Rating: 
Summary: Fun, but not essential
Review: "Arcade Fever" is very successful in one aspect-- it made me feel about 13 years old while reading it. Not just the enthusiasm evident in John Sellers' writing (which is all good and welcome), but the low-brow jokes, the constant sexual references.... it did get to be a bit much at times, and I'm still somewhat uncertain exactly what Mr. Sellers was aiming for.
That said, the book does contain some genuine laughs which don't just aim for the crotch. Looking back at the 'arcade culture' of the early 80's was heart-warming, and most of the games chosen for discussion by the author were dead-on, in my opinion. It did take me back to those lost weekends at the local arcade, and for that I do give the book a thumbs-up.
Rating: 
Summary: A book that I have been waiting for....
Review: ....great book, only wish it was more in depth with the designers comments of the games and the culture they created. Ironicaly most of the classic videogames of the era were from Japan, a country with deep traditions in culture, could care less.
Rating:
Summary: Buy it for the pictures....
Review: ...not the writing. "Arcade Fever" is a great visual trip down memory lane, but the writing is at best glib and at worst grammatically incorrect - try parsing this sentence, from page 65: "While Atari design legend Ed Logg (Asteroids, Gaiuntlet) for Centipede's emasculating action, imagine what the game would have looked like without that serene mushroom patch". A little more editing might have been in order.If you were in the arcades when these great machines were new you probably won't learn anything from this book - but the pictures (and there are plenty of them!) will bring back some gwonderful memories.
Rating: 
Summary: A Trip Down Memory Lane
Review: Arcade Fever is not a perfect book, but it's still quite good. A number of reviewers have taken the author to task for the book's shortcomings. Lighten up! It's a fun book about a fun topic. Don't be so serious, you'll get an ulcer. First off, the book is subtitled: The Fan's Guide to the Golden Age of Video Games. As a "fan's guide" it works well - it's less a doctoral thesis in the field of Arcadeology than a simple overview of games the casual 1980s arcade visitor would know and likely love. If you want obscure references and arcane knowledge, this is definitely not your book. Second, whenever I get together with my brother and sisters I revert to the maturity of a late teenager (my wife hates this). It seems that Sellers has reverted to that same level of maturity in his commentary, and probably for the same reason: It's fun to go back in time and try and relive our favorite moments. Cut the guy a break and get in on the fun. If you can read the word "poopy" without grinning, you're not ready for this book. If the Beavis and Butthead voice in your head says "he wrote 'poopy'...cool...heh heh eh heh," you're ready to dive right in. Third, I like the year-by-year history snippets. It provides a context for what else we were doing when not playing the games. Was it necessary? No. Does "Who Shot J.R.?" have anything to do with video games? No. Does it help get you back in the mindset of The Golden Age? I think so. Fourth, I like the mix of games in the book. There are games you loved, liked, and hated. There are the popular games and the sleepers. Are one or more of your favorites neglected? Probably (I'd have liked a page for Tailgunner or Omega Race, myself). I wish Sellers hadn't ragged on Bosconian (but I was an English major, so that's probably why I like it so much). I liked Cliff Hanger more than Dragon's Lair, but I can concede that DL deserves the full review, CH the snippet. Finally, the sole purpose of a book like this is to kindle the feeling of nostalgia in its reader. I had forgotten some of the things in the book: some of the games, some of the trends - I had totally forgotten about putting quarters up on marquee lip to reserve the next game. I feel better for having remembered them. If you were born in the late-'60s/early-'70s, no longer live in your parents' basement, and enjoy a fun, light read, you'll probably like this book too.
Rating:
Summary: I'm a teenager again!
Review: As a previous reviewer commented, the humor gets in the way a bit, but the message is still loud and clear. Come to think of it, the humor is the same as was used in our teen years. Churlish, but "period correct"! This is not a novel or a textbook. This is a book that you pick up when you have 20 minutes to spare and just want to reminisce. Most of your favorites will likely be in here, with lots of anecdotal information strewn in for good measure. At it's price, it is hard to make a case for NOT owning it.
