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The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games
The First A 25-year History of Video Games is an insider's look at the entertainment novelty that drove the evolution of high-technology. The book was compiled from more than 500 first-hand interviews with such people as Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari), Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Donkey Kong), Toru Iwatani (designer of Pac-Man), etc. Above all, this book provides an intimate look into the lives of a group of brilliant and quirky people, and the sometimes serious and sometimes wacky way they ran their business.
466 pages, Paperback
First published September 25, 2001
142 people want to read
About the author
Steven L. Kent
36 books242 followersSteven L. Kent is the author of the Rogue Clone series of Military Science Fiction novels as well as The Ultimate History of Video Games.
Born in California and raised in Hawaii, Kent served as a missionary for the LDS Church between the years of 1979 and 1981. During that time, he worked as a Spanish-speaking missionary serving migrant farm workers in southern Idaho.
While Kent has a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and a Master’s degree in communications from Brigham Young University, he claims that his most important education came from life.
He learned important lessons from working with farm laborers in Idaho. Later, from 1986 through 1988, Kent worked as a telemarketer selling TV Guide and Inc. Magazine. His years on the phone helped him develop an ear for dialog.
In 1987, Kent reviewed the Stephen King novels Misery and The Eyes of the Dragon for the Seattle Times. A diehard Stephen King fan, Kent later admitted that he pitched the reviews to the Times so that he could afford to buy the books.
In 1993, upon returning to Seattle after a five-year absence, Kent pitched a review of “virtual haunted houses” for the Halloween issue of the Seattle Times. He reviewed the games The Seventh Guest, Alone in the Dark, and Legacy. Not only did this review land Kent three free PC games, it started him on a new career path.
By the middle of 1994, when Kent found himself laid off from his job at a PR agency, he became a full-time freelance journalist. He wrote monthly pieces for the Seattle Times along with regular features and reviews for Electronic Games, CDRom Today, ComputerLife, and NautilusCD. In later years, he would write for American Heritage, Parade, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune and many other publications. He wrote regular columns for MSNBC, Next Generation, the Japan Times, and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
In 2000, Kent self-published The First Quarter: A 25-year History of Video Games. That book was later purchased and re-published as The Ultimate History of Video Games by the Prima, Three River Press, and Crown divisions of Random House.
During his career as a games journalist, Kent wrote the entries on video games for Encarta and the Encyclopedia Americana. At the invitation of Senator Joseph Lieberman, Kent has spoken at the annual Report Card on Video Game Violence in Washington D.C.
Born in California and raised in Hawaii, Kent served as a missionary for the LDS Church between the years of 1979 and 1981. During that time, he worked as a Spanish-speaking missionary serving migrant farm workers in southern Idaho.
While Kent has a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and a Master’s degree in communications from Brigham Young University, he claims that his most important education came from life.
He learned important lessons from working with farm laborers in Idaho. Later, from 1986 through 1988, Kent worked as a telemarketer selling TV Guide and Inc. Magazine. His years on the phone helped him develop an ear for dialog.
In 1987, Kent reviewed the Stephen King novels Misery and The Eyes of the Dragon for the Seattle Times. A diehard Stephen King fan, Kent later admitted that he pitched the reviews to the Times so that he could afford to buy the books.
In 1993, upon returning to Seattle after a five-year absence, Kent pitched a review of “virtual haunted houses” for the Halloween issue of the Seattle Times. He reviewed the games The Seventh Guest, Alone in the Dark, and Legacy. Not only did this review land Kent three free PC games, it started him on a new career path.
By the middle of 1994, when Kent found himself laid off from his job at a PR agency, he became a full-time freelance journalist. He wrote monthly pieces for the Seattle Times along with regular features and reviews for Electronic Games, CDRom Today, ComputerLife, and NautilusCD. In later years, he would write for American Heritage, Parade, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune and many other publications. He wrote regular columns for MSNBC, Next Generation, the Japan Times, and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
In 2000, Kent self-published The First Quarter: A 25-year History of Video Games. That book was later purchased and re-published as The Ultimate History of Video Games by the Prima, Three River Press, and Crown divisions of Random House.
During his career as a games journalist, Kent wrote the entries on video games for Encarta and the Encyclopedia Americana. At the invitation of Senator Joseph Lieberman, Kent has spoken at the annual Report Card on Video Game Violence in Washington D.C.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 8, 2015
The first problem with this book is the title. First quarter? The book never mentions a first quarter. There is no story of this first quarter being put into a machine, video game or otherwise. I could have settled for a washing machine even.
Also when is this 25-year history? The book starts way back in the coin-op pinball industry in the 60s and ends up in about 2005. That's more than 25 years!
The second problem is the editing. I don't mind if there are a few typos, an "insure" when it should be "ensure" or even an "it's" that squeaks by, but there are glaring errors on almost every page of this thing. "Then" was used instead of "than" at least a handful of times, Julius Erving was misspelled as "Irving" throughout, and even one of the game programmers' names got typoed a few times. And it's not just typos -- whole passages are italicized when the shouldn't be or regular typeface when it shouldn't be, whole words are missing at times and punctuation is an afterthought. Like i said, i don't normally care about this sort of thing but such a sloppy edit really is distracting and makes it look like an amateur publication.
