"A stimulating look at two of today's most controversial subjects. . . . Sure to amaze and titillate anyone who's ever hoisted a videogame controller."-CNN Tech Correspondent Scott Steinberg

No book until Porn &Pong has explored how pornography and video games have influenced America's sexual mores and technological compulsions on a massive scale.

The first Atari systems and their phallic joysticks began to sell by the million along with the rise of the VCR and the modern porn industry. Reality TV skyrocketed the same year as The Sims, and the surgically endowed Pamela Anderson was only outshined by one other woman: Lara Croft.

Porn &Pong's publication comes at the time of the release of several highly anticipated adult-oriented games, including a new Leisure Suit Larry, Tomb Raider, and the sequel to the most controversial video game of all time, Grand Theft Auto. Author Damon Brown examines how politics, hidden agendas, and financial pressure affect the controversial art forms of gaming and pornography.

Damon Brown writes for Playboy, Spin, New York Post, and the Inspector Gadget column for PlanetOut, the largest gay and lesbian website.

"Brown, a journalist for Playboy and The New York Post, maps the course of sex in video games from the Atari era to the present in this slim, fun read. Asserting that video games fulfill the cultural need for 'dark sexual thrills,' Brown's roving (occasionally rambling) exploration looks at the young medium in context and finds that, even in its infancy, video games were already as influential, potentially dangerous, and worthy of dissection as any other art. The first mainstream porno game, 1982's 'Custer's Revenge' for the Atari 2600, spurred debate over the non-consensual nature of its crudely depicted virtual sex, culminating in crowds of protesters, lawsuits against the publisher, and the sexual assault of a Native American woman by thugs verbally invoking the game. Despite his graphic description of games many may find abhorrent, Brown comes off as neither a libertarian geek nor a moral custodian, and he keeps his history lively with personalities like Toby Gard, designer of video gaming's all-time 'It Girl,' Lara Croft. The talented programmer's admission that 'maybe subconsciously, Lara Croft was my sister' is just one of the quirky insights Brown unearths, revealing the digital artistry and skewed lust that fuel the industry's ever-expanding reach: in erotic content, artistic merit and culture at large." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Damon Brown is an author for Playboy, Spin, New York Post and many other publications. Among his books are The Pocket Idiot's Guide to the IPhone, The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Satellite Radio and The Pocket Idiot's Guide to the IPod.