Andy Gavin was 16 when he created a little game company called Naughty Dog with lifelong friend, Jason Rubin. That would lead to the creation of Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter, and a game style we’ve come to appreciate for its use of technology and polish.

No doubt partly attributable to his time at MIT, Gavin’s programming know-how made him a recognizable leader in the gaming industry. Though he has turned his attention to books and hasn’t made a game since 2004, to date, more than 35 million of Andy’s games have been sold to the tune of a cool billion.

We cornered Andy on Twitter recently and he agreed to do an interview for Blast:

BLAST: In your career, you’ve created a bunch of memorable characters — Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Dexter. Where do you get your inspiration for your gaming characters?

ANDY GAVIN: Mostly from combining ideas from TV, comics, movies, books, films etc plus a dose of random and pure imagination.

BLAST: How did you get your start in the gaming industry?

AG: Jason and I met at age 12. We both loved video games and had some friends in common that swapped (aka pirated) games together. I was a pretty decent programmer and he was a good artist (for 12). Since my games ran well but were ugly and his looked great and crashed, we combined forces. We worked on some games we never published while 13 and 14, including an Apple II version of PunchOut, then when we were 15, sold our first game, Ski Crazed. Naughty Dog was born (although it was named JAM Software until 1986).

BLAST: But you’re a writer at heart right? Writer or gamer? What’s your label?

AG: Serial creative. I was a reader first, and during my entire video game career. I also did a lot of writing in High School and college (but never published anything). Only recently have I been able to devote the time to writing that it really needed. But I would say that my video game career really helped me with it, not so much in the particulars of story or prose craft, but with my general skills at managing and pacing big creative projects. I find that writing uses essentially the same creative muscles as game making.

BLAST: Well speaking of writing, you have a fantasy book that’s out now and, surprise, surprise, another on the way. Tell me about your upcoming title “Untimed” — I hear it’s steampunk. Can never get enough of that.

AG: “Untimed” is a YA time travel novel that chronicles the crazy adventures of a boy no one remembers, who falls through a hole in time and finds himself lost in the past. It’s very different with an extremely immediate first person present voice (in this book the only thing anyone can hold on to is the present). It rocks. Seriously rocks.

Right now (as of early May) it’s out on submission to New York and London publisher’s via my agent, Eddie Schneider of JABberwocky.

BLAST: You also co-founded a little outfit called Naughty Dog. Are you working on any gaming projects right now? What’s percolating? Anything caught in limbo that you want to try to free up here in this interview?

AG: I still love video games, particularly fantasy ones, but I don’t have anything in development. I’m counting the days until the release of Diablo III! I’d love to make a game somewhere between that, Dark Souls, and WoW. But then I think about the 5-7 year project…

BLAST: When you’re not writing or gaming or writing games, what do you do for fun, since this is all obviously WORK, right?

AG: Spending time with my family. Reading (mostly speculative fiction and history). Food and wine. I’m an incurable gourmand. Photography, video games, technology, history, travel, and archeology are a few of my other passions. I’m particularly fascinated by the ancient western world.

In a way, Crash of the Titans represents everything about Playstation 2 in 2008 — still bloody good, but there’s not a whole lot more to expect out of it.

Even without its original creator, Crash Bandicoot is still a strong video game franchise, and it’s the best thing Sierra has going for it right now.

“The evil Neo Cortex has turned the creatures of Crash’s island into horrific mutations! But by using a whole arsenal of new combat moves, Crash can hijack the monsters and gain control of their awesome powers.”

Radical Entertainment has come in to develop Crash games, and “Titans” is a hearty effort, though fairly predictable. Crash and Neo Cortex crossed paths in 2004′s Crash Twinsanity and are back to do battle once again.

The best part of this game is that you build up your power by attacking Cortex’s monsters. Once you build up enough star power, you can hop on the monster and use it as a makeshift mount, employing its attacks on other enemies. It’s a pretty original tactic, and there are plenty of these monsters to dive up on.

While you don’t get the same experience as the original PSX classics, Radical does show that they have the potential to bring Crash Bandicoot back to glory, and it will be interesting to see how they handle the Playstation 3 this year.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Platform: Playstation 2, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance
Genre: Action
Players: 1-2
Launch Date: October 4, 2007

Playability: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 4 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars