Topic: The Original Doc of Gaming

[number6]

We all know and appreciate Doc Nyar or simply Doc as I like to call him, but back in the late 80's and early 90's there was another person I remember that I called Doc. That would be the "Game Doctor" and he would have an article in several of the popular game magazines back then that answered a lot of peoples burning questions of the time. Remember the Internet was not even around for most of us back then. I used to get all my information on gaming from magazines. The reason I am bringing this up now is that the Game Doctor has started making posts to another forum I follow and I wanted to share this with you guys. This guy is a legend in my opinion. Here is a thread I started where I posted some scans of one of the magazines he used to write for. His real name is Bill Kunkel and I also included one of his other articles "The Kunkel report". Here is the link to the thread:

http://www.monroeworld.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=890

The Game Doctor responded to this thread and I asked him to stop by our forums if he gets a chance to meet his successor, online anyways.

[Doc Nyar]

Nice article

Remember though, I could never have helped so many if there weren't people that helped me in doing so. Remember The Lockup issue post on the official Westwood forums for Emperor: Batlle for Dune (This is where I received the name "Doc" ) ?
A lot of people, you included, helped me there. Hence my rule:
No one knows a lot, but combined we do

[number6]

Thanks Doc! Apparently the The Game Doctor has visited the site. Gameheaven welcomes a legend in video game history as our first special guest.  I remember reading his articles back in the early 90's and wondered how this guy knew so much. Thanks for registering The Game DoctorV1.

[TheGameDoctorV1]

And as you folks point out, no one person can ever know enough to really pull off something like this. It's more a matter of knowing the right people to ask. I called them my "consultants" -- a crew of about a dozen people who, among them, could answer just about anything.

It's funny, because we never revealed the identity of The Game Doctor in all the years we did EG, VGCE, the new EG, etc. until, I believe, the very last installment in the 90s EG. Most people were surprised, having assumed that Arnie was the man behind the scrubs.

In any case, a site such as this is a true service to the gaming community and I congratulate you on an excellent job! I will hereafter continue to stalk these halls and if a question ever comes up regarding Golden Age gaming and you think I might help, please think of me as one of your consultants.

Finally, a tip of the cap to all the wonderful Game Nurses I've had over the years. I still have a photo or two, I think, if you'd be interested. I couldn't have done it without them.  

[Doc Nyar]

Welcome indeed, it's good to have you amongst us

[number6]

If you have an answer to a question and feel like answering while stalking please do. Doc, Gryphon, and I have always welcomed others to pitch in, on other forums besides this one,  if they have an answer to a question. Any answer coming from you would carry extra weight in my opinion. We might just have to open another board here to discuss what is now termed classic gaming support, since we have someone of your distinguished caliber monitoring the boards. I know a thing or 2 about setting up emulators to play classic games on the PC so I am game.


The game nurse photos you mention do interest me. If you want you can upload them to the forum here in this thread using the attachment tool. If the pictures are in some format  other than gif or jpg you can just zip them up and post them as zip files.  There are other ways of getting them to us if needed.  Whatever you want to share would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for stopping by and posting.

[TheGameDoctorV1]

Okay then, here's Game Nurse Rachael, posed memorably (and appropriately) on a giant chessboard.

Enjoy.  

[number6]

Thanks for the picture. I received your second email, but missed the first. I sent you an IM on this forum which you should see at the top of the screen next to your user name that you have a message. Here is a link to the IM inbox:

http://www.gameheaven.nl/forum/index.php?board=1;action=im

 

[gryphon]

must admit that besides the 2 links Number6 has provided I am not familiar with the previous things you have done. Never the less welcome to the GameHeaven forums.

- gryphon is thinking blonds and sideways looks at Doc Nyar. . . .. can we have nurses here ? -

[Doc Nyar]

- gryphon is thinking blonds and sideways looks at Doc Nyar. . . .. can we have nurses here ? -

Uhm.. yeah

[number6]

Alright, here is a picture "The Game Doctor" sent us. It is a picture of a gaming nurse. Enjoy.

[Doc Nyar]

change the type of the file from zip to wav (can't attach wav files)

[attachment deleted by admin]

[number6]

Oh no it's twiggy (spelling?)! Bebebebe hey Buck!


Thanks again for the picture Game Doctor. I will have to scan in some more pages of EG to share on Monroeworld again. I will have to dig through my basement some more though.

I remember your final goodbye on Electronic games. That was a sad day. Are you still involved in the Game industry in anyway? Or is that covered in Shane's interview with you next month?

[TheGameDoctorV1]

  Seems like I covered everything but the war against terror with Shane and Bryan but I'm not sure whether we chatted about my current activity in the industry.

  Well, let's see, I did some contract work for Westwood before EA yanked them out to California (that 900 lb. gorilla likes all its bananas in the same place). I worked on some scenarios for the Persistent World game "Earth & Beyond" which I frankly don't think much of. (Not sure if it's even still running, honestly...) I loved Westwood when Brett Sperry and Lou Castle were running it -- and they remain two of my best and oldest friends in the game biz (both were at my second wedding -- but now it seems to have been consumed by EA.

  Last spring, I began teaching a couple of courses on the game business and game design for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). They were successful enough that an additional course has been added for the fall (in Las Vegas, if you can take the summer off, you take the summer off).

  My agent is in negotiation right now on a gig to do design work on some cell phone-type game software. And I write regularly for Joe Santulli's Digital Press site (The Kunkel Report) and occasionally for GoodDealGames.com.

  However, I've spent the better part of the last year writing my first novel which is currently looking for a publisher. But it has nothing to do with gaming.

