January 17, 2004

Microsoft Corporation
Public Relations Department
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA
98052-6399

To who it concerns,

      re: Monster Truck Madness 2

I am writing to you as a representative of the online gaming community for Monster Truck Madness 2. We have become increasingly aware that our game has grown into a scarce commodity in the retail marketplace, and as a result we anticipate the diminution of active participants in the mtm2 community over the course of time. We feel, however, that allowing mtm2 to fade into obscurity would be to commit a terrible injustice. MTM2 was cutting edge when it was first released, and, despite the passage of years, it holds its own against most titles released today. Accordingly, we would like to impress upon you in the strongest, most urgent of terms that you print and release another batch of mtm2 disks for general distribution.

Prints could be:

• Standalone retail boxes
• Compilations with other games (like the madness 1 set)
• OEM disks

Distribution methods have much potential:

• Retail sales
• Part of software bundles (with other MS products)
• Part of hardware bundles (sound and graphics cards)
• Part of OEM bundles

Please understand I am not attempting to dictate how MS should conduct its business, but rather I want to emphasize that, despite mtm2's age, its appeal is as strong today as it's ever been. And we hope you agree. If, on the other hand, you do not, I would like to suggest that strategies remain open that can satisfy you as well as the gaming community of which we speak.

First among these ideas would be the creation of a downloadable file of, not just the trial version but, the full working game that one would then be able to burn to disk in order to install it. Ideally, this would be hosted from the mtm2 page on the MS site. I know of no game that you have done this with, but I can think of several reasons why you might consider it for mtm2.

• Contribute to revenues (if a nominal fee were attached to the file)
• Pay homage to, and honor, a classic game title
• Deference to a long standing MS online community
• Maintain control over your software while still making it available
• A public relations gesture that shows MS cares about its customers and the continued use of its software
• A pilot project for dealing with other aging software
• Continued exposure to the msn gaming zone community as well as its advertisements
• MTM2 requires little or no technical support since it is fully compatible with the latest hardware and operatings systems.
• There are virtually no other quality monster truck titles available for the pc.
• The fully customizable game has thousands of user made addons already available for it.
• The support provided by the user community over a network of websites is very strong.

Finally, I recognize, and my experiences confirm, that Microsoft seldom takes steps to prolong software life, and, with that in view, I will not be surprised to learn that our entreaties go unheard. It is, therefore, with this last thought in mind that I have taken the liberty of creating iso images of the mtm2 disk I purchased in 1998 and respectfully request that I be allowed to distribute them online for general consumption. Unfortunately, my monitary circumstances do not afford the endowment of substantial licensing fees and I ask that you recognize and are willing to accept that the expenses of maintaining a server capable of delivering such files are more than an average user like myself could hope to provide for a hobby. I firmly believe that any of my initial proposals are the better way to go, but I have no compunction about keeping our game alive with activity.

It is my sincerest wish that you agree to print another run of Monster Truck Madness 2, or, failing that, you will be kind enough not to oppose our plan to make a disk image available. In either case, I would be willing to discuss the matter further if it might be of some assistance. I can be contacted at the above address. Thank you.

Yours truly,





Phineus Gage

P.S. FYI, something is amiss with the mtm2 disk information display in windows media player.