High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, Second Edition [Paperback]

Rusel DeMaria (Author), Johnny L. Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 18, 2003

In this lavishly illustrated full-color retrospective, discover never-before-seen photos that bring to life the people and stories behind the most popular games of all time, including Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Centipede, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, SimCity, Quake, Myst, Tomb Raider, and more. This is the inside scoop on the history, successes, tricks, and even failures of the entire electronic games industry.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Ultimate History of Electronic Games

“This is a great work that shows the humanity, creativity, and passion inside the art and business of games. The public is playing a lot of games today, and Rusel's and Johnny's fine book gives them a terrific look behind the scenes.” --Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts and 3DO

“As an industry veteran, I am excited to see that Rusel and Johnny have poured their hard work and talent into creating this visual and textual compendium of the history of computer entertainment. Just as I was, I think you will be amazed to see how far we've come in so few years. The pictorial content of this book represents a glimpse at great milestones of our recent past that are quickly going to be impossible to see, perhaps ever again, outside this volume.” --Richard Garriott, computer gaming pioneer, developer of the Ultima series of games, and founder of Origin Systems

This lavishly illustrated full-color retrospective takes you on a guided tour of the evolution of electronic games from blips on a tiny screen in a computer science lab to the multi-billion-dollar industry it has become today. Hundreds of images of arcades, consoles, and PC games span more than 30 years of game history from the beginning to the present day. Meet the people who changed the world of entertainment and hear the tales of their amazing successes and spectacular failures--including many stories that have never been told in print before.

Rusel DeMaria has been a participant and observer in the electronic gaming industry since its inception. He has written nearly 60 strategy guides and is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of that book genre. DeMaria has been a senior editor and columnist for several national magazines, a speaker at the prestigious Computer Game Developer’s Conference as well as other industry events.

Johnny L. Wilson has been group publisher for Wizards of the Coast periodicals (Dragon, Dungeon, Star Wars Gamer, and Star Wars Insider magazines) and editor-in-chief of Computer Gaming World magazine, the world’s oldest PC-specific game magazine. A game reviewer for more than 17 years, he has made frequent appearances as a computer game historian/expert on the History Channel, National Public Radio, and a variety of local television newsmagazines.

About the Author

Rusel DeMaria (Grants Pass, OR) has been an observer and/or participant in the electronic gaming industry since its inception. Beginning in 1980, he began writing professionally about games. He has written nearly 60 strategy guides and is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of that book genre. In addition to his books, Rusel has been a senior editor and columnist for several national magazines. Johnny L. Wilson (Seattle, WA) is Group Publisher for Wizards of the Coast’s magazine group, which includes Dragon, Dungeon, Top Deck, Star Wars Gamer and Star Wars Insider. He is perhaps better known as the former editor-in-chief of Computer Gaming World (1992-1999), the premier magazine for computer-gaming fans.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 2 edition (December 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072231726
• ISBN-13: 978-0072231724
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #938,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely terrific! A must read for videogame fans., November 28, 2006

By 

Navarro L. Parker "Motion Graphics Dude" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, Second Edition (Paperback)

An amazing and comprehensive picturebook of all electronic games through history (not just "video" games). This book has some great photos of consoles and game prototypes you may have never heard about -- like the Atari Game Brain and Cosmos. It's just packed with images on thick glossy paper. My only complaints is there were no images of the very first videogame, "Tennis for Two". The book is also so thick and heavy, I don't know how long the binding will last under multiple readings. But these are minor gripes. A must have if you are interested in the beginnings of electronic entertainment.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most comprehensive book on the history of games so far., July 3, 2004

By 

Big Joe '83 (Melbourne, VIC Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, Second Edition (Paperback)

Searching for books on this topic is infuriating considering since electronic games is a broad subject and reaches various elements. (But hey, so is film and music.) Usually you'll find books that only cover the old arcade games, or some which only cover games of today on the PS2 and X-BOX while barely mentioning anything about the past games we grew up with, and this is twice a hassle if you're a PC gamer. But this book has the lot and it covers it brilliantly. It mentions the well known titles we see everywhere else like Mario and Sonic and all the familiar faces but delves deeps into eras that the average game would have no idea about or have forgotten such as the contributions by Trilobyte or Dragon's Lair.
Personally it would have been great if they had included some of the PC favorites like Sam & Max, Jazz Jackrabbit, One Must Fall and Little Big Adventure but for what it's worth the quantity of games the book discusses is remarkable. I'm glad that a publication like this can get out there to new gamers out there who have perhaps forgotten or have never seen games in 2-D or in less than 256 colors and they can see for themselves the culture in which a lot of us grew up in and how it has changed over the years. (For better or for worse.)

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor quality, September 26, 2005

By 

Adam Moore (Chandler, AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, Second Edition (Paperback)

This book is filled with inaccuracies. I know that it can be difficult to seperate myth and legend from historical fact when it comes to the history of electronic gaming. For example, look at the variations of the story of Pong in Andy Capp's bar. Unfortunately, even some of the captions next to pictures are wrong.

If you're looking for a book about the history of electronic gaming, I recommend The Ultimate History of Video Games (ISBN 0-7615-3643-4) by Steven L. Kent. However, inaccuracies aside, this book is good as a visual aid to supplement Kent's book. This book is filled with pictures, while Kent's book is filled with text.

Also, do not expect this book to have a very long lifespan. It is glue bound and the pages will start to fall out after repeated use.