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The Console Chronicles: A Celebration of Console Gaming
The Console Chronicles will take you on a unique journey through the history of gaming platforms.
Fifty years ago, the home console was an anomaly that predated when everyone around the world knew the name Nintendo. With each passing generation, consoles evolved, their pixels exchanged for polygons. Over time, these machines gained popularity and brought the beginnings of a new artistic frontier. Consoles enabled split-screen chaos, late-night LAN parties, and interlinked online play – connecting friendships worldwide.
The Console Chronicles is the ultimate tribute to not only five decades of home console gaming, but to the incredible people, and their remarkable stories, which make our shared history special. Telling tales of sibling rivalries and disruptive ideas, personal resonance and technical triumph, this is a celebration of every system that you hold dear.
Fifty years ago, the home console was an anomaly that predated when everyone around the world knew the name Nintendo. With each passing generation, consoles evolved, their pixels exchanged for polygons. Over time, these machines gained popularity and brought the beginnings of a new artistic frontier. Consoles enabled split-screen chaos, late-night LAN parties, and interlinked online play – connecting friendships worldwide.
The Console Chronicles is the ultimate tribute to not only five decades of home console gaming, but to the incredible people, and their remarkable stories, which make our shared history special. Telling tales of sibling rivalries and disruptive ideas, personal resonance and technical triumph, this is a celebration of every system that you hold dear.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published September 12, 2024
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123 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 5, 2024
A great and beautiful looking primer to help gain a general understanding of video game history. Glossy pictures, plenty of text, features and personal stories about what the experience was like playing these consoles while games actively released for them.
Considering the question of the future of consoles is an open one, or at least consoles as idiosyncratic as those seen before the 7th Generation, I think this is a great opportunity to look at the paths consoles took towards the standardizations that we see today. It was fun!
Considering the question of the future of consoles is an open one, or at least consoles as idiosyncratic as those seen before the 7th Generation, I think this is a great opportunity to look at the paths consoles took towards the standardizations that we see today. It was fun!
November 23, 2025
It is extremely difficult to find a tome that can be treated as an immaculate coffee-table piece of art as well as providing solid and engaging textual information within in. But Lost in Cult pulls it off with aplomb in The Console Chronicles.
This hefty book could easily be thumbed through simply to look at the wonderful full-color images on every page. It is truly a work of art in that sense--telling the history of video game consoles without a word ever needing to be read.
But if you never read those words, you'd also be missing out on a lot here. Eschewing the traditional history lesson on consoles (which has been done to death in many previous works), here the Lost in Cult crew utilize personal essays to convey their thoughts on each console generation. This gives The Console Chronicles a personal touch unlike any other video game-centric tome I've ever cracked open. Sure, you may not personally relate to every essay here, but I respect the approach tremendously--as when it does hit an emotional nerve it is memorable and moving.
So, only the highest marks for The Console Chronicles from Lost in Cult. An absolutely perfect blend of information and images--I cannot imagine a better history of gaming consoles ever being constructed.
This hefty book could easily be thumbed through simply to look at the wonderful full-color images on every page. It is truly a work of art in that sense--telling the history of video game consoles without a word ever needing to be read.
But if you never read those words, you'd also be missing out on a lot here. Eschewing the traditional history lesson on consoles (which has been done to death in many previous works), here the Lost in Cult crew utilize personal essays to convey their thoughts on each console generation. This gives The Console Chronicles a personal touch unlike any other video game-centric tome I've ever cracked open. Sure, you may not personally relate to every essay here, but I respect the approach tremendously--as when it does hit an emotional nerve it is memorable and moving.
So, only the highest marks for The Console Chronicles from Lost in Cult. An absolutely perfect blend of information and images--I cannot imagine a better history of gaming consoles ever being constructed.
October 22, 2024
While not as obsessively detailed as some other gaming history books I’ve read, this one is a must own for all gamers out there. It covers most of the console releases that I can think of, from the myriad of Pong systems all the way up to the current generation of gaming machines.
Not only is this filled with a detailed history of each console, but it is filled with stories from people who grew up playing them during their formative years. A lot of the stories mirrored my own and brought back some good memories.
This is a beautiful and brilliantly executed history book that will look great on any gamer’s bookshelf or coffee table. Check it out!
Not only is this filled with a detailed history of each console, but it is filled with stories from people who grew up playing them during their formative years. A lot of the stories mirrored my own and brought back some good memories.
This is a beautiful and brilliantly executed history book that will look great on any gamer’s bookshelf or coffee table. Check it out!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews