ADVANCE PRAISE FOR CONFESSIONS OF THE GAME DOCTOR "'Confessions of the Game Doctor' is a jaw-dropping collection of anecdotes that'll show you the video-game industry from a completely new angle. The quality and integrity of Bill Kunkel's pioneering work in game journalism and game design are all the more remarkable when you learn about the whirlwind of sex, drugs and public-relations hoopla that surrounded him while he produced it." - Chris Bieniek -Editor in Chief, Tips & Tricks Magazine "Forget about whatever you've heard about the videogame industry, this book lays it all out, good and bad." -Vince Desi - Publisher, Running With Scissors "No writer or journalist has been around longer and seen the inside of the industry more than Bill Kunkel... He INVENTED video game journalism and the reader will be intrigued and amazed at all the information and knowl- edge he's gained over the years and is now willing to share through the stories he tells. A must have for anyone interested in knowing the "real" roots of the video game industry!" -Tommy Tallarico -Game Composer, G4 host "Bill 'The Game Doctor' Kunkel has always been larger-than-life, and I never stop smiling when I’m around him or reading his stuff. The Game Doctor has been a great friend, industry cohort, social host, and supporter of the video game community. He’s truly passionate about sharing the joy of game playing. I’ll never forget all the crazy video game and pizza nights that he (and Laurie) hosted for us as young, enthusiastic video game developers.” - Mike Legg -President: Petroglyph Studios ("Star Wars: Empire at War") "Bill Kunkel is the best journalist that the videogame industry has ever known, and 'Confessions of The Game Doctor' is written in his inimitable style: remarkably insightful, brutally honest, and frequently hilarious." -- Zach Meston (Video Game Collector, PlayStation Extreme) CONFESSIONS OF THE GAME DOCTOR BY BILL KUNKEL ROLENTA PRESS PO BOX 1365 SPRINGFIELD, NJ 07081-5365 CONFESSIONS OF THE GAME DOCTOR Copyright 2005 by Bill Kunkel All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without permission in writing from the author or publisher. All names mentioned or images displayed are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. This book has not been approved, authorized, or endorsed by any of the manufacturing companies that are mentioned within. Published by Rolenta Press PO Box 1365 Springfield, NJ 07081-5365 www.rolentapress.com First Edition First Printing • 1000 • November 2005 Library of Congress Control Number: 2005932973 ISBN 0-9643848-9-2 Printed In The United States Cover Design By Michael Thomasson This book is dedicated to Arnie, Joyce, Charlene and Laurie Contents Introducing Bill Kunkel By Arnie Katz .................................................ix An Introduction .................................................................................... xiii Acknowledgements ............................................................................. xvi Publisher’s Note ................................................................................ xvii Electronic Games Magazine: The Origin Story!...................................... 3 Start Me Up ......................................................................................... 17 My First Trial ....................................................................................... 31 Fear & Loathing @ the Pick-Axe Pete Pick-Off ................................... 39 Activision Gets the Fickle Finger of Katz ............................................. 43 Sex, Drugs and Coin-Ops ................................................................... 51 The Day the Gaming Died ................................................................... 65 Getting in the Habitat ........................................................................... 73 House Call .......................................................................................... 81 People Who Died ............................................................................... 85 How Alex Pajitnov was Tetris-Ized! ....................................................... 95 Answered Prayers............................................................................. 101 My Second Trial ................................................................................ 109 My Third Trial..................................................................................... 121 Breaking Up is Hard to Do ................................................................ 127 People Who Died ............................................................................. 135 Famous Faces .................................................................................. 145 Totally Anecdotal ............................................................................... 153 Game Journalism: The Next Generation ............................................ 167 Contributors’ Bios ............................................................................. 171 Index ................................................................................................. 173 viii Introducing Bill Kunkel By Arnie Katz I have come to praise Bill Kunkel, not to bury him. That may come after I read this book and see if he gave me enough compliments and favorable mentions to justify his continued existence. For now the agenda is “praise.” And Bill Kunkel is most worthy of the praise, and respect, of every video and computer gamer. He’s in the Electronic Gaming Hall of Fame for a reason. Or rather, many reasons. Working closely with Joyce Worley and me on the original Electronic Games, Bill Kunkel blazed trails that gamers still follow today. He put his stamp on the hobby in everything from the lingo to the look. Bill Kunkel fought for the idea that gaming could interest adults at a time when the mainstream media dismissed players as glassy-eyed pubescent joystick addicts. He has always battled for information over ignorance, truth over convenience. Wow, Bill sounded so good there that I’ve resolved to erect a statue of him in my back yard. The roving cats who come to the back door for Joyce to feed will enjoy napping on it in the warm Vegas afternoon sun and there are a number of pigeons who may have something to do with it, too. (The statue may look like a Styrofoam version of The Roaming Gnome, but we’ll know its Bill Kunkel.) Now that I’ve convinced you, or at least myself, that Bill Kunkel’s memoirs are a “must read” for gamers of all ages, I want to fill in some of the back-story that led to the invention of the world’s first video and computer game magazine Electronic Games in 1981. Bill, Joyce Worley and I knew each other for many years before Bill and I created the first video game review column, “Arcade Alley” for Video Magazine in 1978. We came into contact with each other through the hobby subculture known as Science Fiction Fandom. I entered Fandom in 1963 with a fanzine called Cursed. Lenny Bailes (today an author of books on computer graphics and similar brainy topics) was the co-editor. Within a couple of years, this teenaged twosome actually learned to put out a creditable amateur publication and became noticed in Fandom for one called Quip in fall 1965. It was about then that I became aware of a young fellow in Queens, NY, mere miles from my home in Nassau County’s New Hyde Park, who had started producing a fanzine called Genook. We traded fanzines with each other, but did not go beyond that to personal contact. He seemed like a nice kid, I judged from the Olympian heights of 21 birthdays, but our interests weren’t entirely in synch at that time. Believe it or not, he was the serious one, while I attempted the role of bon vivant with intermittent success. At roughly the same time, I received a copy of Odd, which marked the return to Fandom of Ray “Dugie” Fisher, who had been active more than a decade earlier as a 14-year-old. He’d learned a lot during the intervening years; Odd looked great and presented an assortment of material with a leaning toward what we then (in 1966) called the counter-culture. Ray and I began to correspond – you know, before email and text messaging – about fanzines, music and the other, usual topics. Soon I also found myself exchanging letters with his wife Joyce as well. I became a contributor to Odd, which got nominated for a Hugo and also helped Joyce and Ray win the bid to put on the 1969 World Science Fiction Convention in St. Louis. Bill actually met Joyce before I did, although both first meetings occurred at the 1967 World SF Convention in New York. Strangely, he and I did not meet for another three-and-a-half years! The Fanoclasts, a New York fanzine fan club of which I was then a minor member, sponsored the NyCon 3, so everyone in the group tried to help. When I returned to New York from my junior year at the University of Buffalo, I tried to assist the convention committee in whatever little ways I could. That included arriving a little early on the first day of the convention. I thought a strong back and an extra pair of hands might help in some Convention lifting, but co-chairman Ted White, science fiction author and former editor of Heavy Metal, had everything under control, so I roamed the public room, hunting for familiar faces. I ran into old friend Harlan Ellison and he suggested we visit the Art Show to see if the paintings were ready for viewing. So Harlan and I strolled