The Ultimate History of Video Games
This book is a history of the Video Game Industry, from types of electronic entertainment that were available before video games, to the improvements up until the year 2001. It begins with a look at the origins of Pinball, and other novelty games, then on to games that were played on giant computers, and then finally to the invention of the Video game, and the growth of the industry. Each section has many quotes from people involved with the creation, design, or field of video games. At the center of the book is a 18 pages of of black and white photos of the various people and events mentioned. It also details the video game influences of video games into the cultures of the world, from movies to cereal boxes and toys. This book was originally released in the year 2000 under the title "The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games," without Chapter 30, the 'Time Line', and the "Index". Two editions almost identical, except the name of the publisher are known to exist. In these the publisher, on the Title-Copyright page, the spine and reverse cover of the book, have different names while the rest of the book is identical, including the same ISBN.
Stats for nerds
9recommend
15mentions
14people
2014–2026years
60% recommend40% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Give "The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 2" a read. Sega America did well marketing-wise but Sega Japan was a shitshow and really dragged them down. Sega could have done much better with the Dreamcast than they did given the cheaper price point, one year head start, and solid lineup of games.
- I’m only mentioning the ones I haven’t seen mentioned here so far
The Ultimate History of Video Games - Steven L. Kent - loved this. Sid Meier’s Memoir was good. And not really a must read but I enjoyed David Kushner’s Jacked about the Grand Theft Auto guys.
- For the definitive history of video games, I recommend:
The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 1 & 2. (by Steven L. Kent)
For the definitive history, with behind the scenes interviews and commentary by many legendary individuals including:
Nolan Bushnell - Founder of Atari and a pioneer of the video game industry.
Ralph H. Baer - Often called the "Father of Video Games," he developed the first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey.
Shigeru Miyamoto - Legendary game designer from Nintendo, known for creating iconic franchises like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong.
Hiroshi Yamauchi - Former president of Nintendo who transformed the company into a video game giant.
Hideo Kojima - Renowned game designer known for the Metal Gear series.
Trip Hawkins - Founder of Electronic Arts (EA) and a significant figure in the development of the video game publishing industry.
David Crane - Co-founder of Activision and designer of games like Pitfall!.
Sid Meier - Creator of the Civilization series and a pioneer in strategy games.
John Romero - Co-founder of id Software and co-creator of Doom and Quake.
Will Wright - Creator of SimCity and The Sims, known for his innovative simulation games.
The first volume takes us up to the early 1990s, and the second volume is for 1991 to early 2020s.
This is an epic encyclopaedic reference of video game history, from the point of view of the game developers themselves, and the industry heads.
- Lots of classic stories on gamasutra. But I agree, more documentation of historical work is needed.
There are some great reads out there about gamedev and gaming history, though:
- Blood, Sweat and Pixels by Jason Schreier
- Masters of Doom by David Kushner
- The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent was required reading for me in college
- Game Over by David Sheff
- Dungeon Hacks by David Craddock
- I learned this and other interesting history from the audiobook version of "The Ultimate History of Video Games" (even though it's slightly dated now, the history is still the same). I'd recommend it if you're at all curious about the stories of the formative years of video games.
- If anyone is interested in learning more about this topic, I highly recommend reading The Ultimate History of Video Games . [1]
I picked it up on a whim at a thrift store and found it to be very informative and engaging. You'll also see some familiar names in there as it spends a lot of time talking about Atari.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-History-Video-Games-Pokemon-...
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