“Continued” “I wanted my fucking money. End of story.” The funniest part of the whole experience? After everything that happened, David actually told me he liked the way I handled myself and said I was welcome to work directly for him anytime. Yeah… OK 👌 Anyway, more stories to calm as time goes on.. ✌️

So here’s another funny story from the pre-#FGC days, right around the Mortal Kombat II/Fighter’s Edge era. After we finished the Mortal Kombat II strategy guide, Matt Taylor left GamePro and went to work for GameFan magazine, which at the time was one of the premier gaming magazines for hardcore gamers. With Mortal Kombat 3 on the horizon, Matt approached me and said he wanted Graham Wolfe, himself, and me to do another strategy guide, this time under the GameFan banner. The catch was that GameFan didn’t publish strategy guides yet. Matt’s idea was simple: we’d create the entire book ourselves, then walk into GameFan with a finished product they couldn’t refuse. At the time, I was young, obsessed with video games, and would’ve written on a napkin if it meant getting another book published. So I agreed. We busted our asses putting that guide together. A lot of talented people helped, including @AfroCole, Graham’s brother Alex, and several others who deserve credit. Shout-out to all of them. Around that same time, GameFan owner Dave Halverson was dealing with financial problems. An investor from Metropolis Publishing, David Bergstein, stepped in to temporarily bail out the company, and the guide was eventually published through Metropolis. The book sold well. Actually, it sold really well for a strategy guide in those days. Having the GameFan name attached to it definitely helped. There was just one problem. None of us got paid. Anyone who wasn’t an actual GameFan employee worked for free. When I confronted Matt, he told me not to worry that Graham and I were supposedly getting 80% of the profits once negotiations were finished. There was only one tiny fucking problem with that story… The book was already on store shelves. Not long afterward, Matt got fired by David Bergstein. Suddenly the story changed. Now I was being told nobody was getting paid because Metropolis was being sued, and we just had to wait. I didn’t buy a fucking word of it. I even reached out to Graham and asked if he wanted me to represent both of us while I pursued the money. He politely declined, so I went after it myself. That year, E3 had moved to Los Angeles. I tracked down Metropolis Publishing’s office in Beverly Hills. Before I flew out, I did my homework. I ran a background check on David Bergstein and discovered his parents lived in Brooklyn just a short distance from where I lived in New York. Before showing up in person, I tried doing things the professional way. I faxed him. I called him. Over… and over… and over. Nothing. No replies. So I did what James MK has always done when people think they can ignore him. I showed up. I walked into the Metropolis Publishing office. The receptionist immediately told me David wasn’t there. I politely responded… “Suck my dick.” Then I walked past her anyway. I found what looked like his office, opened the door… …and there he was. Sitting behind this ridiculous cast-iron desk with giant skulls on the posts. I almost laughed because the first thing that came to mind was Geese Howard. The whole setup looked like a Saturday morning cartoon villain’s office. After exchanging some less-than-friendly introductions, I got straight to the point. “I want my fucking money.” David’s response? He wasn’t paying because Matt Taylor had been double-dipping. working on books while employed by one of his competitors and that’s why Matt got fired. I looked at him and said, “What the fuck does that have to do with me and Graham?” He actually sat there thinking about it for a minute before shrugging his shoulders and saying, “Well… what am I supposed to do?” So I answered. “Your parents live in Brooklyn… right? I’ll pay them a visit.” Funny how fast attitudes change. Within minutes he cut me a check for $10,000.