game On! Gaming at the Library is a book targeted at librarians serving teens; all of the services discussed can be adapted for other age groups and other types of libraries. It’s designed like a game, a little bit! Level One, the backstory, covers some history. Level Two discusses benefits and perceived negatives about gaming. Level Three suggests services to gamers that don’t involve gameplay. Level Four focuses on model videogame play programs at the library. Level Five is about collections. Level Six is a brief look at the possible future of gaming, and its implications for libraries. Non-novices can “cheat” and skip ahead to the parts that interest them. Easter eggs (in the form of sidebars) are scattered throughout as informational tidbits. Each chapter concludes with a mini-game related to the content, and a “strategy guide” appendix of resources. A companion website [Game On] will host all the reproducibles, as well as direct access to my annotated Delicious bookmarks: links to all of the works cited (over 150), core collections, games to link to from your library website, and model programs.

The book should be available from Neal Schuman in May 2009, for $55; you can pre-order it now.

Game Couch: We’ve talked about what individual libraries can do. Is the American Library Association getting involved?

Beth: Yes! “Libraries, Literacy and Gaming” Grants were announced February 23. The application is online and must be submitted online by 11:59PM on Friday March 20, 2009.

The purpose is to help libraries of all kinds develop and implement gaming experiences that support literacy development for youth 10-18 years of age. Funds ($5000.00!!!) may be used to expand or add literacy-based gaming experiences at your library (for youth ages 10-18).

Again, we are stressing ALL types of gaming, in ALL types of libraries – literacy based and youth 10-18 are the caveats.

We created a fact sheet about Gaming & Literacy, to help applicants justify their programs. As with any grant, the details are important. Pay close attention to the question prompts on the narrative description page. I am expecting the competition to be fierce. Contact Dale Lipschultz with questions at 312-280-3275 or dlipschultz@ala.org.

These mini-grants are part of the $1 million dollar grant ALA received from the Verizon Foundation in June 2008; it had an adult literacy component, and a Libraries, Literacy and Gaming component. The grant also funded a panel of experts who helped develop The Librarian’s Guide to Gaming, that includes resources and best practices — all types of gaming programs in all types of libraries, for all ages.

Game Couch: What other resources are available for people interested in libraries and gaming?

Beth: The Librarian’s Guide to Gaming: An Online Toolkit for Building Gamingi n Libraries just debuted.

The LibGaming Google Group, moderated by myself has over 650 members, including some lurking designers and vendors. I’d like for this group to integrate to ALA Connect when it debuts in March, and for everyone to “join” the Games and Gaming Member Initiative Group (GGMIG). You do NOT have to be an ALA member to participate in ALA Connect or join the GGMIG.

The Games and Gaming Member Initiative Group, focused on integrating all types of gaming across other ALA divisions. We meet at midwinter & annual to share best practices, news & information, host the Open Gaming, and will be putting on a program at Annual.

An annual gaming census: a voluntary survey about gaming in your library, administered by Scott Nicholson at the Syracuse GameLab.

There is a monthly Games in Libraries podcast, hosted by Scott Nicholson. Anyone can contribute! I’m experimenting with a call in service to make it really easy for anyone to submit a game review, success story, etc.

Look for an increased number of gaming programs at ALA Annual (perhaps enough for a gaming track, soon)! We’re keeping track here: Librarian’s Guide to Gaming: Event Calendar.

We Are They are an eclectic rock band made up of gamers who getting ready to launch a US tour. Peter put me in touch with the band which led to the following interview.

Game Couch: You have a Wii promotion right now. Why did you pick the Wii as a giveaway?

We Are They: It’s the hot thing right now, and we’re still poor. Also, considering WE Are They, we figured Wii is appropriate.

GC: Who came up We Are They?

We Are They: Tyler came up with it. It doesn’t really hold any meaning, it’s just a cool name. We don’t make a lot of sense; we just have too much fun to care.

GC: So what’s eclectic rock?

We Are They: Most of our music has the rock edge, but we like to make everything different and quirky. Every real musician has urges to do something different after a while, so we decided to just do anything and everything and anything that we want to.

GC: Like The Swashbuckling Rum Run of Tom Lefting – which I’m loving?

We Are They: Glad you love it. We wrote it especially for you.

GC: How did you guys get together?

