Rating: 
Summary: A hit and miss effort
Review: After finishing Masters of Doom and the Ultimate History of Video Games I found Dungeons and Dreamers to be fairly choppy and unfocused. Masters of Doom was an interesting (albeit odd) focus on the rise to fame of John Carmack and John Romero and provides the insight as to how the average person became famous and the changes in technology that took place during that time period. The Ultimate History of video games is a very thorough read and chronicles the changing faces and times during the rise of technology and has the inside information on about any event or video game phenomenon you can imagine. Unfortunately, the first 1/3 of this book is an interesting tale about the famous 'Lord British', which I enjoyed, but the remaining 2/3 is a bit of a mess. A brief rehash of the Doom phenomenon (which is done much better in the Masters of Doom book), a very boring (and lengthy) section on the correlation of video games and violence (Columbine is mentioned WAY too many times) and some snippets of the LAN party and MMOG phenomenon fills out the book. The writing is choppy, feels like it hasn't been thoroughly proofread, and makes the intellectual side of me cringe. It is not uncommon for a concept to be described in one paragraph and described in the same words two or three paragraphs later. A full book on Richard Garriott probably would have been a better idea, as his life is very interesting and many of us would associate our gaming lives with him more than any other figure. This book seems to be geared towards complete non-gamers, which is a shame, because I would imagine most people who would buy this book understand the gaming world and the important events in its history. I was looking for the real insider/behind the scenes view of video games and was stuck with an uninsightful overview instead. Stick with the other two books if you have to make a choice where to spend your dollars.
Rating:
Summary: A hit and miss effort
Review: After finishing Masters of Doom and the Ultimate History of Video Games I found Dungeons and Dreamers to be fairly choppy and unfocused. Masters of Doom was an interesting (albeit odd) focus on the rise to fame of John Carmack and John Romero and provides the insight as to how the average person became famous and the changes in technology that took place during that time period. The Ultimate History of video games is a very thorough read and chronicles the changing faces and times during the rise of technology and has the inside information on about any event or video game phenomenon you can imagine. Unfortunately, the first 1/3 of this book is an interesting tale about the famous 'Lord British', which I enjoyed, but the remaining 2/3 is a bit of a mess. A brief rehash of the Doom phenomenon (which is done much better in the Masters of Doom book), a very boring (and lengthy) section on the correlation of video games and violence (Columbine is mentioned WAY too many times) and some snippets of the LAN party and MMOG phenomenon fills out the book. The writing is choppy, feels like it hasn't been thoroughly proofread, and makes the intellectual side of me cringe. It is not uncommon for a concept to be described in one paragraph and described in the same words two or three paragraphs later. A full book on Richard Garriott probably would have been a better idea, as his life is very interesting and many of us would associate our gaming lives with him more than any other figure. This book seems to be geared towards complete non-gamers, which is a shame, because I would imagine most people who would buy this book understand the gaming world and the important events in its history. I was looking for the real insider/behind the scenes view of video games and was stuck with an uninsightful overview instead. Stick with the other two books if you have to make a choice where to spend your dollars.
Rating: 
Summary: tremendous piece of literary anthropology
Review: Borland's book - really, more a testament, an unearthing, a magnetic field, a mass of energy, thunder & lightning, a tremendous and moving examination of the forces that shape all humankind and specifically its pale, glasses-wearing and physically unimpressive subspecies than just a book - is easily one of the finest investigations into geekdom ever made - at least by a (supposed) non-geek. Reading this monument to all things dungeonmasterish & Ultima-like, I was struck by a thought which at the time seemed very profound but later turned out to be completely false: all we are is dust in the wind. But this turned out to have been someone else's though first, and is purely tangential to Borland's MAGNUM OPUS, this encyclopedia of sunlight-shunning nerdity. I can only say this: if this book were an amusement park, the world would not measure up to its rides. Pure 100% content, this book is a winner - four stars.
Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly enjoyable read
Review: I am a 41 year old gamer. I was around for Pong! to Atari to Colecovision to the PC of today. Although I thoroughly enjoy playing computer games, I never knew how this whole medium got started. By drawing from interviews of the gaming pioneers, who played endless nights of Dungeons and Dragons, to the dreamers of new virtual worlds, this book lays out how the electronic games industry got to be the multi-billion dollar entertainment monster that it is today. Most notably, Richard Garriot and his rise from computer programming hobbyist to one of the most successful "Dreamers" of the Role Playing Games genre. Other stories, such as how John Carmack, John Romero, and Warren Spector are considered game gods. As we strive for more avenues of entertainment today, this book has the insightfulness of sharing what drives these digital storytellers to dream up new worlds for gamers to play in. Pick up this book if you are interested in an entertaining history behind computer games roots. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Rating:
Summary: Borland is King
Review: I was born with the use of my thumbs and therefore i can neither hold nor fire real handguns. Playing video games on the computer internet has been pretty much my "surrogate grandmother" as it were for that aspect of my otherwise well rounded personality. John Borland's book took me on one crazy hamster wheel ride through my last 17 years of gaming. I no longer feel (as the Fresh Prince once said) "parents just don't understand. Not that Mr. Borland is some kind of father figure to me, but if he were to consider adopting me I certainly wouldn't try to sue him. I guess what I'm saying is I'm lonely and this book made me feel... well... like I belong, goshdernit! Like a 14th century monk, Borland illuminates the tired pages of video game history with golden, shiny, fancy ever-so-curly letters that make you want to treat your brain to a tonsure. Issues like Columbine, Censorship, Technology and Why Rich Geeks Think Ferrari's Are Some Kind Of Big Deal, are all handled easily by Borland's deft opposable digits. Kudos to Mr. Borland, and to his co-auther Mr. King. If you love to read, you'll love this book.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely ENTERTAINING. Though omissions are unforgivable.
