Press Reset
author of Blood, Sweat, and Pixels comes the next definitive, behind-the-scenes account of the video game industry: how some of the past decade's most renowned studios fell apart -- and the stories, both triumphant and tragic, of what happened next. Jason Schreier's groundbreaking reporting has earned him a place among the preeminent investigative journalists covering the world of video games. In his eagerly anticipated, deeply researched new book, Schreier trains his investigative eye on the volatility of the video game industry and the resilience of the people who work in it. The business of videogames is both a prestige industry and an opaque one. Based on dozens of first-hand interviews that cover the development of landmark games -- Bioshock Infinite, Epic Mickey, Dead Space, and more -- on to the shocking closures of the studios that made them, PRESS RESET tells the stories of how real people are affected by game studio shutdowns, and how they recover, move on, or escape the industry entirely. Schreier's insider interviews cover hostile takeovers, abusive bosses, corporate drama, bounced checks, and that one time the Boston Red Sox's Curt Schilling decided he was going to lead a game studio that would take out World of Warcraft.
Stats for nerds
4recommend
9mentions
7people
2021–2025years
56% recommend44% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Here’s a human recommendation if you like that you may like these that I’ve read:
1.Sid Meier’s Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games — Sid Meier 2.Source Code: My Beginnings — Bill Gates 3.Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making — Tony Fadell 4.Prince of Persia: The Journals — Jordan Mechner 5.A Theory of Fun for Game Design — Raph Koster 6.Ask Iwata: Words of Wisdom from Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s Legendary CEO — Viz Media (Editor) 7.Control Freak: My Epic Adventure Making Video Games — Cliff Bleszinski 8.Once Upon Atari: How I Made History by Killing an Industry — Howard Scott Warshaw 9.Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry — Jason Schreier 10.Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture — David Kushner
- Yes. The two books by Schreier: "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels", and the sequel, "Press Reset". Both are worth reading, and better than this article.
The article author touches on the gamification of work, but doesn't get very far with it. Games as a "work simulator", or "grinding games", have been around for years, but they're less popular than they used to be. There are many of them, though, from "Modern Farming" to "Lawnmower Simulator".
Yes, there really is a lawnmower simulator game. It's a total grind. You work for a lawn-mowing business. You have to walk the lawn before mowing and pick up rocks, to avoid damaging the mower. Then you mow, not missing any spots or damaging flowerbeds. Then you get paid. Then you may be able to buy a better mower.[1]
Now get back to work.
- Fiction
I discovered and read Blake Crouch this year
- Dark Matter
- Recursion
- Upgrade
- Pines
I also discovered and read
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Gravity by Tess Gerritsen
- A Man by, At the End of the Matinee Keiichiro Hirano
It's between Recursion and Project Hail Mary for me. I am leaning more towards Recursion.
Non-fiction
I discovered and read the following this year
- Deep Work by Cal Newport
- The Millionaire Fastlane by M.J. DeMarco
- Zero to One by Peter Thiel
- How to Start a Business Without any Money by Rachel Bridge
- Creative Gene by Hideo Kojima
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
- Show Your Work, Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
- Press Reset by Jason Schreier
I would say Deep Work and Steve Jobs had the biggest impact on me.
Programming
I am learning Elixir using Elixir In Action by Sasa Juric.
- "Press Reset" by Jason Schreier is a great look at the human side of the industry in general. The crunch, layoff, move to a new studio, repeat is all too common. EA was on a whole other level, though.
- Not only that, but many studios are one bad selling title away from closing up permanently. They can't afford to take risks. Check out "Press Reset" by Jason Schreier for multiple examples.
- This year I've been diving into Game dev books and Harry Potter fan fiction. There's a lot of great reads out there. I assume having an entire world built for you removes a lot of the heavy lifting (as a writer).
GameDev:
- The Masters of Doom
- The Doom Guy
- Play Nice
- Press Reset
- Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
- Console Wars
- Ask Iwata
- Embed with Games
HP Fanfic:
- All The Young Dudes (by MsKingBean89) [student life of the Marauders]
- Grey Space (by noaacat) [Pre Hogwarts. Focuses on parental abuse. One scene I'll never forget (paraphrasing) is when another student at school notices Harry's bruises, slides up her sleeve, and implies she slipped too]
- Just started the Glasslight series (noaacat).
I also reread the entire Harry Potter series, and revisited a handful of Redwall books. I find it interesting how I loved RW as a kid/teen, was bored out of my mind with it in my 20s, and now I love it again.
