What's with the silence regarding this article? I was really proud of it, but it no one but Stu seems to care about it. Do you other guys just think it sucks or something?
I doubt that's it. Like I mentioned in e-mail, Elite, much like the next one, Rogue, have been done to death before, so, no matter how good they are (and even I'm proud of some of the connections to other games and other games mentioned in it that I snuck in there), they just won't net much reaction. Also, both Elite and Rogue (as examples) don't have much mainstream gamer crossover appeal--you have to be a "real" gamer to even know about them and then bother to read it to in turn become excited about them.
I think Pong received a decent reaction because the article covered a lot of history, even though Pong itself is too "been there, done that". Pinball Construction Set received a great reaction simply because it's one of those legendary titles that doesn't receive enough coverage, plus it was able to tie into the whole "user generated content" movement. Tony Hawk - well, it wasn't particularly good or bad as a chapter - but the most interesting part was receiving "mainstream" attention from both the Tony Hawk official site and skater sites; there was a hook beyond the usual audience, which really didn't respond. I already touched on Elite and next month's article, Rogue, which I think will receive a similar reaction as Elite. After that is Spacewar!, which may receive some novelty attention, a la Pong, but I'm not optimistic for that because again, it's a well worn story, though we do cover some interesting angles and take focus away from Spacewar! itself, since it's already been discussed in other bonus chapters.
After that is Defender and then Robotron, both of which I think will be very well received, since both have kind of a broader appeal and haven't received an excess of coverage to this point. I think Robotron in particular will elicit a great reaction. Finally, the last bonus chapter, Star Raiders (September 2009), will be the most interesting to me. We pretty much avoid going on and on about the game, but make some interesting connections. It will either be well received or hated because of the angle we took, but it will certainly get the attention of the Atari fan community, which always helps. In short, there has to be some hook to either get masses of gamers excited or interested, or a particularly vocal community (a la the Atari one) to drum up reaction - good or bad. Some topics do that, some don't. In the end, it's not about one chapter in the book or online, it's about the whole, the sum of the parts. With that, I think we've had a great success.
Of course, I'm dying to see some reviews and get some more Amazon reaction. That part of the equation puzzles me, as the review copies have gone out long ago. Why the silence in regards to that? I just don't know.
Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
*************************** Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
What's with the silence regarding this article? I was really proud of it, but it no one but Stu seems to care about it. Do you other guys just think it sucks or something?
I doubt that's it. Like I mentioned in e-mail, Elite, much like the next one, Rogue, have been done to death before, so, no matter how good they are (and even I'm proud of some of the connections to other games and other games mentioned in it that I snuck in there), they just won't net much reaction. Also, both Elite and Rogue (as examples) don't have much mainstream gamer crossover appeal--you have to be a "real" gamer to even know about them and then bother to read it to in turn become excited about them.
I think Pong received a decent reaction because the article covered a lot of history, even though Pong itself is too "been there, done that". Pinball Construction Set received a great reaction simply because it's one of those legendary titles that doesn't receive enough coverage, plus it was able to tie into the whole "user generated content" movement. Tony Hawk - well, it wasn't particularly good or bad as a chapter - but the most interesting part was receiving "mainstream" attention from both the Tony Hawk official site and skater sites; there was a hook beyond the usual audience, which really didn't respond. I already touched on Elite and next month's article, Rogue, which I think will receive a similar reaction as Elite. After that is Spacewar!, which may receive some novelty attention, a la Pong, but I'm not optimistic for that because again, it's a well worn story, though we do cover some interesting angles and take focus away from Spacewar! itself, since it's already been discussed in other bonus chapters.
After that is Defender and then Robotron, both of which I think will be very well received, since both have kind of a broader appeal and haven't received an excess of coverage to this point. I think Robotron in particular will elicit a great reaction. Finally, the last bonus chapter, Star Raiders (September 2009), will be the most interesting to me. We pretty much avoid going on and on about the game, but make some interesting connections. It will either be well received or hated because of the angle we took, but it will certainly get the attention of the Atari fan community, which always helps. In short, there has to be some hook to either get masses of gamers excited or interested, or a particularly vocal community (a la the Atari one) to drum up reaction - good or bad. Some topics do that, some don't. In the end, it's not about one chapter in the book or online, it's about the whole, the sum of the parts. With that, I think we've had a great success.
Of course, I'm dying to see some reviews and get some more Amazon reaction. That part of the equation puzzles me, as the review copies have gone out long ago. Why the silence in regards to that? I just don't know.
Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.