Pat Contri Hating Me and Using Emulation for His N64 Book
Pat reluctantly posed for this photo at a convention. I thought we were still friends at the time.
My buddy Smash JTdid a video recently on Pat Contri’s forthcoming N64 book. He mentions me inthe video as someone Pat has unfairly insulted on his YouTube channel and podcast,which I appreciate – thanks, Smash. But just to be clear, I’ve never commentedon Pat’s N64 book before this blog post or of his and his contributing writers’use of emulation to write the reviews. I figured that was his business, and itdidn’t really affect me.
I’ve reviewedother retro gaming books on my blog and my YouTube channel, but I don’t reallyfeel comfortable commenting too much on the N64 book until I take a look at it.As far as emulation in general is concerned, it makes sense for rare andexpensive games, but less so for common ones. Those should be easy to purchaseor at least borrow and play on original hardware. Regardless, if he wants to writea book using emulators, that’s his prerogative. (People, including Pat, havecriticized me for not beating all the games in my books, which coverthousands of titles, but that would take forever and be very difficult for somegames. I play them long enough to get a good feel for them and oftentimes muchlonger. For games I don’t spend a ton of time with, my review will read morelike a general synopsis. But, I digress…)
One thing isclear: had Pat, who I was friends with for almost 10 years, not only turned on me andstarted trashing me on his podcast as soon as my first Omnibus book came out (hisattitude change toward me was instantaneous when he saw me as a competitor), I wouldprobably be congratulating him and maybe even helping him promote the book—afterall, we were friends and had an amiable working relationship. I promoted thehell out of his NES book during the Kickstarter and for weeks after it came out,because I was proud to be a part of it, and to help him out. I even message himcongratulations on his Super NES Kickstarter, which he ignored.
Pat was thrilled that I was a guest at Mo Game Con.
But, as soon as hesaw me as competition instead of a friend and colleague, he started lying aboutme repeatedly on his podcast and calling me names. He said my reviews for his NES book were “garbage” after he deleted them from the THIRD edition. Hebrought me up on his podcast periodically, just to say bad things about me andmy reviews, which is totally strange and disingenuous since he complementedthem repeatedly during the production of the book. (In 2015, he said "great job" and that I was a "backbone" helping keeping it going, as you can see by the email below.) Prior to getting reallynasty, he started ghosting me at conventions and acting uncomfortable around me—butonly after my SNES Omnibus Vol. 1 came out.
To provide a backstory on how things went south with Pat, when it was time for the thirdedition of his NES book to be published, he announced that there were going tobe 60 reviews completely rewritten. I remembered that I had done approximately thatamount and messaged him to inquire if he was taking out my reviews. He saw themessage but didn’t answer me, which was odd. I wish he had given me a heads-upbecause I was still mentioning that I had written reviews for his book in my bioand my resume—freelance writers like myself are constantly sending out pitchesto various editors, using their credentials to try to help get their articles seriouslyconsidered and then published.
Pat had everyright to remove my reviews from his book, but I just wish he would have given methe professional courtesy of letting me know. It really did cause problems forme. For example, leading up to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo around that time,my guest bio on their website, which I had submitted months before, mentionedthat I had written for his NES book. Well, if someone only had the thirdedition of the book and then saw that bio, they would be confused or think that I was lying. So, I had to contact PRGE and have them delete that bit ofinformation. First-world problem to be sure, but annoying. Much worse, hisfollowers began harassing me online. Pat even insults me “privately” on his Patreon. (Message for Pat – nothing online is private.)
The bottom line isthis: Pat only started being a jerk to me after my first SNES Omnibus book cameout. It is a large full-color hardcover, unlike my more basic Classic Home Video Games books, which he didn’t see as competition. He’s spreading false informationwhen he says he thinks my reviews are garbage. He paid me for them and complimentedme for writing them. And even if thinks they are garbage, and even if he heavily edited a few of them, is that really theway to treat one of your writers? I’ve written hundreds and hundreds ofarticles for various publications and never once did any of my other editors startinsulting me about it later. In fact, Pat’s is my only editor to have everinsulted me at all. Sure, I had work rejected before, like any working writer, but thoseeditors acted like professionals.Peoplehad warned me about working with Pat—that he could turn on me, which he endedup doing—but I ignored them.
Oh, and one morething: if my NES reviews were indeed garbage, then he should be soundly criticized forpaying for them and then publishing them in the first two volumes of his book. None of my other editors would have done such a thing. Those reviews would have ended up in...the garbage.
More evidence that Pat was happy with my work during the writing of the book:
