With me being a guy who write about video games, and he being a guy who publicizes them, most of my conversations with Peter Van Nguyen have been about games. But Peter’s first love has always been music, hence his new role as the singer and guitar player for The Gold Medalists. With their new album, Versus The Sea, hitting iTunes, Spotify, and other online outlets, I spoke to Peter about the band, their music, and how he plans to coordinate his band duties with that other job of his.
While the Star Trek movies, video games, and comic books are exploring the new timeline where that guy from Heroes is Spock and Gamora from Guardians Of The Galaxy is Uhura, fans of the original Trek universe can sleep soundly knowing the original timeline continues in the novels.
But in talking to writer John Jackson Miller, who wrote the new novel Star Trek The Next Generation Takedown (paperback, digital), it’s not just the fans that are interested in keeping this saga going.
In recent years, some movie critics have dismissed certain action films by derisively saying they’re, “like a video game.” But in promoting Rat Runners, the new book by Oisín McGann (paperback, digital), his publicist said the same…and meant it as a compliment. Though in talking to McGann, it’s clear that while he appreciates a good game, it’s not the only thing that inspired his new novel.
As someone who actually saw numerous R-rated ’80s action flicks on their opening weekends, it’s funny to now see them influencing video games that are enjoyed by people who not only weren’t old enough to see this movies in theaters back then, but neither were there parents. The latest of these is Gunslugs II, a side-scrolling shooter from Orangepixel that’s available for PCs, Mac, iOS, Android, and Ouya. Though in talking to Pascal Bestebroer, the one-man mastermind behind Orangepixel, it’s clear this game isn’t just a trip down memory lane.
This week — alongside the latest collections of Batman, X-Men, and Iron Man — your friendly, neighborhood comic book store will also be selling Wonder Woman Bondage And Feminism In The Marston/Peter Comics 1941-1948 (hardcover, paperback, digital).
A thoughtful look at her real-world origins and how she’s impacted, and been impacted by, feminism, submission, and matriarchal ideas, the book comes from Noah Berlatsky, the editor of TheHoodedUtilitarian.com and a contributor to Slate, The Atlantic, and The Comics Journal.
But while this isn’t the first book to tackle this subject, Berlatsky explains why he thinks, “The overlap is minimal to nonexistent.”
Last year, writer Adam Sternbergh caught a lot of people’s attention when his debut novel, Shovel Ready, mixed Richard Stark-esque noir crime with William Gibson-style cyberpunk. Now, almost a year to the day, he’s releasing Near Enemy (hardcover, digital), another adventure for the garbageman-turned-hitman “hero” Spademan. Though in talking to Sternbergh about the new book, it seems Stark and Gibson aren’t the only big influences this time out.
Last year, writer Nick Cutter freaked out scouts and well, their parents with his horror novel The Troop. But now he’s going after anyone who fears global pandemics, being trapped in a small space, or being trapped in a small space with a global pandemic with his new novel, The Deep (hardcover, digital). Though it talking to Cutter about the book, it’s clear he thinks it’s not just for hypochondriacs, agoraphobics, and the people who love them.
You’d think after thirty years that there’d be nothing new to do with Tetris. Which is why you’re not a game developer. In honor of the game’s thirtieth anniversary, Ubisoft have released Tetris Ultimate on the 3DS, with versions coming next year for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, and PC. Though in talking to the game’s producer, Adrian Price, while Tetris may have hit the big 3-0, it’s still young, it’s still young.
In 1992, RuPaul commanded, “You better work.” But since all work and no play makes RuPaul a dull drag queen, there’s RuPaul’s Drag Race: Dragopolis 2.0, a game for iOS and Android devices that’s based on the reality competition show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Though in talking to So Much Drama Studios’ Jeff Meador, the game designer and producer for RuPaul’s Drag Race: Dragopolis 2.0, it turns out that people put a lot of work into this game as well.