The Ultimate History of Video Games: from Pong to Pokemon and beyond...the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world [Paperback]

There were many things to enjoy in this book, but there were a few shortcomings. I loved how the book went in-depth on the history of the classic gaming era, but it seemed to go a bit soft when it came to the 8-bit and 16-bit systems. Arcade games are discussed thoroughly in the beginning of the book, but are ignored near the end. Nintendo and Atari have chapters upon chapters of history, but lesser selling systems (such as the Neo*Geo) are restricted to the footnotes. The book also tended to waste too much time discussing court cases. Now, although many of those cases were turning-points for the gaming industry, a few seemed irrelevant (e.g., Donkey Kong vs. King Kong) and were confusing and hard to follow for someone like me without a background in law.

Make no mistake, the first half of this book is excellent. And in the closing paragraph the author says he intended to publish this book in 1995 or 1996. I think, given the little coverage he makes of anything past the mid-90's, his book would have fared better if released earlier. A few chapters (mainly the ones concerning the legal disputes) I could do without. The book also had a bad habit of jumping around in time. It documents the rise and fall of Atari's coin-op division, but then starts over to talk about the rise and fall of the Atari VCS.

Bottom Line: If classic gaming history is your thing, there are better books to be read than this one. But if you want a broader look on video games that encompasses all generations - you may just enjoy this!

The book reads as a novel and the story is told by the people who made video gaming history, through interviews held by the author. There are many anecdotes and quotes that really paint the picture of this colorful history, which will coincide with the history of many of this book's readers, making the book that more interesting to read.

There is a small section of 9 pages with black-and-white pictures showing some of the people who played a significant role in video gaming history. Also there are enticing pictures of a "centipede" assembly hall and a storage facility full of "donkey kong" games; cabinets that are now very hard to find in good condition.

Less glamourous but certainly part of history are the chapters about court cases and congressional investigations into violence, and the reactions of the game mannufacturing community.

Towards the end the book is more about the business than the actual games, listing the numbers consoles sold and the amount of money earned by some of the leading companies. This gets boring and while offering insight into the relative successes, it does not hold much historic value.

American and Japanese readers will probably not notice, but Europe is hardly mentioned in this book, leaving readers from this part of the world feeling underappreciated. While Europe played an important part in video gaming history, especially when America's video game business was failing, almost of none of this information is contained in this book. Even events, like the following, that played a major role aren't even hinted at:

"By 1980, Magnavox had become a subsidiary of North American Philips (NAP), a Dutch electronics conglomerate. As a result, Philips released the European equivalent of the Odyssey˛ (the Videopac G7000) under its own company name. The Phillips Videopac G7000 was more successful than its American counterpart. There were many different versions of the system around the world, and one version (the G7200) even had a built-in monitor.

"The G7000 inspired a larger following and enjoyed a longer life span in Europe than the Odyssey˛ ever had in the U.S. As a result, more games were created for the European market. If anything, the console enjoyed an even greater following when it was released in Brazil, where it was called simply the Odyssey. Brazil was treated to practically the entire release library of both the U.S. and Europe, and received a couple of exclusive titles (Clay Pigeon! and Comando Noturno!) as well.

(quote from www.classicgaming.com, 2004)

The lack of complete information is compensated by a strong focus on Atari and Nintendo. Although these companies obviously played an important part in the history of computer games, it appears to be a slightly skewed representation of the entire playing field.

Apart from that I give the book a big thumbs up for detailing a very important part of history and being so well written.