That EA stands for nothing like this today For the record, I am not now, nor have I is an indictment of its current ever been, an investor in, advisor to, or management - but not of Trip. associate in any way, of EA, 3D0, or Digital Chocolate (Trip Hawkins’s current Thank you for joining us for another And I don’t know if anyone else venture). week of The Escapist. This week’s theme To the Editor: Just for the record - Trip remembers this, but in its final days, as is Import/Export. We have invited our Hawkins is not the Antichrist. 3DO was headed for the knacker’s yard, -Greg Costikyan writers to explore the ways this flow of Trip put up a big chunk of his own goods and services affects the gaming The story of the decline-and-gutting of financial resources to try to keep it To the Editor: “Guns, Gangs and scene. Allen Varney discusses an Origin by EA is not a happy one; but let going, even as 3DO embarked on an Greed” perpetuates the illusion of race. upcoming import from Croatia, Serious us be clear that, by the time EA did gut (ultimately fruitless) quest to obtain By identifying a group of people based Sam 2, and the background of the Origin, Trip had been long gone from EA. more money to stay in business. He lost on physical traits and claiming they are company behind it, Croteam. Mark And while Trip is indeed a controversial the lot. I’d venture to suggest that there somehow disadvantaged because no one Wallace takes a different approach to the figure in the field, and more than a bit of are very few highly placed executives in chooses to create content that features theme of the issue and delves into the an operator (I’m reminded of Noah any American business who would risk characters having these traits, the article virtual world import/export. Last, Fallstein’s reference to the “Trip Hawkins the same. He put his money where his engages in racism. We don’t see articles Spanner looks at Brazil and the non- reality distortion field,”) I’d also like to mouth was. bemoaning the fact that very few (any?) traditional pattern of hardware adoption suggest that in some ways, he has been protagonists have red hair, and an article found there. Enjoy these articles and a force for good. In his letter in your last issue if The based on this premise would probably more in this week’s issue of The Escapist, Trip was, I think, receive the appropriate level of Escapist. Remember what EA stands for? It stands understandably irate at the befuddlement, bemusement and derision for “Electronic Arts,” and in its early days characterization of him as a prime mover that it deserves. Please stop Cheers, (e.g., when Trip was its co-founder and behind the decline and fall of Origin - in perpetuating the illusion of race. It does still running the joint), it ran ads asking a piece written by my old friend, Allen no one any service and only helps “Can a game make you cry?” and Varney. It was a well written piece, with perpetuate the artificial class boundaries actively promoting artists like Chris the skeptical attitude that The Escapist that other racists have constructed. Crawford and Dan Bunten as the leading has become justly renowned for - and lights and innovators of a new form of Allen was, after all, quoting others, not -Gregory Bloom digital entertainment. saying this himself. But - when you come down to it, Trip doesn’t deserve this. To the Editor: Oh, good god. What’s the Most of these rappers’ ‘DJs’ wouldn’t Use the term Street, Urban, R&B (no, on And it is not just those of us at the deal? Trying to get some advertising know a tweak scratch from a crab. Hell, second thought don’t use R&B... BB fringes of the industry who bemoan the revenue from MTV? most of them just use CDs or, even King is R&B, Usher is just pop). Just situation, but those working much worse, a laptop! In my interview with don’t be suckered into the marketing deeper inside it. A day after the release How about an edition about how Grandmaster Flash, he continually talked machine. It’s not hip hop. of The Warriors, one of the most heavily amateur radio has parallelled gaming? about how the DJ created hip hop, and marketed games in the past few months, First, they entered public consciousness how ‘rap’ is losing that fundamental -Funky J a regular customer who works for with CB. Then, they broke out into the aspect of hip hop, burying it under a sea Rockstar came in to pick up ... Stubs the corporate big time