I've been chomping at the bit to play a good multi-character CRPG for some time now, but am typically presented with various barriers, which I'm constantly looking to overcome. I think I've found one way to get through one of the most egregious barriers, and that's minimizing set up time. Whether truly necessary or not, when it comes to a good CRPG, I like to read the manual first so I can plan out my character creation strategy and then hit the ground running. Unfortunately, gathering the motivation to actually break out the manual and read it is difficult at best since there are so many other demands on my time, many of which are considerably more fun than reading rules. Since the Kindle app on my iPad 2 now supports the sending of documents over email directly to the device, I was able to send both the PDF manual and PDF map for Darklands (which Matt Barton covered here and here) from my Evernote account via my Kindle-specific email address. While I own the complete boxed version of Darklands, having both the manual and map on my iPad are considerably more convenient since I can read the former at my leisure, and refer to the latter as needed. In fact, I read about half the manual today during lunch, and will probably get through the rest when doing cardio at the gym tonight after hitting the weights. This way when I do have a little time in the evening, I can simply start the game. And speaking of the game, I got Darklands on gog.com, and it's already installed on my gaming PC, so no need for me to set up my original disks on an old PC and go through the whole tedious process that that would involve. This of course further streamlines my ability to actually get to the game before using up all of my time and/or energy.

Loguidice and BushnellLos Angeles correspondent, Fernanda Ezabella, interviewed me about the popularity of vintage games today and our upcoming feature film documentary, Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution, for Portuguese language newspaper, Folha de S.Paulo, Brazil's largest, which is published in São Paulo. I promised to touch base with Fernanda again when the film is closer to completion, which is the reason why you see no stills from Gameplay in the article, i.e., it's not quite at that point yet. A low resolution version of the actual newspaper article's "tear sheet" is below, but you'll have to log into the Website to see the article by itself. Naturally, it's all in Portuguese.

Thanks to the efforts of Carl Williams and his Scenic 7 PR, we were able to get in touch with and set up an interview with the legendary Nolan Bushnell, for our upcoming feature film documentary, Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution. While it was a toss-up whether or not Nolan would appear closer to where Matt or I lived first in his travels, it turned out that it was near my neck of the woods, and we were able to conduct the interview today, Father's Day, in New York City. We had a great camera person on the remote shoot, and I had the pleasure of getting additional invaluable assistance from our own Christina Loguidice, both prior to and during my interview. Nolan was a true professional and provided many great sound bites we'll be able to use throughout the film. Added to the other industry celebrities we already interviewed, a great script, and compelling clips, the film is truly coming together as we gear up for a 2011 release. Be sure to stay tuned to Armchair Arcade for all the latest updates on our progress!

While Matt and I are still hard at work on our upcoming feature film documentary, Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution, there comes good news related to the producer and financier, Lux Digital Pictures, in a story from indiWIRE, which can be read here. To summarize, Lorber Films will be releasing two of Lux Digital Pictures' recently completed films, “American Grindhouse” and “Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue,” to theaters in both the US and Canada. This is great news, as it's amazingly difficulty to get even limited theatrical distribution for indie productions, and bodes well for Gameplay's future.

As a reminder, Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution, is a feature film documentary that celebrates the amazing story of videogames, focusing on the industry's most decisive moments throughout its history. Comprehensive in scope, the film covers games from all genres and platforms, from the late 1950s into modern times. Featuring interviews with industry greats such as John Romero (Doom), David Crane (Pitfall!), Steve Meretzky (Planetfall), Todd Howard (Fallout 3), and John Smedley (EverQuest) - plus many others - Gameplay offers an in-depth look at the industry that has redefined popular entertainment. The film explores the impact of mega-hits such as Atari's Pong, Nintendo's Super Mario Bros., and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, as well as the role played by revolutionary technologies like the CD-ROM and the Internet. Loaded with high-quality clips from hundreds of vintage and modern games, Gameplay is a film no gamer can resist.

The film is being written and produced for Lux Digital Pictures by Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton, authors of Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time (Focal Press, 2009), Dungeons & Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games (A.K. Peters, 2008), and Wii Fitness for Dummies (Wiley, 2010). Matt and Bill are also the founders of Armchair Arcade, recognized by PC Magazine as one if its Top 100 Websites. Lux Digital Pictures has produced several recent, critically acclaimed documentaries, including Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue and American Grindhouse, which covers the history of horror and exploitation films, respectively. While Gameplay naturally touches upon controversial topics such as violence and sex in games, the overall tone is overwhelmingly positive. Lifelong, passionate gamers themselves, Barton and Loguidice are committed to ensuring accuracy, fairness, and integrity in all the topics covered in the film.

The official Facebook fan page.

The official Website.

We've been getting asked quite a bit lately to reveal more information about our forthcoming feature film documentary, so I thought I would share the current promotional description making the rounds. While we're still tweaking things here and there, what follows should be pretty close to the release version of the film:

Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution, is a feature film documentary that celebrates the amazing story of videogames, focusing on the industry's most decisive moments throughout its history. Comprehensive in scope, the film covers games from all genres and platforms, from the late 1950s into modern times. Featuring interviews with industry greats such as John Romero (Doom), David Crane (Pitfall!), Steve Meretzky (Planetfall), Todd Howard (Fallout 3), and John Smedley (EverQuest) - plus many others - Gameplay offers an in-depth look at the industry that has redefined popular entertainment. The film explores the impact of mega-hits such as Atari's Pong, Nintendo's Super Mario Bros., and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, as well as the role played by revolutionary technologies like the CD-ROM and the Internet. Loaded with high-quality clips from hundreds of vintage and modern games, Gameplay is a film no gamer can resist.

The film is being written and produced for Lux Digital Pictures by Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton, authors of Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time (Focal Press, 2009), Dungeons & Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games (A.K. Peters, 2008), and Wii Fitness for Dummies (Wiley, 2010). Matt and Bill are also the founders of Armchair Arcade, recognized by PC Magazine as one if its Top 100 Websites. Lux Digital Pictures has produced several recent, critically acclaimed documentaries, including Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue and American Grindhouse, which covers the history of horror and exploitation films, respectively. While Gameplay naturally touches upon controversial topics such as violence and sex in games, the overall tone is overwhelmingly positive. Lifelong, passionate gamers themselves, Barton and Loguidice are committed to ensuring accuracy, fairness, and integrity in all the topics covered in the film.

As you may already know, we're working on a major feature film documentary on videogames, tentatively titled, Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution, which is through Lux Digital Pictures, responsible for such features as Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film and American Grindhouse. We're presently in the process of gathering the last of the important footage and would like to round it out with archive materials, commercials, promotional videos and other media - past and present - that would be relevant to the documentary. While we're presently in negotiations with most major videogame companies, we're always on the lookout for more, more, more. If you're a rights holder, archivist, work for a videogame company (even one of the big ones), etc., and would like to contribute materials, please get in contact with me at bill@armchairarcade.com. The film is going to be a celebration of the positive aspects of videogames (and computers) through a vivid historical narrative that takes viewers right through to the present day (and beyond) and features interviews with top industry pros and quite a bit of in-game footage, a lot of which has never been seen before in this type of format. Thanks for the help in making this even better!

Hi, everyone. I hope you enjoy my first-ever effort to make a video! Matt Chat #1: Pool of Radiance. Please let me know what you think and feel free to give me tips or suggestions for future episodes. Just keep in mind that this is my first attempt at this, so be gentle. :)