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

I loved video games

[stoolpigeon]

when I was a kid. I read video game magazines and hung out at the arcade or circle K a lot. (just one game at circle k but that let you get in lots of practice)

I don't know that I would call it a culture. I'd be more comfortable w/subculture.

Now that I have kids and a job I don't play much. When I do it is old games- if I'm at home I pull out my Sega Genesis and play Sonic or Dune.

If I'm feeling really crazy I head over to Castles and Coasters. Downstairs the arcade is all the latest games. Upstairs is where they put all the old machines. On a friday or saturday night you'll find 10 or 15 guys who are all 30 something years old (like me) up there playing Galaga, Tempest, Centipede, Red Baron, etc.

.

iD software. Hello!

[qurob]

No mention of the company who helped define the 3D shooter plauge we call the games market today?

Re:Earth Worm Jim

[PDG]

I think EWJ was one of the most 'unique' and creative games made in years.

I mean c'mon--a superhero worm, an level in 'heck' with elevator music, a puppy dog that turns into a monster.

It was just so perverse that it immediately became fantastic

(and I still have vivid memories of literally holding my breath while doing the underwater bubble scenes)

Always wondered

[totallygeek]

Remember the Pac-Man move where you could hide indefinately and the ghosts couldn't get you. Was this "figured out", or is this leaked from the manufacturer? I mean, like the moves for Pac-Man where you could play and never die and barely even look at the screen -- who figured that out, and wrote down, video-taped or remembered the moves.

And, Pac-Man isn't the only game like this. Look at all the "secret moves" in games. Does someone figure out you can do up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-select-start on Contra, or is that reverse engineered or leaked? Or, how you can flip-out Galaga to have FF ships. Or, how you can make a ghost Guile on Street Fighter.

Anyone?

Sega...

[i64X]

Sega always cought a bum rap... I hope the author of this book didn't confuse the timing of the Dreamcast like it implies in this article. The Dreamcast wasn't pitted up against the N64 and the PlayStation, it was released WAY after that.... Most people get Sega's timing WAY wrong because they were so far ahead of the game.

People compare the Sega Genesis to the Super NES. The Genesis was released WAY before the SNES was, and was pitted against the NES for sales, not the SNES. Sega had 16-bit first, and fastest.

The SATURN was set to battle against the PSX and the N64, not the Dreamcast! They were all released about the same time (with the exception of the N64, because we all know how Nintendo likes to promise things on a certain date and deliver them a couple years later...) The Saturn failed miserably against the other two because for one, it was $399 at launch, and two it was so hard to program for. The only good games for Saturn came from AM2... Sega's in-house developer... with titles like Virtua Fighter 2, Sega Rally Champoinship, and Daytona USA 2.

The Dreamcast was released years after the PSX and N64, and was the first 128-bit console on the market.... WAY before PS2 or GameCube. The Dreamcast was an innovative console and graphics- and sound- wise obviously ate the PSX and the N64. If the Dreamcast would have been released at the same time as the N64 and the PSX, Sony's PSX would have flopped worse at the time than XBOX is right now.

Sega had always been my favorite, and always had the most amazing stuff out first... but let's forget the massive amount of failures that they also released besides the Saturn... namely Sega CD (although it was one of the first CD systems), Sega CDX, Mars 32X, and the Master System II. :)

Becoming a big industry is a double edged sword.

[FortKnox]

Gaming is a big industry! Yay! Developers get money and we get great games, right?

Not really.

Big business is a double edged sword. Game publishers will only fund games that they know will make money. So instead of a great new game, you get a clone of the current best sellers. Innovation gets the boot in favor of the same games with prettier graphics.

The only people that can really bring out innovation are major game gurus like the incredible Warren Spector, or Sid Meiers. The best chance for you to bring out innovation is to make a mod of a current game on your own time, and hope you can get enough attention for a publisher to take a chance on one of your ideas.

This is what is currently bugging me about the video game industry... FPS aren't doing it anymore. We need FPS/RPGs like Deus Ex. FPS with a MAJOR TWIST like the Thief series. Deathmatch is dull, CapTheFlag has been done everywhere. We need a new style of online gaming for FPS. I ahven't seen DoomIII, yet, only heard about it. What I've heard from E3 is that its REALLY SWEET graphics, but they only went around and shot one or two enemies. Booooring.

Innovation is what this industry needs. How do we get it??

PONG-Story

[surfimp]

For those of you wishing to know more about the history of PONG, you should check out PONG-Story. It's got a lot of great information about Ralph Baer, Atari, etc. A must for any PONG aficionados out there!

A Lost Art Form

[Strange Ranger]

They don't make "primitive" pinball games anymore. "Primitive" meaning those astounding engineering marvels that look like giant Swiss watch conglomerations inside. Each game being an utterly unique piece of engineering art, with its "software" made out of gears and switches. "Primal" is a significantly better description, and in that sense, I think games have lost a lot since those days. You can feel a pinball game for real, it's not haptic, it's a hunk of metal that you can push and pound and "tilt". Keeping an eye on the butt end of a pinball player, watching him/her play shows that they move most of their entire body. It looks more interactive than Quake because from a physical reality standpoint it is more interactive. Modern games are incredible in their own right, but with primal pinball it is 100% reality, there is no abstraction. Something amazing will be lost forever when the last Midway mechanical pinball machine plays its last ball.