Printable View
I'm looking to expand my library of video game literature. So far my only books I own are:
Opening the Xbox
The Ultimate History of Video Games
Revolutionaries at Sony
Game Over (pending in)
Any suggestions would be great and if you guys know a place I can get Trigger Happy fairly cheap.
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/s...ad.php?t=15425
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/s...ad.php?t=20699
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/s...ead.php?t=4810
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/s...ad.php?t=19143
I really want to read Lucky the Wanderboy and especially Masters of Doom.
Worlds Of Power
Jeff Rovin
Lucky Wanderboy is excellent.
Trigger Happy by steven poole
Joystick Nation by J.C. Herz
And definately try to find SuperCade, it's written by Seamus Blackley's wife. I haven't read it, but people who have agree that it is a very good book.
Everyone on TNL should have their own copy of Lucky Wander Boy. It's just excellent. If you can find it in a bookstore, read the entry on Pac-Man in the first chapter and tell me it's not awesome.
Is Lucky Wanderboy fiction? I think I may have heard of it. What's it about?
SC
We did a review of it if you want to know more. It is fiction and it'd be great if TNL did some more, I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by spacecowboy
"Adam Pennyman is a 30-year-old gamer who rekindles his affection for the digital medium after a friend shows him the popular MAME emulator on his PC. When Pennyman hears the Frogger "BYYEWWWW" death sound reproduced perfectly through the computer's sound chip, it triggers a powerful nostalgic resonance in him that motivates him to finish his Catalogue of Obsolete Entertainments, an encyclopedic review of the arcade games he grew up loving.
In his search, Pennyman discovers that Lucky Wander Boy (the only fictional game in this otherwise reality-based novel) seems to have vanished from the earth. Since the game is impossible to emulate due to its unique code and processor requirements, the only way for Pennyman to possibly play it and complete his Catalogue is to find an actual Lucky machine, so he sets off to do just that."
From what I hear there are many great non-videogame related books that are worth reading too.
Game Over was one of the worst-written books I have ever read.
I'd say Lucky Wander Boy was good. I don't know about excellent.
It was awesome because of it's subject matter, but that will only carry so far. Aside from the ending, which I enjoyed greatly, and the excerpts from Pennyman's catalog...there's nothing there that would drive me to want to read it again.
It's not bad. It's certainly not terrible. But it's not excellent.
It's just...good.
I just sold a Game Over book on half.com. I didnt even read it.
I thought Joystick Nation was a poorly written piece of crap (it was so boring for the majority of the chapters I put it down to actually go play a game), Trigger Happy wasn't much better. Haven't gotten to Game Over yet, but looks like it's not worth reading.
btw, what's Lucky Wonder Boy? haven't heard of that one.
Game Over is garbage. I got it at EB for $1.99.
Now I know why it was so cheap. :(
Are you serious? Game Over covered everything behind the scenes of Nintendo. Even if you didn't like the writing, it still shed so much light on what happened at Nintendo.
Maybe it was just more powerful a decade ago when much of that Nintendo info wasn't common gamer knowledge and there were so few gaming history books available.
Game Over was a four hundred and seventy four page sleeping pill.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater
You paid for it? I got mine for free when I was working there. We had like 4 huge boxes of them. I sold it for $20 on half.com. I should of taken more of it if I knew it was going to sell like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Melf
It's a fictional book in which videogames play a large role. Mainly a dark comedy about a guy who's extremely obsessed with old arcade games (a love rekindled by MAME) and begins to shape his life more and more around that obsession. Like with you and Itagaki ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Satsuki
There's a lot of really great moments that people on TNL are likely to understand very well. Like whenever he remembers an old game - often in a sharp satire of a "philosophy in cultural studies" type format. Or on his skewed views of Japan.
This certainly isn't the best of those moments, but it's not the worst either, so it'll give you a feel of the book. Check it out, and read TNL's review too. http://www.luckywanderboy.com/excerpt.html
I really liked Game Over. It's a great peice of gaming history. Any gamer that does'nt enjoy the read provided with Game Over, might as well turn in your gaming badge.
Arcade Fever is'nt much of a read, but it's coverage of arcade games of the past is worth the $25 I paid for it. The back of the book has a cool little interview with a guy putting together a collection of the best arcade games of the past. One part talks about how he found The Empire Strikes arcade machine and how it was dropped from the back of a truck by the movers. A sad day indeed!
Anyone who says that other people need to turn in their gaming badge because of some inane criteria that hasn't been met needs to turn in their gaming badge immediately.
Okay, so maybe I should have said: Anyone with an interest in the history of gaming past, should give the book a read. It's a really intesting look at how Nintendo came to power and how the industry looked at videogames. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by diffusionx
I would've rathered an encyclopedia full of cross-referenced Nintendo history. The book just wasn't well-written; the chapters were uneven, the pacing was weak... it's a piece of shit.Quote:
Originally Posted by gamevet
I'm sure if you look around TNL, you can find many examples of the written word that are chock-full of information, but are not very well-written.
*cough*
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mzo
I can see where your coming from. The one thing I hated and loved at the same time, was how he would talk about someone in the story, then go on to a history of that person before going on with the subject. It became frustrating at times, but other times it made it all the more interesting. It all depends on how you like your stories, quick and to the point, or an overview of how it came to be that way.
I like my stories with like 3 chapters devoted to Alexei Pajitnov.
I really want to go into detail about what I did and didn't like, but that would require actual work, such as movement, which I am just not prepared for at the moment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MonsterMash
wow. Okay, I'm out the door as we speak, this sounds really good. Definately picking this sucker up. Thanks so much for the description!
At 12 in the morning you must know some killer book stores :). I had to wait until, you know, business hours to get mine. And even then they had to order it for me.
You're welcome.
Yeah, I read the first chapter and then set it down on my shelf with the rest of my unread books. But it was $2 so I guess it could have been worth it... What the hell am I talking about? That's two bottles of soda I could have had...Quote:
Originally Posted by Mzo
Quote:
Originally Posted by MonsterMash
actually, if I was in SF, City Lights is open. But I'm not, so you're right, I'm just going to have to wait until......well, now! hooray for 12pm!