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

Decent Price

[Anonymous Coward]

Only $17.49 on Amazon. I was worried about the price, given that it's an "illustrated history"... books like that tend to be expensive.

However, it's a paperback. Hm.

Mistakes...

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

... 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.

The Dreamcast was Sega's next-gen effort at the time - it was the Saturn that was originally meant to compete with the N64 and PSX. The Dreamcast was intended to compete with the new systems on the horizon by getting a jump - this is what they did quite successfully with the sega genesis - filled the next gen niche with adequate hardware.

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.

I hope "personal computing" means "consoles" in this context, because PC gaming is a small fry compared to consoles and would have little effect on arcades. Arcades will never be completely replaced - playing a mech game in a big simulated cockpit - you can't do it at home (well, maybe you can, but I am not that rich :)

While you are at it...

[Anonymous Coward]

Great book, mainly for some of the wonderful pictures of early design documents, photographs and other archival material.

For a better history, I reocmmend Steven L. Kent's "The Ultimate History of Video Games". While it has almost no pictures, it makes up for it by being a much more detailed history based on interviews with the people behind the industry.

Note: Only illustrated history, not definitive

[Torgo's Pizza]

I was talking to John Romero about this book last week (turns out that he provided a lot of the pictures) and we both agree this is a fantastic book to get your hands on. While High Score provides lots of glossy pictures, including five or six covers of Akalabeth (minus the ziplock bag), High Score doesn't cover the entire history of gaming. It's a great starting point for researching a fantastic industry.

I highly recommend looking also at Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of Video Games which covers the history of console games more completely. There's also Game Over which details the history of Nintendo from a playing card company to the giant it became in the early 90's. There are others, but more are needed.

The history of video games is sorely underreported and under appreciated. Already many electronic games are disappearing as hardware and platforms become unavailable. The Abandonware scene is alive and well, but quietly our gaming history is disappearing. I encourage all Slashdot readers to read up on your gaming history and try to preserve a great and thriving culture.

Raid on Bungeling Bay

[BrookHarty]

There is a java port of Raid on Bungeling Bay. I spent many hours playing this on the c64, one of my favorite c64 games. Also played Trolls and Tribulations. quite a bit. (When I was much younger, lol)

You really know its a small world, when your neighbors invent Myst. Video games has been part of my culture here in the Pacific Northwest, I have made many friends who are either directors of large game companies, owners, and some who are just hard core programers and gfx artists. Funny, most of my friends growing up are in the tech field, support, sys-admins, or programmers. Dont even get them started on the "Old Days" of computers, everything from vic-20s, tsr80s, apples2e/2gs converstations...

left, right, left, right, a, b, start

They're bad

[airship]

I knew many of the people chronicled in this book, and I can say that it is well-written, well-documented, well-illustrated, well-designed, well-made, and, well, just plain good. Even the fact that Katz likes it can't change that.

But don't forget that video games are bad for you. It was reported on Slashdot, so it can't be wrong!

Re:where is gaming going next?

[chill182]

I completely agree. Although it is still fun to go to arcades. Dance Dance Revolution can sometimes gather a crowd and brings that social aspect back.

Kids (and when I say kids I mean teenagers, even though I'm 22 they seem like a completely different generation) have no concept of a high score. They can't understand a game that is impossible to complete.

I agree that there needs to be more social places to play video games (though I really like GameWorks). But first someone needs to build computers that can standup to a bar atmosphere.

As for home consoles there are some great party games: You don't know jack for PS1, Mario Party for N64, Warlords for Atari 2600.

Katz almost has it right

[Anonymous Coward]

And for him, that's a good thing. I mean, the guy misses the point...never mind.

Anyway, just wanted to clear up something he said at the beginning of his review.

He talks about the Dreamcast being done-in by The PS1 and N64. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Dreamcast was done in by a couple of things:
1) Sega was woefully undercapitalized for the Dreamcast battle. The DC initially did extremely well (who can forget the fun of 9/9/99), but Sega simply didn't have the dollars to carry this thing forward until it "stuck" with consumers.

2) Sony did the classic FUD with their PS2 announcement. They were so rattled by Dreamcast's initial success they basically announced the PS2 almost 2 years ahead of its ship date in the US (I suspect that's why the PS2 is so mediocre; it was a response to a competitor rather than a new, stand-alone idea).

