Yeah, I am reading the book too. Can't say that I'm enjoying it as much as you are. Being an engineer myself, I understand all of the struggles that eccentric innovators like St. John the creator of DirectX had with the business types. I like the tactics used by MS teams in stonewalling other teams' projects in favor of their own. However, I find it difficult to focus only on the business aspect of video games. I would have liked more interaction with engineers, and their personal struggles with trying to beat their competitor's hardware instead of letting me know that a hard drive feature was scrutinized because it cost $55.
When I was at SIGGRAPH 2000 in New Orleans, I saw a Microsoft engineer at an Nvidia booth who was showing a very secret demo(at that time) of a huge robot controlled by a girl. This demo had real time reflections, bump maps, and other interesting features. I and another engineer started to ask the guy questions that are on the edge if not over of being intrusive on their box. Eventually the guy broke down and enthusiastically described many technical features and even showed us and a group of ten a prototype running under the table. That thing looked horrible with wires going every which way. The story that the guy told would have been interesting(from my point of view) if it was edited for a normal person or at least one with some computer and video game knowledge. I think that the author of this book should have at least talked with some of the people in the engine room, instead of their superiors, who can't even get their facts straight in meetings.
Closing thoughts: I am reading the book because I don't understand how the video game business is run today. I thought I understood it back in the day, so I am catching up. All the shit that these guys went through and are still going through at the hands of the Japanese is showing me different ways of how to do business on their turf. This is because all of MS decisions are backed by money and even if they lose, they still win overall. Let others learn from their mistakes and accomplishments, this is what this book does best.
seen
Bookmarks