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[Tizoc]

Recently there was a thread about the book 'Console Wars' on GAF which was released recently.
Lately I've been in the mood to read more about Video Game history and wanted to compile a list of them. ATM I've learned about the following books (few aren't released yet or are out of stock in some retailers)
Console Wars by Blake J. Harris
Game Over by David Sheff
The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven Kent

Any other books worth getting? FOr that matter anyone read Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan?

 

[Cthulhu_Steev]

If you're happy to read about 2600/VCS development, you must read 'Racing the Beam' because it is excellent.

And a few more:


Replay: The History of Videogames by Tristan Donovan - one my favourites alongside Kent's The First Quarter/Ultimate History
Gamers - Shanna Compton - a series of essays by videogame fans
Power-up: How Japanese Videogames Gave the World an Extra Life by Chris Kohler for a Japanese-centric view
Game On! From Pong to Oblivion - by Simon Byron, Ste Curran and David McCarthy - three names you'll probably recognise if you read UK gaming press. It's a top 50, but probably not all what you think, and a nice tribute to the art over the years.

I would also recommend in a kind of related but OT way:

Toy Wars - G Wayne Miller - Chronicles the war between Hasbro and Mattel, but features Vectrex, Nintendo, Atari and Sega along the way. It's a brilliant read.

PopCo - Scarlett Thomas - fiction about a girl working at a toy company in part inspired by Toy Wars.

 

[7iberius]

I recommend Masters of Doom.

Here are some more books to consider:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_about_video_games#History

 

[NekoFever]

Masters of Doom by David Kushner is a great book about id Software.

Edit: Damn it.

 

[Dr Dogg]

Hahaha yet another vote for Masters of Doom. It's pretty much the defacto book to go to for what goes on behind the scenes.

Also if you can find a reasonably priced copy Valve's Half Life 2: Raising The Bar is up there. Out of print now sadly but copies turn up on eBay and through Amzon resellers quite often (for a price mind).

 

[stewy]

Opening the Xbox was a good read. Zap! is a nice, short history of Atari that was published back in 1984. Phoenix: The Fall and Rise of Videogames is also a good read.

 

[Cthulhu_Steev]

A few more, if you're an 8-bit kid:

It's Behind You: The Making of a Computer Game by Bob Pape - The making of the ZX Spectrum version of R-Type, in a nutshell, but far more than that. Amazingly, it's available for free here.

I would also (finally!) recommend any of the The ZX Spectrum, The Commodore 64 or the 8-Bit books from the guys at hiive books.

 

[doraemoe]

The History of Nintendo by Florent Gorges is a series of insanely detailed books about Nintendo history, the original books are in French, the first two volumes have been translated into English. Vol 1 is about the history before Nintendo entered the gaming market. Vol 2 is about the history of Game & Watch. Vol 3 is about NES/FC(No English translation yet).

 

[Phediuk]

Racing the Beam and Masters of Doom have already been mentioned, but yeah, those.

 

[Tizoc]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone, making a note of them now.

 

[Mr. Virus]

Dreamcast Worlds by Zoya Street is an excellent read.

 

[Tizoc]

Dreamcast Worlds by Zoya Street is an excellent read.

I have that book digitally actually.

 

[KillerDark]

I remember power up being pretty good, been a while since I've read it though.

 

[Averon]

I really, really hope another book in the vein of The Xbox 360 Uncloaked and Opening the Xbox is published regarding the Xbox One and PS4. It would be really interesting to hear the insights of Sony and MS leading up to the PS4 and XBO's release.

 

[Ninja Dom]

I had the Game Over book by David Sheff when it was first published in the 90's. I don't have the book anymore. Would love a digital version of the book but I can't find it in the UK.

 

[Zalman]

I've been looking for Game Over and Power Up for a while now but I can't find them. I bought Console Wars yesterday though, I like it so far.

 

[RAIDEN1]

The rise and fall of Sega!

 

[bjork]

The console wars book would be so much better if no imagined conversations were included.

Anyway, hardcoregaming101 has a book about Sega arcade games that's pretty good, and a super fat book of graphic adventure game reviews. Both are collections of articles from the website, but I like them both. Informative and good to learn about games you may not have seen otherwise.

Most wouldn't count magazines as books, but Retro Gamer magazine is generally a good source for interviews with old designers and articles about older games.

 

[Chû Totoro]

Is there a great book about level design? This is the sort of very important part of a game (at least imo) I'm interested to read about.