Press Release: All Your Base Are Belong To Us by Harold Goldberg
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Sill
212.782.8943; csill@randomhouse.com
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US
How Fifty Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture
By HAROLD GOLDBERG
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“This highly informative book, written by veteran gaming columnist Goldberg, is billed as the first of its kind . . . will appeal not only to nerds and gamers in Goldberg’s easily accessible anecdotes but to those who grew up with these games through generations.” —Publishers Weekly
“A love letter to gaming . . . filled with fascinating behind-the-scenes vignettes of game creation . . . perfectly encapsulates the passion and dedication of videogames’ creators and fans.” —Abbie Heppe, former senior producer, G4TV
“Indispensable . . . Goldberg takes us inside the hearts and minds of the hackers, hustlers, engineers, and dreamers who changed electronic entertainment forever.” —Matt Helgeson, senior editor, Game Informer
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Fifty years since the debut of the first video game, the gaming industry has morphed into a pop-culture juggernaut. With more than $20 billion in American sales and more than 68 percent of the population drawn to the screen, gaming has escaped the glow of the basement television set and exploded worldwide across all manner of media. In an era when the average player is over 35, the face of gaming has changed and Harold Goldberg is the man behind that face.
In ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US: How Fifty Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture (Three Rivers Press paperback original; April 5, 2011), Goldberg draws on three years of research and more than 200 interviews to tell the story of gaming’s rise to the top of the pop-culture pyramid. A former editor-in-chief of Sony Online Entertainment and a widely syndicated gaming columnist, Goldberg has made a career out of his favorite pastime and uses his impressive connections to craft the ultimate insider look at the industry.
The book traces the evolution of gaming, from the first video game, Tennis for Two, to the much anticipated future of the industry—with 3D technology and holographic home consoles appearing just around the corner. With interviews from gaming legends such as Sims creator Will Wright and Grand Theft Auto’s Houser brothers, ALL YOUR BASE boasts an impressive lineup of the industry’s heavy hitters but also covers some of the lesser known stories. Highlights include:
*Access to Sam Houser—the notoriously media-shy executive opens up about his initial struggle to gain a foothold in the gaming world.
*An in-depth look at the origins of casual gaming. Jason Kapulka, cofounder of PopCap games, reveals how he established the “Mom test” for online games, using his mother’s patience with various platforms as a production litmus test.
Infusing a comprehensive history of gaming with his own anecdotal commentary, Goldberg explores the genius behind the gaming industry and holds a mirror to modern culture. ALL YOUR BASE celebrates videogames as an art form, one as influential and pervasive as music, movies and television. Exploring gaming as, at once, individual catharsis, social connectivity, and an economic goldmine, Goldberg has written a landmark historiography for a generation—several generations, in fact.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
HAROLD GOLDBERG has reviewed video games for fifteen years for such publications as Wied, Entertainment Weekly, Boys’ Life, Village Voice, and Radar, and for three years penned a widely syndicated gaming column. He has also written on a variety of other subjects for the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Esquire, New York, and Rolling Stone. Goldberg also served as editor-in-chief of Sony Online Entertainment during the launch of EverQuest.
ABOUT THE BOOK
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US
How Fifty Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture
By Harold Goldberg
Three Rivers Press • On-sale date: April 5, 2011 • ISBN: 978-0-307-46355-5 • Price: $15.00
For more information, or to schedule interviews with Harold Goldberg, please contact:
Caroline Sill, 212.782.8943 or csill@randomhouse.com.
Visit us on the Web at www.crownpublishing.com or
http://haroldgoldberg.weebly.com/about.html
