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I received this book for Christmas:
http://a1055.g.akamai.net/f/1055/140...00/6120173.gif
I finally finished reading it (I keep it on the back of the toilet ;)). I have to say that it is a very interesting book. I believe there may be a couple inaccuracies, but it is still very well done. I especially enjoyed the section about companies' origins. Did you know that the Coleco in ColecoVision is COnnecticut LEather COmpany?
Has anyone picked this up? What did you think?
I bought it a couple months ago. I thought it was a well put together book as well. A little bit too much stuff on PC games, I was expecting more console stuff. There was only like one page for the gameboy. But it has some nice screenshots of older games and old ads.
I have it. I think it's a great book although like every video game history book, you'll only get the author's view of what's important in video game history.
This is the only book that does justice to computer gaming history. I don't mind that it overly-focuses on it because virtually every other video game history book has ignored this vital side of gaming. It's a little disturbing that relatively unimpressive developers like Trilobyte get devoted a couple pages while many Japanese developers aren't mentioned.
Video game history books are always more about what was important business-wise or society-wise. Mortal Kombat will be mentioned in every book whereas Gunstar Heroes will not. I love video game history books but they most certainly fail at giving a history of quality games.
Some other history books I definitely recommend are: Steven Kent's The Ultimate History of Video Games, David Sheff's Game Over, ?'s Supercade and Leonard Herman's Phoenix: The Fall and Rise of Videogames.
Stephen Poole's Trigger Happy and J.C. Herz' Joystick Nation are also interesting although they aren't history books for the most part.
Yep, The Ultimate History of Videogames is just a great book in general that happens to be about videogames. Great stuff! Supercade is cool, but what, $50? Still worth owning, imo. But for much cheaper than Supercade and covering the same time period, look for Arcade Fever by John Sellers.
--Scourge .
I found this book to be really interesting because of all the pictures of neat old systems.. Although the Odyssey^2 wasn't even mentioned so I was a bit disappointed. Steven Kent's Ultimate History of Video Games is much more thorough.
Supercade was edited by Van Burnham.
High Score! is a decent book but it has some serious flaws which I won't get into here.
For portable gaming history there's no better book than Electronic Plastic. Gorgeous layouts and photos of just about every dedicated portable game in existence from Bandai and Epoch to Mattel and Nintendo.
I seriously think that TNL members should make an e-book or something on gaming. I've got an awesome e-book program and have been expirimenting with doing one myself.
Did you know the Ultra 64 came out in Japan in 1994?
That is the most unforgiveable error in High Score. Every gaming book has its errors, but that one is especially bad.
That could have easily been a typo. Although that's the kind of shit that shouldn't make it through the editing process.
Holy shit! I have to get one! :pQuote:
Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
Did you know the Ultra 64 came out in Japan in 1994?
"Nintendo made a rare false move with their 1994 release of the 3D game system Virtual Boy. However, they released the Silicon Graphics-powered Ultra 64 console in Japan that same year, following with the 1996 release of the same system, now renamed Nintendo 64(or N64 for short), worldwide..."
This book was not written by console gamers.
Wasn't the Virtual Boy released in 94? And that Ultra 64 thing is definitely not a typo as I originally said it could be. Given the context, it's just sloppy research.
The VB came out in 1995 but it was first displayed in 1994. It's the Ultra 64 comment that bothered me.
I don't want to make the book look too bad. It's still a great information source overall and like I said before, it fills in the necessary computer gaming history gaps. It's about time people realize that arcade, console, and computer games are all video games and their histories are completely intertwined.
I couldn't read through High Score. There wasn't enthusiasm in the writing like there was in Steven Kent's Ultimate History of Video Games. High Score just seemed to list the facts (and get them wrong a quarter of the time) and move on to the next topic. Nice pictures and layout, though.
