Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding - almost the definitive video game history book!
Review: 2001 has proven to be a bit of a toss-up for video game fans as two excellent books, Van Burnham's Supercade and John Sellers' Arcade Fever, have hit us within months of each other. For those who are die-hard fans and already have themselves hip-deep in the hobby of collecting and playing classic video games, Supercade may be the best choice. It offers a lot of insight into the development and design of the games, a little bit (but not an overpowering amount) on the movements of the video game industry and the people within it, and many a screen shot. But at the same time, I was a little disappointed with some aspects of it - a $40 coffee table book should feature some honest-to-God photos, not grainy, blown-up JPEGs (I'm thinking here of the photo introducing the Atari 5200 section). Granted, the pixellated look may have appealed to the book's editor/writer, given the subject matter, but there were numerous places where something more than a crude scan was merited. The full-page MAME screen stills also seem to take up a lot of space that could have been used more conservatively, but that's really a design decision; the text of the book is, for the most part, a good solid read.
Rating:
Summary: Vivid and engaging review of the classic video game years
Review: A wonderfully designed coffee-table book on the golden years of video games. Covers all the greats from Pong to Space Invaders to PacMan to Defender to Robotron and much more. Includes a huge selection of screen-shots and other pictures along with informative background material and text. An absolute "must-have" for all video game fans.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Beautiful
Review: After reading some of the other reviews written about this book, I have to remind people of the title. It's a VISUAL History. This book really does contain a lot of pictures, but there is more in there too. This is obviously a work of love, something that those interested in this type of thing to begin with can appreciate. Yes some of the pictures are pixelated. OF COURSE THEY ARE! Do you have any idea how low resolution some of these devices actually were. I think this is the point the author is trying to illustrate. Put the book 5 feet from your face and you can almost feel the games come to life. To me, this is the classic coffee table book for someone of the electronic age. Forget the books with beautiful art and nature scenes (not that they don't have their place). This book belongs on the coffee table of the new age "nerd", and boy does it fit perfectly on that table!! If you are looking for a beautifully produced book, with some well written words that will undoubtedly bring you back to the "arcade" --- this is it.
Rating:
Summary: Visually lush, exhaustive, and ultimately...
Review: Another reviewer wrote "Supercade is a lot of hype, a lot of style, and no substance." and perhaps there's some very real truth to that. When you write a book on the history of something everyone in your target audience probably takes seriously, you're probably going to evoke a lot of emotion from your target audience.This book is the most exhaustive history of video games I've ever read. It's lavishly detailed and rich in minutiae, and obviously written by someone with a passion for the games. The pictures are gorgeous, although often low-resolution and pixelated. Too often too, in this reviewer's humble opinion, the graphics are modified to distraction with excruciating close-ups and blur, among other effects. If you're familiar with Wired Magazine's design, you'll be instantly at home with this book. Van Burnham has also written for Wired, which came as no surprise to me when I discovered it after reading part of this book. It's gorgeous, it's heavy, and it's clearly written to try and make video games a little more credible as an art form. It's not an "art book", and it's not the definitive history of games, but it's quite a lot of both, and well worth the price for this trip through the games that comprise what seems to be my entire life.
Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous and beautiful
Review: Finally, a book about the classic era of videogames that strikes a gorgeous balance between history lesson, nostalgia trip, and that initial lo-tech excitement that videogames garnered back in their early '80s heyday. The design of this coffeetable book is beautiful, jam-packed with images, many familiar, others of rarely-seen videogame gems. The articles that are interspersed amongst the large images are well-written and informative. A very immersive book, one that belongs on every classic gamer's coffeetable -- perfect for a quick flipping through of pages by curious house guests, after which you will soon be suckering them into a few quick rounds of arcade classics on your Playstation (or hell, even your Atari 2600, if you still have one.) A bit pricey, but hey, it's a huge, hefty, HARDCOVER book, so what do you expect? It's worth it.
