I'm happy to announce that there will be a third new book from the Armchair Arcade team in 2011, this one entitled, TouchPad For Dummies, which will begin production shortly after the HP TouchPad's official release July 1, for an anticipated November 2011 retail availability. This will be written by me and Christina Loguidice, and joins our other book, My Xbox: Kinect, Xbox 360, and Xbox LIVE, which is well underway, as well as Motorola ATRIX For Dummies, which I wrote with Dan Gookin and will see release in August. Of course, Matt Barton and I are still in production on Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution, from Lux Digital Pictures.

I can't announce any specifics as of yet, but Christina and I are also in negotiations for two Nintendo books, one of which might be written this year. If either of those deals happen, we'll of course let everyone know. Here are the Amazon links to all of the Armchair Arcade team's books to date:
      

Great news! Two of our latest books, Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time, and Wii Fitness for Dummies (aka, Fitness on the Wii for Dummies), are now on sale at Amazon for $15.45 and $16.49, respectively. The Kindle versions are only $13.91 and $9.99, respectively. Those really are great deals, so if you haven't already picked up your copies, now is a great time to do so. Also, don't forget to leave a review on Amazon as well, as it really helps a book get additional exposure. Thanks for the support and look out for more books from us soon!

Donnie (aka Soulgotha) has just posted a very detailed and accurate review of our book Vintage Games. Check it out, and while you're there, be sure to subscribe to this man's channel. I've never been disappointed by any of his videos. He does a range of topics, not just videogames, though all of them are entertaining and worth watching (I especially love his rants, comedies, and magic tricks).

Be sure to mention you heard about him on Armchair Arcade!

As Google often likes to do, today they've placed the focus on an important anniversary, The 30th Anniversary of PAC-MAN. Naturally, Pac-Man is one of a handful of pop culture icons that encapsulates what many people think of when they think of the word "videogames". Heck, even when people are shown playing videogames in commercials, you'll STILL hear 30 year old Pac-Man sound effects coming from their modern day handheld or console! As you no doubt know, I wrote a colorful book called Vintage Games with Matt Barton not too long ago, and sure enough, Chapter 13, entitled "Pac-Man (1980): Japanese Gumption, American Consumption" features the pie guy himself and the games that incredible title influenced. So, be sure to re-read the chapter in your copy of the book as we celebrate this important videogame milestone - Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time (2009), by Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton, through Focal Press.

NOTE: In case you haven't noticed, you can go to Google's Home Page and try their first ever interactive doodle. Yep, you can play a nifty variation of Pac-Man right in your browser (just "Insert Coin" once for one player, or twice for a two player game with Ms. Pac-Man). Nice job, Google!

Just a quick note that our book, Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time, is part of Amazon's "Game On: Featured Game Design Titles" promotion, as seen here. The best part? This means that you can presently get it for a low, low price of - as of this writing - just $14.56! Be sure to check it out. Also, be sure to check out a different, but similarly valuable promotion for Wii Fitness for Dummies, including a $5 mail-in rebate!

Bill Loguidice shows the Italian translation of Vintage Games, which is available at www.vintagegames.it, and discusses the book in general, as well as the upcoming feature film from Lux Digital Pictures, Gameplay.

For the past several years, an old college friend of mine drops in around Christmas time to pay me a visit and play some games. This list of games is typically quite bizarre. My goal in this entry is to simply walk you through what we played...

Our book, Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time, has been spotted on Italian TV. Claudio Todeschini and Stefano Gaburri, who translated our work to Italian, were featured on a Rai.TV program. Check out their original blog post about it, then check out the video. It's a great feature on them and the book (even for those of us who don't speak Italian) and it starts at approximately the 06:25 mark. Cool stuff! (Matt and I should be receiving our copies of the Italian edition any day now as well)

Pixel Perfect Gaming has posted a very nice review of our book, Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time. Right now it appears on their front page, but here's the direct link to the review article for when it gets bumped down. I won't spoil what the reviewer has to say, but I certainly can't complain on this one. Don't forget, Vintage Games is still available from retailers worldwide, has its official page here, and an Italian edition here. Enjoy!