"Back then, Super Mario Kart was hugely popular, CD-ROM games were all the rage and Joseph Lieberman was getting uppity. Today, Mario Kart is more popular than ever, most PC games still ship on CD-ROM and Lieberman's still trying to convince parents that games are corrupting the minds of their children."

"The newly mobile class has human needs. One of those is entertainment, and rising from the Wal-Marts, rest stops and automobiles is a booming culture of the arts." In The New Gaming Society Shannon Drakes takes a nostalgic look back to the future at the return of the "Sneakernet."

"In the topsy-turvy world of videogame logic, if a half-dead baby kitten weakly slapped Mike Tyson on the knees two dozen times, he'd eventually fall down. This was acceptable once upon a time." Gearoid Ready explains why sometimes you have to let go of the past to move forward into the future in Kill Your Darlings.

"Neopets, Habbo Hotel, MySpace ... Whether or not these particular sites will continue to thrive is irrelevant. Online networking feels natural to this generation, like Grandpa's Rolodex and Mom's Franklin Day-Planner." Allen Varney revisits the concept of the lifegame, and explains how pervasive, demographically-targeted social networks may not necessarily be the ruin of us all.

"Nobody will play with me, nobody wants me on their team - so I spend hours every night, alone at home, sucking. But with Coach, I got used to having someone watch me play and lend me a hand." In Chris Dahlen's vision of the future, games will help you do more than pass the time.