Brett Weiss's Blog, page 28

SNES Omnibus Contributor Spotlight #18 - Ken Horowitz

I’ve never met fellow author Ken Horowitz in person, but he’s been very cool and very friendly to deal with online—I hope to see him at a gaming convention at some point in the near future. Ken, whose writing has polish and a good sense of history, wrote several interesting stories for both volumes of the SNES Omnibus. For the second book (N-Z), which will be out next year, he wrote a compelling essay on one of the best games for the console, Super Metroid.  
Here’s Ken’s bio as it will appear in The SNES Omnibus: The SuperNintendo and Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M), which will be out within the next couple of months or so (hopefully sooner):
Ken Horowitz is an English professor who has been writing about Segaand video games for more than a decade. Along with articles and reviews for his website, Sega-16 (www.sega-16.com), his work has been published in such magazines as Hardcore Gamer and GamesTM, as well as several different online sites. Ken is the author of Playing at the Next Level: A History of AmericanSega Games. His next book, From Altered Beast to Zaxxon: A Celebration of Sega’s Arcade Legacy, chronicles the history of more than 60 Sega arcade games.

Fan Expo Dallas 2018 - Interview with Voice Actor Rob Paulsen

My latest for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram covers Fan Expo Dallas and the celebrities you can meet there. You can read it HERE. 

SNES Contributor Spotlight #17 - Brittney Brombacher

When I met popular YouTuber and comedienne Brittney Brombacher at Retropalooza a couple of years ago, she was approachable and very friendly. An adoring fan was following her around, and she was patient with and nice to him, even though he was probably being a little annoying (no, it wasn’t me, LOL). When I reached out to her to contribute stories to Vol. 1of the SNES Omnibus, she remembered meeting me and was happy to lend her talents to the project. Several of her stories revolve around bonding over video games with her dad, which is great. Thanks, Brittney, hope to see you at another show!
Here’s Brittney’s bio as it will appear in The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendo and Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M), which will be out this spring or summer.
Brittney Brombacher is a self-proclaimed “nerd-entrepreneur” hailing from Seattle, Washington. She currently runs the video game website BlondeNerd.com. Built in 2011, BlondeNerd.com kept Brittney sane while she was working at a dead-end, 8 to 5, 40 hours per week job, and helped her realize that she belonged in the video game industry. Brittney ultimately quit her job, started a side-gig to pay the bills, and now spends the majority of her day producing content for her website, podcasting, creating YouTube videos, and covering video game events/conventions worldwide.

Dust Jacket -- The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendo and Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M)

The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendo and Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M) will be the first book of mine to have a dust jacket. Click on the image for a closer look, and you can pre-order the book with early bird bonuses HERE.

Here are some advance reviews of the book:

* "This book is not only a reference volume, but it keeps alive the spirit of Nintendo's legacy." - Walter Day, industry icon and founder of Twin Galaxies.
 
* "I read the whole thing and loved it! My favorite chapters were the more intimate ones, where the contributing writers talked about how the games affected them from a personal standpoint...I kept turning the pages looking to connect with the writers, and it happened a lot...The quotes and factoids are great...Grammatically, it's spotless...There's a plethora of balance, knowledge, and fun here...This is the best book Weiss has written so far." - Patrick Hickey, Jr., author of The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult and Classic Video Game Developers
 
* "This book has a great collection of game-related stories that really take me back to the '90s, when I had so much fun playing the heck out of the Super Nintendo." - Steve Woita, game designer/programmer of Atari 2600 Taz, Garfield, Asterix and Quadrun.
 
* "Each one of Brett's books is painstakingly researched, very well-written and extremely polished. This Super Nintendo book is no exception and should definitely find a place in the library of every retro-gaming enthusiast."- Dr. Roberto Dillon, author of The Golden Age of Video Games and Ready: A Commodore 64 Retrospective.
 