We Are They: Tyler, Ryan and JG all got together through auditions at the school they went to. After a few years of sucking, Ryan’s old buddy Andrew was called up for the bass position due to both (yes, 2) bass players leaving the band. Markandeya was a fan that became the second guitarist after a year of auditioning.

GC: What does everyone bring to the band?

We Are They: Ryan has a very unique ear and can hear a whole song in his head around one riff, Tyler brings a unique and quirky quality to the music since he does things with keyboards that most bands don’t, Markandeya is the most overly positive person in the world, so he keeps everyone from getting too upset. Jeungri brings sex appeal. Andrew has a different approach to bass playing that makes it add to the music rather than push the bass into the background.

GC: Peter says you guys are big gamers. What are you playing?

We Are They: Andrew is playing through Metal Gear Solid 4, Tyler is playing Call of Duty: World at War as well as Beautiful Katamari, Markandeya is rockin’ Super Mario Galaxy and Resistance 2, and Ryan The Great is playing Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories and No More Heroes. Jeungri is building a dog house for herself to sleep in. We play Smash Bros Brawl with each other all the time.

GC: Is it hard to game when you’re on tour?

We Are They: Well, the last tour we rocked completely old school, with the exception of a PSP, due to lack of space. We had a SNES and some games and a small TV. The upcoming tour will be heavily saturated with business, so we’ll probably just have time killers like game boys and maybe a DS since Ryan’s brother broke his PSP with a sword. No joke. But if we have enough room, we’ll probably try and bring the Wii, the 360, the PS3, an old arcade system, and a foosball table.

GC: Peter also said that most of you worked in gaming stores — does anyone have a good story from those days?

We Are They: Tyler and JG got robbed, and Ryan got robbed twice. One of Ryan’s was that some guy just ran out of the store with a PS3. I guess that’s not a good story. Some guy gave Ryan a million dollars. That’s a good one.

GC: What details do you have about the US tour?

We Are They: We have a new booking agent, so we’re kind of just going to go where she tells us to and hope that everything goes ok. We are headlining with SumXY and we’re going to try and get local acts to open up all the shows.

GC: What kind of venues are we talking about and how long is your set?

We Are They: The venues will mostly be smaller, I’m not too sure yet, but our set will vary between 40 and 90 minutes.

GC: You’ll be playing at Amityville — isn’t that place haunted?

We Are They: Hopefully.

GC: What should fans expect at your shows?

We Are They: Lots of energy and FREE MONEY!

GC: How’d the UK tour come about and how much are you looking forward to it?

We Are They: A cool dude that runs a podcast called This Reality Podcast in England played us and got an overwhelming response from listeners, was contacted by our manager and they’re setting it up. We’re working on a bigger band from the UK to headline.

GC: Good luck and thanks for interview!

Dan Birlew
danbirlew.com
Strategy Guide Writer
Video Game Expert

Game Couch: How did you become a strategy guide writer?

Dan Birlew: I’ve always been a writer. I’ve been writing since before I could write. I used to have my mom draw comic books for me on notebook paper, and I would tell her what should go in each pane and caption. Around 26, I was spending a better part of my week playing PlayStation games and answering other people’s game questions online. My wife told me that I had to get serious about my career, so I either needed to get a job writing guides or quit going online. So I submitted a writing sample and cover letter to BradyGames in 1999. At the time, they had a link on their site to e-mail their acquisitions editor. The sample I created was for Resident Evil 2. I included a brief ‘Game Basics’ section explaining the controls and some tips for mastering the game, and then I created a walkthrough for the first stage. I submitted that on a Sunday night, and much to my surprise received a reply from them the next morning. I called and spoke to a woman named Debra McBride for twenty minutes. Again, she surprised me by immediately hiring me to write my first guide for Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. I was so happy I went into the bedroom and jumped on the bed like a five-year old. My wife was sleeping in it at the time. She probably thought the room was on fire. But when she finally understood what I was raving about, she was surprised and happy, too.

GC: Is it a fulltime job?

DB: Some years it has been, but recently not so much. The number of guide publishers has dwindled to two, and both houses are cutting back on the number of guides they publish per year. As you might imagine, this leaves the market a bit over-saturated with guide authors. So it’s quickly becoming a part-time job for most work-for-hires in the business.

