High Score

Remember Pong, Raid on Bungeling Bay, or Earthworm Jim? E-games are now both historic and significant, representations of the birth of a culture. They embody a value system, mind-boggling inspiration, common language and experience. And they are finally getting their due. It is unbelievable how far video games have come in the past 30 years, from pinball systems to the console wars raging between Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, or how important they are culturally. In these games are the stories of the transition from one age to another. Electronic games have spread the psychology of interactivity, re-defined narrative, and are a huge and growing swath of pop culture. They are a gazillion-dollar business, already surpassing films in revenues. They have altered the consciousness and cognitive traits of at least one generation, perhaps two. High Score: the illustrated history of electronic games, by Rusel Demaria and Johnny L. Wilson, is a beautifully organized history of this astounding and little-chronicled phenomenon, from primitive pinballs to the powerful new 3-D entertainment consoles. High Score: the illustrated history of electronic games author Rusel Demaria and Johnny L. Wilson pages 326 publisher McGraw Hill/Osborne rating 8/10 reviewer Jon Katz ISBN 0072224282 summary history of e-games

The authors take us through the making of Space-Invaders and Pac-Man up to Myst and Tomb Raider.

Apart from a chronicle of the early games, High Score focuses not only on the technological wizardry of e-games, but on the business and cultural context in which they appeared: when Sega introduced the Dreamcast, perhaps their best machine at the time, it was almost too late -- they were already up against PlayStation and N64. Even the Tamogochi-like memory card which incubated eggs for pet creatures in Sonic Adventure couldn't quite save them.

The book is succinctly organized. It's actually beautifully presented in a publishing context -- short, well-reported, informative and illustrated chunks. Section One is "Before the Beginning," a tour of the "pre-history" of video games, including an homage to some of the earliest pinball machines and the various breakthroughs like integrated circuits that ultimately made e- games possible.

Section Two focuses on the 70s, and the true birth of the gaming industry, sparked by Ralph Baier and Nolan Bushnell and Pong, one of the first games to become a household word. In the 80s, hit after hit spread through the country's video game arcades (many now closed due to the power of personal computing), and private homes were invaded by Atari, Intellevision and ColecoVision's gaming systems. As the authors point out, the PC and the floppy made it possible for anybody to become a game developer.

In the 90s, write DeMaria and Wilson, the CD-ROM, 3D graphics and broadband revolutionized gaming. "New rivalries" -- and enormous investments from giant companies like Sony and Microsoft -- "create rapidly escalating technologies, immersive realism, and and wide range of crossovers and tie-ins. Developmental budgets skyrocket, interactive games become very big business, and the companies themselves begin to merge and consolidate."

Many gamers are now old enough to appreciate that they have a history. But many people still don't grasp how significant gaming has become. Where else will you read about Dave Perry's launch of Shiny Entertainment in l993, after years of creating games overseas? Perry, who slept in the parking lot at Virgin, won Game of the Year on the Genesis with Global Gladiators.

The authors describe the rise of Tomb Raider and its journey to Hollywood, but that story is well-known. It's the game-by-game, breakthrough-by-breakthrough historical context that makes the book so compelling, and so important. Gaming isn't just about entertainment. It's a common language, value system and way of thinking for millions of younger Americans, something the older and more mainstream culture has yet to appreciate. It's way past time society recognized the astonishing creativity and technology that went into the making of e-games, both in terms of game creators and the games themselves. As you read through High Scores, you get the sense of a history that transcends entertainment. What you see is the birth of a culture. This book does, and in the most readable way imaginable. It's tough to imagine anybody under 40 who reads this site - gamer or not -- who wouldn't love it.

You can purchase High Scores from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

They are a gazillion-dollar business

[RobPiano]

I believe that's a technical term.

Value system?

[Gannoc]

Remember Pong...They embody a value system, mind-boggling inspiration, common language and experience.

Yes, Pong's value systems have influenced an entire generation of youth. Whenever i'm faced with a really tough problem in my life, I sit down and think "What would Pong do?"

