I'll read and surely enjoy "Racing the Beam" someday, but right now I must admit to resenting its success only as it relates to ours. It's the most frustrating possible situation as I truly feel "Vintage Games", even with the moronic title, should be doing at least as well. (and maybe it is, but it doesn't seem to be)
I agree that the title isn't optimal and I hope that you have more luck with "Woot!" ;-)
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These are my feelings, too. Title aside, I find it hard to believe that anyone like ourselves could flip through Vintage Games and not want to buy a copy. I mean, how do you NOT buy this book? If I were to come across it in a Barnes & Noble, it'd be a no-brainer. If I didn't know better, though, I'd think a book like Racing the Beam would sell a few hundred copies, tops. A book exploring the esoteric inner workings of the Atari 2600? Come again? Yeah, I know there are hardcore folks out there who make homebrew 2600 carts and what-not, but just how many of these folks can there possibly be? Somehow the book has managed to reach out to far wider demographic.
I don't know if homebrew developers on the VCS automatically buy this book but there aren't exactly many. I think it's more the wannabes and people like myself - knowledgeable but with limited time to be really hardcore - that buy this book.
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There's no doubt that the huge media attention Racing the Beam has achieved is responsible for its success. The publisher, MIT Press, is a juggernaut in the academic world, and I'm sure having that kind of credibility behind them has helped. Plus, Montfort and Bogost are practically celebrities. Bogost was a keynote at GDC, for Pete's sake. I'm sure it wasn't his first. These guys have managed to really draw a vast audience around their work, while we more or less have to scream, beg, and cajole to get anyone to even glance in our direction. It sickens me.
Lots of celebrities are overrated, IMHO.
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It may sound nuts, but I'm just beginning to wonder if fate is somehow involved in things like this. Maybe some people just aren't destined for greatness, and that's all there is to it. Sorry to be so negative, but I'm just really discouraged right now.
Keep on trucking, man! You are steadily building a reputation and you are still _my_ most-read games author!
Until I've read Twisty Little Passages that is! ;-)
I'll read and surely enjoy "Racing the Beam" someday, but right now I must admit to resenting its success only as it relates to ours. It's the most frustrating possible situation as I truly feel "Vintage Games", even with the moronic title, should be doing at least as well. (and maybe it is, but it doesn't seem to be)
I agree that the title isn't optimal and I hope that you have more luck with "Woot!" ;-)
These are my feelings, too. Title aside, I find it hard to believe that anyone like ourselves could flip through Vintage Games and not want to buy a copy. I mean, how do you NOT buy this book? If I were to come across it in a Barnes & Noble, it'd be a no-brainer. If I didn't know better, though, I'd think a book like Racing the Beam would sell a few hundred copies, tops. A book exploring the esoteric inner workings of the Atari 2600? Come again? Yeah, I know there are hardcore folks out there who make homebrew 2600 carts and what-not, but just how many of these folks can there possibly be? Somehow the book has managed to reach out to far wider demographic.
I don't know if homebrew developers on the VCS automatically buy this book but there aren't exactly many. I think it's more the wannabes and people like myself - knowledgeable but with limited time to be really hardcore - that buy this book.
There's no doubt that the huge media attention Racing the Beam has achieved is responsible for its success. The publisher, MIT Press, is a juggernaut in the academic world, and I'm sure having that kind of credibility behind them has helped. Plus, Montfort and Bogost are practically celebrities. Bogost was a keynote at GDC, for Pete's sake. I'm sure it wasn't his first. These guys have managed to really draw a vast audience around their work, while we more or less have to scream, beg, and cajole to get anyone to even glance in our direction. It sickens me.
Lots of celebrities are overrated, IMHO.
It may sound nuts, but I'm just beginning to wonder if fate is somehow involved in things like this. Maybe some people just aren't destined for greatness, and that's all there is to it. Sorry to be so negative, but I'm just really discouraged right now.
Keep on trucking, man! You are steadily building a reputation and you are still _my_ most-read games author!
Until I've read Twisty Little Passages that is! ;-)
take care,
Calibrator
take care,
Calibrator