Ironically, I was actually editor-in-chief of one of the only big press outlets at the time — Computer Gaming World magazine — to give the game a very positive review, so it’s possible, if one wants to examine my psychological motivations, that perhaps this blog post was a 7-year-delayed bit of overcompensation. Because, ya know, maybe I felt that my masculinity was threatened or something by admitting to liking a game like Bonnie’s Bookstore. I don’t know. We’ll have to ask my therapist.

Me this week.

In any case, I do offer my apology both to anyone who enjoys Bonnie’s Bookstore, and, especially, to anyone who worked on it. At the very least, one has to be some kind of first-class curmudgeon to bash any word game, ever, because they are nothing if not outstanding brain exercises, something that I myself could have used before thinking about writing my poison piece. Also — bookstores! Come on! In my town, (Berkeley, California), I’ve had to watch with utter frustration and heartache as one awesome bookstore after another, in real life, has shuttered its doors (Cody’s Books, Black Oak Books: R.I.P). If for nothing else, a videogame that celebrates bookstores — and offers you the chance to help one stay in business — is something that in its very concept is reason enough for our praise, or, at the very least, respect. If the game had been called Bonnie’s Toxic Waste Dump, it’d be another matter entirely.

And so there it is: A full-on mea culpa from me, as I hang my head in shame for a thoroughly uncalled for and mean-spirited bashing of something undeserving of such wrath. I am a bad boy. And to fully serve out my penance, after posting this entry, I am going to head out to one of the only independent bookstores left in town here (Books Inc.), and buy a few books.

For Bonnie.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

-Jeff