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Mickie Phipps Currently a Narrative Non-Fiction Writer, Closet Fiction Writer

Mickie Phipps

Biography Mickie Phipps co-authored (along with David Shippy) The Race for a New Game Machine -- Creating the Chips Inside the Xbox 360 & the PlayStation 3, published by Kensington's Citadel in Jan 09. An electrical engineer by trade, Mickie worked for IBM for six years, two of them spent as the second-line manager and project manager for the team that designed the microprocessors for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.  She also spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, where her active duty and reserve service centered on research and development of next generation weapons. She recently left IBM to pursue a writing career. She now lives in Kingsland, Texas.

Upcoming Works

  • The Race for a New Game Machine -- Creating the Chips Inside the Xbox 360 & the PlayStation 3, due to be published in Jan 09 by Kensington's Citadel Press. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game systems have changed the face of home entertainment. My co-author, David Shippy, was the technical leader and I was the project manager for a team of top-notch engineers at the Sony/Toshiba/IBM (STI) Design Center in Austin, Texas. Our team forged the tiny miracle at the core of it all: a revolutionary microprocessor chip that set a new paradigm in personal computing. It’s a thrilling, all-for-nothing race to deliver the industry’s fastest chip in record time. At stake were the livelihoods – and sanity – of an unsung group of tireless visionaries. At war were the giants Microsoft and Sony.

    The Race for a New Game Machine is a dazzling, behind-the-scenes account of the life in the tech world, featuring memorable characters and a compelling narrative. As we desperately served two masters, balancing Microsoft’s “victory or death” attitude and Sony’s slow patience and caution, this team endured 80-hour workweeks, flaring tempers, crumbled friendships, despair – and finally triumphed.

    We also reveal leadership lessons we drew from this experience. Our goal in writing this book was to let people to see through the scientific mumbo-jumbo that scares them away from technology. We wanted to demystify chip design and maybe inspire a few budding engineers.

Nickname

  • Mickie

Publishers

  • Kensington's Citadel Press (Richard Ember)

Web Links