* "Brett Weiss has captured an essential part of what made the SNES indelible and one of the classic video game systems. The personal stories and memories wrapped up in each game are a welcome time warp back to those halcyon days." - Tim Lapetino, author of Art of Atari.
 
* "Brett Weiss proves again that he is the master of game directories"- Leonard Herman, author of Phoenix IV:The History of the Videogame Industry.
 
* "Weiss puts a heartwarming and personal spin on all that is still great with the Super Nintendo."  - Michael Thomasson, author of Downright Bizarre Games: Video Games thatCrossed the Line!

SNES Omnibus Spotlight #16: Steve Woita

One of my priorities with the SNES Omnibus is to preserve stories from video game developers, including guys like Steve Woita, who has been programming games for about as long as I have been collecting them. Steve has been very cool to work with and is an enthusiastic supporter of the project. Steve has worked on games for a variety of consoles, as you can see by his bio below, and he’s a big fan of the Super Nintendo. It’s an honor and a privilege to have Steve on board as all I do is write about video games—he actually creates the magic.
Here’s Steve’s bio from The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendo and ItsGames, Vol. 1 (A-M):
Steve Woita’s first job after graduating from college in Electrical Engineering was at Apple Computer as one of their earliest employees. He worked on the Apple II, fixing thousands of motherboards for production, then on to R&D for Lisa, Apple III, Apple IIe, and the Apple 80 column card for the Apple II. He co-designed Sirius Software’s JoyPort and later co-designed the MouseStick for the original Macintosh. Steve moved to Atari in 1982 and created Quadrun (featuring his voice), TAZ, Asterix (the first 2600 game exclusively designed for Europe), and Garfield (unreleased). Steve, who is still designing games, has worked on numerous other titles, including: Super Sprint (NES);  Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Spinball and Kid Chameleon (Genesis); Army Men Sarge’s Heroes (PS1, 3DO); and Gubble 1 and Gubble 2 (PC, PS1, iOS). For more info, check stevewoita.wordpress.com.

SNES Omnibus Contributor Spotlight #15: Thor Thorvaldson

The immensely talented Thor Thorvaldson is a true asset to the SNES Omnibus project. Not only did he contribute some memorable nostalgic stories, he’s the illustrator on the centerfolds for both books. Thor takes characters like Mario, Donkey Kong, and Link and somehow makes them his own: familiar, yet fresh. He’s also good with design and layout, as you can see by this centerfold for The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendo and Its Games,Vol. 1 (A-M): (Click on the image for a closer look.)

I hope to do an autographing of the book with Thor at a video game convention in the near future. He’s been great to deal with online (and as a co-contributor to Old School Gamer Magazine), and I look forward to meeting him in person.
Here’s Thor’s SNES Omnibus bio:
Thor Thorvaldson is one of those weirdos who turned his childhood obsession into a paying job, converting his love for Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Dig Dug into a semi-career of creating art for Nintendo Force Magazine, RETRO magazine, Little Player magazine and Hardcore Gaming 101. Creating artwork for their endeavors, he has also worked with Bryan Belcher’s Mega Man-athon, David Craddock, and John Szczepaniak, along with numerous Nerdcore Hip-Hop musicians, including Random a.k.a. Mega Ran, Mikal kHill, DJ Cutman, Sulfur, and Tribe One. Thor loves the ’80s, Pokémon and pizza.

Cloak & Dagger - A Podcast on the 1984 Feature Film

My son Ryan recently appeared on a podcast called Staff Picks celebrating the video game-related movie, Cloak & Dagger, which remains an entertaining film. I disagree with Ryan's opinion on the Atari 5200, which I'm a big fan of, but it's a fun listen that movie and video game fans will enjoy. You can listen HERE.



Here's footage from the obscure Cloak & Dagger arcade game, which didn't make it to home consoles, despite the Atari 5200 game depicted in the film:

The photos below are from a trip Ryan and I took to San Antonio a while back to check out Cloak & Dagger filming locations. You can see more pics from that trip HERE.

