Game Theories from the Digital Diva:
A Chat with J.C. Herz

By Nick Braccia
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January 26, 2000 | Page 1, 2

For nearly two years, JC Herz has published her weekly column, "Game Theory," in the The New York Times Circuits section. Her uncanny ability to package practical product review and shrewd social commentary with a hip, breezy prose keeps hardcore gamers, online addicts, and technophobic parents turning to the The New York Times on Thursdays. Think of her as Pauline Kael for the Interactive Age. In addition to her column, Herz is the author of two books, Joystick Nation: How Video Games Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our Minds (Little, Brown: 1997) and Surfing On the Internet: A Nethead's Adventures Online (Little, Brown: 1995). PopPulse caught up with Herz a couple weeks after the millennium turnover to find out what she thought of 1999 and where she thinks the gaming industry is going in Y2K.

When the Sega Dreamcast was released, your "Game Theory" piece implied you were impressed with its technical abilities, but disappointed in the lackluster game play of the launch titles. Has your opinion changed over the last few months? Where do you think the Dreamcast will fit in the history books of gaming?

I think there are some great games for Dreamcast and I said that there were great games at launch. NFL 2K is great, Soul Calibur is great, and so is a children's game called Pen Pen Tri-Icelon. The system has a lot of potential. The problem is: Where does it fit in the market? Both Sony and Nintendo are going to come out with next generation systems that are a lot more powerful than Dreamcast and whether this piece of hardware fits into the grand scheme of gaming is up for debate. Ultimately it is the developer base that determines the success or failure of the system. And if developers all want to create games for the Playstation 2 and Nintendo Dolphin the Dreamcast is going to have a hard row to hoe. Because of the new Sega operating system, the machine has the ability to do PC ports really easily, so that's an asset, but Microsoft's X-Box is going to do that as well. It's a bit precarious for Sega, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good machine.

Which three games from 1999, for any platform, would you take with you to a desert island?

I would keep Fighter Maker and MTV Music Generator for Playstation for the same reason. They both allow users to create something of their own on a Playstation. Fighter Maker allows you to choreograph custom fighting moves. MTV Music Generator allows you to create custom soundtracks. They're pro tools for the Playstation. I think the idea of cheap tools on a consumer electronics device is fantastic and it's much more fun than a straight game. Also, I have to say Devil Dice for Playstation. That game, as far as I'm concerned, is better than Tetris. It's the most addictive puzzle game I've ever played.

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