Rating:
Summary: A stunning and vibrant videogame tour de force
Review: For video junkies who always wanted more, van burnham delivers the whole enchilada. 450 glossy color photo filled pages packed with the real story of how it all happened. The large hard cover format makes it a sweet cocktail table read. It's all here: the early Pong pioneer days, the Atari 2600 era, in depth coverage of the '80s arcade scene, etc., etc. A must have for the game-crazed zombies on your A-list.
Rating: 
Summary: High expectations, big disappointment
Review: From the looks of things, I was all ready for SUPERCADE to be one of the best video game books ever -- but upon receiving my copy from Amazon, I was utterly disappointed. The "text" is nothing but rehashed capsulized material from other sources that have already covered the topic in far more detail, while the pictures are mainly screen captures from PC emulators (available online with several clicks on your mouse), often out of focus at that. There's no "voice" in Burnham's words -- in fact, the whole book feels like it was assembled on her PC, copying and pasting from other's works. Like someone else wrote, the binding is poor and likely won't be durable enough for repeated use. Bottom line? WAY too expensive, and not nearly in-depth OR colorful enough for arcade fans. Any reader would be better off checking out the terrific GAME OVER (which is about Nintendo's history but also has extensive material on Atari and the origins of the video game medium), John Sellers' ARCADE FEVER, and Leonard Herman's PHOENIX for more entertaining and satisfying reading. There just isn't anything here really worth the purchase, for casual readers OR video game addicts.
Rating: 
Summary: Good - but some glaring errors
Review: Got this book as a birthday present and found it to be a really good read. Unfortunately, there are some niggles. The first concerning accuracy of the content. An example of this being the Atari game 720 degrees. In the book it is stated this game came out in 1984 when in actual fact it was copyrighted and was released in 1986. One feels that simple proof reading by another knowledgeable person would have alerted the author to this. The other minor nag is the fact that the majority of the screen shots are taken from a PC emulator (no scanlines) and fail to capture the true look and feel of these games. One would have thought it might be better where possible to use original screen shots or at least turn on the scanline facility in the emulator before grabbing the image. Apart from this I can recommend this book as an entertaining read for any arcade fan of the 70's or 80's. Its content is both informative and entertaining, particularly the early periods from the 50s/60s and 70s.
Rating:
Summary: a bit unfocused
Review: I did enjoy this book and it was entertaining and informative, but it was really long (and heavy!). I think it would have been much better if she had made this either a book on the history of video games or a photography book focusing on video games. It is comprehensive of the era it covers (1979-1984?), including both coin-op and console games, which is different from the similar book "Arcade Fever" by John Sellers. If you are looking to impress your guests with a coffee-table book on video games, this is it. If you are looking to read a book on the history of video games, check out The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steve L. Kent.
Rating:
Summary: "Supercade" is a thoughtful revisit to the past...
Review: I discovered "Supercade" when I was walking through a [store] near my house and picked it up for a "quick-skim". A "quick-skim" turned into a "good-read". A "good-read" turned into fascination. While the book is mainly a pictoral "visual-history" like it proclaims, "Supercade" is also the visual equivalent to "Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer". Inside, you get full-page (sometimes TWO full pages) histories of each and every game from "Tennis" to "Crystal Castles" and a whole new section on the Video Game wars between Atari, Nintendo, Sega, and Sony, among the bigger names. You also learn about ColecoVision and the little handheld games that featured LCD "animations". You'll go back to the past when you see screen-captures of games you used to master when you were in grade-school. "Supercade" brings back that feeling of walking into a dimly-lit arcade where the guy with the quarters was only happy to take your dollars for a short thrill in front of a gaming-screen. The design of the book features the fore-mentioned screen-captures of games past and present. ... some games don't feature many screen-captures and the images presented are distorted ... The captures, in my opinion, aren't too bad and actually fit the style of "Supercade". ... Otherwise "Supercade" is a fun look back at the Golden Age of Video-Gaming. Definitely a must-buy item. Or go to the house of a friend who has a degree in electronic engineering. It's bound to be on their coffee table. --Matt
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