Short description
Exploring many influential videogames that includes: Super Mario Bros, Grand Theft Auto III, Doom, and The Sims, this book discusses each game's development, predecessors, critical reception, and influence on the industry. It also features full-color screenshots and images, including rare photos of game boxes.
Long description
Vintage Games explores the most influential videogames of all time, including Super Mario Bros., Grand Theft Auto III, Doom, The Sims and many more. Drawing on interviews as well as the authors' own lifelong experience with videogames, this book discusses each game's development, predecessors, critical reception, and influence on the industry. It also features hundreds of full-color screenshots and images, including rare photos of game boxes and other materials. Vintage Games is the ideal book for game enthusiasts and professionals who desire a broader understanding of the history of videogames and their evolution from a niche to a global market. This book: explores the gameplay, history, development, and influence of the most important videogames of all time; includes material from interviews, contemporary reviews, manuals, and other primary and secondary sources; identifies and analyzes key concepts behind each videogame; and, features hundreds of exclusive, full-color images.
Review
Vintage Games is an impressive and entertaining read if you are interested in the video game industry. Reading about how such an interesting industry came to where it is today is very fun, and seeing how it got here on such specific levels such as genre and mechanics is even better. The easy to read categorization of the information works. Whether you're a new gamer yearning for a history lesson on your favorite hobby or a veteran wanting to read up on your favorite classics, Vintage Games has what you're looking for. --GameIndustry and GameInformer.com A study on video games - particularly those video games which have had the greatest influence on the market today, whether they were big successes at retail, genre-defining or even genre-creating. Vintage Games has a superb layout - each chapter is accompanied by a variety of screenshots, promotional materials and other paraphenalia, all in full colour. The text is masterfully written; it's sharp, insightful and to-the-point and doesn't suffer from the stuffiness of other academically focused video game publications. Vintage Games is highly recommended reading. If you are looking to learn more about the origins of some of the most influential video games to date, then Vintage Games' wonderful layout and clear, concise and insightful writing make it a vital resource. --RetgroGamesAus.com