9-year-old leukemia patient teams up with programmer
By Chris O'Brien
Mercury News
When Ben Duskin, 9, was fighting leukemia, his mom told him to pretend that the treatment was like the video games he loved and to picture Pac-Man gobbling up the cancer cells.
But the Greenbrae boy had an even better idea: Create his own video game.
Ben did just that, with a little help from his family, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and a generous Lucas-Arts video-game programmer named Eric Johnston.
On Tuesday, the Marin County boy unveiled ``Ben's Game,'' a free game starring himself as an action hero blasting away the cancer cells.
``It's mostly a dream come true,'' Ben said. ``It was difficult. But it was fun, too.''
The game made its debut at the Zeum in San Francisco, where Ben held his first press conference.
It represented the fulfillment of one of the more challenging requests tackled by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses.
In summer 2000, Ben was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. He began treatment at the University of California-San Francisco and today is in remission.
As he battled cancer and struggled with the treatment side effects of losing his hair and nausea, he came up with the video game as a way to help himself and other kids cope with cancer.
His parents forwarded the request to the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Patricia Wilson, the local foundation's executive director, said the initial feedback from people the group approached was not good. It would take years and millions of dollars to create such a game, the foundation was told. ``They were overwhelmingly pessimistic,'' she said Tuesday.
Still, the agency sent the request through its chain of volunteers and friends. Eventually, it found its way into the hands of Johnston, a game designer for LucasArts, based in Marin County.
Johnston pitched the idea to his company, which offered its support and use of facilities and computers. But Johnston would have to do the work primarily on nights and weekends. In the fall, Johnston began holding weekly meetings with Ben to involve him in every step of the process, from designing the graphics to recording the sound effects.
``This has been the thing that has taken over my extra time,'' Johnston said. ``And there's no other way I would have rather spent that time.''
The result is a slick, fast-moving game starring Ben, who glides around on a surfboard zapping cancer cells while battling such demons as the Barf Monster and the Hair Loss Monster.
The medical aspects were checked with Ben's physician, Dr. Seymour Zoger, who was on hand Tuesday to support his star patient.
``I'll have to break down and play my first video game,'' Zoger said.
On Tuesday, Ben, who either wants to play in the NBA or be a scientist when he grows up, demonstrated the game with his neighbor, Christina Frasco, 10, who he claims is the only person who can beat him.
The game will be available to the public Friday, when it can be downloaded from the foundation's Web site.
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Chingon de Chingones
MK2 on XBLA plz - let the unfolding of gameplay begin!!
Originally Posted by SonofdonCD
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