GC: I imagine that your work is very deadline intensive. What’s the typical timeframe for getting a game, writing the strategy guide, and getting it printed?

DB: Honestly our whole schedule depends on the developer and when they feel comfortable releasing a build to us. Quite typically we don’t see a build until a game has reach beta status. That milestone could occur anywhere from two to three months before a game releases. But because most developers hold us to a rather rigid and time-consuming approvals process, such a schedule only gives us about two to three weeks to create the guide, if we’re lucky. The author is responsible for playing the game, capturing screens, writing — and in some cases, editing — the content, formatting the text for layout, and also creating any maps or graphs needed. That’s a lot of work to accomplish in a week or two, so it leads to many sleepless nights. The book typically has to go to the printer about two weeks before release date, so that may shorten our approval and writing time even further.

GC: Can you describe your work process? Do companies hand you the game and walk away or do they provide copious amounts of documentation?

DB: The first step of course is to pop the disc in a debug and see if it will even play. If so, we see how much and start working from that. But very frequently nowadays, the game is still in pieces as little as three months from release date. At that point, we start asking the developer when the game is going to be playable and whether the release date is going to slip.

Regarding materials, the relationship between developers and guide publishers has improved over the years. The truth is that we get some form of design or walkthrough materials from the developer on most projects nowadays. As few as five years ago, such assistance was RARE, at best. And if you’re doing a Japanese-developed game, forget it. The best hope in that case is that the game is already out in Japan, and that a Japanese strategy guide is available. But the problem with developer-provided data is that most of it is already outdated to the build you’re playing, so you really have to pick through what they give you with a fine-tooth comb. Even a table full of in-game stats is going to be wrong or outdated in more than one instance. I can say for certain that all guides published in the US are written purely from the author’s perspective. So developer provided material can either be a boon or an albatross to a project, depending on whether the data is updated during the project (which it usually is not).

GC: Can you pick and choose which games you write about? Have you ever gotten stuck with a game you hated – if so, how did you handle that?

DB: Wow, it’s like really hard for me to hate a video game, no matter what the circumstance. I’ve just played so darned many that I can spot good and bad points in almost anything, even highly-rated titles like Twilight Princess or Gears of War or Grand Theft Auto. When I get a game that’s less than stellar and I can tell that it’s not going to sell a lot of guides, that’s a bit of a letdown, I suppose. But like I said, there’s good and bad points to almost every game. A person has to be extremely positive to be any kind of writer, and remain strong in the face of what is demanded. But even when I’m doing mediocre stuff, I still enjoy the writing and creative aspects of the book so much that the software doesn’t get me down. I still push hard and create a great guide for the few people who will buy it, because that’s what it’s all about. And to tell the truth, I sometimes get more appreciation from publishers and readers for my work on smaller titles than I do for most of the big-name games I’ve written about.

Regarding project choice, it’s all in the publishers’ hands. I tell editors what kind of games I like, and I think for the most part they pay attention. They know that I like action and shooting games, and some types of RPGs. There have been projects, like MMORPGs and such that I really can’t stand, where I start on it and finally have to call them and tell them I’m not right for the project. But for the most part, I’m interested in all the titles they offer me. Paying attention to the likes and dislikes of an author is important to most editors, because they want the best guide possible. Most editors know they’re not going to get the best guide for the advance money if they assign me to stuff like Nintendogs or Brain Age, if those had actually been guide titles. Thank goodness they’re not, I suppose.

GC: How has this job changed your appreciation of gaming?

DB: I’ve had some inside access that’s been great, and quite a bit that’s not-so-great. I’ve got some great stories to tell new folks I meet who want to know what it’s like to work at EA Games or Capcom, or how much Resident Evil 4 changed just a few weeks before it hit the shelves. I can relate some truly off-the-wall drinking stories that took place at E3 and at author conferences. I can truly appreciate the efforts of a design team that makes drastic improvements to a game within one week. Their schedules are usually just as bad as ours, but for a much longer duration. I’m not sure I could do what programmers and modelers do and maintain any rationality. Maybe that’s why many game designers are so eccentric?

GC: What do your strategy guides give me that I’m not going to find online?

