It looks like SegaManiac has more of them than me. ;) I'm interested to know which ones he likes best.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thief Silver
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It looks like SegaManiac has more of them than me. ;) I'm interested to know which ones he likes best.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thief Silver
Yeah but he'/s in New Jersey, you're in CANADA!
Of the books listed I've read:
- Game Over: I got the $2 EB version. This thing was so fucking dry I could not finish it. The tetris chapter murdered me.
- Phoenix: I bought the 2000 version (or whatever) from Leonard Herman himself when he made an appearance at video game connections. It's a good book.
- Masters of Doom: This thing was excellent.
If you want to bring novelizations into this, I also read the Doom novels, all of which were terrible.
I also have this book:
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...ZZZ_SS500_.jpg
Its super dated now, but its still interesting to read the articles/interviews with miyamoto, tommy tallarico, gabe newell etc.
I remember Joystick nation being a really crappy read. It seemed really trivial and not very well thought out.
Totally forgot about that book. I have whatever edition was released soon after Half-Life, and I remember it being a pretty neat read.Quote:
Its super dated now, but its still interesting to read the articles/interviews with miyamoto, tommy tallarico, gabe newell etc.
Ok, I'll give some of my opinions on some of the books I listed. In reality, I liked all of them, because they each had something different. There are still others I didn't list that if this expands I can list others I own and have read and give some opinions.
Opening The Xbox- Pretty good read, goes into the decision making process of not only Microsoft, but of Nintendo and Sony. It also delves into the famous personalities at Microsoft at the time of the development of the Xbox including who came up with the codename "Project Midway". I liked that it not only ventured into Microsoft's various business practices not soley in the gaming world. The theories of why Microsoft wanted to get into the gaming industry so badly and their motives to beat Sony back, Gates insistence that Windows be included, and how Microsoft seemed to underestimate what they were jumping into.
The Xbox 360 Uncloaked - This is really a "sequel" to the previous Xbox book. This went into more depth on the rights and wrongs Microsoft did the first time, scrapped certain things and their emphasis that "online" was going to be their ace. Microsoft's insistence that the 360 evolve along with the game industry, their boosting of 1st party support, the strategy to get 3rd party exclusives away from Sony, Gates wanting Halo 3 on launch, etc. Nice follow-up to the previous book.
Renegades of the Empire - As I wrote above, this was basically about a group of 3 rogue programmers who were designing DirectX under the noses of Gates and Microsoft elite, without any of their knowledge. They were arrogant, cocky and they weren't afraid to challenge the bigshots. Talks about how Gates likes those who are confident and believe in something but what these guys brought was even bigger than Microsoft could handle, including the insane publicity stunts like the canceled alien spacecraft and game execs streaking through Seattle GameWorks..The rogue tactics you hear Microsoft uses against it's competitors, the competing software teams at Microsoft did the same to each other...A fun read.
The Art of Computer Game Design - This is the tome of Game Design books and the earliest work specifically on Computer Game Design from the "Father of the Game Developer's Conference". Basically, alot of what's in here is from the personal compilation of Crawford's Journal of Computer Game Design i.e. What is a Game, Why Do People Play Games, How to Design a Game....For anyone who wants to read into the mind of Chris Crawford and his thoughts on Game Design or who has never had a chance to read one of his Journals, this would be what you're looking for. It's from 1984, so out of print but copies are still out there...somewhere.
Blue Wizard is About To Die - Something a little different, definitely not for everyone. This book is a collection of Poems, Emotional thoughts and feelings from a lifelong gamer, Seth Barlan on a wide assort of games ranging from Super Mario Brothers, Pac Man, Joust, Kid Icarus, Paperboy, Doom, Dragon's Lair, Mega Man to Half-Life, Crazy Taxi, Counter-Strike, Halo, etc. Everything Old and New is covered. Also his thoughts on 2D Graphics to 3D Graphics, the Shareware Era, Online Gaming, End Game Bosses, etc.