But it wasn't the PS1 and N64 that killed off the DC, not by a long-shot.

Movie industry far larger than video game industry

[Anonymous Coward]

They are a gazillion-dollar business, already surpassing films in revenues.

Only if you compare apples to oranges. The entire revenue of the video game industry, including sales of software, consoles, accessories, etc. (around $7 billion), is greater than the movie industry yearly box office totals.

However, the movie industry has more revenue sources than just box office returns, such as VHS & DVD sales and rentals. To really compare the two, we should also add in yearly sales of vcrs and dvd players.

Re:Is this a book review or an editorial?

[new-black-hand]

The majority of people over the age of 30 do not currently play videogames and only vaguely remember the games they played as kids.

Get your facts right

GAMING POPULATION BY AGE 13-17 19.8%
18-24 17.8%
25-34 18.6%
35-44 22.8%
45-54 15.4%
55+ 5.6%
(PC Data)

From: Wired 9.05

Author's comments

[demaria99]

First, thanks for all the commmentary. And thanks for the review. I thought I'd take the opportunity to respond to some of the comments I've heard about High Score! And some of what I think are misconceptions.

First, my goal in creating the book was to make it visual - a colorful journey through the history of games. To do so required some compromises. For instance, the stories (the actual text) had to be kept pretty short. It's amazing how much space it takes to write substantial text, and how often it came down to "more story" or "more and bigger graphics." I was constantly fighting with the publisher for more pages. However, since the retail price of the book is only $24.99, and it is all color and oversized, they quite legitimately refused to do a 500-page book. In my opinion, the book provides a lot for the price and McGraw-Hill was a great company to work with. They all worked really hard to make the book as good as it could be.

I also find some people recommending other books, such as Steve Kent's and Leonard Herman's books. I want to echo those recommendations. Steve and Leonard have done great jobs, and it was never my intention, or Johnny's, to redo what they had done. I'm really happiest when someone looks at High Score! and has happy nostalgic moments - which are mostly triggered by the pictures. In interviewing many of the pioneers of electronic games for the book, I was able to get some interesting facts, some cool quotes and, hopefully, the nugget of the history. I hope readers will find that material interesting. However, it is my belief that the greatest strength of High Score! is in the graphics, and that there are other books that have approached the subject with more depth, though none (that I've seen) covering the evolution of PC games. At any rate, I hope it's not "either/or" but more like "both/and".

And High Score! is far from perfect. There are plenty of omissions and even a few mistakes (I'm embarrassed to say). I'd love to do a future updated version of it with more pictures (I have plenty that weren't used), with some omitted games and companies added in, and with more coverage of the history in Europe and Japan. That will depend on the publisher and how well the book does.

Finally, it is my hope that people will enjoy the book. We don't really attempt to make all that many grand philisophical points in it (despite the tone of the review). Johnny and I each have our own opinions about the impact electronic games have had on our world. (And no, we don't use the term "e-games" anywhere that I know of. It's not in my vocabulary and I don't think it's in Johnny's, either.) But I think we kept our philosophy mostly out of the book. It wasn't our intention to do a whole lot of philosophizing - though maybe just a little.

I do think it's interesting to observe the idealistic philosophies of companies like Atari and EA when they started out, and compare them to the business as it exists today. But, again, the main purpose of the book was to have fun, and to share it with others.

Even though the book took a ton of work, and I really wanted it to be something great, in the end it's not a prescription for world peace or a deep exploration of human consciousness. It's a picture book, hopefully a pretty cool one, about electronic games - where they came from, some of the people who pioneered them and how they evolved. So, I hope people will enjoy it for what it is.

Thanks,

Rusel DeMaria

The Ultimate History of Video Games

[vitaflo]

If you really want to learn about the history of video games I'd highly reccommend The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steve Kent. While there aren't many pictures, there are quotes from just about every name in the business and stories that will make your head spin.

It leterally covers everything, from the beginings of pinball to the latest generations of systems, and everything in between. Steve Kent is widely recognized as the best gaming journalist there is and it shows in this book. Excellent read. If you're serious about gaming, I'd check it out.