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Good books about video games...

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...and video game history. What are some reccomendations? I've been looking for a good one. The only one I know the title of is Game Over (which I havent read, is it good?)

So yeah, any suggestions?
 
JodyAnthony said:
ah, wasnt sure where to put it because it's not about video games, its about books. the books just happen to be about video games.
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Gaming Discussion (2009 Viewing)
Talk about anything and everything videogame related here.
 
I'll like to read Game Over but I can't find the book anywhere for sale
 
The Ultimate History of Video Games - Steve Kent
Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life - Chris Kohler

Both are enlightening and insightful texts. Also wonderful reference material, I've used both for research across many projects and papers.

Oh yea, and Game Over. But everyone's already said that.
 
JodyAnthony said:
...and video game history. What are some reccomendations? I've been looking for a good one. The only one I know the title of is Game Over (which I havent read, is it good?)
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Game Over is way out of date considering Nintendo's resurgence with the Wii. But for the time period it covers, it is good.

Masters of Doom is a good book about John Romero & John Carmack, the 2 big personalities behind the early id software.

An old book by Steven Levy called 'Hackers' has some good chapters on some game development people long long ago. (8-bit PC era.)
 
Hackers, by Steven Levy. Really great book about the earliest days of computing, and the third part deals specifically with Sierra Online.
 
Some time ago, Stephen Kent said the Playstation 1 "has no soul".

I always wondered what he meant by that.

oh I personally hold a grudge for him calling Beatmania "humorless" in a review of Samba De Amigo but that's just me
 
Game Over is a great book. I loved it. Learned a lot about Nintendo's business practices too. I wish I hadn't lost my copy =( My library has a copy as well so as someone mentioned, check yours out.

I also read Ultimate History of Video Games but didn't like it too much. Felt too textbook-y but still has some good stuff.

I might pick up Power Up by Chris Kohler. I thumbed through it at Chapters and it looked interesting.
 
I'll second Ultimate History of Video Games, Game Over, and Masters of Doom. They all had some unique insights that I enjoyed. I tried to get into Smartbomb, but there was too much rehash from those previous books and it just wasn't written in what I found to be an engaging fashion. When the first few chapters are basically jerking off to Cliffy B, you can do better elsewhere. Not that I have anything against jerking off to Cliffy B.
 
Firestorm said:
Game Over is a great book. I loved it. Learned a lot about Nintendo's business practices too. I wish I hadn't lost my copy =( My library has a copy as well so as someone mentioned, check yours out.

I also read Ultimate History of Video Games but didn't like it too much. Felt too textbook-y but still has some good stuff.

I might pick up Power Up by Chris Kohler. I thumbed through it at Chapters and it looked interesting.
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I haven't read Kohler's book, but I'll also give another nod to the Ultimate History of Video Games. Very good read.

I'm hoping another high-quality book will come out with more history and updated information. Kohler or Kent need to get on this ASAP.
 
this is not a book, but a good Movie is a DVD called: Video game invasion. It goes from the first video game (not pong for your information) all the way up to Xbox. Its was a Documentary hosted by tony hawk.
 
I recommend Hackers by Steven Levy, for the American side of the video game industry before 1984.
 
masters of doom was a great read... forget the author.

also, though it's pretty light on text, raising the bar, the book about half life 2 is a pretty good coffee table piece.
 
The Ultimate History of Video Games - Steve Kent

it's pretty much the best,

Dungeons & Dreamers is a book I found myself enjoying a whole lot. It's about the gamer community (online games), how it started and how it grew.
 
Anyone have any firsthand experience with this book...

3000153594.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg


Amazon recommended to me, and I'm kinda intrigued, especially since I'm abit of a gaming hardware nut.
 
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As has been mentioned before, A favourite of mine a very interesting story that is superbly written.

The change in tone from the early days to the time of Quake makes it worth a read.

Dungeons & Dreamers is a book I found myself enjoying a whole lot. It's about the gamer community (online games), how it started and how it grew.
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Another good choice, by Borland and King.

The best without a doubt though is The ultimate history by Kent.
 
tedtropy said:
Anyone have any firsthand experience with this book...

3000153594.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg


Amazon recommended to me, and I'm kinda intrigued, especially since I'm abit of a gaming hardware nut.
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I have the first edition of the book in german and found it quite interesting. It basically covers every important machine chronologically and lists the most important games and hardware-revisions.

Some sample pages:

http://www.gameplan-books.com/gameplan_01.5_NA/excerpts.php
 
plagiarize said:
masters of doom was a great read
by david kushner
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Seriously, this book is amazing. I have just finished reading it, and the story of carmack and romero is epic. I learnt quite a bit about the gaming industry in its infancy, and both of the guys have earned massive respect from me.

Amazon link

Go read it.
 
Justin Bailey said:
Game Over is awesome. It's worth it just for the Tetris story alone.
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The tetris section would make a good spy movie. And just the shit Namco went through to not pay fees to Nintendo is amazing. Great book if you can hunt it down.
 
If you can read French: L'Histoire de Nintendo: 1889-1990 Des cartes à jouer aux Game & Watch, by Florent Gorges, which, to my knowledge (and the author's), is the only book which extensively deals with Nintendo pre-video games and how they ended up entering that business. Pretty insightful, especially if you want to learn more about Hiroshi Yamauchi and Gunpei Yokoi among others.

It's only the first volume though (there are 6 follow-ups in the making, the next one being about Game & Watch).

I'm pretty sure they want to have the book translated in English though, so hopefully you will be able to read it in English some day :).

The author told me that he corrects a number of things Steven Kent said about Nintendo in Japan in Game Over. I wouldn't be able to tell you what exactly. He just told me the game is really good for the US part, but more vague and incorrect about Japan.
 
It's a shame that Steven Kent is now too busy writing sci fi novels to update The First Quarter and Game Over is also a decade out of date. Would have liked to have read more stories from those guys. I hope some gaming journalist is putting notes together now to get a book a out in ten years or so.
 
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