Biting the Hand 6/12/01 Jessica M. Mulligan Page 1 Biting the Hand: A Compilation of the Columns to Date Copyright 2001 by Jessica M. Mulligan Copyright 2000 by Jessica Mulligan. All right reserved. Biting the Hand 6/12/01 Jessica M. Mulligan Page 2 Table of Contents 1 THE 1997 COLUMNS......................................................................................................6 1.1 ISSUE 1: APRIL 1997.....................................................................................................6 1.1.1 ACTIVISION??? WHO DA THUNK IT? .............................................................7 1.1.2 AMERICA ONLINE: WILL YOU BE PAYING MORE FOR GAMES?..................8 1.1.3 LATENCY: NO LONGER AN ISSUE .................................................................12 1.1.4 PORTAL UPDATE: December, 1997.................................................................13 1.2 ISSUE 2: APRIL-JUNE, 1997 ........................................................................................15 1.2.1 SSI: The Little Company That Could..................................................................15 1.2.2 CompuServe: The Big Company That Couldn t..................................................17 1.2.3 And Speaking Of Arrogance ...........................................................................20 1.3 ISSUE 3 ......................................................................................................................23 1.3.1 December, 1997.................................................................................................23 1.3.2 The Seidman Forums .........................................................................................23 1.3.3 Quake II: So What? ...........................................................................................24 1.3.4 Martin Cirulis: Columnist Of The Year..............................................................26 2 1998 COLUMNS .............................................................................................................28 2.1 ONLINE GAMING: WHY WON’T THEY COME?..............................................................28 2.2 MARCH TO MAY, 1998 ...............................................................................................33 2.2.1 Ultima Online....................................................................................................33 2.2.2 Publisher Focus: Interplay ................................................................................35 2.2.3 The 1998 Modem Mutant Awards ......................................................................37 2.3 AN OPEN LETTER TO HASBRO INTERACTIVE ...............................................................41 2.4 HASBRO TO BUY MICROPROSE ...................................................................................47 2.5 SEPTEMBER 1998 .......................................................................................................49 2.5.1 Reaction To The Hasbro Articles .......................................................................49 2.5.2 The Marching Morons .......................................................................................53 2.5.3 Pressing The Flesh, The Interactive Way ...........................................................55 2.6 OCTOBER 30, 1998.....................................................................................................57 2.6.1 General Notes for the Holidays..........................................................................57 2.6.2 Interplay Falls On Hard Times ..........................................................................58 2.6.3 Tis The Season .................................................................................................58 2.7 DECEMBER 7, 1998 ....................................................................................................61 2.7.1 The 1998 Round-Up...........................................................................................61 3 YEAR 1999 COLUMNS .................................................................................................64 3.1 WELCOME TO MY WORLD; NOW BITE ME..................................................................64 3.2 NASTY, INCONVENIENT QUESTIONS, PART DEUX.........................................................66 3.3 PRESSING THE FLESH II: THE INTERACTIVE SEQUEL.....................................................70 3.4 MORE BUGS: A CASUALTY OF THE XMAS RUSH?.........................................................72 3.5 IN THE BIZ..................................................................................................................75 3.6 JACK AND THE BEANCOUNTER....................................................................................77 3.7 COLOR ME BONEHEADED ............................................................................................81 3.8 AH, SWEET MYSTERY OF LIFE ................................................................................84 Copyright 2000 by Jessica Mulligan. All right reserved. Biting the Hand 6/12/01 Jessica M. Mulligan Page 3 3.9 THE CONFERENCE FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE COMPUTER GAME DEVELOPER’S CONFERENCE .........................................................................................................................86 3.10 THIS FRAGGED CORPSE BROUGHT TO YOU BY ...........................................................89 3.11 OH, NO! I FORGOT TO HAVE CHILDREN!....................................................................91 3.12 CATCHING UP ON EMAIL ............................................................................................93 3.13 GOD SUED! .............................................................................................................96 3.14 PAYING FOR THE WRONG SINS AND OTHER ODD THOUGHTS ........................................97 3.15 NO MODEM MUTANTS HERE, PAL ..............................................................................99 3.16 MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER GAMES WE’D LIKE TO SEE .............................................. 101 3.17 GAMES WE MIGHT (SHUDDER) SEE .......................................................................... 103 3.18 UNSUNG HEROES...................................................................................................... 105 3.19 BANDWIDTH SHALL NOT SAVE YOU ......................................................................... 108 3.20 HISTORY S REVENGE................................................................................................ 111 3.21 ODD BITS AND PIECES .............................................................................................. 113 3.22 PERSISTENTLY SILLY ................................................................................................ 114 3.23 OH, NO, NOT CONVERGENCE AGAIN! ....................................................................... 116 3.24 TWO MIND-BENDING EMAILS ................................................................................... 118 3.25 THE COUNT IS IN, AND MORE READER MAIL............................................................. 121 3.26 TALK ABOUT DREAMING .......................................................................................... 124 3.27 SNIPPETS AND RUMORS ............................................................................................ 126 3.28 THE WORLD’S (COOLEST/MOST EXCITING/EAGERLY AWAITED) (COLUMN/ARTICLE/RANT)................................................................................................... 128 3.29 THE REAL ONLINE GAME MARKETS.......................................................................... 130 3.30 THE REAL ONLINE GAME MARKETS, PART II ............................................................ 132 3.31 THE MARCHING MORONS, PART DEUX ..................................................................... 135 3.32 THE FUTURE: SHOOTING THE MOON ......................................................................... 137 3.33 SO THIS IS BROADBAND?.......................................................................................... 139 3.34 SO THIS IS BROADBAND? PART II.............................................................................. 142 TH 3.35 HAPPY 30 BIRTHDAY, ONLINE GAMES.................................................................... 144 TH 3.36 HAPPY 30 BIRTHDAY, ONLINE GAMES, PART II ...................................................... 147 TH 3.37 HAPPY 30 BIRTHDAY, ONLINE GAMES, PART III..................................................... 151 3.38 GENERAL STUFF....................................................................................................... 154 3.39 RAMBLIN’ ON ....................................................................................................... 156 3.40 BREAKING TRADITION .............................................................................................. 158 3.41 I FEAR, I FEAR!........................................................................................................ 160 3.42 INVISIBILITY COMES WITH A PRICE .......................................................................... 164 3.43 GADZOOKS! ............................................................................................................. 166 3.44 IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR .................................................... 168 4 YEAR 2000 COLUMNS ............................................................................................... 171 4.1 RANDOM THOUGHTS