DB: Well-placed, didactic screenshots, for one. Licensed content reviewed and approved for accuracy by the software development team. Professionally authored and edited content that you can actually comprehend, instead of trying to guess or having to e-mail someone. Courtesy, which you won’t get on most game forums you go to. Helpful maps, whenever we can provide them. Plus you pay once, rather than getting hooked into some “coaching” scheme. Please, for the pride of your parents, do not EVER sign up for some scam like that. Every time I see a game coaching site I wish there was some way to make their HTML explode or something, just to prevent them from ripping off kids. Sore subject, I suppose.

GC: Can you tell me what you’re working on now?

DB: Nothing, honestly. Like I said, the guide market has dwindled a bit. I do have some projects up for negotiation, and I’ll be requesting more projects during E3. Meanwhile, I’m working on a fiction novel for ‘tweens and teens. I conceived it as a five-book series, and I have a short list of literary agents to whom I wish to show my work. I sincerely hope to publish it before the end of the year, and I hope that everyone who has enjoyed one of my strategy guides will take a leap of faith and check it out when it hits store shelves.

GC: Thanks, Dan! Keep me updated on the novel.

Game Couch: How’d you guys come up with the idea?

Jason Piroth: It started with a discussion of what’s relevant to the 11-17 demographic today (skewing higher as well) and how we could best capture their attention in a world crowded with “typical” marketing messages. Given the explosion in the gaming market that has accompanied the recent release of games like Halo III, Bioshock, etc. and systems like XBox 360, PS3 and Wii, using a format similar to one with which the audience was spending considerable time seemed appropriate.

The idea itself originated with the remarkable statistic that 438,000 people die in the US annually from smoking, and a desire to show that while scenarios in games like these may appear dangerous, something even more deadly is lurking where you least expect it- at a convenience store, supermarket or a host of other stores nearby.

GC: The “game” looks like Halo. Was this intentional?

JP: Making the “game” a familiar form of first-person shooter was absolutely intentional, but we were careful from the outset not to make it look too much like any one game in particular. In a 30-second format, it’s important for the viewing audience to quickly grasp what they’re seeing, so keeping the spot in the realm of other games was critical. That way, the audience is free to enjoy the appearance of the spot, but also able to focus on the concept and message rather than struggling to figure out what it is they’re looking at.

GC: How was the commercial made? Did you actually use video game design software in its creation?

JP: We worked with a director who had a long resume of special effects experience and an effects company (Digital Dimension) whose artists spent part of their careers working with some of the larger gaming companies. This allowed us to assure that the spot would maintain its authenticity up front, making the anti-smoking twist all the more effective. The one thing we were afraid of initially was that gamers, who are notoriously critical, would sniff it out as a “fake” right off the bat and laugh the message off as a result. Thanks to the incredibly hard work of everyone on the team, that wasn’t the case and the message of the spot has been very well-received.

GC: How long did this take to make?

JP: From concept to broadcast, about 5-6 months. The actual production of the spot was a lot of back and forth between the team at the/zimmerman/agency, our director, the effects house, the post-production company that put it together and the audio facility where the VO and all sound effects were added. Throughout, the collaboration was as seamless as I’ve ever experienced, and that’s a testament to everyone on the team being united behind the goal of getting a clear, powerful message out to kids who may be thinking of giving smoking a try.

GC: How has the reception been?

JP: In a word, remarkable. We’ve had inquiries as to where people can buy the game, compliments from gamers of all ages for creating something that they can identify with and ample evidence of people truly embracing the spot’s message and declaring that they will think twice about smoking as a result. Also, for a spot that only aired in Florida, the national and international responses we’ve received are a great example of the borderless world that the Internet creates.

Boll also had a direct message for reporters and bloggers, “but instead of seeing the courage i had in doing that movie against everybody who tried to stop me – you are sitting on your desks and you are working on stories about me ….and my image as the worst director on earth… or you fullfill what you think makes you a cooler guy in the internet …”

Based on this I contacted Dr. Boll and offered to do an unbiased review of Postal. We weren’t able to arrange that, but the e-mail exchange led to this interview.

Game Couch: What happened with Postal’s release? Why didn’t it get a wide release?

Uwe Boll: The big exhibitors dont wanna play it. It’s too politically incorrect ….. this is all a joke!

GC: In the post you position yourself as an underdog. Haven’t you been able to make the movies you’ve wanted to make in the style you’ve wanted to make them?

UB: Because I have budget and time limits as an independent I must compromise. But I have final cut and I do what I want – this is then really satisfying.

GC: How would you describe the Uwe Boll filmmaking style?

UB: I shoot fast and my movies are edgy …not streamlined studio product. I like R RATED or UNRATED movies.

GC: Historically your movies haven’t been well received, even by gamers. Why hasn’t your target audience connected with your movies?

UB: I think it’s not really correct what you say. I think there are 20,000 BOLL HATERS… but what is with the 1,500,000 people in USA they bought on DVD House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, In the Name of the King.

GC: Have you considered going with the direct to DVD route?

UB: Bloodrayne 2 and Alone in the Dark 2 will be direct to DVD.

GC: What’s next for Uwe Boll?

UB: My movies Far Cry and 1968 – Tunnelrats will come out later this year. Also Seed on DVD.

Game Couch: Hi, thank you for your response! Could you tell me what your roles are on the team?

Daladier: I am Claude Daladier, lead designer.

Avoyelles: Aimee Avoyelles, project manager.

GC: Thanks! Well, my first question is, why Daredevil and why now?

Avoyelles: Daredevil is a popular character, but his potential in video games has never been reached. It is actually easier to make a game which is not connected to a movie. People see Superhero the Game of the Movie and have low expectations.

GC: What source material are you drawing on?

Daladier: Of course the Frank Miller stories, but we are also pulling pieces from Stan Lee, Dennis O’Neil, and Kevin Smith. We also have a treat for fans of The Trial of the Incredible Hulk.

GC: Fearless isn’t a very descriptive subtitle. What can Daredevil fans expect?

Avoyelles: For gameplay a real Daredevil experience. For story expect the Kingpin, Bullseye, Typhoid Mary to have major roles.

GC: Can you tell me about the real Daredevil experience and maybe clear up some rumors?

Daladier: Ha! I know what you are referring too. To begin with, we are committed to having the player BE Daredevil so we are using the first-person perspective. However, Daredevil is blind. So this will be one of the first major video games, not to have video.

GC: So will the player have a radar or wireframe reference?

Avoyelles: Would a blind person? What Claude and I are working on, is presenting the world of Daredevil through superior acoustics and sensory stimulation.

Daladier: In video games, always graphics come first. Here we are building a world around sound. Players will seek out enemies by hearing their heartbeats, listen for guns being drawn.

Avoyelles: And we are doing things with vibrating controllers which have never been considered before.

GC: Are gamers ready to accept a graphicless video game?

Avoyelles: Certainly. Because we have absolutely no graphics, this game will be priced at €12 [about $20 --Terry]. Also, because we are not relying on graphics we can present the same game experience on a Nintendo DS as we can an Xbox 360.

GC: But won’t gamers be confused by a black screen?

Daladier: No. Daredevil thinks to himself. The gamer will be on a rooftop and Daredevil will be saying, “It sounds like I’m on a rooftop. I bet if I walk three feet to my left, I’ll find a fire escape.” or “It sounds like he’s drawn a gun. I should throw my billyclub at him!”

Avoyelles: In testing, gamers have found this very intuitive. Having graphics is a barrier. Not having graphics opens gaming up for everyone.

Daladier: Except for deaf gamers, but we will have the subtitles for them.

GC: Thank you again. Best luck to you and the rest of FauxPlay!

Grand Theft Childhood
Authors: Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release: April 2008

Game Couch: “Factors Correlated with Violent Video Game Use by Adolescent Boys and Girls” was published in the July 2007 Journal of Adolescent Health. Is Grand Theft Childhood a repackaging of the information for a general audience or something else?

Dr. Olson: The book was based on our two-year, $1.5 million research project at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School – particularly the surveys and focus groups we did with middle-schoolers and their parents, in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

Our findings have been published in academic journals such Journal of Adolescent Health and Journal of Adolescent Research, with more papers to come. (Academic research takes a ridiculously long time to publish.) But from the start, our research was designed with parents in mind. We weren’t just interested in statistical significance; we wanted to help parents and policymakers understand what’s normal, when to worry about violent video games, and when video games might benefit some kids.

We also drew on years of studies done in the U.S., Europe and Australia, looking at data from many different fields so we could put media violence research into a larger perspective.

GC: Your website mentions that other studies have been misconstrued. In what way and how was the study you conducted different?