If you haven't already, you really, really need to get the Ultimate History of Video Games. It's written in such a conversational, novel-like tone so that it doesn't come off like a school history book, and it has hundreds of direct quotes from the most important people in the industry. I especially enjoyed that aspect of the book, as the story of Atari's downfall or Nintendo's rise is much more interesting through the words of the people that were there, rather than the author just writing out a timeline.
Werd.Quote:
Originally posted by omfgninjas
I couldn't read through High Score. There wasn't enthusiasm in the writing like there was in Steven Kent's Ultimate History of Video Games. High Score just seemed to list the facts (and get them wrong a quarter of the time) and move on to the next topic. Nice pictures and layout, though.
If you haven't already, you really, really need to get the Ultimate History of Video Games. It's written in such a conversational, novel-like tone so that it doesn't come off like a school history book, and it has hundreds of direct quotes from the most important people in the industry. I especially enjoyed that aspect of the book, as the story of Atari's downfall or Nintendo's rise is much more interesting through the words of the people that were there, rather than the author just writing out a timeline.
Kent's book is the best one on average although for me a lot of its info was a repeat of Phoenix, which is to be expected. Phoenix is not an exciting read nor well-written but it was the first of its kind and is chock full of early '80's info.
Another good book I just remembered about is Scott Cohen's Zap! The Rise and Fall of Atari. Good luck finding it though. It was published in 1984. I read it in '94 around the same I first read Game Over and my copy of Phoenix arrived in the mail.
yeah, i got high score a month ago and there's tons of mistakes. especially with all the screenshots. Sonic the Hedgehog 4? What?
Supercade is my personal favorite - not a wealth of information, but an excellent coffee table book.
Steven Kent's book should be a prerequisite for posting on this board. It's excellent.
Arcade Fever is a humorous yet informative look at coin-op gaming from birth to the arrival of the NES.
Game On is a look at the cultural aspects and effects of gaming. Lots of personal anecdotes.
High Score is an OK book, but I prefer the four I listed.
1001 Video Game Heroes just came out. Anyone check it out?
High Score was a decent book, mostly for the photos. A bit skimpy on everything after the 16-bit era.
Anybody know why Squaresoft refused to let this book use any images from their games? There's some sort of copy on the page of PSX game images that reads:
???Quote:
Noticebly missing are all the amazing Playstation games by Squaresoft. We respect Square's request not to be included in this book...
I bet the author was thinking of Killer Instinct and Cruisin' USA, the two arcade games with the Ultra 64 logo in the attract mode. They appeared in the US in 1994... well in advance of the N64.Quote:
Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
Did you know the Ultra 64 came out in Japan in 1994?
That is the most unforgiveable error in High Score. Every gaming book has its errors, but that one is especially bad.
And why he called it the Ultra 64, rather than Nintendo 64... go figure. :( The guy needed to get his facts straight before sending this to the presses.
Ive read a few of these, and I think the well is being dried. Phoenix and Steve Kent's book (The First Quarter is the name of the copy I own, its the first print run or something) are both quite good but Phoenix is fact-drive while The First Quarter is more interview-driven. So while they cover the same basic events, both have their place. Plus Phoenix's focus was definitely on the pre-crash days... the PlayStation pages basically just talked about companies that re-released old Atari games, not about revolutionary modern titles.
Now it's to the point where most of these are just gonna cover the same shit. If Kent were to write a history of the pc gaming side, everything would be complete. I think authors now who want to write a videogame history book need to forget about the idea of a survey book and instead get a little bit focused, a la that Xbox book or Game Over. I dont need to read about how Nintendo originally made Hanafuda cards or that Sega was founded by an American in Japan again.
I've thought about picking up High Score, but the mistakes tarnish the book. I've found quite a few (Saturn page for instance) and it makes the info I'm not familiar with useless.
Nice pics though. *-neo
I've tossed in some Amazon.com links for those who want to pick some of these up.
