Curt Schilling Talks Retirement, Gaming With Adam Sessler

Yesterday, six-time All-Star and likely future Hall of Famer Curt Schilling retired from baseball after 23 seasons via his blog.

Today, he sat down with X-Play host and G4's editor-In-chief Adam Sessler at Gamesbeat 2009 presented by VentureBeat and talked about his reasons for the timing of the announcement, which he jokingly referred to as a clever business decision to gain some publicity for his gaming company, 38 Studios. Also seriously noting that being away from Boston when he made the announcement made it easier for him to avoid intense media scrutiny.

He also speaks about his life as a gamer, starting with Star Trek ASCII and Wizardry on the Apple, and moving to games like Everquest and World of Warcraft, where he logged a Herculean amount of time making all-night raids while waiting to pitch each fifth day. Schilling talks about using video games to help hold his family together while he was on the road, playing Everquest with his kids to keep in touch and be a part of each other's lives.

He provides some insight about his long-gestating MMO, Copernicus, giving the tiniest bit of what it might contain, raving about the team he's assembled at 38 Studios, and why he thinks they are the best staff on Earth.

So far, Schilling hasn't opened up to anyone else about his retirement, so this interview is the only place you can see the three-time World Champion talking about it. Also, his insight into his own personal gaming history, as well as the role of parents in making sure their parents game responsibly, should give you an idea of why Curt Schilling is not just a great baseball player, but a great individual, as well.

Here is Adam's interview with Curt Schilling.