Books on the history of video games, consoles, arcade games?

Bagpuss · Post by **Bagpuss** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:37 pm 0

How about "Invasion of the Space Invaders" by Martin Amis, Mr Spielberg does the intro with a full page pic of him leaning up against his Missile Command machine, sure youv'e seen that picture a few times.

Another vote for The Ultimate History though

Cheers
G

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:51 pm 0

Bagpuss wrote:How about "Invasion of the Space Invaders" by Martin Amis, Mr Spielberg does the intro with a full page pic of him leaning up against his Missile Command machine, sure youv'e seen that picture a few times.

I hadn't actually.

But for those like me, here ya go:

illlogickill · Post by **illlogickill** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 7:23 pm 0

I've just dug out "Rare :- The Ultimate History" which was free with Xbox 360 Magazine. I don't know if this is abridged or if there is a full fat version kicking around, but it's a good read never the less.

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 7:31 pm 0

Looks like it was a one off as I can't find a reference to it anywhere.

Bagpuss · Post by **Bagpuss** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 8:30 pm 0

IronGiant wrote:
Bagpuss wrote:How about "Invasion of the Space Invaders" by Martin Amis, Mr Spielberg does the intro with a full page pic of him leaning up against his Missile Command machine, sure youv'e seen that picture a few times.
I hadn't actually.

But for those like me, here ya go:

That's the one, looks better in the book though!! loads of nice old school pix in there, I might have to find the scanner

Sickboy · Post by **Sickboy** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:32 am 0

What's that lovely, coffee table-type, old skool arcade porn book called? Always meant to get that - needs to go on my Santa list.

Loada · Post by **Loada** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:43 am 0

Supercade?

Sickboy · Post by **Sickboy** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:47 am 0

Loada wrote:Supercade?

That's the baby.

Ta.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:54 am 0

You can download a PDF of Steven Poole's highly-regarded "Trigger Happy" at the link below. It's been released (for the time being) under a Creative Commons licence. I should probably get around to reading it myself at some point...

http://stevenpoole.net/blog/trigger-happier/

merman · Post by **merman** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:55 am 0

There's the ZX Spectrum games book (which has nearly sold out) and the forthcoming Commodore 64 games book as well...

http://zxgoldenyears.com
http://c64goldenyears.com

*shameless plug*

Sickboy · Post by **Sickboy** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:59 am 0

merman wrote:There's the ZX Spectrum games book (which has nearly sold out) and the forthcoming Commodore 64 games book as well...

http://zxgoldenyears.com
http://c64goldenyears.com

*shameless plug*

Got the Spectrum book. Lovely.

C64. Well... Y'know.

WhiteSpy · Post by **WhiteSpy** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:07 pm 0

A good read:

Sickboy · Post by **Sickboy** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:19 pm 0

All those books look a bit... knocked off, to me. Supercade seems more like a pretty-pictures thing, too. There's definitely room for a smart, high-access, social/cultural history of the arcade age, hopping from the US to the UK via Japan.

D.J.Fudge · Post by **D.J.Fudge** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:21 pm 0

A good one for the Japanese side of the industry

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Up-Japane ... 932&sr=8-1

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:35 pm 0

Sickboy wrote:All those books look a bit... knocked off, to me. Supercade seems more like a pretty-pictures thing, too. There's definitely room for a smart, high-access, social/cultural history of the arcade age, hopping from the US to the UK via Japan.

Supercade starts off okay, but as the book progresses does indeed become no more than a pretty pictures affair (with very brief game summaries).