Rating:
Summary: Looks at the most important part of classic gaming-the games
Review: As some reviewers have written, this is not your ordinary video game history book. Many books have been written about the history of video games, and how to beat classic video games. This is neither. Sure, it is a history, so to speak, but not of the behind-the-scenes stories, but of the games themselves. The name "Nolan Bushnell" only appears three or four times in the book. I think this is a wonderful idea-as many books have been written about the history of games like Pac-Man or Donkey Kong, but not about Pac-Man and Donkey Kong themselves.
This book is for the fans-those who, in the late 70s and early 80s, used their hard-earned money to see if they could beat their high score by bringing a frog across the road or making a small yellow pie-thingy eat dots and ghosts. Useless, you say? Not to them.
Sellers takes a look at 50 arcade games, sorting them first by year, then by alphabetical order. He talks mostly about the gameplay, giving a couple of facts, as well as telling the events of those years in a humorous way to set the scene ("1980: US hockey team tells USSR to get the puck outta here"). Along the way, he interviews Nolan Bushnell, Bucker and Garcia of "Pac-Man Fever" fame, Eugene (Robotron) Jarvis, the curator of Videotopia-a traveling video game museum, and the owner of Twin Galaxies-at one time, the top scorekeeping arcade in America (the appearance on "That's Incredible!" helped a bit); and takes a look at strange video games, movies on video games, and the TV show "Starcade." He ponders why we stopped playing arcade games after the advent of the NES, and why Pooyan is such a bad game.
A fun read for anyone who ever popped a quarter into a Pac-Man-or those, like me, who wish they could go back and really do so.
Rating:
Summary: A history of the Golden Years of arcade games
Review: At first glance, many people will be turned off by this book. After all, it only covers arcade games from their inception to the big crash of '84-'85. But what this book has that many of the other books about arcade gaming lack (with a few exceptions) is personality. Let me explain. Most people who are familiar with the infancy and adolescence of the arcade game craze already know most of the famous stories. An example is the story where people thought the first Pong machine was broken, only to learn that the real problem was that too many quarters had been stuffed into it! Now, most books go into great detail about this story, but it comes off sounding clinical and rehashed. This book, however, is always told from the author's point of view. He injects humor and fresh opinions into topics that have been talked about numerous times in other books. Therefore, even the old stories sound new when coming from him. The book is in chronological order, and the author provides sidebars of important events in arcade game history (in his opinion). In addition, there is a timeline along the bottom of most of the pages, listing humorous takes on current events at the time. Although not directly arcade game related, it does add a sense of history to the games, as well as put them in their place in history. Like I said, the book ends its history lesson in 1984-1985, and many people won't like that. But this works for me because the author explains why he ends it at this point. Basically, people stopped going to arcades (as much), and started staying home and playing Nintendo. He explains it from his point of view, and since I went through exactly the same thing, I found it easy to relate to what he said. Should you buy this book? Yes! Even if you don't agree with the author's opinions, at least he's giving them to you. And if you don't read a single bit of the text, there are lots of great pictures of the classic arcade games to look at. A definitely must-have!
Rating:
Summary: Good picture book!
Review: Don't agree with John Sellers on all things, but book really has a way of sparking memorys of the past.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Reading
Review: I almost didn't buy it after reading some of the reviews, and after reading the book, I didn't see the problems others had with it. It is peppered with nice tidbits, some interviews (which were very short, and didn't get boring), and a timeline that ran across the bottom of the pages which gave you a relationship between what was happening in the world at that time, and the release of the game.
I found the author's writing style enjoyable. He didn't just say 'this is pac-man, released in 1981.' He wrote about the pac-man fever hitting the nation, about the highest score possible, and who has it, all good filler information.
I would say this is a good, interesting book that most will find enjoyable to read.
Rating:
Summary: It doesn't get any better than this
Review: I can't even believe how much this book rocks. The author didn't miss a beat on this. Page after page is packed with hilarious and nostalgic old-school references and purist gaming knowledge. A wicked sense of humor is backed up with whip-smart writing. I seriously couldn't put this book down.
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