Vintage Games An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto Super Mario and the Most Influential Games of All Time
Posted by HDTV in eBooks Jun 27th, 2009 | no responses
“They say you can’t go back again, but reading Vintage Games comes close. Open the book, and I’m back in the video arcades of my youth. Turn the page, and I’m in college again, discovering the secret joys of the early PC games. Turn the page again, and I’m back in my living room, playing Mario with my young kids. But Vintage Games is more than just a trip down memory lane, because the authors analyze each game in ways that bring fresh insights to those nostalgic memories.”–Steve Meretzky, Veteran Game Designer
“An interesting and insightful trip down a gamer’s memory lane, focusing on titles that have become benchmarks in videogame history.”–Didi Cardoso, Managing Editor, Grrlgamer.com
“The video game industry has a poor track record when it comes to preserving its history. Fortunately, scholars and enthusiasts have stepped in to fill the void, and Vintage Games is an essential contribution to this effort. Loguidice and Barton are to be commended for documenting the history of gaming’s greatest landmarks.”–Michael Abbott, The Brainy Gamer Blog and Podcast, Professor of Theater and Film Studies, Wabash College
“Essential reading for video game fans and game studies scholars alike!”–Laurie N. Taylor, Digital Library Center, University of Florida
“A must-read for anyone even remotely interested in video gaming history – from the hardcore to the casual. A book that anyone that has ever held a joystick would enjoy.”–Shane R. Monroe, Host of RetroGamer Radio/Monroeworld.com
“The book is smart and fun – much like the games it addresses.”–Dr. Matthew S. S. Johnson, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Scholarly, Nostalgic and Fun! An Instant Classic!
“Vintage Games” is a surprisingly comprehensive, scholarly, fun, and informative work on subject of video games, which is a subject not taken too seriously by the general public. And when I say “scholarly,” I don’t mean it in a boring sense, because the book is anything but; it is a refreshingly adult and entertaining treatise on the games in question, and of their impact on “our” generation.
The first thing that struck me about the book is the quality of the book’s layout. The book is very slickly produced, printed on glossy pages with plenty of crisp, colorful images throughout the book. The images range from video gameplay screen captures, game box covers, classic game advertisements, and an occasional hardware photograph. There are images on nearly every page, and often more than one image on a page! Even the humble “Space Invader” book cover, which looks rather plain in the Amazon cover image sample, pops with color and class when seen in real life. I must say, I wasn’t expecting much, presentation-wise, from the book, so I was more than pleasantly surprised at the slick layout and color of the book!
The next thing I found intriguing was the scholarly, in-depth focus of the writing. The authors take the subject seriously, explaining the historical and cultural significance of the games covered in each chapter. The writing is crisp, informative, adult, and scholarly, but not without an occasional dry witticism that will have “in-the-know” readers chuckling. I would quote some humorous examples, but that would spoil some of the fun. 
The book is not funny overall, so the occasional humor was appreciated.
Although the book officially covers only 26 “influential” games, many, MANY more games are mentioned in the book, either as precursors to the “influential” game, or as “offspring” of the influential game in question. For example, the “Street Fighter II” chapter mentions classic games such as “The Bilestoad,” “Karate Champ,” “Double Dragon,” “Yie Ar Kung Fu,” “Virtua Fighter, “Super Smash Bros.” and “Karateka,” among others, that were influential towards, or influenced by, “Street Fighter II.” And the “John Madden Football” chapter covers a serious history of nearly ALL sports videogames, be it Football, Soccer, Baseball,Basketball, or Boxing, again, with plenty of photos of the games in question.
Some of the most interesting chapters are actually about games I haven’t really played or didn’t like! For example, the chapters on “MYST” and “Castle Wolfenstein” gave me new insights and a new appreciation for these games, so much so that I am tempted to play them again just to see if my impressions have changed.
Most of the all-time favorite games are covered: Tetris, Pac Man, Super Mario, Street Fighter II, Ultima, Sim City, Final Fantasy, etc. are all covered with full chapters. And many old-time favorites (computer, arcade, and concole favorites) are at least mentioned in passing, adding to the fun and nostalgia factor. “Hey, I played that game!” I found myself thinking as I read about the games mentioned (often with accompanying photographs of the games)!
I do have some minor complaints about the book, but these complaints were not enough to bring down my five-star rating, considering how deeply the book covers its subject matter.
