Yesterdayâs passing of pop superstar Michael Jackson has provoked widespread reminiscences. Today, leading game reporters and game designer Dave Perry recalled when they crossed paths with the King of Pop.
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In addition to starring in a few video games, Michael Jackson appeared at the first E3 more than a decade ago. GTTVâs Geoff Keighley recalled the event to Kotaku:
âMichael showed up at the first PlayStation E3 party in 1995 as a surprise guest of Mickey Schulhof, the then-CEO of Sony. There were rumors he was going to perform, but as far as I recall he never actually took the stage. Instead, he walked around the party and spent most of his time holed up inside the ice cream parlor on the backlot. I seem to recall he was also caught sitting down and playing the arcade version of the original Ridge Racer that was set up at the party.â
Electric Playground host Victor Lucas was also at that E3 and shared his memory with Kotaku:
âHe was at the first ever E3 Sony party in 1995 and it was at one of their studio backlots so it was set against a fake small town street with fake little shops. There were games in some of the fake shops, some PlayStation standees and some arcade machines. [Former Sony Computer Entertainment president] Steve Race had given a short speech thanking everyone for coming and how exciting it was for Sony to be entering this new era for their business.
âA band started playing on a stage after that, and I remember rumors being whispered that Michael Jackson was going to perform. He didnât, but I remember a small crowd had gathered around one of the fake shops, peering into the windows. I took a look inside and there he was sitting down and it looked like he was being catered to by at least a half dozen people in his entourage. Eventually he stood up and started playing a game machine in that room. I remember people saying he wasnât going to come out of there, so I moved on and walked around the rest of the party.
âThe Sony party that year was big but much smaller than they grew to be over subsequent years at E3, so it didnât take long to circle the party and eventually get back to where Jackson was. Only, when I got back, he wasnât in the fake shop anymore, so I turned the fake street corner and almost walked into him and his entourage as they walked down the street. It was weird. It was like a force field had been built around them and a circle of people had given Michael Jackson 20 feet of space as they followed him. He walked down the fake street, stopping now and then to play a game or two. He didnât perform. All he did was walk around and check out games and wave, smile and say hello to people.
âWe were all pretty blown awayâa bunch of developers and brand new game journalists were in the presence of pop culture royalty. And as I left the party, collecting my PlayStation Polygon-Man t-shirt and still buzzing about being mere feet away from Michael Jackson, one of the most famous people the world has ever known, I remember thinking how big the videogame industry was already and wondering how big it was going to growâŠâ
Game designer Dave Perry had a more personal memory, one he shared on his blog today. Perry recounts a story of visits to the starâs home at Neverland Ranch, Jacksonâs playful behavior around his kids and⊠an egg fight.
Michael Jackson was a gamer, he wanted me to come up to Neverland and talk to him about games. The first time I went up and after walking in the door he handed me a black plastic trash bag and told me to put it on. I was like, âHUH?â He started putting his trash bag on. Then one of his staff walked in with a giant PILE of eggs. A bunch of his friends came in (wearing the requisite black trash bags) and we all went into the garden area and started a giant egg fight. I threw my first egg FULL FORCE (I have long arms), then the world went into bullet-time, I thought, âOh No!â, as I saw the egg flying full speed towards his sonâs face, and I noticed they were filming everything for Michaelâs home video collection (so theyâd know who did it!) What a great start to make his son cry. Luckily, it whizzed right by his ear missing him by millimeters. I then went into âHere, take thisâ as I performed the lamest egg throws youâve ever seen. So everyone survived, and I was invited to stay.
Thereâs much more from Perry about his view of a Michael Jackson he very much respected over at Perryâs blog.
Jackson was a historic and controversial figure, sure to be missed by many. While his connections to the gaming industry were few compared to his influences on music and television, his influence has registered throughout entertainment.
