Jack McGowan

The book is presented in a retro comic art style (think Jack Kirby or newspaper comic strips) with semi-chronological order. I say semi because it takes priority of concepts and people over time frames. So be prepared to jump back and forth in time. The book focuses on the story of technological development behind video games (consoles, computers, corporate wars), not on video game titles over time. Some games are mentioned but not analyzed and definitely not the main focus.

Technology in general has always fascinated me, but more so, what kind of people are behind all the technological inventions that are now part of my everyday life. Well, I loved this book because it narrates just that, the human side of how things came to be in the evolution of video games; their desires, influences and choices. It is packed with historical facts about the early days of video games; all the way from the creation of the cathode ray tube (CTR) to Minecraft.

I think the drawing style adds up to the nostalgia feeling, something older generations would surely appreciate. Which takes me to the next point: if you belong to generation X (born 60's to early 80's) or don't mind figuring things out as you go, start reading without further ado. If you were born later than that, there are high chances you will miss some jokes and historical references (Do you know what I am talking about if I mention free AOL cds? no? then you fit this category). You can still understand the main idea from each panel, but you will be missing out part of the fun.

This is an enjoyable read, something that could suit a coffee table or be a good gift for gamers who don't know how their hobby came to be. This is not a reference book or historical source so i wouldn't recommend it for learning as the main purpose or else you might get disappointed (and confused). If you want to enjoy reading this book, take your time to look at the illustrations, research further, reflect and be ready to hunt for some game related easter eggs!. I got my eARC from Netgalley

… (meer)

A lot of interesting facts and stories are to be had here, but one must excavate them from the cruddy art and writing in this borderline one-star book. A stronger editorial hand was needed to address the huge problems with structure, consistency, pacing and quality.

My favorite moments of awfulness:

* The author cites Moore's law frequently throughout the book but never fully defines it.

* The author writes, "What in shorthand we refer to as 'the Sixties' was a complicated time. Urges to simplify and reduce them to a thumbnail sketch ought to be resisted," as an introduction to his simplified thumbnail sketch of the Sixties.

* The author decides to refer to all video game programmers and hardware engineers as hackers for a few dozen pages as he declares, "The technology was conceived and intended only for military, scientific, government, and industry use. So video games are themselves a 'hack!'"

* In a book with 99.9% original art, the artist recycles two panels for completely inexplicable reasons. See the angry woman in a car on pages 33 and 40 and the unnamed video game character (?) on pages 64 and 66.

* After spending about 160 pages covering 60 years, the last 20 years are dismissed in a mere ten pages. I guess there haven't been a lot of advances in video games since 2000 beyond Minecraft and Angry Birds. Go figure.… (meer)