A Brief History of Video Games

by Richard Stanton

This Brief History provides a unique look at the history and culture of video games, starting with the 1960s classics like Pong to modern favorites such as Grand Theft Auto V and Bioshock. Focusing on creative and scientific advances between 1962 and today, A Brief History of Video Games offers a global perspective on gaming’s past and its cutting-edge future with the evolution of virtual reality, 3D graphics, and thought-interface technology. It also addresses the design process from concept to packaging, considers the influence of manga and anime, and explores the relationship between video games and movies.

Genres: Video Games, Nonfiction, History, Gaming, Pop Culture, Technology

368 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2015

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I’m beginning this review with the usual disclaimer that I am not someone who reads a lot of nonfiction - but that being said, I found this really interesting and I learned a lot. I wish there had been more content about some of my favorite games (the King’s Quest series specifically) but overall this was a fun read.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly good run through of all the history of video games- From Pong to Minecraft. It's engaging throughout, and it was nice to be reminded of so many old favourites from the PS2 era.

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I, like many middle schoolers, like video games. They are fun and can keep us entertained for hours on end. Although I love the newer games like Farcry 4, or Just Cause 3, and games like those, I still gotta love those old arcade games. Like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Tetris, Space Invaders, etc… I absolutely love those games. They are so simple and yet they are alluring and entertaining. I definitely like those old arcade games more. But like I said, those are old. There’s no new ones like that. Now everyone is so focused on the first person shooters and stuff that they’ve forgotten where all those games originated from. That’s why I decided to read the book “A Brief History Of Video Games” by Richard Stanton. I wanted to know more about the history of them. This book is a good read. I wouldn’t say it was my favourite book ever, but it’s good. Now, this book is non-fiction. I don’t like non-fiction. So me saying this nonfiction book is good… well, that doesn’t happen too often. This book has let me learn a lot of information I never knew about video games. I really loved how this book didn’t just state generics about video games but instead talked about all the fails and wins in individual games. I really learned a lot from this book and I highly suggest that if you wanna know more about videogames, you read it.

[Verne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Frustratingly, it started off strong but then became a disappointing mess. The first quarter of the book gave a concise, yet detailed, look at the conception of video games. After the first few years of games, it started simply becoming a review of every major game to have come out. The second half of this book is just one giant compilation of video game reviews. What is also frustrating is that the author marks his reviews as if they were fact rather than opinion. It also doesn't help that the last quarter of the book is riddled with grammatical errors (the author stated in the introduction that he had to rush to finish the book so it isn't all surprising). I would only recommend reading the first quarter of the book if you know absolutely nothing about video games. Otherwise, don't bother with this one. I'm sure that there are far better books on the history of video games on the market.

[Michael R · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive, witty, beautifully illustrated parade of worthies entertaining enough to persuade even non-gamers to grab a console.

[Marcin Zimny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for everyone who is interested in history of video games!

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books like this can be hard to read cover to cover, but the structure, colourful and witty prose, and interesting observations allow this to flow quite easily. There's a good amount of information about pre-games too, before it gets to the video game origin stuff we mostly know backwards by now. Stanton is fairly opinionated, but I found this a valuable asset, as while I don't always agree with him, it allows more insight than a simple dry book would give (which from the title this sounded like it could be). In some places this book already feels a little outdated, particularly in the tragic passing of Iwata, and subsequent revamp of Nintendo, which happened shortly after publication. But that will always be the way with these things.

[Ben Bourrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book for Christmas and had been looking for a book on the History of Video Games, this one doesn't disappoint. I loved it from start to finish and actually learned quite a bit stuff about gaming that I never knew before (I've been researching this topic for years on end). Overall it was a great book although I would like a bit more detail in some areas, but overall it was a great book.

[Telthor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming and insightful enough in the first half, the early history of creation, but as games stop being single person ventures or slappy Sega vs Nintendo fights and start being powerhouses of tech, it becomes more like a gleeful catalog describing the plots of his favorite games, and the steam is lost.

A whole chapter dedicated to Metal Gear is just kinda awkwardly placed and I skipped most of it. Not to mention the weird way things are organized in the last few chapters, skipping from topic to topic with no sense of flow among the chapters like the earlier ones.

Compelling enough in its own right and a decent bite sized look at a very rapidly changing global history that would frankly be impossible to examine in close detail in any book of holdable size. The range of things discussed seems pretty fair. Still, it does lose itself, and doesn’t explore some of the things I wanted, like some of the players like Activision and all that. I suppose if you want more precise details on specific things you’ve got to go read their wikis.