Dr. Olson: Until now, the most-publicized studies came from a small group of experimental psychologists, studying college students playing nonviolent or violent games for 15 minutes. It’s debatable whether those studies are relevant to real children, playing self-selected games for their own reasons (not for cash or extra credit!), in social settings, over many years. But media reports and political rhetoric often ignore that distinction.

Also, the most-published researchers have built their careers around media violence. Their studies were designed under the assumption that violent video games are harmful, which dictated the questions they asked and how they framed their results. Media violence is just a small part of what we do, so we could look at the issue with fresh eyes and no agenda.

A few of the ways our research was different: Our studies focused on real kids. Our survey involved over 1200 kids in two states, far more than previous studies of middle-schoolers. Our kids were an ethnically and economically diverse group. Unlike earlier studies, virtually every child at school on the day of our survey filled one out; this high “response rate” means our results are more representative of typical kids. We also surveyed parents, to see how parents and kids differed in their views. Our surveys and focus groups actually asked children why they played video games, and looked at how those motivations were different among subgroups of kids (including children with symptoms of attention deficit disorder and depression).

Another big difference: We did not set out to prove that violent games cause aggressive behavior. First, you can’t show cause-and-effect with a one-time survey. Second, the causes of aggressive behavior are extremely complicated; teasing out the specific contribution of video games is near impossible, especially since kids who are already aggressive seem to prefer violent games and movies.

Instead, we focused on identifying markers of risk: patterns of game play that were associated with problem behaviors, that parents and pediatricians could spot.

GC: One of the findings of the original study (reported in a Massachusetts General Hospital press release) was “Children who play violent games are more likely to play to get their anger out,” and the study noted that while violent video game playing is up, youth crime is in decline. Doesn’t this run contrary to the popular view that violent video games indoctrinate children into a culture of violence?

Dr. Olson: Many children in our survey, as well as our focus groups with boys who play violent games, said they played games to manage their feelings. This included playing games to “help get my anger out,” to forget problems, to relax, and to feel less lonely. Children who played at least one M-rated video game “a lot in the past six months” were significantly more likely to agree that getting anger out was one reason they played video games.

GC: Despite the massive amounts of research conducted, the debate on violent video games is polarized. What would it take to get to a real discussion of this issue?

Dr. Olson: When we began our research, we didn’t fully grasp how politicized and emotional this topic was. An entire chapter of our book is focused on why the experts disagree. It starts with very basic things, such as the definition of “aggression.”

It may take a new generation of researchers and advocates, open to both pros and cons of video games (and who’ve played video games themselves!), to start truly productive discussions.

GC: Grand Theft Auto IV is coming out soon. If I’m the parent of a teenager, what do I need to know about this game and my kid to decide if they should play it or not?

Dr. Olson: One of the most surprising things in our research was how many kids aged 12 to 14 are playing Grand Theft Auto games; the series was #1 among boys, and #2 among girls. So, parents can assume that their teens will play GTA IV sometime, someplace. We recommend looking at screenshots, trailers and reviews and getting familiar with the content, so that you can talk with your kids about your concerns.

If you decide to buy or rent the game, watch your child play until you feel comfortable with his/her response to it. Ask him to teach you something about how to play; most kids welcome the chance to do this. If your child seems angry or upset after playing GTA IV, or is playing for long hours by himself, reconsider your decision.

One reassuring thing we found is that most children who play GTA don’t see the characters as role models, and don’t see the game as like real life. In fact, the “unreality” is one thing they like about the series. They can test boundaries and try things that, as one boy put it, “hopefully, will never happen to you. So you want to experience it a little bit without actually being there.”

One of the biggest draws of GTA seems to be not the violence but the open environment and array of choices: “You can be a good guy and a bad guy at the same time.” Every child will play the game differently.

GC: It’s an election year and one of the issues important to gamers is government regulation of video gaming. What level of involvement do you think the government should have with preventing M-rated games from reaching minors?

Dr. Olson: All previous laws of this type have been overturned, so it’s unlikely that future attempts to ban sales of M games will succeed.

Another issue: We used the M rating as a proxy for violent content in our research, but there’s tremendous variation in this category. Look at the SWAT series vs. the Hitman series: they are both rated M and have similar content descriptors, but one is all about preventing bloodshed and the other…is self-explanatory.

Parent education seems the only feasible way to go.