Here's another nod to Steven Kent's Ultimate History of Video Games. Excellent reading that unfortunately stops around the beginning of the current console generation (the author notes this as well). Here's hoping for a good sequel a few years from now. Enough has been said of this book already, so I'll refrain. Simply put, if you're into this hobby and want to know how it started and why we're at this point, run out and buy this book now!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books
I think that High Score! is better for as a pictorial history/retrospective of the American side of video game development, particularly the PC spectrum. I really think that all of the console/Japanese/international stuff is tacked on and does not show the care that the American/PC side received. As noted in other posts, High Score has an unfortunate amount of mistakes and factual errors which make it less useful as a definitive historical reference. Still, it was fun seeing all those old C64/Apple/Atari game ads.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books
Other books I can recommend are:
Game Over by David Sheff, which still might be found buried in the bargain bin at your local EB for .99 (this was a give away item when the GC was released). This book is _all_ about Nintendo really, and makes an excellent companion to the Ultimate History book. Pretty riveting stuff--a definite page turner. I believe it ends around the N64 era, but the book has been updated at least once.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...363637-9575033
Opening the XBOX: Inside Microsoft's Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution by Dean Takahashi is a fine inside look at the making of the XBOX and all the politics and drama behind it. If you consider Seamus Blackley one of your favorite developers, give it a shot. Be warned, though, that this is more of a business study (though fascinating).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books
Other books worth looking at (but I don't own):
Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 by Van Burnham. I can't vouch for its historical accuracy since I haven't fully read it, but damn if this isn't an excellent pictorial piece on the subject! Worth picking up for those of you into the arcade scene of that time.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...363637-9575033
Arcade Fever by John Sellers is similar to Supercade, but covers specific arcade games. Again, I can't say how well written this book is, but it's a another look at the arcade era of the 70s-80s.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...363637-9575033
Though it's not about video games, The Complete Pinball Book by Marco Rossignoli is easy to recommend to anyone with an interest on those "other games" found in the arcades. This is a huge book about the history of pinball and comes with an immense amount of pictures. I enjoyed seeing the machines that I'd played when I was younger. If you've got a passing interest in the game, this is something to look for. The author clearly loves the game and it shows.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books
Books I own/owned but I'm kind of "eh" on, and am mentioning because of the topic:
Trigger Happy and the Entertainment Revolution by Steven Poole. The author isn't really into video games (and says so in the book), and tries to discuss the psychology of why we like video games. Yes, you can count on bits of Lara Croft coverage here. I disagreed with a lot of what he said, but am still pointing this out for those interested.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books
Game On edited by Lucien King is not a history of video games, but attempts to present a "global perspective" on video games. Yes, it's yet another book that attempts to study video games and how they impact everybody. Some nice page design and maybe 1 or 2 good articles, but largely disappointing. I read this in its entirety in about an hour and didn't come away feeling good about the purchase.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books
Lastly, this book is not on video game history per se, but it is a fine book in its own right: 1000 Game Heroes edited by David Choquet. This is a 600+ page beast filled with a tremendous amount of concept art, illustrations, and CG renderings of many, many different video game characters from both the console and PC side of things. It's by no means complete (that would be bigger book!), but has just enough to satisfy. This book is a definite must buy for those of you interested in video game artwork. Out of all the books I've mentioned in this post, this is probably the one you should all have (along with Kent's Ultimate History, but this is one is just an amazing collection of art).
Here's the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...363637-9575033
Here's the Taschen (publisher) link with pictures:
http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/cata...acts/03314.htm
There are other books I've not mentioned either because I'd forgotten about them or have never seen/read them. For example, there are quite a few books on video game development, with words of "advice" from different developers that might be worth it for some of you. Other than that, the above books and others mentioned in this thread should be a good representation today of what exists now for your video game-derived reading pleasure.
Be careful with Game Over, it starts off pretty interesting, but it gets extremely dry and boring once you get to the Tetris chapter.