The Amazon pre-order page for my book is up. It feels wonderful, weird, and intimidating to see it.

It still doesn’t have a cover (thus the “no image” image.) That’ll hopefully get pinned down in the next couple weeks.

It’s strange… I want to say more, but I can’t think of anything worth saying. I mean, it’s out there now, for better or worse. And it’ll have to speak for itself. Right?

Oh, and for those of you who I bombarded with emails asking for feedback on the title of the book: thank you so much for your advice! How Ethan and I ultimately ended up with the current title, “Changing the Game,” is a long and dramatic story — drop me a line if you’re curious to hear it. (A teaser: the book nearly ended up with the name “500 Panama Canals,” but our publisher wouldn’t have it. Too bad — that one was my favorite by far!)

Ten months and countless hours later, I’ve finished my book. There are still a round (or two?) of edits to be made, but the bulk of the writing is finished. It’ll be in stores in October. I’m looking forward to when I’ll be able to post an Amazon URL here. :-)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I still can’t seem to summon the energy to write a long and thoughtful blog post about, well, anything right now. All I really want to do is work in my garden and hang out with long-neglected friends and family. However, this experience has taught me a few things which I think are relevant to Arcade games (not just books) and which I’d like to share while the memories are still fresh:

From what I’ve gathered, less than 1% of published books turn out to be hits. The odds for a first-time author (who isn’t a big name, like Bill Clinton or Alan Greenspan) are so incredibly low that even if your publisher loves your book, your marketing/sales forecast is unlikely to exceed 20k copies at best. At that level, it simply doesn’t make sense for the publisher to do much in the way of marketing until the book has already proven itself. Even though the Arcade console game space isn’t nearly that tough, there are parallels. After all, because of the economics of the Arcade space today, most publishers aren’t willing to spend more than $100k on marketing their games (and usually far less than that.)

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I’m sorry I’ve been posting less frequently than usual, but I’ve been devoting every minute outside of Microsoft to finishing my book, which is due to the publisher in 10 days (!!) It turns out that writing a book is a lot like developing a video game — i.e., you can never have too much polish. Ethan and I have revised each chapter as few as 6 times and as many as 24, and it still doesn’t feel like enough. All I can say is, thank goodness for deadlines. Otherwise, I might be obsessing over every word five years from now.

When this is over, I’m going to spend the summer totally decompressing. Do some travelling. Play some of my favorite old video games. Buy some new board games. Do some gardening (I thought I’d start this weekend, but I don’t have time and even if I did, it’s snowing outside. Yeah, in late April. I took some pictures, but then I realized that they were just going to make me angry. California is sounding better ever day.)

Oh, and I think my family — and most especially my wife — justifiably expects a serious make-good. How exactly does one go about compensating for six months of consistent neglect?

PS. The photo is of my backyard cherry tree, pre-snow. It was a lovely Spring for a few days. :-)

My GDC lecture has been scheduled for Wednesday, 2/20, at 9am in West Hall, room 2002. I hope to see some of you there. :-)

Advertising & Games – Opportunities, Pitfalls, and Competition: This lecture will explore some of the latest research in advertising (in general) and advertising in games (in specific), give tips on making advertising more effective, and share ideas around new ways to advertise with games. This lecture will not be another exercise in affirmation. Attendees will learn what is actually worth an advertiser’s dollar and what is not. Relatedly, attendees will gain some insight into the coming wave of advertising-supported games and “promogames” — i.e. the Xbox Burger King Games — that will change the competitive landscape of the entire game industry will also learn about new game/advertising models, as opportunities and competition.

Hi all — just a quick note to announce that XBLA (and our larger division, “Digitally Distributed Games”) is looking for seasoned producers to help manage our 1st party and indie-published game development projects. You can find the full job description and apply via Microsoft.com. A brief summary of the JD is copied below. PS. While enthusiasm is appreciated and encouraged, please do not submit resumes directly to me. That’s what the website is for! (Seriously. Don’t send me your resume.)

The Xbox Live Digitally Distributed Games (DDG) team is a newly formed organization focused on digital distribution of games via Xbox Live Marketplace. As part of the DDG Publishing PM team, your responsibilities will include driving the complete product cycle of multiple games from initial concept to release. The ability to ship games on a predictable and reliable schedule is paramount.

