'Aliens: The Video Games' author Mike Diver on overlooked Alien games, tracking down retro game developers, and the future of the Xenomorph (interview)

The history of Alien video games is long and twisty, but Mike Diver — veteran writer, editor, critic, and journalist — decided a few years ago to make a complete chronicle of Xenomorph -filled games his next big adventure.

Ahead of Aliens: The Video Games ' August 30 release, we sat down with him and discussed the franchise's past, present, and future in games.

The following interview has been edited for better flow.

"I played a lot of Alien 3 on Mega Drive," Diver recalls when asked about his first few contacts with Alien.

"I was slightly too young to be watching those movies...

I was also quite taken with a book that a friend of mine's dad owned – it was a book with stills of the film in it...

I saw the chestbursters in those stills before I saw it moving on-screen, and in a way that was more striking." He believes that left an impression on him, which likely helped his fascination with the franchise over time.

Diver worked in games media for a long time, which afforded him opportunities such as covering the first Alien: Isolation , going into Creative Assembly and playing before it came out.

This led to Diver researching Alien games for "on and off over, let's say, five to ten years".

It was actually the Nintendo DS exclusive Aliens: Infestation — a gorgeous 2D sidescroller with a permadeath mechanic for squad members — that made him realize maybe there was a cool opportunity in trying to chronicle the entire history of Alien video games, including the overlooked ones. (Image credit: SEGA) "There's no book about Alien games.

There was one about Doom , Nintendo, Star Trek ...

So why not Alien? I pitched it around, got a commission, wrote a book.

It sounds easy when you say it like that." While he admits being a fan of the franchise helped, it wasn't easy, especially as he had to chase developers from disbanded studios for research.

"I was speaking to Dave Dorman, who's a comic book artist, and he was working on the cancelled CDI game Aliens Interactive , so he's quoted from archive material, but he and I were exchanging emails, and he was going to send me some concept work and answer some questions, but that never came off, unfortunately," he reveals.