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.
Replay: The History of Video Games
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||
 Sell Back Your Copy for $2.00
No matter where you bought them, get up to 70% back when you sell your books at Amazon.com.
Used Price$15.60
Trade-in Price$2.00
Price after
Trade-in$13.60 |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
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
"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
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 24 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
Format: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.
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.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Melante
Format:Paperback
"Replay" is definitely a worthy addition to the video game history catalog and deserves all your attention... still, it's far from perfect.
Ok, I'm aware I have started in a similar way quite a few of my latest reviews, though I trust I always pointed out some good reasons for my criticism! Maybe I'm getting a grumpy old man but it really annoys me to see excellent ideas stop just a few steps away before achieving greatness. Unfortunately, "Replay" does the same too.
The book starts perfectly: it covers the first years on the industry very well. It's well documented and gives an international perspective on the subject but, as it progresses, it completely loses focus and lacks a coherent structure: from chapters dedicated to groundbreaking events that changed the industry, we suddenly switch to new chapters dedicated to specific game genres and so on.
Maybe this is due to the interview-driven nature of the book (I guess different people talked of completely different things) or, maybe, Mr. Donovan wanted to improve on both Kent's "Ultimate History" and on Barton's/Loguidice's "Vintage Games"... but I'm afraid the mix didn't really work as well as expected. In any case, this is definitely a worth reading addition to the game history genre, though I would have preferred something with a more logical theme spanning across the whole book and driving the player from chapter to chapter.
Ok, I'm aware I have started in a similar way quite a few of my latest reviews, though I trust I always pointed out some good reasons for my criticism! Maybe I'm getting a grumpy old man but it really annoys me to see excellent ideas stop just a few steps away before achieving greatness. Unfortunately, "Replay" does the same too.
The book starts perfectly: it covers the first years on the industry very well. It's well documented and gives an international perspective on the subject but, as it progresses, it completely loses focus and lacks a coherent structure: from chapters dedicated to groundbreaking events that changed the industry, we suddenly switch to new chapters dedicated to specific game genres and so on.
Maybe this is due to the interview-driven nature of the book (I guess different people talked of completely different things) or, maybe, Mr. Donovan wanted to improve on both Kent's "Ultimate History" and on Barton's/Loguidice's "Vintage Games"... but I'm afraid the mix didn't really work as well as expected. In any case, this is definitely a worth reading addition to the game history genre, though I would have preferred something with a more logical theme spanning across the whole book and driving the player from chapter to chapter.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By David Ellis
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book
This book has a wealth of knowledge. If you are interested in the history of video games, I would highly recommend this book.
Published 1 month ago by moonwatcher
5.0 out of 5 stars
A long detailed read
This is a longer version of "All your bases are belong to us" book. it deals about great detail from the DARPA lab inventing the first video game (yes, the DoD funded the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ikarus S.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bought this for a Research Paper
And did I ever get what I paid for. This is extremely well researched, and well-written. It's written in a more casual tone, as if it was someone really knowledgeable on the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Infinity
5.0 out of 5 stars
Comprehensive and knowledgeable.
This guy likes games, did his research and wrote a book that offers an excellent overview that is fleshed-out with the kind of detail needed to document this amazing industry. Read more
Published 4 months ago by mcclean
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ace, worldly, view of video game history.
Last year I went on a "Video Game History Book" bender, and this was my favourite. Not Nintendo, Japan or USA centric; instead it covers history from a worldly viewpoint. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Matt H
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book
The book replay is pretty good, the only down side is the fact that the book is really long-winded with it's information
Published 8 months ago by Okayclay
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still reading
just cracked the book open, but it's got a wealth of information that is just fun to read through.... Read more
Published 23 months ago by C. Wheat
4.0 out of 5 stars
The [short and abruptly ending] history of video games
While by no means a comprehensive history, this offers some a nice chronology and many interesting tales about the birth and maturity of gaming. Read more
Published 24 months ago by T. Rodgers
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not a gamer
I thought the first half of this book was concise and engaging but, began to lose focus at the time when video games were going through an explosion around the late 90s - 2000. Read more
Published on May 24, 2011 by Chad Rushing
5.0 out of 5 stars
very nice.
Having been featured (or at least plugged) in RETRO GAMER magazine, I came to find this awesome gem. Read more
Published on July 8, 2010 by Video Game History
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Management > History
- Books > Computers & Technology > Games & Strategy Guides > Video Games
- Books > Humor & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Video & Electronic Games
- Books > New, Used & Rental Textbooks > Computer Science
- Books > New, Used & Rental Textbooks > Social Sciences
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Popular Culture
- Books > Science & Math > Technology