Review: I've loved this book. There is much in-depth information about the industry and the everlasting delight of the gaming-gourmand. Perhaps it could present more about butter, that relentless ally of the culinary arts, the faithful symbol of good living. Not only because it has been regarded from time immemorial as a food fit for the gods, but becuase its use appears to have been divinely recommended and its users promised certain immunities against evil. Through time and across the globe, it has had a scared quality. King examines it from the ancient Fertile Crescent to the present day, as it has symbolized the powerful, life-giving and sacred, the good, the happy, the healthy and pure. He goes to China where according to Buddhist teacher T'ien-t'ai, who was active about the year 600, the dharma, or teachings, could be understood in terms of successive stages of refinement analogous to the stages by which ghee (clarified butter, or literally, 'liberation') is derived from milk. Just as milk comes from a cow, cream comes from milk, butter comes from cream, melted butter comes from butter, and ghee is liberated from melted butter, the 12 divisions of the canon come from the Buddha. We also learn Tibetan monks have made intricate, colored butter sculptures as part of a tradition that is as old as Buddhism.It has sustained lives, cultures and civilizations for millennia. This culinary treasure as old as King Tut's tomb. "She brought forth butter in a lordly dish" (Judges 5:25). A jug of wine, a loaf of bread ' and butter! Pure butter is produced today essentially as it was in King Tut's time, though butter made of milk from cows instead of camels or water buffaloes. In 3500 BC, the people of Sumer shook cream in a vertical churn. And butter was important enough to write about -- records have been carved in stone. According to ancient references, butter was used not only in cooking, but in medicine, cosmetics and even sacrificial worship rituals. Through the centuries, butter became so well liked, it was almost a sin to eat it on certain days, hence the DUNGEONS from the title. From the 14th century onward in Europe, popes and people who liked butter on fast days had to buy special dispensations from the church. A truly holy food. Brad speaks with knowledge and reverence about pixels, people, dreams and cutting-edge tech, and how this edge spreads the most important of all: BUTTER.
Rating:
Summary: Examines the communities of computer game players
Review: In Dungeons And Dreamers: The Rise Of Computer Game Culture From Geek To Chic by Brad King and John Borland examines the communities of computer game players that have sprung up over the last 30 years and the role the creators of the games played in forming them. Based on numerous interviews with Richard Garriott, the developer of the first commercially successful online role-playing game Ultima Online, King and Borland tell the fascinating story of the icon's start and ascent in the industry. King and Borland also profile other prominent creators and celebrity players.
Rating: 
Summary: Good overview, a little too much on the Garriott
Review: Overall, the book provides a good overview of the evolution of the genre detailing the early use of university computing resources for covert sessions of SpaceWar, Adventure and Colossal Cave thru to the emergence of the Professional Gaming League.
Where the narrative starts to get bogged down is when it gets to Richard Garriott (aka Lord British), the creator of the Ultima series of games. (For the record, I'm a huge Ultima fan - the original Ultima packaging, with a knight on a black warhorse facing off against a dragon emerging from hot lava, was the reason I bought my first computer.) Once the authors get to Garriott, the pace slows as we explore his life in extended detail from his early family life to the release of Ultima Online. In contrast, significantly less time is spent on the other pivotal computer games like Doom, Half-Life and EverQuest. While I'd be the first to point to Garriott's role in the development of this genre, all roads don't necessarily lead to Lord British.
Net/Net: Decent overview of a topic that has often been eclipsed by the more glamorous console videogames industry. Would have appreciated less detail on Garriott, and more on the other games.
Full Disclosure: Reviewer works as a marketer for Windows and Xbox games at Microsoft.
Rating: 
Summary: Strictly for fanboys.
Review: These are very charming faux-reviews from Brad and Borland's drinking buddies, but the truth about this tome is less pleasing.Marginally better than the recent "Masters of Doom," if only because the authors don't want so bad to be Tracy Kidder, this book is 50% Lord British, and 50% fanboy groveling at the altar of Quake & Everquest. If I didn't know better, after reading this I'd think the entire history of computer games pre-1990 revolved around Origin Software. In fact, you get the impression that the authors originally intended to pen a biography of that colorful Texan, Lord British, but must have been pressured into commercializing their work; perhaps the publishing house insisted, at the last minute, that they pad it with some modern-day schlock about FPS clans and John Carmack. Bound together with the requisite Wired mind-barf about building virtual communities, this revisionist look at old computer games is poor cultural history, for it views the '80s culture only in terms of how it led to today's MMORPGs and FPSs. You really don't get a sense of the richness of what computer games were in the '80s, when there were dozens of oddball genres. A much better treatment of the era is in Levy's book "Hackers," where he perfectly reconstructs the world of Sierra Online -- the kind of graphic adventure company that doesn't quite fit into "Geek to Chic"'s hipsterish computer Darwinism. Look for it soon in the 30 percent off rack at CompUSA.
Rating:
Summary: A great read about Computer Gaming history
Review: This book is a well-crafted and focused look at the rise of computer games in popular culture. Anything involving the gaming community will generate flaming and name-calling but this book tries, and succeeds, in writing some of the early history of the gaming culture. Rather than cover too much, it limits its focus to mainly Richard Garriott and his Ultima series and Doom. It examines the people, decisions, accidents and politics that brought these two gaming worlds into existence. As I read it I remembered the great fun I had playing the early Ultima games and the sheer amazement I felt the first time I played Doom. I have played computer games since Carter was President. Reading this book brought back some of the great memories of that early gaming and some of those "wow" moments. The culture and rise of computer games so closely mirrors the rise of the computer culture. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in both.
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