Furthermore, the writing just isn't great. it reads mostly like a history book and with limited transitions. sure, it can be hard to tie this whole thing up neatly, but with the title suggesting "The First Quarter" i was at least hoping for some kind of story to follow. The end was seriously just a paragraph stating that the author didn't quite know where to end it and kept adding things as the years went on, and then "The Cycle Continues."
However, this really is an impressive collection of interviews, likely of interest to anyone who cares about videogames from the 80s and 90s.
The most cohesive storyline in this book concerns Atari, and it's a pretty interesting one that sets the stage for the rest of the industry.
It's obvious how much work must have gone into this thing, and it delivers at least in the part about being a history of games. In 460 pages, it still left out quite a bit and hardly mentions the PC games from the 90s, but there's really only so much you can cover without getting just plain ridiculous. I guess i just could have gone with more focus on the 25-year part, say 1970 to 1995. As it was, i was on page 200 or so and barely getting to the Atari 5200, which came out around 1982. Way too much about pinball and pong.
The Nintendo vs. Sega storyline was good, and i hadn't heard a lot of that before, but it kind of loses steam after that. with such a mature and sophisticated industry, i think it can be difficult to keep a tight narrative. However, the book remains interesting and the Sony introduction with Playstation was a neat read.
Like i said, it really is an impressive collection of interviews, and a good history lesson, but it mostly fails as a book. The best part was remembering my experience with these games and the memories around them, when the goal should be for the best part to be reading the book.
Also when is this 25-year history? The book starts way back in the coin-op pinball industry in the 60s and ends up in about 2005. That's more than 25 years!
The second problem is the editing. I don't mind if there are a few typos, an "insure" when it should be "ensure" or even an "it's" that squeaks by, but there are glaring errors on almost every page of this thing. "Then" was used instead of "than" at least a handful of times, Julius Erving was misspelled as "Irving" throughout, and even one of the game programmers' names got typoed a few times. And it's not just typos -- whole passages are italicized when the shouldn't be or regular typeface when it shouldn't be, whole words are missing at times and punctuation is an afterthought. Like i said, i don't normally care about this sort of thing but such a sloppy edit really is distracting and makes it look like an amateur publication.
Furthermore, the writing just isn't great. it reads mostly like a history book and with limited transitions. sure, it can be hard to tie this whole thing up neatly, but with the title suggesting "The First Quarter" i was at least hoping for some kind of story to follow. The end was seriously just a paragraph stating that the author didn't quite know where to end it and kept adding things as the years went on, and then "The Cycle Continues."
However, this really is an impressive collection of interviews, likely of interest to anyone who cares about videogames from the 80s and 90s.
The most cohesive storyline in this book concerns Atari, and it's a pretty interesting one that sets the stage for the rest of the industry.
It's obvious how much work must have gone into this thing, and it delivers at least in the part about being a history of games. In 460 pages, it still left out quite a bit and hardly mentions the PC games from the 90s, but there's really only so much you can cover without getting just plain ridiculous. I guess i just could have gone with more focus on the 25-year part, say 1970 to 1995. As it was, i was on page 200 or so and barely getting to the Atari 5200, which came out around 1982. Way too much about pinball and pong.
The Nintendo vs. Sega storyline was good, and i hadn't heard a lot of that before, but it kind of loses steam after that. with such a mature and sophisticated industry, i think it can be difficult to keep a tight narrative. However, the book remains interesting and the Sony introduction with Playstation was a neat read.
Like i said, it really is an impressive collection of interviews, and a good history lesson, but it mostly fails as a book. The best part was remembering my experience with these games and the memories around them, when the goal should be for the best part to be reading the book.
September 3, 2011
The First Quarter is an informative and occasionally engrossing look at the first twenty-five years of the video game industry. It starts with a history of "arcade" games including pinball, without which video games would not exist.
The stories feature the big players of the era. Atari, Nintendo, Sega and people like Trip Hawkins, the founder of Electronic Arts. They are all excellent.
It's a good read if you lived through the era or if you're interested in the history of the Golden Age of video games.
The stories feature the big players of the era. Atari, Nintendo, Sega and people like Trip Hawkins, the founder of Electronic Arts. They are all excellent.
It's a good read if you lived through the era or if you're interested in the history of the Golden Age of video games.
June 17, 2007
Well-done book of the history of the first 25 years of video games. Very few flaws.
January 6, 2021
very strong in the early parts, especially the image of millions of unsold and unsellable atari games bulldozed into desert landfills in the 80s, a set piece on the abject waste of capitalism in the overproduction and consequent destruction of luxury goods. that political point is an inference we can draw, of course, as the text is not so political. it comes apart at the seams in the later portions--late 80s and thereafter, as there no way a volume of this size can keep up with the growth and diversity of domestic ludics.
August 20, 2014
A really great read! Kent offers lots of nice details and, though his sources are rather limited, manages to create a lovely story full of colour and nostalgia. There are quite a few errors and typos (how many megabytes did the 2600 have, again? :D Or, Psygnosis was only known for Lemmings? Really?), but not to the point of distracting from the story.
Highly enjoyable.
Highly enjoyable.
January 23, 2015
Very Delightful book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews