A Book Review? Yes, I read this book and so should You!

It’s taken me a pathetically long seven years to finally finish reading this book, but not because it’s poorly written, enraging, or untruthful. I’m just really, really bad about reading books.

Starting well before the birth of Tennis for Two, Steven Kent goes all the way back to the granddaddy of pinball — Bagatelle — and even mentions Nintendo’s Hanafuda playing card business in 1889 by way of a handy timeline. Things accelerate quickly from these early days but the fact that it’s all in here is testament to the book’s title (no matter how many silly fonts it uses). From the Pong epidemic of the 60’s to the arcade madness of the 70’s to the industry crash of the 80’s and on, there are hundreds of revelations and tidbits.

For one, I personally had no idea that the “great crash” was mostly an American phenomenon. I knew game development continued in Europe and Asia but I always pictured it as a bleak landscape of piddly software. Turns out these were the days when Tim and Chris Stamper were creating hit titles for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 before turning their teenage empire into Rare.

It’s also amazing to see the connections within the industry. It’s said many times in the book and I’ll paraphrase it here; the gaming industry really is a small place. Personalities jump from Atari to Sega to Nintendo and back again before starting their own businesses.

The book is written in little chunks and broken up by quotes from industry veterans but it reads like the most complicated Tom Clancy tech thriller. As the maturation of the 80’s comes to a close the story focuses on the rivalry between Nintendo and Sega and segues through 8 and 16-bit into the early days of 32-bit with the 3DO and Jaguar. As those last two fade away we turn to Sega’s numerous missteps in the 90’s, Nintendo’s Ultra secret new project, and the birth of PlayStation.

A book has to end somewhere and Kent chooses to cut it off after the birth of the Xbox and by detailing the life and death of CSK chairman Isao Okawa and his final days with Sega. Rereading it now to get my facts straight gives me chills. Though all the dates and tech talk are insightful, what I really found most eye-opening about the book are the personal, human details. There’s more to this industry than the games we play and The Ultimate History of Video Games does a great service to all the individuals who helped create our culture.