The Ultimate History of Video Games (Paperback)

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.

Covering the time span from the introduction of the mechanical arcades, to the point when Microsoft was about to enter the market with the Xbox, this is an essential read to anyone who vaguely interested in this medium, providing detailed information on the majority of important soft- and hardware developments of the video gaming industry, the effects of video games on culture and factualising less important information such as to whom Mario was named after.

This book is from written from an American standpoint, and as pointed out in other reviews, it is a shame that there was not more detail on either the Japanese or European markets. Also, this book does not include near enough of information on the development of pc gaming (not really surprising given that it is a history of video games, but it would have been nice to see Kent expand a couple of computer related stories). However, these are minor drawbacks in an otherwise well written book, which makes a very entertaining read all the way through (coming from a guy (me) who generally dislikes reading).

In summary, anyone who is either looking to purchase a book on video gaming in general, or requires a vast and detailed pool of information on the birth of the medium and the emergence of a multi-billion industry, should seriously considering purchasing this book. Worth its weight in gold.