McDonald’s has “Fast Food Nation,” the fish industry has “Cod,” but no book has successfully weaved the cautionary tales and humorous history of the world of video games into our modern society… until now. For “Porn and Pong” Playboy Magazine journalist Damon Brown spent five years exploring how the $20 billion video game industry traces our evolution in sexual mores, technological dependence and personal interaction. The VCR and the dawn of the modern porn industry parallels the first Atari systems, Reality TV skyrocketed the same year as The Sims, and the surgically-endowed Pamela Anderson was only outshined by one other woman: Lara Croft. In one of the most stimulating moments, Brown examines Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2005 tirade against Grand Theft Auto, and how politics, hidden agendas and financial pressure affect all controversial art forms.

Damon Brown writes about sex, technology, music and video games for Playboy, New York Post and Family Circle, and is the tech columnist for AARP Online and PlanetOut. He is the author of several books, most recently Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture. Damon has a Masters in Magazine Publishing from Chicago’s Northwestern University and a degree in Journalism and Computing from Detroit’s Oakland University. The Jersey native considers New Orleans, Chicago and Lansing (Michigan) his hometowns, but recently established his secret headquarters in Northern California.