Rawson Stovall

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Rawson Law Stovall (born January 9, 1972) is a video game producer, and the first nationally-syndicated reviewer of video games in the United States. His column first appeared in 1982 in the West Texas newspaper the Abilene Reporter-News under the title "Video Beat." The following year, theSan Jose Mercury News picked up the column and promoted Stovall, eleven years old at the time, as the "Vid Kid." Soon after, Stovall's video game reviews appeared in newspapers across the United States, under the auspices of the Universal Press Syndicate, and Doubleday published The Vid Kid's Book of Home Video Games in 1984. Stovall appeared as a regular commentator on the television program New Tech Times, and was featured on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Hour Magazine with Gary Collins, NBC's Today Show, That's Incredible!, and in the pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. In 1985, Stovall appeared in a public relations event, in which he was the first person to demonstrate the Nintendo Entertainment System to the media. In addition to work as a contributing writer for Family Circle, Woman's Day, and Omni, Stovall continued to author his video game review column until 1990, when the "Vid Kid" retired to attend college at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

The Vid Kid's Guide to Home Video Games, 1984