Video game books?

[benderx]

interesting books

[bacteria]

Look on this site - you can download piles of old games mags for free in PDF format!

LINK

[Dakinggamer87]

I would recommend a few of the following I own/read:

-The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven Kent
-Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life
-High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games
-Any video game art books especially Final Fantasy by Amano or SF

[Luke]

The Worlds of Power series, if you can find them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Compl ... _books.JPG

[Limewater]

If you're interested in early video game history this is a good book:

http://www.bogost.com/books/video_computer_system.shtml

It also has some great discussions of game design and design innovations, as well as a fairly easy-to-understand description of how the Atari VCS works.

There's also the legendary tome "Game Over":


It looks like it's kind of pricey on Amazon, though. I bought a cheap paperback of it at a GameStop for, like, $2.00 in 2002 or so.

Here is an old book with a bunch of reviews of then-new NES games. I've had a lot of fun reading it. You can find reviews for everything for free online these days, but it's nice to read reviews from the same era as the games.

[Hatta]

I liked Dungeons and Desktops. If you liked old PC RPGs (Ultima, Eye of the Beholder, etc) and want some historical context this is a good book. He mentions just about every cRPG from Alakabeth to Oblivion. Great place for ideas on what to play next.

[Ack]

And if you want like a coffee table book, Supercade isn't a bad title to look into.

http://www.amazon.com/Supercade-Visual- ... 733&sr=8-1

[jfe2]

Wow, thank you guys so much for the suggestions!

[Gnashvar]

I would get the Nintendo Power guides that came out early in the magazines life. Those are fun to look at.

[the7k]

Character Design For Mobile Devices


It's basically a history of pixel art, covering Mario, Sonic, Arthur, Bonk, the Street Fighters, the Darkstalkers, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, Samurai Showdown, Castlevania, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and it also includes some small tutorials/step by steps.

Seriously, pick this book up if you have any love for the 2D Sprite. It's a great book to have just lying around for anyone to flip through.