What do you think?
Rate this book
Game Changers: The Video Game Revolution
An A to Z of video games – 300 entries showcasing the most influential and celebrated games, consoles, publishers, and more A visual history of all things video games, this book will provide the reader with an overview of the gaming industry, from the very first game created around the mid-twentieth century, right through to the present day. Particular focus is given to advances within the industry during this time, such as new technologies, innovative gameplay, never-before-seen graphics, and design. An introduction by Simon Parkin provides an overview of gaming history, and exploring how iconic games have pushed the boundaries of the medium and 300 entries, hand picked by a panel of industry experts, showcase the most influential and celebrated games, consoles, publishers, and more. Each entry is accompanied by text informing the reader about the game and its history, its place in wider popular culture, and including useful information and facts, with exciting and sometimes unexpected pairings provided by the A to Z organisation. A glossary of key words and select biographies of influential creators and developers provides more context and a system of icons and infographics allows readers to see the connections between the book’s 300 entries. Wider gaming culture, and how it has grown from a niche hobby to a worldwide phenomenon, influencing popular culture, is also explored, making this the widest ranging survey of games and gaming available today.
- GenresNonfiction
352 pages, Hardcover
Published September 14, 2023
3 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 12, 2024
This is a good book for those who have an interest in video games and their history.
The authors have put together a selection of different video games, companies and gaming systems that they believe play an important part in moving the video game industry forward, or made some kind of impact on the way we play games and how they are created. This selection spans from 1950s to 2022.
Each entry is mostly limited to one page, with a few paragraphs of history, short form review (some parts objective, some parts subjective) and screen shots of the game. As a side note some games have two pages instead of one but there seems to be no rhyme or reason for which entries get this treatment. It’s not as though the two page entries have more screenshots or more information. The pictures on these two page spreads are just enlarged. Perhaps they were trying to fill out the book but it already is quite large bulky and heavy. You may struggle reading this as a “lying down before bedtime” book like I did.
They also put a bunch of lesser known indie titles in there which was nice to see. If anything this book just added a bunch of games to my backlog that seemed cool or interesting
One gripe I have about this book is there just wasn’t enough information on each page! And I completely understand this is just a restriction of the format of being a book with only so much pages. And on that note I can see why books like this are few and far between. These days if we want: a list of curated games, a review, screenshots, trailers you name it. We can simply turn to the internet as an extensive and trusted resource. A book like this is simply not as practical.
I often found myself googling games I had not heard of before, or ones that I had heard of but wanted a more detailed review.
At the end of the day I personally did enjoy having a large list of games all in one book for me to slowly chip away at. But video review will forever remain the more popular format for a reason.
Overall four stars. Fun interesting read.
The authors have put together a selection of different video games, companies and gaming systems that they believe play an important part in moving the video game industry forward, or made some kind of impact on the way we play games and how they are created. This selection spans from 1950s to 2022.
Each entry is mostly limited to one page, with a few paragraphs of history, short form review (some parts objective, some parts subjective) and screen shots of the game. As a side note some games have two pages instead of one but there seems to be no rhyme or reason for which entries get this treatment. It’s not as though the two page entries have more screenshots or more information. The pictures on these two page spreads are just enlarged. Perhaps they were trying to fill out the book but it already is quite large bulky and heavy. You may struggle reading this as a “lying down before bedtime” book like I did.
They also put a bunch of lesser known indie titles in there which was nice to see. If anything this book just added a bunch of games to my backlog that seemed cool or interesting
One gripe I have about this book is there just wasn’t enough information on each page! And I completely understand this is just a restriction of the format of being a book with only so much pages. And on that note I can see why books like this are few and far between. These days if we want: a list of curated games, a review, screenshots, trailers you name it. We can simply turn to the internet as an extensive and trusted resource. A book like this is simply not as practical.
I often found myself googling games I had not heard of before, or ones that I had heard of but wanted a more detailed review.
At the end of the day I personally did enjoy having a large list of games all in one book for me to slowly chip away at. But video review will forever remain the more popular format for a reason.
Overall four stars. Fun interesting read.
February 13, 2024
This book is many things: a coffee table book, an overview of the gaming industry’s history, an exploration into some of the most influential games and consoles and a a carefully curated list.
The book is really well done: the hardcover is great, the quality of the paper is high, the pictures and page layouts beautiful and the narratives/summaries precise and to the point.
Ultimately I give this 3 stars because the book does many good things but nothing great. I would have liked more in-depth histories of key games, less of others, more pictures of gameplay, etc. The book is also huge and heavy which is difficult to transport and forces the reader to read it from home only.
Still a solid read and it made me want to spend more time revisiting old games, which is why I borrowed the book from the library in the first place.
The book is really well done: the hardcover is great, the quality of the paper is high, the pictures and page layouts beautiful and the narratives/summaries precise and to the point.
Ultimately I give this 3 stars because the book does many good things but nothing great. I would have liked more in-depth histories of key games, less of others, more pictures of gameplay, etc. The book is also huge and heavy which is difficult to transport and forces the reader to read it from home only.
Still a solid read and it made me want to spend more time revisiting old games, which is why I borrowed the book from the library in the first place.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews