- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: The MIT Press; 1 edition (Oct 24 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0262524201
- ISBN-13: 978-0262524209
- Product Dimensions: 25.4 x 24.4 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1.9 Kg
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #281,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
It was a time when technology was king, status was determined by your high score and video games were blitzing the world... Supercade is the first book to illustrate and document the history, legacy and visual language of the video game phenomenon, from the fist interactive blips of electronic light at Brookhaven National Labs and the creation of Spacewar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to the invention of the TV Game Project and the myriad systems of Magnavox, Atari, Coleco and Mattel that followed.
From Pong to Pac-Man, Asteroids to Zaxxon, more than 50 million people around the world have come of age within the electronic flux of video games, their subconscious forever etched with images projected from arcade and home video game systems.
Exuberantly written and illustrated in full colour, Supercade pays tribute to the technology, games and visionaries of one of the most influential periods in the history of computer science--one that profoundly shaped the modern technological landscape and helped change the way people view entertainment.
The book includes contributions from such commentators and participants as Ralph Baer, Julian Dibbell, Keith Feinstein, Joe Fielder, Lauren Fielder, Justin Hall, Leonard Herman, Steven Johnson, Steven Kent, Nick Montfort, Bob Parks, Carl Steadman and Tom Vanderbilt. --Miles Taylor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
The generation now in its 30s pumped innumerable quarters into free-standing video consoles with protruding joysticks, steering wheels, and "fire" buttons the quaint precursors of today's dollar-based sensory overload and sleekly sophisticated home systems. Burnham, an L.A.-based Wired contributing editor and a member of the Video Arcade Preservation Society, lovingly collects screen shots of faves like Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Q*bert, along with early games like Computer Space and Pong, and home games from Atari and Nintendo. The cheeky capsule descriptions of each game from Burnham and others are matched with longer essays from writers like Julian Dibble (My Tiny Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World), who writes about the text-based game Adventure, and former Feed editor Steven Johnson (Emergence) on Atari competitor Intellivision. The chronological organization holds the book's disparate games and players together adequately, but readers looking for a straight narrative history should look elsewhere: this is all about memory jogging and rapturous description. Notably, Burnham did the book's text, design and production; the layout is quirky and provocative but not disorienting, and the print quality is excellent. (Nov.) Forecast: While the book can't compete with the actual experience of playing the games, Burnham's time capsule will given as a gift among gamers (not a small subculture), and browsers from its demographic will at least flip through. The MIT imprint could lead to some campus acquisitions, especially for schools with modern media and culture departments.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age '71-'84,
By Dr. Joseph S. Maresca "Dr. Joseph S. Maresca ... (Bronxville, New York USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 (Hardcover)
The video industry took the world by storm on the 70s and 80s.In many ways- it still does. Children of all ages are fascinated with the legendary Pac-Man, Ape Escape, bubble boble, Snowbounding, Wings of Fury and a host of other action games. This book chronicles the development of the video culture into a virtual frenzy. It is perfect for video enthusiasts everywhere.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tried the rest. This is the BEST coffee table book offered,
By
This review is from: Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 (Paperback)
In recent years, I had bought the other similar historical reference books on the subject and saved this one for last because I took the bad reviews about the photo quality seriously. I work in printing/graphic design and I avoided buying the book until the price came down. After thumbing through it for only five minutes, I knew I'd found the best one. Yes, it may be true that many of the images could have lifted from MAME screen shots but here's my take on that. I was looking for the best VISUAL record of the era. That's what this about isn't it? Walking into an arcade today may have the same visual appeal with all the lights and noises, but since the late 80's, our expectations obviously changed. No one can milk a quarter for more than 3 minutes anymore. My memories of the old arcades are the unique characters, the first time that we were able to play with multiple players and all those other "firsts" that influenced what we see today. This "found art" really takes me back in time. The images may only be low rez screen shots, but for the most part they are clean and made more fun by being enlarged to the point where you can see all the pixels. I think the word from art school I'm trying to remember is MACRO. Where you zoom IN to a particular piece of the image and crop it to make it more interesting visually. These photos are big and bleed beyond the edge of the page. It's funny now to how those huge pixels made us spend so much in the 80's in our era or super slick realism in current games. While THE FIRST QUARTER and THE ULTIMATE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES may be a "good read" for historical facts and funny stories, they lacked imagery. The book ARCADE FEVER is another strong visual book for it's sharp photography of actual game cabinets and more traditional screen shots. Supercade is an artsy (but not cheesy) way of showing the era. I was also happy to see arcade games featured that came along years after 1984. This book goes the extra mile visually.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful...Captures the authentic feel of the golden days,
By
This review is from: Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 (Hardcover)
Van Burnham's book is a true piece of art - it doesn't try to exhaustively present historical data, or be all-inclusive. It offers to take the reader for a ride through the star system that some call the Golden Age of Video Games. She gives us visual glimpses of some of the brightest stars, with just enough narrative to give depth to the experience.This book is the real thing - it comes from the heart, which is rare these days especially among classic videogame junkies. It manages to convey the sense of awe and wonder that one may have felt when standing in a darkened arcade room in 1980. A rare gem, and a classic in its own right. Long live Van Burnham!
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