Qualifications/Skills:

• Passion for and knowledge of games.
• Strong cross-team communication skills. You can talk to creatives (e.g. artists and game designers), technical people (e.g. programmers), and non-technical people (e.g. PR and Marketing) alike.
• Exceptional organization skills. You are detailed and organized. You never let anything fall through the cracks.
• You have experience shipping games through two product cycles, preferably on Xbox 360.

Last weekend I got the chance to visit my good friend, Zvi. He and I have been wasting time together since middle school. By “wasted”, I mean “completely unredeemable”, and by “time”, I’m (sadly) referring to copious amounts. This is, I think, one reason why we now live several states apart. It’s a necessary precaution.

Anyway, somehow we decided to screw around with Photoshop and spend several hours attempting to make ourselves look like aliens in a fancy graphic novel. I think we did a pretty good job, given that neither of us are artists. Unfortunately, I have to admit that Zvi’s photo came out significantly better!

And having shared that completely useless bit of information… happy Thanksgiving everyone! May you all be blessed with a terrific food coma. :-)

I’ve just returned home after two weeks in Japan. First week was for TGS; second was vacation. I visited Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima. Some totally random observations:

Games

• The most interesting thing I saw at TGS was not a game. It was a DS clothing recommendation system — you pick the dress you want to wear, and the system recommends matching shoes, purse, etc. At least, I think that’s how it worked (TGS is clearly not intended for English-speakers.) Anyway, I could see how young girls would love this, especially if it has game-like elements built in.
• Other cool things: a proprietary game system (whose name, frustratingly, I can’t recall) which included light sensors on finger straps. You slip them on your hands and they detect when you open and close your palms. The sensors also act as a pointer (Wiimote style.) Ever wanted to know what it feels like to throw a fireball in Street Fighter? Anyway, Next Gen has a decent wrap-up of other interesting things on the floor.
• Contrary to accounts I’ve read elsewhere, I did not see many Nintendo DS units on any of the subways or trains I rode, and I rode many. In fact, I usually saw none, and only occasionally one or two. Given strong DS sales in Japan, this lends credence to a couple reports I’ve seen that indicate significant use of the DS in the home (often at the expense of time on other entertainment devices.) On a related note: some people seemed quite amused to see me playing a DS - I’m not sure why. Aren’t “older people” big buyers of the DS in Japan? ;-)

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GDC 2008 has sounded the call for lecture & panel submissions. (So has GDC Lyon, taking place this December.) I was thinking about what to propose (and struggling, given the wide range of topics I find interesting), when it occurred to me that I could simply ask all of you!

Please let me know if there’s any specific subject that you’d like to hear me tackle in lecture or panel format at the GDCs. I promise to turn the suggestions that I’m most capable of addressing into submissions (then it’s up to the GDC advisory committee, of course.) The only caveat: GDC doesn’t like proposals that seem to promote a platform or product, so while proposals that draw on my knowledge of XBLA may be appropriate, panels that are entirely specific to XBLA probably will not be accepted. That said, hit me with your best shots.

How’s that for applying a crowd-centric philosophy to everyday life? :-)

There’s a three part interview of me published on XBLArcade.com. If you’re interested in Xbox Live Arcade, you will probably enjoy it. If not, feel free to pass. :-)

BTW, I’m sorry that I have written so infrequently as of late. I confess to: A) being smitten by summer fever, and B) being a bit preoccupied. I’ve accepted an invitation by Pearson to write a book about business and video games. Not the business of games per se, but a book about how businesses of all kinds can take advantage of games. By, for example, using games to train their employees, using games to advertise to their customers, using games to crowd-source, etc. I’ll be co-writing the book with a brilliant friend, Ethan Mollick, who has graciously agreed to work with me. Which is great, because otherwise I might still be writing this book ten years from now.

(Actually, I couldn’t. These pesky publishing contracts appear to include deadlines.)

Fun times with technology. If you sent an email to my personal address (or via this blog) from 2am to 9am (PST) today, I may not have received it. Spammers the world over will despair at this news, I’m sure.