Rating: 
Summary: Great book, but not a great reference
Review: This was a great book. it has a lot of characteristics of a good novel, telling the story of video games, from pong to pokemon, as the title suggests. however, i was looking for a book i could use to research my term paper on the history of video games. unfortunately, this wasn't organized in a way i could use it like that. if i wanted to find information on nintendo, i had to skim the book until iot started talking about nintendo.
i found this book especially interesting, since i am at the age where video games are common, but i was never subject to early games, anyuthing before about the SNES. my first video game experience was the N64. so this book really gives me a lot of background info on how current games evolved.
overall, i would reccommend this book, but not for research. i actually wouldn't mind reading it like any other book, from start to finish. it would be worth checking out of your local library, at least.
Rating: 
Summary: A fun and informative read
Review: Video games have been an industry that has gotten more than it's fair share of flack. "They cause lazyness, truency, they are violent, etc." The thing people forget though is that video games are FUN. The industry itself has become a mammoth, racking in millions and joining the film and music industries as one of the big players in the entertainment business. The book is a big, retrospective analysis of the history of electronic games, from there humble beginnings at M.I.T. to the contributions by the "video pioneers" Nolan Bushnell and Ralph Baer. The book highlights some of notable points in the ride, such as:
-The pinball business and how the success of pinball in the 70's made way to the transition of video arcades.
-"Pong" and how it's success broke the initial game installed at a bar in California due to coin overflow by the games popularity.
-The yen shortage in Japan caused by "Space Invaders"
-Atari, how it was the fatest growing company in the world, and became an arcade giant and the first successful home system company despite Nolan Bushnells liberal views on running a business (whirlpool board meetings, pot-smoking employees, a beer keg in his office)
-The food that inspired Pac-Man, the greatest video game of all time.
-The Golden Age of video games in the 80's, followed by the "video game depression" in 1983.
-PC computers and the games created for them (Commodore, Apple, Amiga, etc.)
-Nintendo, the game that saved the company, and how it brought back video games in the mid 80's with the NES, a robot, a toy gun, and a game with the main character named after the company landlord.
-The Nintendo/Sega war during the 90's
-The creation of the ratings board for video games due to games such as "Mortal Kombat".
-The new generation of video game systems with the X-box and Playstation systems.
-Many of the lawsuits and influential court cases caused by video games (ex. Tetris, Game Genie, etc.)
This book is a ton of fun to read, and with many interviews with some of the best in the business, it's a book that is also informative. Bravo Steve Kent on a job well done!
Rating:
Summary: The Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll account of gaming
Review: Viewing the cover of this book and its shamelessly corny title, one might make many different assumptions regarding the content actually covered, none particulary appealing. Fear not. This book is almost too cool for its own good. Instead of taking a boring trip down the technology-heavy history of gaming, Steve Kent enlightens us with a "hit-em-where-it-hurts" detour of the gaming age. From drug abuse at Atari to Nintendo and Sega battling it out in the halls of Congress, this book doesn't pull any punches. You will certainly not be bored.What makes this book particularly entertaining (and convincing) is the sheer volume of quotes used. Unlike other 'history-of-gaming' books, Kent goes straight to source and gives it to you on a silver platter. This tactic allows Kent to explore aspects of the industry that would otherwise be considered extremely risky. This shouldn't lead one to believe the book is perfect, however. There are many areas that were merely brushed over, and others that weren't mentioned at all. The whole online revolution, for instance, and its tremendous effect on every aspect of gaming, wasn't given so much as a mention. Neither was PC gaming, a subject that merits its own book. Another bit that bothered me was the low key coverage of the original Playstation. Considering how in-depth Kent covers Atari, I think the PS deserves at least equal attention, if not more. While perhaps we don't have the hindsight yet to appreciate it, the Playstation took console gaming, commercially, to places unheard of beforehand. But these omissions can be excused, since what is there is incredibly good. All the main characters are covered (Nolan Bushnell, Howard Lincoln). What makes me extremely excited is that this is just the beginning. In today's world Kent had to make this book less fact-based then he could have, in order to sell it. But what the future holds in terms of video-game history boggles the mind. Kent could have easily written 4 books of this size and still not have covered everything there is to cover. But this is certainly a stellar begginning, and is by far the most exhaustive and yet entertaining account of the video-game age to date.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate History of Video Games
