Any good video game history/development/story books out?

Any good books out on video game systems and companies telling for example, how the console was developed, what decisions had to be made and so forth? I would like to find some books related to like pc-engine, dreamcast, ps2, nintendo and so forth. Even books about how a company like nintendo started. The only good books I see so far is the opening the x-box book.

Some examples of what I am looking for:

Masters of Doom : How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture

Opening the Xbox : Inside Microsoft's Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution (Hardcover)

Sorta related:
Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering (Paperback)

 

Not necessarly about a console, but i highly recomend "Half Life 2: Raising the bar". Just finished reading that last night, and it's a pretty good book. I've heard good things about "Game Over" too, but i haven't read that one yet.

 

I loved "game over". It was very well written and fair. He doesn't give his opinions on Nintendo's strategy, and he sets the stage for the console wars of the late nineties.

 

which game over?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/06...102-1751051-8495319?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

or

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/09...102-1751051-8495319?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

 

It's the same book, under two different titles, the second one is the correct title. Just look at the authors

 

I have that book, though I haven't finished reading it. I would recommend it a good resource to use for research papers, and is in depth with Nintendo's history.

 

how exactly can the words "Look Inside" be trademarked? *points to Mark30001's post above*

 

Googlezon can do whatever they want. Stop asking questions or they'll disappear you.


...word is bondage...

 

Amazon.com rigged the piccy. :110:

 

Aside from the already mentioned Game Over

I found the Ultimate History of Video Games to be an enjoyable read, its very easy going but wont last very long. It`s not the most in depth book, but enjoyable, even though a fair bit of the information is common knowledge

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/203-8988272-8840717


Found it in the sales of a local bookstore for cheap.

 

Japanese books about a system's development history are more common. If you can read Japanese, the following are great:

Sega Consumer History http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4757707894/qid=1142903601/249-5111217-1502732
Sega Arcade History http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos...3661/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_10_4/249-5111217-1502732

 

One of these days, if I ever have money again, I'm totally going to get that Sega Consumer History book (oh, what the hell, as long as I'm assuming that I'll ever have money, I might as well plan to get both of them). That looks absolutely beautiful. From what I've seen of them, they're glossy pseudo-magazines or almost like softcover coffee table books, which mean they're loaded with color pictures and so even if you don't read Japanese, they seem like they'd be really cool to have.


...word is bondage...

 

Did anyone ever figure out where that nintendo book from the front page came from? I've heard it's an e3 book, but last i heard, no one has confirmed it.

 

Sheff's Game Over is required reading. I also enjoyed Power Up by Chris Kohler - clearly a complete videogame obsessive. I've often found that books on games tend to be easy to pick factual holes in, but I didn't find much wrong with Power Up.

 

if you would also consider pc games you just have to read "Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture" the book abóut idsoftware from the beginning even before commander keen to quake and after it very funny to read

 

Can't recommend enough Masters of Doom and Ultimate History, really entertaining and fun. I'm still reading Game Over, and it's also very good. With some luck I might be able to get Opening the xbox before the sequel, about the 360, comes out.

There's also Revolutionaries at Sony,wich is all about the Playstation, but it's very expensive.

 

Trigger Happy (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841151211/ref=pd_ir_imp91/026-9553157-4006852?%5Fencoding=UTF8)
is a very good book. Definitely worth the read.

Edit:
Not sure if this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1559705981/ref=br_lf_b_1/026-9553157-4006852) is the updated release. The author knows his stuff though, and it is from an academic perspective as well.

 

Trigger happy is great, I just got finished reading it myself - not much history in there though, it's mostly conjecture about the nature of games. I've got the second one Taucias linked, and it's a 2004 reprint of the 2001 original with a little bit of an update at the end. And yeah, some of it is reasonably academic.

 

Too bad theres isnt a book about the internal power struggle SEGA had back in the 90s