Dungeons and Dreamers - As mentioned, alot is on Richard Garriott who found dissatisfaction from his astronaut father and was determined to recreate dungeon worlds akin to Tolkien's works and hit it big with Ultima. Also delves into the beginnings of the 1st MUD. Also chronicles Carmack and Romero, and Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, Dungeons & Dragons' masterminds. Talks about the attacks from Christian Conservatives who felt that D&D was satanic and occult. I liked this one alot.
Phoenix: Rise and Fall of VideoGames - The newest version includes photos and updated chapters. This is more of a historical account on home videogames. definitely recommended. Leonard Herman knows his stuff.
ABC To The VCS - This book describes every single 2600 game you could imagine including unreleased protos and homebrew games. Includes screen shots of nearly every game.
Videogames: In The Beginning - This should be on any gamer's bookshelf. Ralph Baer in many quarters still doesn't get his credit for being the inventor of videogames. This is his story by the man himself and when you read, you'll see the chip he continues to have on his shoulder. You'll see details on his actual design schematics, photos and diagrams of his first videogame prototypes, his top secret internal documents and memos, copies of his original United States patents, his original 4 page treatise he presented to his employers on his idea. From 1966 on, you learn everything he did that led up to the Magnavox Odyssey. Also details his work on Simon and other products he's created.
The Encyclopedia of Games.Machines - This book is packed with details and photos of over 450 game machines from the U.S., Japan and Europe. Each game console/machine's hardware details and specs are explained, photos of hardware and games and hardware variants. If you have an interest in consoles from the European markets like the Sinclair Spectrum, you'll learn a great deal here. I highly recommend this one.
Postmortems from Game Developer - If you've ever read Game Developer, they have a Postmortem of a game every month and detail the brainstorming, design process, the hardware used, development tools used, programming, testing, debugging, what went right and wrong, etc. Well, this is a collection of those from developers like Peter Molyneux and Warren Spector and details some games such as Unreal Tournament, Black & White, Age of Empires, etc.
Hackers - This strips away the negative name that "hackers" gets from the community and shows how without these guys, the computer and game industry wouldn't be where it is today. Details the famous meetings at the Homebrew Computer Club, the creation of the Apple II, Jobs/Wozniak teaming up to create Breakout and Jobs betrayal of Woz to the creation of Apple Computer, Lots of tales about Sierra Online, the Altair, and Gates famous 1975 rant about software Piracy. Fun read.
The First Quarter - This is the original version of "The Ultimate History of Video Games" which has an added chapter, timeline, more artwork and editing. If you can't get a copy of that one, you could do with this one but TUHOVG is the better revision. This like the name is a tome of 25 years of the game industry with interviews from the visionaries of the era like Miyamoto, Molyneux, Bushnell, etc.
Behind The Scenes At Sega: The Making of A Video Game - This is a great book that goes behind the scenes at Sega of America on how their designers think up ideas and plots for games, how programmers build their engines to run games, how animators create sketches and animate movements for characters, and artists creating backrounds, etc. This has alot of sketches, design document ideas, motion capture hardware use, info about the testing and debugging phases, etc. Also includes a 8 page color section Dave Perry donated that shows step by step how the artists and programmers at Shiny created Earthworm Jim. This is from 1994, out of print but probably still copies out there.
Confessions of The Game Doctor - This is a really fun read. Bill Kunkel goes behind the scenes about what went on at Electronic Games, and the stories of the people from the "classic era" of gaming. Talks about Bill's early days as a comic book writer, rock guitarist and his dream of becoming "The Batman". Lots of sex, drugs and PR stunt stories. Hilarious stuff, definitely recommended.
Cool, I did the NUON section in there too.Quote:
Originally Posted by portnoyd
I've got Ultimate History and Videogames: In the Beginning, which I got autographed by Ralph Baer at VGXPO a few years back. Ultimate History is amazing and Ralph's book is tech heavy but very interesting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SegaManiac
:eep:
Now I definitely need to get this.
Now, I'm done reading this.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater
The history part at the beginning is very poorly researched, and full of errors. Once I got past that, it wasn't a bad read on game technology and design but those earlier mistakes make me wonder how reliable it is.
re: Behind The Scenes At Sega: The Making of A Video Game
I'll sell you my copy. PM if interested.Quote:
Originally Posted by Melf
and here's a link to some info for some old 80's books.