Review: Weighing in at a massive 608 pages, Steven L. Kent's THE ULTIMATE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES is nothing less than glorious, especially for admitted coin-op history junkies such as myself. Kent chooses to lay his foundation in Chapter 1 with the early rise of coin-op devices and the introduction of David Gottlieb's BAFFLE BALL bagatelle table in 1931. Devoting his opening pages to coin-op's roots was a wise move, he pays homage while giving the reader a greater sense of how we got here. From then on it's full tilt into the video realm. Kent utilized Leonard Herman's excellent book, PHOENIX: THE FALL & RISE OF VIDEOGAMES as one of his research cornerstones, but don't let that fool you. The author logged over 500(!) interviews with the small, medium and large insiders of the video game landscape. It's an amazing feat which yields an abundance of quotes from luminaries such as Al Alcorn, Dave Theurer, Nolan Bushnell, Ray Kassar, Ed Rotberg, Maysaya Nakamura, Dave Thiel, Joel Hochberg, Dave Rosen and Ed Logg (just to name a few!). From the corporate movers and shakers to the programming geniuses, Kent leaves no voice unheard. He also weaves the intricate origination tales of giant game makers such as Sega. Few realize it was founded by Americans living in Japan and that "Sega" is not a Japanese word. It's an abbreviation of the original company, SErvice GAmes founded in 1952. Kent's THE ULTIMATE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES delves deep into the explosive home console successes and failures as well as the coin-operated arena. Even today, former CEOs marvel at the days when they could do no wrong. Just ask former Atari topper Ray Kassar who is still awestruck by the 1982 sales figures of Pac-Man cartridges. Twelve million went out the door that year, setting a retail sales record. In short, THE ULTIMATE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES is a book whose timing couldn't be better. With video game hobbyists and players residing throughout the world, they've come to know that the machines of their childhood are now treasured collectibles. Rest assured, there will be more and more books forthcoming about the video game phenomenon. For now, Stephen L. Kent has delivered us pixel-eyed vidiots a wondrous tome that peeks "behind the screens."
Rating:
Summary: Decent Anthology
Review: While it is well-written and informative, I wouldn't consider it to be the 'Ultimate' history of video games. It amuses me when any book claims to be the 'ultimate' or 'definitive' resource in a changing media.
Rating:
Summary: Crack! Another Homerun!
Review: Yes, this book is a homerun. There are very few videogame books that are worth reading. This is one that is. There is a lot of information, but it is presented in an easy-to-follow manner and the quotations are set off so that they are easy to read (almost like you are there at the interview). At one point, I almost stopped reading it, but it pulled me back in right away. Although I wish there had been more information on the early handhelds (late 1970s), I was definitely pleased with the coverage it did present. Play on!
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate History of Video Games
Review: Yowza!
Kent has indeed written the ultimate history on video games. It details all the way from Nolan Bushnell's Odyssey to the current PS2, GameCube, and X-Box. It even goes back far enough to explain about the first semi-video games- Pinball. Pack with a smorgasbord of comments by famous video game heavy hitters(such as Shigeru Miyamoto, Howard Lincoln, and Hideo Kojima) it sucker punches the reader with dazzling amounts of info. There is also a forward by the creator of god game Black & White. Kent's occupation of a sports journalist and video game geek shows through his documentary style approach to this massive book. Notable segments in the book include the historic battle between Universal and Nintendo over the Donkey Kong video game. (Universal claimed that Donkey Kong was too similiar to King Kong and it infringed upon it's property.) Also the much deliberated violence in video-games issue with Mortal Kombat and Doom are discussed. The only thing which could have been improved could be the small black and white photos in the middle of the book, it just isn't up to snuff with the rest of the book. Otherwise it's a great read for the geek in you.
-As reported by that famous journalist-
Nine-tendo!
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