with wi-fi... But I of bling. To the Editor: Greg Costikyan’s “Death Zombie. Even as he handed us Rockstar suppose no one fantasizes about being a to the Games Industry: Part 2” logo emblazoned key chains/PSP screen 1337 HAM operator. You can’t “break” to rap, the beats are practically had me in tears, so inspiring cleaners, he complained about the lack too slow and they don’t flow. There’s no did I find the idea of a world in which of innovation caused by the pressures -Michael Hobbs build up or breakdown of the beat games don’t suck anymore. The impact put on developers. And then he left, anymore. No time to spin on your back, was partially dependent on the fact that happy to have a quirky title to play, after To the Editor: Oh, for the sake of all spin on your knee and then Freeze. this brilliant future of gaming is a long months of working on a game for the that’s holy with music, do not be calling way off, if it ever comes at all, and mass-market. And I had a glimmer of the likes of Tupac and Biggy and Jo-Lo None of these rappers have touched a partially because it would put me out of hope that one day I might be “hip hop.” can of spray, except maybe to fix up a a job. unemployed. chip in their Escalades. None of them are Ask any real hip hop head what hip hop interested in street art, in pieces, and I work at one of the major retailers, and -Cait O’Connor means, and they will tell you without most of them have never ridden the one of the biggest topics of discussion is hesitation - MCing, DJing, Breaking and subway. None of them feature Graf on the piles of over-marketed, Graffiti. their covers, just themselves and their demographic-targeting schlock we stinking bling. receive in boxes every day. The fact that These are the four elements of hip hop, I am expected to stifle my desire to tell as integral as Earth, Air, Fire and Water And as for MCing, most of these rappers customers how truly dreadful some of are to Magic Users in an RPG. have other people write their rhymes, the games they purchase are, is bad and would be lost in a proper MC battle. enough. I, and the other hardcore gamer Without them, there is no culture. Hip And the lyrical content of the raps often employees, feel even more defeated hop is all about the four elements. A seems like it’s written by George Bush! knowing that 90% of them won’t listen simple wikipedia search would reveal to us. even this much Wait... Clowns? I’m shooting clowns? Is But Seriously, Sam... this a joke? Clowns - throwing explosive Serious Sam 2, out this month from Take pies, no less. Two Interactive’s 2K Games, is the sequel to Croteam‘s breakthrough 2001 And that martial arts master! He’s so first-person shooterSerious Sam: The intensely, graphomorphologically First Encounter and its other half, screwed up I’m about to lose my lunch. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter Wait wait wait! There’s about two dozen (2002). In each game the appeal is more of him, ewwwwwgh! Crap, a whole straightforward: batallion of screwed-up senseis with Godzillan megaclaws, leading armies of 1. Vast bright colorful wide-open levels, chicken-leg robots, floating filled with tyrannosaurus heads, and zombie stockbrokers with Italian accents. You 2. Huge stampeding hordes of onrushing gotta be kidding! enemies - nonono, much larger hordes than you’re thinking - which you I’m supposed to ride around in a spiked hamsterball and fight these weirdies with 3. Killkillkillkillkill crazy-fast-frantic until my circular saw, my six-barreled spittle flies from the corners of your shotgun, and ... a parrot? The Klodovik mouth. bird flies up and drops a bomb on them? You’re putting me on, right? The Serious Sam experience is superheterodyned mayhem start to And this game was made in Croatia? finish, pure as a Mondrian painting. There are porn flicks with stronger Okay, now I know this is a joke. storylines: You’re Sam “Serious” Stone, a soldier sent to ancient Egypt from levels and budget $20 price. Why did it Earth’s future to forestall invasion by the strike so many players as fresh? It. Was. evil alien overlord Notorious Mental. It Fun. What a concept. hardly sounds promising, yet when Croteam’s early Technology Test hit the But ... Croatia? Web in June 2000, you could hear the heads of jaded Quake III deathmatch Serious History assassins whirring around on their necks Croteam makes a cameo in Serious like Linda Blair in The Exorcist.