The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon--The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World

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.

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.

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.

Impressive book. My son who loves gaming also loves nonfiction reading so it was a good match. Both volumes are huge and totally comprehensive. Great gift for a tech/gaming nerd who you love but want them to look at something other than a screen occasionally :)

Fun read. Delivered as described.

Finally the videogame industry has a book worthy of its association. While Trigger Happy by Steven Poole is a interesting read in its own right, it is book aimed at trying to distinguish what exactly is at the heart of a computer game. The Ultimate History of Video Games, however, is just that. An exhaustive biography of how the industry grew from the early seventies with Nolan Bushell and Atari right through to the latest battles between Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, virtually no stone is unturned. Kent's exploration through the twenty five years of the industry reveals so much about the companies and the people who nurtured its growth: the 'work less, think hard' mentality of early Atari, the humble beginnings of Nintendo in the U.S., the moral outrage over such games as Doom and Mortal Kombat and so on. What I didn't realise before reading this book was how self-destructive the industry has been. As you will discover, the number of law suits filed against rival companies over patent issues is phenomenal and Kent highlights a number of these. There is so much crammed into this book that it's difficult to pinpoint a highlight. The entire book is a highlight. It is a little unfortunate that Kent's book does not focus on the industry within Britain (such as the rise and fall of Clive Sinclair and Wipeout, the game that really launched the PlayStation in the UK). This is not a criticism though, as the author is based in the U.S., but it would have been nice to see a little more of the influence the U.K has had rather than just reading about Rare's exploits during Donkey Kong Country and silicon graphics. If you are a serious gamer interested in the heritage of videogame industry then this is an absolute must. Despite weighing it at a hefty 600 pages I was gripped throughout.

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 (23x19 per quasi seicento pagine)!

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.

Les fans de jeux vidéo veulent en savoir plus sur les origines de ce secteur en plein boom depuis 30 ans ? Qu'ils se jettent sur ce magnifique livre en anglais de Steven Kent, plein de dates, d'anecdotes, de faits historiques, qui ont bâti le Jeu vidéo tel qu'on le connaît aujourd'hui. Et dire que ce n'est qu'un début et que le meilleur reste à venir ;) Ce livre complète le fan intéressé par l'histoire des jeux vidéo. Plusieurs autres livres peuvent d'ailleurs être conseillés, notamment les livres de William Audureau (biographie de Shigeru Miyamoto, Histoire de Mario, Pong et la Mondialisation), et ceux de Florent Gorges (l'Histoire de Nintendo, dont on attend le tome 4 avec impatience chez Puissance Nintendo !).