My new book, Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture, is available for pre-order! It is the first book to use video games to look at how technology, sexuality and pop culture have evolved over the past three decades. Available in late September, Porn & Pong will be a fun read for fans of my magazine and newspaper articles, or anyone interested in modern pop cultural history!

Hit the great Powell’s Books, Barnes and Noble or Amazon to make sure you get your copy as soon as it is available.

However, if you’d like to wait and buy it directly from me, I can promise signed copies and other goodies. The best bet is to secure one now, and then grab a signed copy from me later for friends and fam. It should make the perfect gift for the sexy gamers in your life!

Visit the book website for more information (may be NSFW, depending on, ahem, where you work at).

In this week’s Village Voice I was interviewed by the wonderful Bonnie Ruberg, the sex and video games columnist for the legendary New York paper. We talked about Internet porn, the importance of Leisure Suit Larry and why my upcoming book is called Porn & Pong.

Check it out at the Village Voice website.

Gaming analyst Mike Hickey, after reviewing pre-sales of the game, anticipated shipments and other data, predicted “GTA4″ would sell 5.8 million units in the first seven days after its April 29 release - which would nearly double the current record set by “Halo 3″ last year.

With sales of its flagship Madden football video flattening out, Electronic Arts is looking to open up its offense. CEO John Riccitiello, who rejoined the company last spring, has extended EA’s pricey, exclusive NFL license, negotiated a new, exclusive in-game ad deal with Microsoft’s Massive Inc., jumped into iPhone game development and, in perhaps his boldest gambit, kicked off a hostile takeover attempt of Take-Two Interactive, the maker of the lucrative “Grand Theft Auto” series.

Facebook|Porn & Pong: The Book (Available Fall 2008)

You can also follow me on Twitter, the day-to-day diary site

Twitter: browndamon

Grab the latest issue of Playboy Magazine! The April issue has my first full-length feature story, The Body Shop. I talk about 20 ways scientists are rebuilding our bodies using technology: robotic eyes, synthetic tongues, and so on. It was a blast to research, and working with Playboy, as usual, was a great experience.

You can also catch my smiling face on the contributor’s page and a mention of my upcoming book, Porn & Pong. Nice.

There is no online version - it is a visual piece - but you can read the April table of contents here.

Released last month, the sci-fi adventure “Mass Effect” (Microsoft for the XBox 360) hasn’t created as much of a stir as, say, the pornographic minigame Hot Coffee in “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” but it still has authorities buzzing.

My CES/AEE-related stories are coming later via some newspapers and magazines, but in the meantime check out the blogs of my buddy Regina Lynn, head honcho of WIRED’s Sex Drive, and of the wonderful author/director Audacia Ray (both cover sex and neither are safe for work). They both are giving a perspective you wouldn’t get in the mainstream press - and wouldn’t necessarily get even if you were there.

Now it’s time to pass out after 36 hours in Vegas. To any new friends or associates visiting the site: Please feel free to leave a note!

The past month has been spent writing and editing the Porn & Pong manuscript, catching up on holiday partying, doing short (print-only) stories for Playboy Magazine and the like, and wrapping up new projects I can’t quite talk about yet. Blogging? Not so much. I plan to have more frequent updates here and on the Porn & Pong website, especially now that the main manuscript has been put to bed.

This week I hit Vegas for two great tech-centric conferences: the Consumer Electronics Show and the Adult Entertainment Expo. Wednesday and Thursday. Back to back. Sometimes I love my job.

Stay tuned here for post-show stories, either through major publications or exclusively on this website.

*Last Sunday’s CES show preview article is available here at the New York Post.

Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal has posted a must-read essay on the politics behind video game reviews. Seven or so years into the video game journalism business, I can identify with both N’Gai and GameSpot’s Jeff G., who was controversially let go last week. It’s all very real.

Tonight I spoke on the Society of Professional Journalist panel “Freelancing for the 21st Century” with Westways editor Elizabeth Harryman, Los Angeles magazine editor Mary Melton and fellow freelancer T.J. Sullivan. It was fun discussing how freelancing has changed over the years. Most of us spend our days in the solitary office or knee-deep in research. It’s always nice to connect with people face to face.

SPJ LA has had some of the best events I’ve attended since coming to California. The national organization is worth checking out, too.

Photographer Terry Osterhaut and I attended the Nerdcore calendar launch party and got a chance to hang out with co-creator Jon Gibson (above), the models and about a hundred likeminded geeks.

Post continued…

This week I had the opportunity to interview music mogul Jay-Z. I can’t front - it was a great experience. He also seemed to be a nice guy. We talked about the business of iTunes, since Jay-Z decided to remove his new album “American Gangster” from the service. The article is in today’s New York Post business section.

Related: My favorite interviewer sitting down with Jay-Z.