Click here for more information Featuring what has to be one of the worst covers of any book - ever - "Replay" easily overcomes that misstep by bringing forth a wealth of fantastic information. Even if you're already very familiar with the history of computers and video games, you'll find this book entertaining - and informative. Thanks to its UK origins, coverage of that region is plentiful, which is quite the change from the US slant seen in most books.
There are some criticisms to be had despite the 5-star rating I've given: the writing is, at times, awkward, even allowing for differences in UK English vs US English. It definitely could have used another read-through by an editor in places. In addition, like the cover, the pictures in the book are atrocious in quality and all black & white. This is a subject that cries out for quality photos and lots of color.
Still, these are minor quibbles. Pick this up today! Replay: The History of Video Games
I read every book on video game history and, so far, this is the best of the bunch. Before I finished the introduction, I had already learned two things I had not previously known about video game history!
The scope of the book is both geographically and chronologically impressive. It covers more than just the usual US and Japanese game history--the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, and other parts of the world also receive attention. Their role in the history of video games is extremely interesting because the development of games both culturally and technologically followed very different paths. These are games and game developers we don't often hear about. And as for the chronological scope, the book covers everything from the early predecessors of video games in the 1940s to games that hit the shelves as recently as early 2010.
It's a cliche, I know...but if you only buy one video game history book, Replay should be that book.
Let me start by saying this book is thoroughly researched, well-written and often contains a narrative style that feels more fiction than non-fiction lending to a smooth, easy and immediately informative read.
The book discusses the formation of the gaming industry and starts by providing an in-depth, chronologically based look at the popular gaming consoles, business landscape and fads from 1965 to 1995 and focuses mostly on the associated hardware, initial formation of video games, formats (PC, Mac, cartridge, CD-Rom) and creation of genres rather than each individual title. Additionally, this book contains a ton of information about the global state of gaming, most notably what was going on in the UK, Europe and USSR/Russia during the 80s as well as China and South Korea during the late 90s and 2000s and features some incredibly gripping summaries of the 1983 gaming collapse and challenges creators of Ultimata Online faced in navigating a completely new open-world game design. If you're interested in the early years of gaming, this book is an absolute must-buy.
Where the book loses focus is in its discussion of the 1990s. After about 250 pages, the tightly woven, chronological narrative gives way to an unfocused mess of random games and ideas, such as Beat Mania, The Sims, and girl gaming culture. While these items are important to the overall history of gaming, it would've been nice to have them follow the structure that made the earlier chapters so enjoyable to read rather than jumping from 7th Guest and Doom to Rock Band in the span of about 40 pages without even introducing the PS2, let alone Xbox 360/Wii/PS3.
The book does finally regain its previous chronological form only to hurriedly discuss the Dreamcast through Xbox 360 in a scant 21 pages (about the same amount of time as spent on The Sims), most of which is dedicated to Pokemon and Grand Theft Auto. Sad to see a massive 15 years of gaming history crammed into such a short window. Ideally, this book should have simply omitted these rushed bits and called itself "The history of video games 1965 - 1995," leaving the history of modern gaming to a more interested author.
Furthermore, while the earlier years of gaming are pretty robust and informative, it's by no means a complete history as key ideas, systems, people and innovations are completely omitted such as the GBA, Game Gear, Neo Geo, DLC, Tiger Handheld Electronics, strategy guides, gaming magazines such as Nintendo Power, Call of Duty, Diablo, Atari's ill-conceived comback attempt via Jaguar and Lynx systems, etc.
In short, if you're interested in the early, golden-era of gaming, this is a must-buy, but keep in mind it's not close to being a complete or definitive collection of the complete history of video games.
**NOTE: This book is NOT 512 pages, it's 369. The remaining 143 pages are nothing more than a glossary and index and not part of the actual text.
While by no means a comprehensive history, this offers some a nice chronology and many interesting tales about the birth and maturity of gaming.
The best asset is that it's not Americentric, and offers a great history of the European market, in particular. I found the details about the European hardware market, along with the history of European software developers (French Adventure gaming, for example) fascinating. Much of the European stuff was completely new material to me. The descriptions of the type of innovation or idiosyncrasies each nation tended to bring to gaming was also fascinating, since it shows how the different cultures contributed along the way.
Finally, for something being published in 2010, the book ends abruptly in the early 1990's. It's kind of jarring, because there are a lot of pages left and stories to tell. Unfortunately, the last 200+ (of 500 some) pages are not-very-interesting mind map of games and the hardware to play them. It's a shame, because two or three more chapters would have really rounded the book out.
Still, video games are embedded into our culture and there is room for many accounts of the first 50 years of this nascent art. This is definitely a worthwhile read, but probably not the ideal choice for someone looking for the 'comprehensive history' condensed into one book. - History Of Video Games - Atari - Amiga - Video Games
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