Rawson Stovall

Rawson Law Stovall (born 1972)Efn|Stovall was thirteen in June 1985 In 1982, ten-year-old Stovall's first column appeared in the Abilene Reporter-News, his local newspaper. He got the column in ten publications before Universal Press Syndicate started distributing it in April 1983; by 1984, the column, titled "The Vid Kid", appeared in over twenty-four newspapers. After being reported on by The New York Times, Stovall was featured on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and earned a regular spot on Discovery Channel's The New Tech Times. In 1985, he helped introduce the Nintendo Entertainment System at its North American launch.

In 1990, Stovall retired from video game journalism to attend Southern Methodist University. He later worked as a game designer and producer for Sony, Activision, Electronic Arts, MGM Interactive, and most recently Concrete Software. At Electronic Arts, he produced video games in The Sims franchise.

Biography

Early life Rawson Law Stovall was born in 1972 to Ronald L. Stovall, a regional manager for the Texas State Health Department and former Boy Scouts executive; and Kay Law Stovall. He has a younger sister named Jennifer. As a child, he had severe asthma and once spent three months at the National Jewish Hospital: he first visited an amusement arcade on one of the hospital's field trips.

Stovall first became interested in arcade video games in 1978. He also became the youngest person to receive the Texas Governor's Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service after he raised over $5000 for Abilene's mental health association.

Stovall contacted the Reporter-News ' editor Dick Tarpley, to whom he presented several sample columns and three letters of recommendation from his teachers and a local video-game repairman. Two days later, Tarpley offered him a weekly place in the paper for $5 per column. In 1982, a ten-year-old Stovall's first column, "Video Beat", appeared in the Reporter-News. His mother acted as his secretary and proofread his work, He attended CES in following years and was consulted by industry professionals and companies, including Activision president Jim Levy. Stovall and Universal Press Syndicate ended their contract later in the year by mutual agreement, but his column continued to run in the Reporter-News. In 2009, Stovall reflected that although it was sometimes difficult to balance school, journalism and his health issues, he felt his experience in journalism was a beneficial one. At EA, he produced The Godfather (2006), and video games in franchises Medal of Honor and The Sims.

Stovall currently lives in the area of Minneapolis–Saint Paul. He previously lived in Redwood City, California. He is married to Jenn Marshall, who teaches art history at the University of Minnesota, with whom he has one son.