The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 1: Fro
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The definitive behind-the-scenes history of the dawn of video games and their rise into a multibillion-dollar business
“For industry insiders and game players alike, this book is a must-have.”—Mark Turmell, designer for Midway Games and creator of NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, and WrestleMania
With all the whiz, bang, pop, and shimmer of a glowing arcade, volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games reveals everything you ever wanted to know and more about the unforgettable games that changed the world, the visionaries who made them, and the fanatics who played them. Starting in arcades then moving to televisions and handheld devices, the video game invasion has entranced kids and the young at heart for nearly fifty years. And gaming historian Steven L. Kent has been there to record the craze from the very beginning.
The Ultimate History: Volume 1 tells the incredible tale of how this backroom novelty transformed into a cultural phenomenon. Through meticulous research and personal interviews with hundreds of industry luminaries, Kent chronicles firsthand accounts of how yesterday’s games like Space Invaders, Centipede, and Pac-Man helped create an arcade culture that defined a generation, and how today’s empires like Sony, Nintendo, and Electronic Arts have galvanized a multibillion-dollar industry and a new generation of games. In this audiobook, you’ll discover:
The video game that saved Nintendo from bankruptcyThe serendipitous story of Pac-Man’s designThe misstep that helped topple Atari’s $2-billion-a-year empireThe coin shortage caused by Space InvadersThe fascinating reasons behind the rise, fall, and rebirth of SegaAnd much more!
Entertaining, addictive, and as mesmerizing as the games it chronicles, this book is a must-have for anyone who’s ever touched a joystick.
ccdalla –
Previously published under a slightly different title
This book was previously published as simply “From Pong to Pokemon and Beyond…The Ultimate History of Video Games: the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world” (without the “volume 1”), and had different cover art, and with the 2021 release of volume 2, this has been reskinned so that both books look like they belong together on a bookshelf. If you frequently buy books on the subject of video game history, you may want to make sure you don’t already have the original 2001 edition before buying the “volume 1” edition.That said, this excellent book covers the history of video games prior to 2001 very thoroughly, and anyone with an interest in video game history will almost certainly find it to be a good read.
J. Delzer –
Not all of the history, but most of the history.
The world of video games today is a trillion dollar industry with many facets, and in the early 80s and late 70s was smaller but certainly a world with potential and an industry designed to print money. While this book covers most of the scope – it leaves a few areas of the market, such as early PC games and point-and-click adventures – what it covers is very complete and very accurate. Good read.
J. Puckett –
Awesome chronicle of gaming history (at least up until around 1995).
While I was never an arcade rat (born in 1981), I can remember playing on an Atari 2800, and the love for console gaming has never ceased. It had been a goal of mine to finally pick up video games history book, and this is the one I chose.Before writing this review, I read through a few others to see if anyone shared my views, and they have. Like other readers suggested, the majority of this book is fantastic and detailed. It’s all you want to know about the rise and fall of Atari, and their interwoven relationships with other gaming companies (i.e. Namco, etc) and prominent figures of today (i.e. Steve Jobs, etc). Also detailed is Japan’s introduction into the American arcade market, most specifically Nintendo. No detail is left out. I loved reading about the work atmosphere of early Atari, how they made more money than they knew what to do with in such a short amount of time, and the crucial decisions they made early on to advance the arcade and home video game market. It’s really hard to get a feel on whether Nolan Bushnell was a genius or simply lucky. Also great were the risks that Nintendo made to break into the American market, along with their determined positioning behind the team of Arakawa and Lincoln.However, when you get up to around the mid-1990’s, the book falters tremendously based on what came before it. The last decade of video game history up to this book’s publishing isn’t well represented with the behind-the-scenes info that you’ve become used to from early in the book. Like someone else said in their review, it felt rushed, but it also felt as if the author wasn’t anywhere near as well versed about recent happenings in the industry. You’ll realize quickly that when you get to the launch of the original Playstation and Saturn, you’ve only got 2 or 3 chapters to go.While I wouldn’t call this the “ultimate” history because of the lack of detail in more recent times, it definitely is the ultimate history of video games from their inception up to the 16-bit era. That’s why I still give it 4 stars, because it’s really good reading for those interested.