  I do other stuff, too... I write and do play-by-play and skits for a regional syndicated TV show (you can see it in Vegas, Reno, Bullhead City and about a half dozen other places in California, Arizona and Nevada). It's called "The Buffalo Entertainment Show" and it's mostly involved with pro wrestling, or satirizing same.

  And that's should bring us all up to date.

[number6]

That's awesome that you know Brett Sperry and Lou Castle so well. A lot of the people that come for help now are having problems with C+C Generals from EA/Westwood. I loved a lot of the earlier C+C games as well as Dune games from Westwood.  Too bad EA absorbed the company.  I am sure a lot of the members here would love to here about some of the stuff that happened at westwood during your time there. If that is covered in Shane's interview I am sure a lot of the members here will want to check that out.

I will have to check into those sites you publish for. Would love to read the Kunkel Report again.

The book sounds interesting. What type of book would it be?

Next time I go to Vegas I will have to look out for that show of yours.


Those classes of you teach sure sound cool. I would love to take a course like that just for my own personal enrichment. I have no desire to pursue another degree at this point.

Thanks again for visiting and sharing your current endeavours.

[TheGameDoctorV1]

  Digital Press (http://www.digitpress.com/index2.htm) is a must-visit site for any classic game fan. Just click on The Kunkel Report to go to my column.

  The last piece I wrote for Good Deal Games was about the legal brouhaha surrounding Tetris and meeting Alexy Pajitnov. That's at http://www.gooddealgames.com/articles/Tetris_Alex_Pajitnov.html.

  The novel is a black comedy/crime story about a group of NYC lowlife types in 1970 who suddenly come into $50,000.

  As for Westwood, when I moved out here (with EG co-founders Arnie Katz and Joyce Worley) in 1989, Brett and Lou had maybe two programmers and worked out of a two-room dump in a Vegas strip mall. After a year or two, I remember Arnie and Joyce invited them over for a pool party at their house. I had also invited Seth Mendelson and some friends from Virgin. The two groups met -- and both met up with uber-agent Barry Friedman, who eventually negotiated Virgin's acquisition of Westwood, which launched the latter as a big time company.

  Over the years, every time I visited Westwood, it was in a new location with motion capture facilities and an incredible array of equipment. Lou and Mike Legg and some of the other old-timers would bring over new games to my place for group testing and input. Then there were the incredible Pizza Orgies. One time, my wife Laurie and I were going to get all new carpeting at our place so we invited the Westwooders over, ordered a ton of pizza and did our best to ruin the old rugs.

  And a wonderful time was had by all.

  They are great guys. Lou is still with the company, though I believe he has remained in Vegas. Many of the others, like Mike Legg, broke off and are attempting to launch their own software operation. Brett took a sabbatical quite a while ago and is no longer involved in day-to-day with the company.

  Lots of stories and great memories.

[number6]

It's sounds like you had some great times with the Westwood developers. They started the whole RTS game as we know it today. I used to be a regular member on the discussion forums for Emperor Battle for Dune. Do you remember that game? It was on that game's official forums that Doc Nyar and I got started helping others with technical problems and games.  Thanks for sharing the info. Great stuff. I hope Shane decides to release the episode this weekend. If not I will not be able to listen to it until the following weekend. I am going on vacation next week. I am going to Hilton Head, South Carolina for some rest and relaxation.

[TheGameDoctorV1]

It's sounds like you had some great times with the Westwood developers. They started the whole RTS game as we know it today.

They certainly popularized them. Though as I think I mentioned on an RGR forum, even Dune had RTS precursors. Sega released a game called Herzog Zwei for the Genesis that Brett and Lou always admitted had been an inspiration for them. There was a similar game produced for the TG-16, called Military Madness that also served as an early indicator of this future genre.

[Doc Nyar]

Talking about Westwood, do you also know Chris Longpre ?

[number6]

It's sounds like you had some great times with the Westwood developers. They started the whole RTS game as we know it today.

They certainly popularized them. Though as I think I mentioned on an RGR forum, even Dune had RTS precursors. Sega released a game called Herzog Zwei for the Genesis that Brett and Lou always admitted had been an inspiration for them. There was a similar game produced for the TG-16, called Military Madness that also served as an early indicator of this future genre.

 I have to catch up on my reading of the monroeworld forums before I go on vacation.  I remember hearing about those games, but I never did get a chance to play them. I never owned a TG-16 and I never really got into my Genesis. I played mostly the SNES at the time. I can't imagine playing an RTS game with a joystick and no shortcut keys! I will have to check those earlier games out though to see the similarities. It should be interesting.

[TheGameDoctorV1]

Talking about Westwood, do you also know Chris Longpre ?

Doesn't ring a bell, Doc, of course if he walked into this room, I'd probably go, "Oh! It's CHRIS!"

Remember, Westwood had like 5 employees when I first met up with them and within five years they had almost a hundred. They'd come and go and it's tough to keep track.

Also, I confess my memory for names is awful -- not good for a journalist.

[Doc Nyar]

LOL, it's okay Doc

Chris Longpre used to be heavely involved with Emperor: Battle for Dune. I do not know what other games before that he used to be involved in though, as I know him from the Dune time. He left just efore it was announced that EA was taking over Westwood. I still talk to him though from time to time

[InocPrime]

You lucky... well connected people

[Doc Nyar]

You lucky... well connected people

Chris Longpre was extremely helpful when I was working on the Lockup issue post on the official EBFD forums. It's a shame that he left the game industry, he'd been an valuable member for any game company

I'm glad he still posts in the Dune community though