Ed Boon On Getting Into The Game Biz
Over at former Shiny co-founder David Perry's site, he's posted a fun Q&A with Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon about getting into the video game industry.
Boon has advice on talking to your mother (yes, _your_ mother!) on why games is a good career: "I would probably try to educate her on the fact that the videogame business is an industry that is bigger than the movie business. I'm guessing that your mother still thinks that videogames are kids-stuff and doesn't take a career in games too serious. I'd probably draw some comparisons in terms of revenue generated by big game titles (GTA) that made more money than most movies ever did."
He also discusses his first ever interview: "I clearly remember my first interview at Williams Electronics in 1986. A guy named Bill Pfutzenreuter was asking me what games I liked playing and I said "Defender, Robotron, Missile Command, Joust". His response was "oh yea, I programmed Joust. I really though he was joking and said "get outta here" and he said "no, really, I did." I was floored as that was the first time I was talking to someone who had made such an impact on what I wanted to do for a living. I still have a hard time with the idea of someone thinking of me in that way." Fatality-ality-ality!
Comments
i am a big fan of mortal kombat i think you should create a tag team tournament for the next mortal kombat game and you could make the guy say the kreate a fighters name like me my name is carnage
Posted by: Donnie | August 19, 2007 8:44 PM
I love how good MK has gotten, but next time hopefully you'll go back 2 Hara-Kiri and the normal button Pressing fatality i hope u make sum mor MK cuz i cant get enough!!
Posted by: Joser | August 24, 2007 10:50 AM
I just wanted to know if the fatalities will be the same as they were for mortal kombat : Armaggedon, because I did not like it that way. I would like to see a the old way that the fatalities were made. Thank you for all that you have done for the gaming business.
Spencer Hulin
Posted by: Spencer Hulin | December 7, 2007 11:14 AM
Dear Edd Boon,
I really enjoy Mortal Kombat. I have played all the games and I really love Shoulin Monks. I also enjoy the bios of the characters. The best game I have is MKD.
I like MKD because of the betrayal the deception in the kombatans and how someone can betray an ally so quickly over power.
Mostly what I like about the game is the family relation ships. For instances Noob Saibaot the brother of Sub-Zero, and Queen Sindel the mother of Princess Kittana. I still can’t believe she is over 10,000 years old. Also I think its kind of cool that the cyborgs in the game used to be part of the Lin Kuei.
Also I would like to know if the Black Dragon Clan & the Lin Kuei are at war with each other. Also I think it was kind of wrong of Daegon to kill his own parents, but that’s deception. Also I did not know that Argus had 3 sons Rain, Taven, and Daegon. I also feel sorry for the cyborgs that were former Lin Kuei. (Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke.)
Also I am fond of scorpion because of his lifestyle. I never knew Scorpion had a family. It was also very interesting that Melina is tarkatan. Also I did not know that Raiden was Shao Kahn’s brother.
I really think that Mortal kombat has a lot of effect on people’s life. Also I think that if Scorpion and Sub-Zero would put aside their differences they would almost be unstoppable, because Scorpion killed the Dragon King alone by diving through his stomach. Also I want to ask you if Raiden was corrupted by smoke? I just think it was kind of funny that he would try to kill Taven. (It wasn’t Raiden it was Shang Stung transformed into Raiden, because if you look closely Shang Stung did not actually enter the portal to Earth Realm.)
I have to go by.
Your #1 fan,
James P.S pleas send me all the MK comics you can.
MAY THE ELDER GODS WATCH OVER YOU. =)
Posted by: James ???????. | December 18, 2007 7:57 AM
HI THERE I HAVE PLAYED GAMES ALL MY LIFE AND I LUV RACING AND FIGHTING GAMES FROM 2D AND 3D AND I THINK MORTAL KOMBAT IS THE BEST FIGHTING GAME OF ALL TIME I HAVE LOTS OF IDEAR'S 4 MORTAL KOMBAT LOTS PLUS I WANNA START GAME PROGRAMMING I LUV GAMES WHERE SHOULD I START I READ GAME PROGRAMMING BOOKS BUT I WANNA GO TO COLLAGE WOT DO U THINK PLEASE HELP ME THANKS LEE
Posted by: LEE "THE CREATOR" ABBOTT | February 26, 2008 10:58 AM
Dear, Ed Boon
one thing i must admit u really know how to make a fighting game.ever since i bought my first system, the sega gen. my first game i ever had was mortal kombat. i fell in luv wit it ever since. one thing i would really enjoy that u could do is make another mk like shaolin monks. i played that game so much it stoped workin and i had to buy another one. it happen twice. me and my friend loved fighting side by side to beating the game. if u could make a shaolin monks two and even better and longer konquest mode i would be the first one in line for it. (THE REAL #1 FAN) STEPHEN FERRELL p.s. can u email me back i need to ask u something important. thanks ED
Posted by: Stephen Ferrell | September 26, 2008 8:55 AM