Replay: The History of Video Games [Paperback]

Tristan Donovan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 20, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0956507204 | ISBN-13: 978-0956507204

A riveting account of the strange birth and remarkable evolution of the most important development in entertainment since television, Replay is the ultimate history of video games. Based on extensive research and over 140 exclusive interviews with key movers and shakers from gaming's past, Replay tells the sensational story of how the creative vision of game designers gave rise to one of the world's most popular and dynamic art forms.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"While other history books have covered the topic, Tristan Donovan's 500-page tome is the most wide-ranging history I've read." --Wired

"An amazing work. Comprehensive and wide ranging - yet engrossing and splendidly entertaining. If you read only one history of video games - Replay is it." --Eugene Jarvis, creator of Defender, Narc and Smash TV

"Tons of interviews with creators, a window into early US and Europe PC industry stuff I'd never read about before at all... very enjoyable and informative reading." --Christian Nutt, Gamasutra

"Tristan Donovan's account is the most comprehensive thus far...He details with great insight the people and events that led to what is the most powerful creative field today." --Richard Garriott (aka Lord British), designer of the Ultima series

I cant think of a reason that you shouldnt go and order a copy of it immediately...If you enjoy reading about games, theres absolutely no way that youre not going to find spending quality time with this rewarding.  --Kieron Gillen, Rock Paper Shotgun

Whether you grew up with your eyes glued to Adventure or Super Mario Bros, with your hand around a joystick or inside a Nintendo Power Glove, this is one history lesson worth its weight in quarters.  --Rob Lott, Bookgasm

Striking a near-perfect balance between art and commerce, Replay is the most comprehensive history of videogames so far.  --Edge

Essential reading  --GamesTM

About the Author

Tristan Donovan has written about video games for The Guardian, Edge, Game Developer, Stuff, The Gadget Show, GamesTM and many other publications. He lives in East Sussex, UK.

Product Details

• Paperback: 516 pages
• Publisher: Yellow Ant (April 20, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0956507204
• ISBN-13: 978-0956507204
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Culture > History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hands down, the best video game history book to date., September 12, 2010

By 

David Ellis "Writer" (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Replay: The History of Video Games (Paperback)

I read every book on video game history and, so far, this is the best of the bunch. Before I finished the introduction, I had already learned two things I had not previously known about video game history!

The scope of the book is both geographically and chronologically impressive. It covers more than just the usual US and Japanese game history--the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, and other parts of the world also receive attention. Their role in the history of video games is extremely interesting because the development of games both culturally and technologically followed very different paths. These are games and game developers we don't often hear about. And as for the chronological scope, the book covers everything from the early predecessors of video games in the 1940s to games that hit the shelves as recently as early 2010.

It's a cliche, I know...but if you only buy one video game history book, Replay should be that book.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't judge the book by the cover!, June 24, 2010

By 

Tabe (Spokane, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Replay: The History of Video Games (Paperback)

Featuring what has to be one of the worst covers of any book - ever - "Replay" easily overcomes that misstep by bringing forth a wealth of fantastic information. Even if you're already very familiar with the history of computers and video games, you'll find this book entertaining - and informative. Thanks to its UK origins, coverage of that region is plentiful, which is quite the change from the US slant seen in most books.

There are some criticisms to be had despite the 5-star rating I've given: the writing is, at times, awkward, even allowing for differences in UK English vs US English. It definitely could have used another read-through by an editor in places. In addition, like the cover, the pictures in the book are atrocious in quality and all black & white. This is a subject that cries out for quality photos and lots of color.

Still, these are minor quibbles. Pick this up today!

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An awesome historical account of the early years of gaming, but barely discusses anything post-PSOne, January 29, 2011

By 

ICUH8N - See all my reviews

This review is from: Replay: The History of Video Games (Paperback)

Let me start by saying this book is thoroughly researched, well-written and often contains a narrative style that feels more fiction than non-fiction lending to a smooth, easy and immediately informative read.

The book discusses the formation of the gaming industry and starts by providing an in-depth, chronologically based look at the popular gaming consoles, business landscape and fads from 1965 to 1995 and focuses mostly on the associated hardware, initial formation of video games, formats (PC, Mac, cartridge, CD-Rom) and creation of genres rather than each individual title. Additionally, this book contains a ton of information about the global state of gaming, most notably what was going on in the UK, Europe and USSR/Russia during the 80s as well as China and South Korea during the late 90s and 2000s and features some incredibly gripping summaries of the 1983 gaming collapse and challenges creators of Ultimata Online faced in navigating a completely new open-world game design. If you're interested in the early years of gaming, this book is an absolute must-buy.

Where the book loses focus is in its discussion of the 1990s. After about 250 pages, the tightly woven, chronological narrative gives way to an unfocused mess of random games and ideas, such as Beat Mania, The Sims, and girl gaming culture. While these items are important to the overall history of gaming, it would've been nice to have them follow the structure that made the earlier chapters so enjoyable to read rather than jumping from 7th Guest and Doom to Rock Band in the span of about 40 pages without even introducing the PS2, let alone Xbox 360/Wii/PS3.

The book does finally regain its previous chronological form only to hurriedly discuss the Dreamcast through Xbox 360 in a scant 21 pages (about the same amount of time as spent on The Sims), most of which is dedicated to Pokemon and Grand Theft Auto. Sad to see a massive 15 years of gaming history crammed into such a short window. Ideally, this book should have simply omitted these rushed bits and called itself "The history of video games 1965 - 1995," leaving the history of modern gaming to a more interested author.

Furthermore, while the earlier years of gaming are pretty robust and informative, it's by no means a complete history as key ideas, systems, people and innovations are completely omitted such as the GBA, Game Gear, Neo Geo, DLC, Tiger Handheld Electronics, strategy guides, gaming magazines such as Nintendo Power, Call of Duty, Diablo, Atari's ill-conceived comback attempt via Jaguar and Lynx systems, etc.

In short, if you're interested in the early, golden-era of gaming, this is a must-buy, but keep in mind it's not close to being a complete or definitive collection of the complete history of video games.

**NOTE: This book is NOT 512 pages, it's 369. The remaining 143 pages are nothing more than a glossary and index and not part of the actual text.