The Minds Behind Sports Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers

by Patrick Hickey , Jr.

Overview

Featuring interviews with the creators of 35 popular video games—including John Madden Football, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, WCW/nWo Revenge, and RBI Baseball—this book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of some of the most influential and iconic (and sometimes forgotten) sports video games of all time. Recounting endless hours of painstaking development, the challenges of working with mega-publishers and the uncertainties of public reception, the interviewees reveal the creative processes that produced some of gaming's classic titles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476679334
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	09/10/2020
Series:	Studies in Gaming
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.52(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Patrick Hickey, Jr., is the founder and editor-in-chief of ReviewFix.com and a lecturer of English and journalism at Kingsborough Community College, in Brooklyn, New York. Over the past decade, his video game coverage has been featured in national ad campaigns by Nintendo, Disney and EA Sports. Series editor Matthew Wilhelm Kapell teaches American studies, anthropology, and writing at Pace University in New York.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Foreword Michael Brook 1

Preface 3

Introduction 7

Aaron Cammarata, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3: Simply the Best, Better Than All the Rest 9

John Salwitz, Rob Rowe and Don Traeger, 720: Build It and They Will Come 18

Don Goddard, Transworld Surf: Third Time's a Charm 25

Pascal Sahuc and Nick Doran, Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer: Making Waves 32

Martin Edmondson, Destruction Derby: Have Your Cake and Break Stuff, Too 40

Jon Spencer, SSX: Big Delays, Big Thrills 46

Mark McArthur, Links 2004: Xbox's Hole in One 52

Stephen Chaplin, Virtual Pool: Calling All the Shots 57

Alan O'Brien, Ten Pin Alley: A Turkey for Its Time 62

Benjamin Johnson, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis: The Little Experimental Project That Could 66

Sanders Keel, Pride FC: Fighting Championships: A Sleeper Tap-Out 73

Loren Lemcke, Super Blood Hockey: An Indie Hip-Check 80

Craig Broadbooks, NHL FaceOff '98: You're Beautiful, It's True 86

Michael Mendheim and Sam Nelson, Mutant League Hockey: When Glenda Shaved the Ice 94

Clint Forward, NHL 2K: Sega's Black Box Special 105

Mark Flitman, WWF Royal Rumble: The Original Six-Pack Wrestling Challenge 110

Mark Flitman, WWE RAW: From Royal to Mega 116

Justin W. Withers, Showdown: Legends of Wrestling: A Semi-Charmed Kind of Life 122

Sanders Keel, WCW/nWo Revenge: Just Too Sweet, 4-Life 129

Michael Rubinelli, Toughman Contest: Butterbean's Brawling Bonanza 136

Dan Kitchen, Boxing Fever: A Forgotten First-Person Knockout 141

Chris Razmovski, Boxing Champs: An Uppercut from Mobile Phones to Mobile Consoles 146

Kevin Sheller, NBA Inside Drive 2000: Codename Rock 151

Jules Burt and Perry Rodgers, NBA ShootOut: A "Total" NBA Experience 156

Michael Brook, NBA Action '95: Air Brook-Ziomkowski Ready for Takeoff 163

Don Traeger and Carl Mey, Lakers Versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs: Exchangeable Heads and the Birth of EA Sports 170

Mark Flitman, MLB Slugfest 20-03: No Arcade? No Problem 180

Eddie Dombrower, Earl Weaver Baseball: EAs First Triple Play 186

Peter Lipson, RBI Baseball: The Silicon Valley Survivors 194

Jules Burt, FIFA International Soccer: From the Beach to the Pitch 202

John Salwitz, Cyberball: The Lost Summer and Atari's Explosive Gridiron Experience 209

Mark Flitman, NFL Blitz 20-02: It's Too Late Baby, But Still Damn Good 216

Michael Brook, NFL '95: Jay's Fridge Strikes Back 222

Cam Weber, NCAA Football 2014: Goodnight EA's Football Prince 229

Michael Brook and Don Traeger, John Madden Football: How EA Got in the Game 234

Conclusion 243

Afterword Sanders Keel 245

Index 249

Editorial Reviews

An absolute BODY SLAM! You MUST read these stories. Patrick has done it again, and somehow...keeps getting better”—Stephen Fontana, Duel Screens

From the Publisher