Then, I pick up something and throw it as hard as I can. Sometimes I angle it off the wall. My problem tends to be solved one way or the other.

Christ Katz, can't you ever have a SMALL point? Can't you ever just say "This is a pretty good book about video games, I recommend it."?

No, with you it has to be "Video games have had more effect on the evolution of mankind than oxygen. This book is so good, that if you hold it and make a wish, it will come true. Columbine."

Bah.

Re:Value system?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, Pong's value systems have influenced an entire generation of youth. Whenever i'm faced with a really tough problem in my life, I sit down and think "What would Pong do?"

Bahahahahaha... I want a T-Shirt with that on it. WWPD?

apparently...

[argStyopa]

"gazillion-dollar business" = ~$7 billion

And I'll second the "NO" vote on the term 'e-games'. E-gad.

Open letter to wife:

[El_Smack]

Hey, I'm not wasting money and space collecting Atari 2600's and full size arcade games, I am preserving "a value system, mind-boggling inspiration, common language and experience."!

Re:Please

[Anonymous Coward]

All games are interactive - please give me an example of one that isn't...

I think the closest you can come to a non-interactive game is Golf.

Sounds like an interesting book

[interstellar_donkey]

But is it filled with the same sort of in-your-face 'look this is important because it compleatly re-defined our culture' that the review is? Or is it a good text that objectivly outlines the history and development of video games that the modern historian would find interesting and perhaps as a source text for future historians after the real cultural impact of video games has been discovered?

If it's the former, I would'nt want to read it. Speculitive works on the cultural attributes of technologies that are still emerging are typically usless. It would be like writing a book in 1909 on the cultural impact of the automobile.

Somehow I suspect this is more of the reviewer inserting his own 'golly gee look how technology is changing our lives' world view... but you never know.

So many moderation points, so little time

[sielwolf]

I have some moderation points sitting in front of me. Is there any way I can mod down a couple sentences in this article?

They embody a value system, mind-boggling inspiration, common language and experience. Huh?

But then I figured it out. I realized that I just needed to run it through babelfish a few times and then I got the original decrypted message:
They include a worthy system, inspiration of lie-hesitate, common language and experience. And they finally receive their defeated.

I wonder if Katz writes all of his articles that way?

Re:Please

[sdjunky]

They are called E-Games due to the paradigm shift of an after event market. This facilitates the stickiness of integrated entertainment in a residential sense

Better?

Re:first blasphemous post!

[RobinH]

how the heck do I post a message without havink to reply?

You still have to 'reply', but only to the original article. Just click the big REPLY button at the top of the page, just under Katz's drivel.

The real reason Jon Katz posts articles...

[oobeleck]

Deep inside Slashdot headquarters...

CmdrTaco: Curse it all... Another slow news day. We must do SOMETHING to keep the traffic up.

Timothy: You aren't thinking....

chrisd: Please God no, not again.

CmdrTaco: Drastic times call for drastic measures boys... Release the Katz..

chrisd: *sobbing*

CmdrTaco: May God forgive my soul.

Give me a break

[evilpenguin]

Replace "video game" with "masturbation" throughout this piece and you might be on to something. Good Lord, man! Video games are boredom killing machines. They make television look positively benevolent. Just imagine what wonders the youth of the world might be making if they weren't sitting slack-jawed in front of televisions sets, virtually kicking the shit out of BEM's. Maybe that is the cultural heritage of video games. Passivity and amusement. Frankly, I'd rather they were masturbating. I can see some value in that.

He isn't, is he?

[sam_handelman]

You are not Spike Lee.

Have you ever actually seen Jon Katz? Sure, there are a couple of photos on the web, but those could be anybody.
Using Concordance (the software used to unmask Joe Klein as the author of primary colors; also used to classify works of literature) I have concluded that, in fact, Jon Katz IS Spike Lee. Or at least that these articles and the screen plays attributed to Spike Lee were written by the same person. It explains so much, I'm surprised it didn't occur to me earlier.