Nicholas Lavroff

I was inspired to write this book when I was working for Sega in the mid-1990s. During the early 1990s I was Editor-in-Chief of Sega Visions magazine, a bi-monthly publication that was mailed out to more than a million readers (remember, this was pre-internet, so publications were not yet online). Every month we would receive hundreds of letters from readers by snail-mail (no email yet!), letters that included questions, drawings of Sega characters and general comments about all things Sega.

One letter in particular stood out from all the others, written by a Sonic the Hedgehog fan. Here's what it said, reproduced exactly as written, blemishes and all:

Yo Sega:

I like your Sega! I am a big fan of Sonic I have both games; I like the color, grapics, elctoneics, fun, action, sound, and best of all the way you make them! How do you fit so much exsitement into a little mico chip!?

Chris Gammon

Well Chris, you might be pleased to hear that the answer to your question turned into an entire book -- Behind the Scenes at Sega: The Making of a Video Game. If by some chance you are reading this, post a comment on my author page. I would love to hear from you.

Meanwhile, something interesting happened to the book. By the early 2000s it was out of print and very difficult to find, so much so that copies were being offered at astronomical prices, some for over $5,000! I sincerely hope nobody bet the family farm investing in this rare collectible, because it is now available in Kindle format for less than $7. Of course the same thing happened to RAM and hard disk storage. In the 1980s RAM cost over $1,000 a megabyte, and a hard drive about $150 a megabyte. At those prices, the desktop computer I use today would be worth over $300,000,000!