The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games

The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games

The First Quarter: A 25-year History of Video Games is an insider's look at the entertainment novelty that drove the evolution of high-technology. The book was compiled from more than 500 first-hand interviews with such people as Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari), Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Donkey Kong), Toru Iwatani (designer of Pac-Man), etc. Above all, this book provides an intimate look into the lives of a group of brilliant and quirky people, and the sometimes serious and sometimes wacky way they ran their business. "...the best video game history book I've ever come across...a definitive overview of how it all started." -- John Romero, Founder of Ion Storm Review from Next Generation Magazine "Ok, we admit we're biased. Like most NEXT GEN readers, we've been waiting for years to get our hands on Kent's opus -- the entire history of the videogame industry, writ large through the words of the men and women who created it. Can such an anticipated book possibly live up to our expectations? In a word, yes. The result of more than 500 interviews (he failed to bag only Yamauchi, Kuturagi, and Sam Tramiel) and years of research, the book delivers an authoritative yet personal view of the game industry, packed with great quotes and anecdotes. While some of the book will be well known (especially to readers of Next Gen), frequently the book exposes totally new (and fascinating) behind-the-scenes secrets. More than that though, it delivers the personal stories behind the facts, brining you the faces behind the games, and giving you a feel for what it's like to work with those people. If Phoenix is the game industry's textbook, this is its unauthorized biography. Both books are great on their own, but they also complement each other amazingly well -- reading one makes you want to reread the other immediately. We did have a few quibbles with The first Quarter. Frequently the text is too wordy, and several times we felt Steve was devoting too much space to minor issues that weren't worth it -- like a multi-page anecdote about Nintendo buying the Mariners --or glossing over bits we wanted to hear more on. (Sega's famous "Sega Scream" campaign gets far less ink than their nearly forgotten "Sega does what Ninten-don't" ads.) Those issues aside, though, this book is a major triumph, destined to stand with Hackers, Game Over, and Phoenix as "must reads" for anyone who cares about the game industry." --Chris Charla * Selected by the DigiPen Institute of Technology, the only school offering degrees in video game creation, as a textbook for the Game150 class. Steven L. Kent writes about interactive entertainment for MSNBC, USA Today, Delta Sky, Access, Chicago Tribune, Next Generation, and several other publications. Used Book in Good Condition