The Game Doctor

[The Game Doctor has been a legend in the electronic gaming industry since he debuted in the world's first video/computer game publication, "Electronic Games" in 1981. He has answered software-related questions in more than a dozen magazines and gaming sites. As a long-time fan of POSTAL, he has made periodic pilgrimages to the gopostal.com site and now returns to answer questions for The Urinal. Doctor, your patients await… The Gimp]

Well, another holiday season is done – and this time they were fighting over what to CALL the holiday season, so you know things are getting bad. Not that fighting is always a problem – it can be great entertainment if staged correctly and the more extreme the sport, the more entertaining the simulation.

So, as the question that best fits this issue's Extreme Sports theme (and even mentions my book), let's allow Dan Giglio of Long Island, NY to probe the intricacies of extreme sports simulations:

Q: I really enjoyed your book, "Confession of The Game Doctor" and didn't realize you were also a game designer and even co-designed the very first WWF game (MicroLeague Wrestling) for computers in the mid-80s!

I'm a fan of WWE, Pride, UFC, martial arts (glad to see RWS sponsoring fighters, too!) and the other combat sports and I was wondering what your favorite mano a mano games are?

A: I think THQ has been the most consistent producer of quality pro wrestling games. The WWF Acclaim games never gave me the fluid control I found in games such as WCW VS nWo. But the first really outstanding wrestling game I can recall was called simply Pro Wrestling and was released in the US by Nintendo for the NES. For the first time you could climb the ropes and actually feel as if you were wrestling. And that wasn't easy in the early days when all those tangled sprites often led to disaster.

I also like extreme driving games, like Vivendi/Universal's Simpson's Hit & Run and EA's Road Rage (swinging chains while roaring a chopper down the highway, doing your best to cripple little old ladies in walkers; what a rush!). I played the PS2 version of the former and the 3DO version of the latter and both were excellent entertainment.

In fact, you can't get me in a virtual car unless there's violence involved. I find those Daytona/stock car/Nascar race track games about as stimulating as watching the Weather Channel for 12 hours during a period of meteorological calm. But stick a gun on the front of that vee-hickle and I'm down for hours of gun and run. In fact, I recently re-purchased an old favorite of mine from the original Playstation, the sadly-neglected Red Asphalt.

Finally, since we're focused in on mixed martial arts this issue, let me suggest you at least rent Crave Entertainment's UFC: Throwdown, the second (and superior) attempt at bringing UFC-style MMA to the virtual cage. You won't find many of the old warhorses (Tank Abbott, Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock ) but you will find 28 more modern fighters including Frank Shamrock ( Ken 's half-brother), BJ Penn , Tito Ortiz , Jens Pulver and Vitor Belfort. It isn't perfect, but it's a significant improvement over the first UFC game.

And glad you enjoyed my book. It's available at rolentapress.com. And you can read four interviews with RWS-sponsored MMA fighters in this very issue in the POSTAL NATION section.

Doc on!

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Okay, gang, that's it for the Holiday Apocalypse Edition of The Game Doctor. We'll be back next month, just like the guy who reads your electric meter. In the meantime, in between time, you can find answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions, check out the official GoPostal.com site. But send any new questions regarding RWS, the POSTAL franchise and anything else that occurs to you to: GameDoctorKunkel@gopostal.com.