Not Bob –
Ultimate History of an Industry
When I was younger, I loved playing video games especially during the 1990s and early 2000s. I can even remember how, mainly during the sixth generation of consoles, my own addiction to the history and people of the video game industry. I could not get enough of it, even if I knew that I would never get to play many of the most popular games. With a book like The Ultimate History of Video Games, from the earliest days of arcades and the first consoles to the launch of Xbox, a great story is told.As the title of the book implies, the entire history of the video game industry is looked at. The first half of the book is pretty heavy on Atari. Nolan Bushnell plays a big part in Atari’s early success. Many details are included such as Atari’s internal affairs and how the budding industry got onto its feet. This led to the so-called golden age of video and arcade games in the early 1980s.After the North American video game crash in 1983, it would take a company from Japan, Nintendo, to rescue home video gaming. The rise of Nintendo is detailed in the book along with its fierce competition with, and eventual dominance of, Sega. The book ends with the release of three major consoles in the early 2000s: Sony’s PlayStation 2, Nintendo’s GameCube, and Microsoft’s Xbox.Throughout the book, many individuals who played key parts in video game history are looked at and even interviewed. Many gamers have probably heard of men like Ralph Baer, Nolan Bushnell, and Shigeru Miyamoto, but many others played part not only in designing games but also the executives who ran companies.Not only are the major points in video game history looked at but also the minor side events that marked the way. Controversy is no stranger to video games and the book looks at the two times the U.S. Senate held hearings on the matter. Companies would sue each other, or at least threaten, for a variety of reasons.I thought this book was an excellent history of video games for the period of time it covered. Although the previous twelve years are not covered due to when this book was published, the historical information available is invaluable. My only disappointment with the book was that I felt too much coverage was given to Atari and not enough to other companies at the time, such as Coleco. However, the sheer amount of information available more than made up for it. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of video games.
Cliente do Kindle –
Se você se interessa por videogames além de jogar, este livro é formidável. Vai muito além da console war de Sega e Nintendo. Ele começa do começo dos videogames de forma bem detalhada. É de fato interessantíssimo. Já a partir da quinta geração em diante, o livro aborda pontos específicos, como a polêmica de Mortal Kombat. Mas isso não diminui a qualidade da obra.
Rodrigo –
Este libro contiene una narrativa de la historia, es interesante el formato en el que a modo de narrativa los actores mismos de la historia te cuentan un poco sobre su paso por esta industria. Me encantó.
No Ob forme –
Als erstes vorweg der Autor hat sich ausschließlich auf den amerikanischen Markt fokussiert, es sind zwar die Entstehung größerer Firmen mit dabei die ihren Sitz im Ausland haben jedoch sollte der Titel eher “the american history of Video Games” heißen.Was dem Buch aber nicht schadet, so mal die Sonderwege der Europäer und Japaner garantiert in anderen Büchern erläutert werden.Das Buch ist sehr angenehm geschrieben die puren Fakten werden immer wieder durch Zitate berühmter Personen der Videospiel Geschichte ergänzt.Leider endet das Buch nach der dritten Generation der Konsolen und auch der Automatenbereich geht am Ende etwas zu schnell in die Versenkung unter.Was aber nicht so schlimm ist da gerade die ersten Jahre hervorragend aufgearbeitet sind.
Amazon Customer –
Fun read. Delivered as described.
Domenico Mangieri –
Il libro di Kent è consigliato per chiunque sia interessato alla parte storica dei videogames. Partendo con un capitolo (a sorpresa molto interessante) che parla del flipper (pinball) va avanti fino agli “annunci” delle console 128bit. I paragrafi si leggono benissimo ed includono le storie dietro la creazione, non tanto dell’aspetto tecnico dei giochi, quanto di fatti ed evoluzioni che hanno portato al concepimento di macchine e successi (ed insuccessi), con numerose citazioni di gente del settore. Forse mezza stellina in meno data da una specie di sensazione di disorientamento per i lettori europei (o meno “esperti”). Ma va ricordato che in effetti la storia dei videogiochi è iniziata e si è evoluta proprio in USA oltre che ovviamente in Giappone e che per alcuni anni il vecchio continente non è stato un vero e proprio protagonista della Storia dei Videogames. Tra le fonti S.Kent cita molti libri per approfondire.Il formato è una goduria (23×19 per quasi seicento pagine)!