The Ultimate History of Video Games

Berglund Authority Level 3

by Jeffrey Barlow <barlowj@pacificu.edu>

Kent, Steven L. The Ultimate History of Video Games. Prima Publishing, 2001..

For those of us of a certain age, it is very difficult to take video games seriously. We have argued elsewhere, however, that there are many reasons to do so. [1] The most often cited such reason is simply that the industry makes far more money than does Hollywood.

For those who are interested in computer gaming, or its place in the cultural impact of the Internet, we would still regard Kushner's Masters of Doom as the masterpiece in the genre, but there are many books that are worth reading. The Ultimate History of Video Games is essentially an encyclopedic history of the industry, organized by the chronological development of important segments of it, focused upon the games themselves and their creators, and those who managed to make them an economic force through clever merchandising and distribution.

The primary virtue of The Ultimate History of Video Games is that the author managed to interview almost everyone of significance (and he tells us who he failed to interview) in the development of the industry, from programmers and artists to CEOs and venture capitalists. Another virtue of the book is that it pays real attention to development outside the United States, and particularly to the development of gaming in Japan and its subsequent impact in the U.S. It was particularly interesting to learn that Japan, long thought to be hostile to the more spontaneous and informal ways of the computer industry, was the place where many American video game entrepreneurs and their companies in fact began.

This focus upon key personalities in the development of particular segments of the industry gives the reader a very broad view. We see the industry through the eyes of creative programmers who cared little for the money to be earned, and then later through the eyes of managerial types who saw the games as just another form of product, and one in which they personally were little interested.

Kent also does an excellent job of putting the industry into the context of .com capitalism. The morphs, mergers, sudden disappearances, and remarkable rebirths of some of the companies in the industry would themselves make a passable game.

At present it would be easy to argue that the international collectivity of computer gamers still exist largely under our cultural radar. They seem to be little more than an epiphenomenal impact of the Internet. For millions internationally, however, the impact is significant indeed. If you want to understand the historical development of that industry, and the many fascinating personalities who have contributed to its growth, you might well secure a copy of The Ultimate History... .

Jeffrey Barlow
Editor, Interface.

[1] See for example, our review of David Kushner's fine work, Masters of Doom. Random House, 2003, at http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2003/04/kushner.php