A Brief History of Video Games

by Richard Stanton

Overview

This Brief History provides a unique look at the history and culture of video games, starting with the 1960s classics like Pong to modern favorites such as Grand Theft Auto V and Bioshock. Focusing on creative and scientific advances between 1962 and today, A Brief History of Video Games offers a global perspective on gaming's past and its cutting-edge future with the evolution of virtual reality, 3D graphics, and thought-interface technology. It also addresses the design process from concept to packaging, considers the influence of manga and anime, and explores the relationship between video games and movies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762456154
Publisher:	Running Press Book Publishers
Publication date:	07/14/2015
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	1,039,025
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Richard Stanton is a video game journalist who was the features editor at Edge magazine and has written about video games for the Guardian, Polygon, the New Statesman, and others. He lives in Bath, England.

Editorial Reviews

Illustrated with full-color photography and screenshots on virtually every page, A Brief History of Video Games: The Evolution of a Global Industry is a researched, plain-spoken, and thoroughly accessible chronicle of video games as a pop culture phenomenon turned major creative industry. From the earliest arcade games, to the rise and fall of Atari, the industry resurrection driven by Nintendo, the proliferation of handheld systems, the more recent surge in mobile (smartphone) gaming, and more, A Brief History of Video Games is an edifying whirlwind tour of market forces, creative geniuses, and spectacular business successes and failures. [a] "must-read" for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike!
—Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher

06/15/2015
In his debut book, gaming journalist Stanton displays encyclopedic knowledge of video game history and, most important, relish for the games themselves. Sidestepping gaming's sociocultural impact—a topic belabored by countless other writers—Stanton focuses on how the games emerged, showing how solitary geniuses, corporate empires, and technological and conceptual developments shaped how games are experienced in all their dazzling variety. Gaming's saga runs the gamut from the first blips and bloops on a monitor—made by a scientist who helped build the nuclear bomb—to cabinet arcade pastimes (Pac-Man, for example) open worlds (Legend of Zelda), builders (SimCity) shooters (Doom), glorious illusions of freedom (Grand Theft Auto) and many others. Built into Stanton's work is the understanding that gaming's popularity comes from its sense of play, through liberating and empowering participants to explore, discover, interact, fail, try again, leap, run, shoot, and ultimately fly. The history threatens to devolve into a parade of worthies, but beautiful screen captures and witty writing spare readers this frustration. VERDICT Gamers will enjoy this book as will people wondering what all the excitement is about.—Michael Rodriguez, Hodges Univ. Lib., Naples, FL

Library Journal