Book Review: Page (1) of 1 - 12/28/04

email article

print page

Gamers Writers, Artists & Programmers on the Pleasures of Pixels By Don Lee

Growing up during the golden age of video games, I sometimes think back to the simpler times of having a pocket full of quarters and an arcade located in the nearest mall. Spending hours at a time playing Asteroids, Dig Dug, Defender and Robotron: 2084. For some of us early ?mallrats,? the arcade was our outlet from the pressures of mowing the lawn or cleaning our room.

Reviewing ?Gamers: Writers, Artists & Programmers on the Pleasure of Pixels? brought back some of the memories of those early years but still manages to cover the evolution of video games into the late 1990s. For those video game fanatics, this book will help you relive some of those memories of being in a dark and dingy arcade, letting hours upon hours of your youth pass by without a care in the world. Yes.....dare I say it.....the good 'ol days.

Some of the highlights included the look back at some of the classic arcade video games that shaped the industry?s early growth. Games like 1972?s (has it been that long) legendary Pong, 1978?s Space Invaders (ahhh?my first video game addiction), Pac-Man (1980), Nintendo?s 1981 Donkey Kong and 1983?s Q-Bert. Although the arcade video game industry crashed in the years following Q-Bert, the video game console market was just heating up. The passages in Gamers provided a very detailed and enjoyable view of how the industry has changed. I enjoyed Ernest Wilbert?s passage quite a bit because he grew up in New Jersey during the same time I did and he mentions a number of seaside arcades that I recalled. Ah the good ?ol days. I wonder if he is aware of the classic arcade game locater web page at
http://www.classicgaming.com/locations/ which is an updated list of places where you can continue to play classic arcade games.

If you?re a console gamer, then you?ve got to read Mark Lamoureux?s passage on the Atari 2600?s. His description of the console?s 8bit graphics, the 2600?s popular games like Adventure, Megamania, Barnstorming and Riddle of the Sphinx got me so fired up that I began to dig through my closet looking for my own 2600.

Even if you?re not a classic gamer like myself, there?s plenty of modern day gaming information to be enjoyed too. Nic Helman?s passage on the evolution of video games is a must read. From explaining the industry?s changes to the technological advances that have occurred in the past twenty years, Helman explains how today?s gamers will be tomorrow?s developers. He ends his passage with a Video Game Arts Manifesto that you future game developers should read.

If you?re a video game historian, then this book would be very useful. With stories that cover things like Atari?s arcade game Gravitar, the Pac-Man phenomenon, the reasons behind the video game industry?s crash and the current crop of PC games and the evolution of the video game from the arcades to the living room, Gamers provides a great look back at the complete history of video games.

With passages from industry veterans Jim Andrews, Katie Degentesh, Drew Gardner, Ernest Wilbert, Shannon Holman, J. Brandon Housley, Shelley Jackson, W. Thor Jensen, Luis Jaramillo, Nic Helman, Thomas Kelly, Roland Kelts, Mark Lamoureux, Aaron McCollough, Jim Munade, Marc Nesbitt, Daniel Nester, Whitney Pastorek, Richard Powers, Todd Rogers, Laurel Snyder, Bill Spratch, Maureen Thorson, Marion Wrenn.

You can CLICK HERE to purchase Gamers from Amazon.com.

About Gamers: Writers, Artists & Programmers on the Pleasure of Pixels
Gamers was published by Soft Skull Press and distributed by Publishers Group West. You can locate Soft Skull Press on the internet at http://www.softskull.com.

Page: 1

Related Sites: Digital Producer ,   Animation Artist ,   Siggraph News ,   Digital Game Developer ,   Oceania ,   CEN - Consumer Electronics Net ,   CEN - Toys ,   CEN - Games
Related Newsletter: DMN Newsletter ,   Levels Newsletter ,   DMNForums ,   CEN - Gadgets Newsletter ,   Review Seeker

---