Also, yes, I know, computer games and video games are different topics, and the book purports to be about the latter...but I don’t think I saw a single mention of Monkey Island or such point and click topics? Or anything with Telltale? That seems super weird to me, especially as PC gaming is distinctly included throughout even into in the later chapters like with Steam.

Glossy screencaps of many of the games discussed are particularly welcome. It’s a joy to watch them go from the single pixel protagonist of Adventure to the splashy particle-effect-doused Bayonetta.

Well written, easy to read, and pretty fun—I might like to see what else Stanton has done, if anything. I rather enjoyed letting him lead me through this history.

[Steven Voorhees · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Stephen Sondheim died last November, I read that around 1984, he considered yielding composing to create video games (isn't it rich?). Being a true Sondheim aficionado, I was intrigued by this revelation. I decided to read up on this high-tech, obsessive (and in some quarters, controversial) past-time. I found the perfect primer in Stanton's rich and detailed book. (Full disclosure: I've played a few video games, and I had a Nintendo Gameboy at one point. But by no means am I a gamer). Stanton references Gameboy, Nintendo and every related key person, game and innovation through 2015 (when this book was published). From SPACEMAN! (Russell, et. al., 1961) and Magnavox ODYSSEY (Baer, et.al., 1972) through ATARI, the arcade era, a new definition for cabinet and PAC-MAN right up to PlayStation, Wii and MINECRAFT (Persson), Stanton covers it all. Thought it's dated, this is probably the definitive one-volume history of video games, a haven for design, intricacy and interaction. Given his proven excellence in a collaborative medium and with my three-word description of video games, I bet Sondheim would've felt right at home being the latest space invader.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. Tricky one this. A well written history of the hobby, solid research and some interesting stuff I didn't already know. What let's it down is just how mundane videogames become once someone factually explains "gameplay". Each fantastic game from history becomes more tedious than the last as the gameplay is broken down to its component elements. Richard is a great writer though and if you're interested in videogame history you could do much worse.

The descriptions are also strong evidence against "objective" videogame reviews. Please just a bit of personality and enthusiasm.

[Garrett Emile · Rating 3 out of 5]

It explained what made well known video games stand out so well from a game design perspective. It was a lot more interesting than just “oh, this is super Mario, people liked it, it came out then, and here’s the story how and why” that I see in some other books.

Now, I know this is just some nitpick, and probably shouldn’t go into a review, but oh my god did this book’s page design annoy me.
The words were printed so close to the spine that I wound up nearly ripping it trying to read it. The pictures were inconsistent sizes, sometimes really small. And often the photo captions were like two inches away from the photo. It didn’t affect my rating of the book, I just needed to mention it.

[Jayme Horne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is not incorrect in "brief." This book covers many games and offers some unique insights, but it is quite brief, dedicating only a few pages to most games and writing most of the book in bullet points. Regardless, for those who are interested in game creation or the history of video games, this book is a must-have.

[Sye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book! Does as promised. I feel educated on the history of video games up to its publication date. It's fascinating to see how far the medium has come. I am hunting down copies of classic video games mentioned to try them out now!

[Harshika Bali · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNFed

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty in depth tbh

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of the history of videogames going back to the 70's. Instead of going into great detail with specific points in history, the author tries to cover everything, and does a pretty good job. The book covers consoles, PCs, handhelds, and mobile games. In addition to hardware, the author also talks about specific games that had a significant impact on the industry.

While you can probably find most of the same information on Wikipedia and gaming sites, this book presents all of the information in a concise way that is easy to understand.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an overview of the origins of video games, the first half of this was a pretty good read. It starts to become a bit more like a catalog in the second half, which isn't as compelling. I was also hoping for more attention to the hallmarks of my video game childhood, but neither Intellivision nor Colecovision were important enough to even make the index. So it's, by necessity, an incomplete history, but it skips things that I didn't realize were skippable.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half was all right, but towards the end it starts to read like a laundry list of game titles with brief descriptions. The author's biases are increasingly evident in the latter portion as well. The timeline feels really jumbled and jumps around a bit too much for my liking. Reading this history doesn't feel brief, nor quite complete.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent meld of author and topic. Smart, witty, thorough.

[Simon Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining read on the winners, losers, failures and battles of gaming history.