First of all, the book is softcover; I prefer hardcover books. The book is not poorly bound, it’s just…. softcover. I admit it’s a nitpicky concern, but I am well-known for falling asleep while reading, and I’d hate to think that my face rolling around on the book could damage it.
Secondly, the book is occasionally biased against those who might find some aspects of videogaming disturbing or dangerous. In the “Grand Theft Auto” chapter, for example, the authors casually dismiss the opponents of these notoriously violent and amoral games as “concerned but uninformed citizens.” While not surprising, I would have liked to see a bit more of the “other side” of the argument, even though I’ve played and enjoyed several of the GTA games. I admit that such a subject could take up an entire book in and of itself, so I’ll forgive the book on this one. It’s beyond the scope of a book such as this to cover such territory.
Finally, the book has many references to “bonus chapters” that are only available (for free) online at armchairarcade.com/vintagegames. They are not included in the book itself. I think the idea of “bonus chapters” is a cool one, but occasionally the book makes references to online bonus chapters that don’t currently (as of this writing) exist yet. I want to read those chapters!
I consider these “criticisms” to be extremely minor in comparison to the overall quality and enjoyment the book provides. I doubt that any of these “minor” criticisms will hamper the reader’s overall enjoyment of this otherwise spectacular book.
“Vintage Games” might very well be a “classic” book on the subject of videogames. It’s intelligent, thought-provoking, nostalgia-inducing, interesting, and fun, with great accompanying photographs of many games. I can recommend this book to anyone with an interest in videogames, from intelligent teenage gamers to nostalgic adults, from hardcore gamers to gaming-industry professionals.
In short, it’s a classic book for anyone with a serious interest in videogames, and I recommend it highly! Personally, I got my money’s worth and then some! “Vintage Games” was a pleasant surprise.
4 Stars pure nostalgia
For readers who grew up after 1975 and who spent too much time and almost surely too much money at video arcades, the book is a sweet stroll thru your memories. May I suggest that when reading it, you play a sound track of top music hits from the 80s or 90s? This combined sensory input might help reinforce the book’s contents.
All the major video games are here. Remember how quickly the state of the art evolved from 1979 to 82? Space Invaders in 79 was a massive hit coming out of Japan. Yet in those few years, it was quickly obsoleted by better graphics and more intricate abilities in the games. I hesitate to call these story lines, but you might.
An attraction of the book is that it’s not focused so much on describing in heavy detail the games. Rather, as the title says, it offers the view of an insider in the infant gaming industry. We can see when game teams were quite small and ditto for the budgets. When, at least in principle, you and just a few talented friends could write a best seller in a few months. Although in practice, even then, a few companies grew large and dominated the scene.
As to the book’s choice of the most influential games, it seems pretty uncontroversial. These were all huge hits in their time.
5 Stars A great book for anyone who loves Video Games!
A great book for anyone who ever loved or is in love with video games. Most of the games explored in this book I grew up on and I have many memories sitting in front of our small 13 inch tv playing thenm. The Final Fantasy VII chapter is great and just made me relive some moments as a young girl who couldn’t put this game down. This makes a great gift and I highly recommend anyone who loves to play video games.
5 Stars Excellent book for anyone interested in video games
I read the book cover to cover over a span of 3 days (it’s hard to put down). Each chapter stands on its own, so it’s easy to read in small segments as well.
Because game developers draw from other titles for inspiration, the book will reference itself as applicable to show how these influences propagated across games over time. There are numerous examples of what did/didn’t work, as well as discussion to support these claims. Additionally, several of the supplemental/external references are available over the web, so pursuing areas of interest is easy.
As the title says, the book is about influential games, which aren’t always the best-selling games (though they usually inspire a best-selling game if the original work wasn’t a hit in its own right). It’s a collection of ‘firsts’, as well as cataloging those that followed (with varying degrees of success).
Ultimately it was a very enjoyable read that flowed very well from chapter to chapter. Certainly it was nostalgic thinking back to when those earlier games were released, but the combination of the discussion and additional insight made it like living those experiences for the first time.
4 Stars Interesting
Wow, this is a great book, something I guess people call a real page turner. Glossy pages with full color photos. I love the progression from the begining of a type of game (think say, Karate Champ) to its logical progression. There is an abundance of screenshots (I wont say overabundance, you can never have enough!), and its so cool to see some classic arcade games show.
The chapter 14 / pole position was one of my fav chapters in the book.
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