The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
I wasn't sure where to post this topic so I guess FOG will have to do.
I guess that since you are reading this that, like me, you are a fan of video games.
Last weekend a friend of mine gave me a book called "The first quarter - a 25 year history of video games", and so I'd like to share a few thoughts on this with you.
This is a great book for anyone who's ever wondered what life was like in the very early days of video gaming. Also it is a great source of nostalgia for any gaming old-timers like me.
It covers all the main video game events over the last 25 years, from Pinball to Atari to Vectrex to Nintendo to Commodore to Playstation, etc. etc.
It is amazing to think that at one time Pinball was banned in most states in America. It was associated with organised crime and gambling, and this fact nearly broke the back of the video game industry before it even took off until one developer could successfully demonstrate that Pinball was a game of skill rather than a game of chance.
Then along came Atari. Did you know Atari comes from the Japanese work for "Check" (as in chess). Atari really sounded like a great place to work, as long as you didn't mind drinking and smoking pot all day !
Atari brought out some of the very first arcade machines (and yes Pong gets a lot of coverage in the early parts of the book - did you know Pong is not actually the first video game ?).
Eventually many rifts formed in Atari, with some senior designers leaving to form another company called Sente (meaning Checkmate !!).
And the money these guys made !! My God.
The book progresses to tell about Bally, Midway and so on and the many many legal battles over the first videogames.
Here's an interesting one.... Warner Brothers tried to bring video gaming to its knees by sueing Nintendo for bringing out Donkey Kong. Apparently Warner claimed they held all rights to the King Kong and Kong names, and that Donkey Kong was a complete rip off.
However, Nintendo stuck to their guns and won the case.
I won't keep rambling on at you, spouting facts from the history of gaming. I will say though that this is a really interesting book, and I can highly recommend it for those hours when you're not glued to a screen.
Buy it and enjoy it.
KevD.
I guess that since you are reading this that, like me, you are a fan of video games.
Last weekend a friend of mine gave me a book called "The first quarter - a 25 year history of video games", and so I'd like to share a few thoughts on this with you.
This is a great book for anyone who's ever wondered what life was like in the very early days of video gaming. Also it is a great source of nostalgia for any gaming old-timers like me.
It covers all the main video game events over the last 25 years, from Pinball to Atari to Vectrex to Nintendo to Commodore to Playstation, etc. etc.
It is amazing to think that at one time Pinball was banned in most states in America. It was associated with organised crime and gambling, and this fact nearly broke the back of the video game industry before it even took off until one developer could successfully demonstrate that Pinball was a game of skill rather than a game of chance.
Then along came Atari. Did you know Atari comes from the Japanese work for "Check" (as in chess). Atari really sounded like a great place to work, as long as you didn't mind drinking and smoking pot all day !
Atari brought out some of the very first arcade machines (and yes Pong gets a lot of coverage in the early parts of the book - did you know Pong is not actually the first video game ?).
Eventually many rifts formed in Atari, with some senior designers leaving to form another company called Sente (meaning Checkmate !!).
And the money these guys made !! My God.
The book progresses to tell about Bally, Midway and so on and the many many legal battles over the first videogames.
Here's an interesting one.... Warner Brothers tried to bring video gaming to its knees by sueing Nintendo for bringing out Donkey Kong. Apparently Warner claimed they held all rights to the King Kong and Kong names, and that Donkey Kong was a complete rip off.
However, Nintendo stuck to their guns and won the case.
I won't keep rambling on at you, spouting facts from the history of gaming. I will say though that this is a really interesting book, and I can highly recommend it for those hours when you're not glued to a screen.
Buy it and enjoy it.
KevD.
Wasnt this posted a couple of days back?
I wasn't sure where to post this topic so I guess FOG will have to do.
I guess that since you are reading this that, like me, you are a fan of video games.
Last weekend a friend of mine gave me a book called "The first quarter - a 25 year history of video games", and so I'd like to share a few thoughts on this with you.
This is a great book for anyone who's ever wondered what life was like in the very early days of video gaming. Also it is a great source of nostalgia for any gaming old-timers like me.
It covers all the main video game events over the last 25 years, from Pinball to Atari to Vectrex to Nintendo to Commodore to Playstation, etc. etc.
It is amazing to think that at one time Pinball was banned in most states in America. It was associated with organised crime and gambling, and this fact nearly broke the back of the video game industry before it even took off until one developer could successfully demonstrate that Pinball was a game of skill rather than a game of chance.
Then along came Atari. Did you know Atari comes from the Japanese work for "Check" (as in chess). Atari really sounded like a great place to work, as long as you didn't mind drinking and smoking pot all day !
Atari brought out some of the very first arcade machines (and yes Pong gets a lot of coverage in the early parts of the book - did you know Pong is not actually the first video game ?).
Eventually many rifts formed in Atari, with some senior designers leaving to form another company called Sente (meaning Checkmate !!).
And the money these guys made !! My God.
The book progresses to tell about Bally, Midway and so on and the many many legal battles over the first videogames.
Here's an interesting one.... Warner Brothers tried to bring video gaming to its knees by sueing Nintendo for bringing out Donkey Kong. Apparently Warner claimed they held all rights to the King Kong and Kong names, and that Donkey Kong was a complete rip off.
However, Nintendo stuck to their guns and won the case.
I won't keep rambling on at you, spouting facts from the history of gaming. I will say though that this is a really interesting book, and I can highly recommend it for those hours when you're not glued to a screen.
Buy it and enjoy it.
KevD.
I guess that since you are reading this that, like me, you are a fan of video games.
Last weekend a friend of mine gave me a book called "The first quarter - a 25 year history of video games", and so I'd like to share a few thoughts on this with you.
This is a great book for anyone who's ever wondered what life was like in the very early days of video gaming. Also it is a great source of nostalgia for any gaming old-timers like me.
It covers all the main video game events over the last 25 years, from Pinball to Atari to Vectrex to Nintendo to Commodore to Playstation, etc. etc.
It is amazing to think that at one time Pinball was banned in most states in America. It was associated with organised crime and gambling, and this fact nearly broke the back of the video game industry before it even took off until one developer could successfully demonstrate that Pinball was a game of skill rather than a game of chance.
Then along came Atari. Did you know Atari comes from the Japanese work for "Check" (as in chess). Atari really sounded like a great place to work, as long as you didn't mind drinking and smoking pot all day !
Atari brought out some of the very first arcade machines (and yes Pong gets a lot of coverage in the early parts of the book - did you know Pong is not actually the first video game ?).
Eventually many rifts formed in Atari, with some senior designers leaving to form another company called Sente (meaning Checkmate !!).
And the money these guys made !! My God.
The book progresses to tell about Bally, Midway and so on and the many many legal battles over the first videogames.
Here's an interesting one.... Warner Brothers tried to bring video gaming to its knees by sueing Nintendo for bringing out Donkey Kong. Apparently Warner claimed they held all rights to the King Kong and Kong names, and that Donkey Kong was a complete rip off.
However, Nintendo stuck to their guns and won the case.
I won't keep rambling on at you, spouting facts from the history of gaming. I will say though that this is a really interesting book, and I can highly recommend it for those hours when you're not glued to a screen.
Buy it and enjoy it.
KevD.