SNES Omnibus Contributor Spotlight #14 - Bill Loguidice

As much as I like video games, I’m not really into the technical side of things, such as console specs and the like. Prolific writer and all-around good guy Bill Loguidice, on the other hand, is a technology expert, and it shows in the foreword he did for my forthcoming book, The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendo and Its Games,Vol. 1 (A-M), which will be out in late spring or sometime this summer. His techno-savvy foreword is an invaluable addition to the book, adding intellectual heft and context to an already massive and substantive tome. Bill has written some awesome stories for Vol. 2 of the project as well. Thanks, Bill, for a job well done. I hope to collaborate with you on future projects.
Here’s Bill’s bio that accompanies his crazy-good, totally geeky foreword:

Bill Loguidice is the author of eight technology books and was a writer and producer of Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution, a feature film documentary on the history of video games. He runs the popular website, Armchair Arcade, and continues to write for a variety of major publications. Bill owns and maintains well over 500 different video game and computer systems from the 1970s to the present day, which helps inform his writing.

SNES Omnibus Contributor Spotlight #13 - William Culver

William “Willie” Culver is a super nice guy, a friend, and an uber-podcaster and YouTuber, hosting a variety of entertaining shows. One of these was the late, lamented ColecoVisions Podcast, where I was lucky enough to co-host with Willie and my buddy John “Gamester81” Lester. The three of us had a blast talking about the greatest video game console of all time, and we will appear together at the Corgs retro gaming convention in Columbus, Ohio on June 2. Thanks to Willie for my time on the ColecoVisions podcast, and for writing some fun stories for my SNES Omnibus book project.
Below is Willie’s bio from The SNES Omnibus: The Super Nintendo and Its Games, Vol. 1(A-M), which you can pre-order direct with early bird bonuses HERE.

William Culver began gaming at an early age; his first console was a Unisonic Tournament 2000  Pong  clone. He’s been in the coin-op scene since he was five, back when arcades were filled with electromechanical games. His father was friends with the local arcade owner, so he spent a lot of time there learning how the games worked and how to repair them. He did this up through the mid-1980s. In addition to video games, William likes classic toys. To share his passion for both hobbies, he hosts a YouTube show called Arcade USA. He hosts a number of podcasts as well, including ColecoVisions Podcast, Atari 5200 Super Community Podcast, The Channel F Files, Vectrex Radio, and The Toy Tomb Podcast.

SNES Omnibus Contributor Spotlight #12 - Matt Henzel

Matt Henzel is one of the most devoted video game fans I know. He’s the epitome of “hardcore gamer,” collecting, playing, and researching consoles from all eras, from the beginning of the industry to the PlayStation 4 and beyond. On various Facebook groups, Matt weighs in on a mind-boggling array of topics, sharing his encyclopedic expertise and knowledge with anyone who asks. He selflessly spends time preserving video game history in the form of high quality images he gladly shares with content creators. All you have to do is ask. Matt also contributed some excellent insider insights to my SNESOmnibus project. Thanks, Matt, you’re an asset to the industry.
Here’s Matt’s bio in my forthcoming book, The SNES Omnibus:The Super Nintendo and Its Games, Vol. 1 (A-M).
Matt Henzel, the founder of VideoGameObsession.com, began gaming with a Pong clone system, which his parents bought for the family in 1977. His collecting started with the ColecoVision in 1982, and he has bought and collected most every gaming system since. His collection also includes videogame books, promotional items, and complete sets of magazines. His website, started in 1996, contains thousands of high quality, personally scanned and photographed video game covers from his collection. Matt shares these with authors of video documentaries and books on gaming’s rich history. In the past, he’s helped supply images and knowledge to: Double Fine/2 Player Productions (various documentaries), Rusel DeMaria (High Score: The illustrated History of Electronic Games), PBS (The Video Game Revolution), On-Networks (Play Value), and RetrowareTV (The Video Game Years).