Josh Mandel interview

Ugarte's Dimension of Fantasy has posted an interview with Josh Mandel, formerly of Sierra, about his work at the company.

What would you say are things similar and different between the game industry in the past and the game industry in the present?

The differences far outweigh the similarities. A similar comparison could be made to the television industry. Fifty-odd years ago, the people who went into television did so because it was an exciting, unexplored art form in which some saw great potential, not because they wanted to ride a money train. Same with games; when Ken and Roberta put diskettes in plastic baggies in their garage and sent 'em out, they were having fun testing the waters of a new art form, designing and programming pretty much whatever they fancied. Same with Richard Garriott and so many other of the seminal developers whose companies today bear no relation to the humble little creative shops they used to be.