Video game books?

[Marioro]

Yes this is a weird thing to ask for, but do you know any good books about games? Not really game design but game history itself is what interests me.

 

[YoshiFlutterJump]

Well, I found this, if that's what you're looking for.

 

[MoonAge]

my only and favorite-by-default game book console wars is a fantastic read on how exactly sega waged war with nintendo back in the 90s

I very much recommend it

 

[Glowsquid]

Though it’s only a tiny part of the content. G. Wayne Miller’s Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies that Make Them has some stuff about the NEMO system and Hasbro and Mattel’s ill fated venture in video games as well as the intersection of the video game and toy business (lots of talk about Mortal Kombat). It’s a great read if you have any interest in the toy industry (and the only book in existence to detail the creation of the cultural monument that is G.I. Joe Extreme!).

 

[Alex95]

I found a book in my library called The History of Super Mario a few years ago. Was pretty interesting.

 

[Jigglypurin]

i'm gonna list all the video game-related books on my shelf. Here we go.

Ready Player One
Game On!
Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Halo: The Fall of Reach
Halo: The Flood
Scott Pilgrim
Press Start to Play

And that's not even including the magazines!

 

[Alex95]

Was looking for gaming history, not book about games. Otherwise, I'd add a lot more myself :P

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Just want to add, is there anything great written about the history of women in gaming? There has to be some history on why this is so and why my demographic is so underrepresented.

 

[Marioro]

Underrepresented? There are plenty of kick ass, interesting woman characters in video games (not to mention a lot of man characters that suck ass too).

 

[Dr. Javelin]

the halo books have a good reputation. i read one and enjoyed it, forget which one though

i also read a bioshock book that was okay, but not really good enough to recommend

the republic commando series is pretty good, if you count those as video game books

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Underrepresented? There are plenty of kick ass, interesting woman characters in video games (not to mention a lot of man characters that suck ass too).

In terms of video games, it's actually fact that female characters, much less main female protagonists just aren't used as much, and when they are used, it's painfully clear a lot of times, it's made by horny teenagers inside grown men. It's super alienating to me whenever female characters are sexualized and so usually have a really really boring design that usually detracts from their character. They stop being characters and more overt tools at the mercy of the male-dominated development team. Perhaps it's a positive feedback loop. Women get alienated from this, women don't like or play games like this, developers try to appeal to men assuming that women wouldn't buy their games anyway. And I want to know a little background information on why this is so, because historically, women were dominant in tech. Video gaming didn't seem to me to be a sex discriminated activités until it started being marketed to boys. I'm sure there are books that try to analyze it, I'm sure.

 

[Marioro]

If only you could become a game developer yourself and show us your ideal female protagonist. Wouldn't you be interested in that?

 

[Cocoa]

The Zelda mangas.

They are highly addictive

 

[Marioro]

They don't exactly count as video game books.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

If only you could become a game developer yourself and show us your ideal female protagonist. Wouldn't you be interested in that?

Sure, I'm actually working on being a game developer but not as a character concept artist, more of a prop/environment artist (see here for one of my works) as it's a more realistic position. It's why I tend to ramble about 3D modeling jargon and all, have you noticed? And it'll help if I can learn some history on why I'm a minority where I am and what the current attitude toward females are; I might be able to get a boost among other equally qualified participants because I'm female.

Of course my ideal female protagonist would probably be a creature that doesn't even look feminine or all that humanoid, like a crow or something, but I'm only idly dreaming about stuff and I don't think it'll be much reality.

 

[winstein]

I've heard of Game Over, a book regarding Nintendo's early foray into the video game world.

But if you are somehow interested in reading something regarding a specific game, somehow a book on Wario Land 4 exists.

(Is this book covered in the Mario Wiki?)

Thank you for reading.

 

[Alex95]

If only you could become a game developer yourself and show us your ideal female protagonist. Wouldn't you be interested in that?

It's a lot of fun coming up with all kinds of different concepts :P

I've heard of Game Over, a book regarding Nintendo's early foray into the video game world.

But if you are somehow interested in reading something regarding a specific game, somehow a book on Wario Land 4 exists.

(Is this book covered in the Mario Wiki?)

Thank you for reading.

If it's officially endorsed by Nintendo, it should be. I think YoshiKong/Shokora would enjoy it