The Ultimate History of Video Games

[Melf]

I just ordered this from Amazon and simply cannot wait for it to arrive. I figure that if I'm going to be writing so much about classic gaming, I should have a decent library of classic gaming books to use as sources! I already own Game Over!, which is a bit dry but decent, and I'm anxious to see how this one is. It's considered to be one of the best historials out there.

Anyone else have it?

[Genesis Knight]

I got it from the library about a year ago...awesome book! Such in-depth stuff, it's amazing. 5 stars out of 5. (It was reeeeeally hard to return this one. =P )

[16bitter]

Is there a good Sega history book?

[j_factor]

I don't think so.

[Melf]

Who knows? Maybe I'll expand my articles and put them into book form...



...Toppling the Nintendo Beast: The Definitive History of the Sega Genesis!


:D

[16bitter]

Seems odd. Is there a video game company with a more fascinating and fucked up history than Sega?

Within this specific prism, there's nothing that makes for a better story than an entity made up of visionary genius on one side and legendary corporate ineptitude on the other. Sega has always seemed both more intimate and chimerical than any of the other big video game companies, most likely because of its explosive, insane mix of personalities.

I've always felt great affection for the name -- which in itself seems somewhat bizarre to me -- and disbelieving that a company so mad, both for good and ill (often at the same time, within the same product or result), could not only have existed but continue to exist.

Much of that feeling has, truthfully, left me recently. I think the "magic" of Sega perhaps died with their hardware ambitions, which could be a lengthy chapter in and of itself -- though the question of whether the book should end before that, with more of a bang than a whimper, is also up for debate.

Wait. There is no book. That's as hard to believe as the reality of Sega's history.

[David J.]

I wouldn't spent a cent on a book about Sega's history.

I hate a lot of these books because they either ignore/exclude a lot of info, or the person who writes it could give two shits. Sam Pettus had a decent start, but the fact he disapered often (and is still gone), and his stuff was released premature (plauged with typos, promised a lot) makes me leary.

[Melf]

Kent's book is very complete. He's also got his facts backed up with quotes from tons of personalities from the era (some of which have been interviewed by Sega-16!), and he's done exhaustive research.

It really is a great book.

[Mendicant]

Who knows? Maybe I'll expand my articles and put them into book form...
...Toppling the Nintendo Beast: The Definitive History of the Sega Genesis!
:D
...or, you can call it "History of Videogames, Part I". Maybe something along the lines of a pixel comic, featuring historical videogame characters & pixelated versions of various significant people from the gaming industry walking the reader through various moments in gaming history. Or maybe a flash movie. If it's successful, maybe you can convince someone like Melvin Kaminsky to produce an actual movie...

Just a thought.

:D