Retro Books

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Ready Player One. Might as well prepare yourself to nerd shred the movie when it comes out almost exactly one year from now

or just like some Doom novelisation

Console Wars and Ready Player One? Already we need to nuke this thread

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A certain NES guide book is great for information on individual games and information on the stories of them.

Anyone here read Retro Gamer magazine? I got a subscription for Christmas and it's really comfy. They cover a lot of obscure shit and are able to get developer interviews too, so it's not just 100 pages of "Why you need to play Super Mario Bros," or "10 Hidden Gems that everyone already knows about"

>>3868112
What the fuck? Is Pat literally retarded?

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>>3867663
Masters of Doom completely delivered for me.

>>3868583
That's not the real text.

>>3867663
"Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System" by Ian Bogost and Nick Montfort is a great analysis of the Atari 2600's capabilities (or lack thereof) and how its workings influenced the design of several major releases on the platform. "The Future Was Here: The Commodore Amiga" by Jimmy Maher covers the Amiga in the same vein and is also pretty good, but is less games focused.

"The Making of Karateka" and "The Making of Prince of Persia" by Jordan Mechner are raw transcriptions of the developer's personal diaries as he created two pioneering Apple II games that would go on to be ported everywhere, providing a unique "as it happened" perspective on the making of these games, compared to most making-ofs being told after-the-fact.

"It's Behind You: The Making Of A Computer Game" by Bob Pape is a quick, breezy retrospective on the porting of R-Type to the ZX Spectrum, acting primarily as a look back at how much of a massive shit show the early British games industry really was. It's also free! http://bizzley.imbahost.com/

"The Art of Atari" by Tim Lapetino is a fucking gorgeous look back at those magnificently painted box arts, with lots of interviews with the previously-anonymous original artists (and the industrial designers behind the arcade cabinets and consoles!), high quality reproductions from the original works and information as to how games were advertised and marketed back before they could rely on the in-game graphics.

Anyone know any good books about 70s-90s computers or the /vr/ PC games era?

>>3868831
Dungeons & Desktops

>>3868731
aside from the last 2 chapters

its a 10/10 book, phenomenal

an autist, a bunch nerds, and a mormon shook the industry by storm

>>3868082
This, Console Wars was written by an autist who like to throw corny lines, thinking they were clever.

Kinda like the loser in class that would interject with "Actually, if i remember correctly...", but the dipshit was in remedial math

>>3868731
That's next on my read list

>>3868209
I pick up an issue once and awhile (it's expensive as fuck here) and it's okay. Other than the interviews most of the stuff they talk about is already known to their target audience.

Check out I Am Error if you are interested in technical aspects. It's about the Famicom and NES.
PDFs can be found on the internet now.

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>>3870553
It's really fucking good. I honestly didn't expect to feel sympathy for John Carmack out of all people.

Anyone know any good books about MSX?

>>3868731
I just finished reading this, can confirm I was pleasantly surprised how little dramatized it was beyond some key moments.

I'd take all these books with a grain of salt. We're all interested in videogame history, how much of it is accurate and how much is dramatized is hard to know.

>>3871525
They're only in Japanese. I'd love to read a tome about European and Japanese MSX sub-culture though.

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>>3871525
Not a book, but Ray Barnholt devoted a fairly hefty issue of his magazine Scroll to it.

wasn't the ZZT book mostly about the author's transition to being a woman

>>3867663
I just read Racing the Beam; it's really short, but it's really good. I read Game Over in high school and enjoyed it, but I haven't re-read it since, so it might be bad I don't know.

>>3872008
Ray is awesome and Scroll is kickass

>>3868845
What was your issue with the last two chapters?

>>3868819
These are good picks. To add to that:

"Videogames: In The Beginning" by Ralph H. Baer. History of the Magnavox Odyssey, the first ever home console

"10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10" A book that goes into very serious depth on the subject of a single line of BASIC code that prints a maze. Very "artsy", but fascinating. Available free at http://10print.org/

"Commodork: Sordid Tales From a BBS Junkie" by Rob O'Hara. Exactly what it says on the tin, a great slice of '80s pirate life.

>>3868787
True.

But pat is literally retarded.

>>3868112
>t. Pat

>>3872008
Where I can read it?

>>3877982
Soon a movie by Seth rogen.

>>3868112
This is beautiful.
Sauce?

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Is this shit any good? I have a hard on for the first Zelda but I'm not sure if this Fangamer author is worth my money.

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>>3879056
Also had my eye on this one, but again I don't know if it's worth the money.

>>3868848
Fucker name searches AND searched the phrase "console wars" on Twitter just to act like a bitch if you say you didn't like his writing too.

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>>3870824
I recently came across this excerpt and now I have to read it.

>>3868731
Man, this book was so fucking comfy.

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-History-Video-Games-Pokemon/dp/0761536434

>>3868819
Seconding Art of Atari. I fucking love that book as an Atari 2600 kid.

Also, if you've laughed at the 2600 in the past, please go play some of the games. Not just "these are the ones everyone agrees are good", tons of them. Sure, there are quite a few bad ones, but holy crap the gems.

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>>3879392
>something something pokemon
You reminded me that there's a book that's just large prints of pokemon cards.

I wouldn't pay that much but I want it.

https://www.amazon.com/Pokemon-Card-Game-Collection-Book/dp/4865541551

>>3877982
http://scroll.vg/issues/12

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Anyone know how this is? I like Ashens' Youtube channel, and it's getting a sequel now.

>>3879056
>>3879061
Anyone?

>>3868731
Came here to say this too. Its a fantastically entertaining read.

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>>3878846

>>3878846
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL0JVebsVV4

you just had to fucking respond

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>>3878846
>MMO addict
>not a hambeast

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>>3867663
I just collect Retro Gamer magazines.