Sid Shuman: What game made you want to be a part of the video game business?

"For me, there were three pivotal games. The game that made me want to be in the business the most was probably Pac-Man. At the time, as a teenager, I was playing Defender and Missile Command. But with Pac-Man, suddenly girls were playing - I was noticing that videogames were more than a fad, it was becoming a phenomenon. Pac-Man intrigued me because it was so simple and so accessible; you just put your hand on a joystick and that's it. With Missile Commander and Defender, I loved the games and wanted to become a better player. But with Pac-Man... I wanted to study it and learn why it was so big."


What was the biggest high point of your career?

"I've been lucky enough to have a few of those. One that stands out was when I was in the Acclaim booth at CES. They were preparing to release the first Mortal Kombat to the home consoles. They told me they were planning to spend 10 million on advertising, run the game commercial in theaters - something that was unheard of that time - and they were going to hold an event called "Mortal Monday" and open stores at midnight. I remember thinking, 'these guys are expecting way too much out of this [game launch].'

Then I saw the commercial that they made, the one with the kids standing in New York yelling "Mortal Kombaaat!" The production values behind it...I remember it as a goosebump moment, it had taken on a life of its own. It had gone so far beyond an arcade game made by four guys. That was a big moment for me, seeing something take off like that."


Make a gaming-related prediction for 2015.

"I'll take a guess. I think at least half the games sold to consumers will be digitally distributed. I think we're going towards an iTunes, Amazon-type of distribution for games. By 2015, I think the next generation of hardware will be coming out. I suspect they'll have a huge amount of storage, terabytes of storage. I don't know if we'll be at the point where everything is sold digitally, getting rid of the brick-and-mortar distribution entirely. But I gotta believe that's the direction we're heading. Six years from now, I can easily see half of games being sold digitally."