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Vintage Games 2.0: An Insider Look at the Most Influential Games of All Time
Super Mario Bros. Doom. Minecraft. It s hard to imagine what life would be like today without video games, a creative industry that now towers over Hollywood in terms of both financial and cultural impact. The video game industry caters to everyone, with games in every genre for every conceivable electronic device--from dedicated PC gaming rigs and consoles to handhelds, mobile phones, and tablets. Successful games are produced by mega-corporations, independent studios, and even lone developers working with nothing but free tools. Some may still believe that video games are mere diversions for children, but today s games offer sophisticated and wondrously immersive experiences that no other media can hope to match.
Vintage Games 2.0 tells the story of the ultimate storytelling medium, from early examples such as "Spacewar! "and "Pong "to the mind blowing console and PC titles of today. Written in a smart and engaging style, this updated 2nd edition is far more than just a survey of the classics. Informed by hundreds of in-depth personal interviews with designers, publishers, marketers, and artists--not to mention the author s own lifelong experience as a gamer--Vintage Games 2.0 uncovers the remarkable feats of intellectual genius, but also the inspiring personal struggles of the world s most brilliant and celebrated game designers--figures like Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, and Roberta Williams. Ideal for both beginners and professionals, Vintage Games 2.0 offers an entertaining and inspiring account of video game s history and meteoric rise from niche market to global phenomenon."
Vintage Games 2.0 tells the story of the ultimate storytelling medium, from early examples such as "Spacewar! "and "Pong "to the mind blowing console and PC titles of today. Written in a smart and engaging style, this updated 2nd edition is far more than just a survey of the classics. Informed by hundreds of in-depth personal interviews with designers, publishers, marketers, and artists--not to mention the author s own lifelong experience as a gamer--Vintage Games 2.0 uncovers the remarkable feats of intellectual genius, but also the inspiring personal struggles of the world s most brilliant and celebrated game designers--figures like Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, and Roberta Williams. Ideal for both beginners and professionals, Vintage Games 2.0 offers an entertaining and inspiring account of video game s history and meteoric rise from niche market to global phenomenon."
376 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 26, 2016
Matt Barton knows how to tell stories, and he knows how to tell stories across the spectrum of media. Between books and his popular "Matt Chat" series of video podcasts, he's interviewed dozens of developers in his quest to document how games are made, and not just who's-who names like John Romero and Richard "Lord British" Garriott. Some of Barton's most memorable interviews are ones where he talks to wizards who, for one reason or another, stayed behind the curtain of some of the best games of all time.
Barton's interview style, a laidback, conversational tone that encourages developers to dig into the nitty-gritty of their experiences, made the jump to Vintage Games 2.0, his latest and best book that delves into the histories of the names you know and ones you don't but should.
The original Vintage Games was published in 2009. While well-written, it suffered from a confusing structure. Barton's goal with the book, to provide an insider's view on some of the most influential games of all time, was hobbled by the decision to structure it alphabetically. It's difficult to make clear just how much game design and technology has evolved when you jump straight from Castle Wolfenstein (1981) to Dance Dance Revolution (1998), then back down to Diablo ('96) and Doom ('93).
Vintage Games 2.0's structure is both more welcoming and more intuitive. Barton writes about games in chronological order, and organizes chapters into eras with an introduction at each dividing line that sets the stage for the games and creators that follow. And unlike the first book, Vintage Games 2.0 is printed in glorious full color, complete with screenshots, photographs, and box art.
Barton gives games their due by blocking off an entire chapter for each one. Chapters conclude with information on how to play the game in question, an invaluable resources for readers interested in experiencing games made before their time but that exerted considerable influence over contemporary titles.
Best of all, Barton draws deep from first- and secondhand sources to emphasize intimate details about—and in cases where he pulls from his vast archive of interviews, anecdotes from—the developers who made games like Space Invaders, Elite, Super Mario Bros., Rogue, Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto III, and more. For example, the makers of Wizardry modeled elements of their game after Oubliette. Barton points this out, but goes a step further by talking to the makers of Oubliette to get their take on criticisms that Wizardry cribbed perhaps too much from their game, which predated Wizardry but is less well-known due to being available only on PLATO terminals at universities.
Reading Vintage Games 2.0 is like sitting down with Barton to have a few drinks and listen to him tell stories he's accumulated over years of excellent conversations and research. My biggest knock against the book is its asking price—between $45 and $55 depending on where you buy. That's for a steep trade-sized paperback, even one as beautifully crafted as Vintage Games 2.0. At the same time, you'll get what you pay for and then some.
Aside from that, my issues amount to quibbles. Some sections could have used extra editing in terms of both factual errors and typos. The first time Barton discusses Halo, referenced in his Doom chapter, he repeatedly spells the developer as "Bungee" instead of "Bungie," the correct spelling used in Halo's chapter later in the book.
Another example: he wrote that players advance their Diablo characters via a skill tree. In fact, Diablo 2 uses a skill tree; in Diablo 1, players allocate attribute points across five stats every time they level up. Again, these are minor gaffes, but will stand out to players familiar with the dozens of games Barton examines.
Barton's interview style, a laidback, conversational tone that encourages developers to dig into the nitty-gritty of their experiences, made the jump to Vintage Games 2.0, his latest and best book that delves into the histories of the names you know and ones you don't but should.
The original Vintage Games was published in 2009. While well-written, it suffered from a confusing structure. Barton's goal with the book, to provide an insider's view on some of the most influential games of all time, was hobbled by the decision to structure it alphabetically. It's difficult to make clear just how much game design and technology has evolved when you jump straight from Castle Wolfenstein (1981) to Dance Dance Revolution (1998), then back down to Diablo ('96) and Doom ('93).
Vintage Games 2.0's structure is both more welcoming and more intuitive. Barton writes about games in chronological order, and organizes chapters into eras with an introduction at each dividing line that sets the stage for the games and creators that follow. And unlike the first book, Vintage Games 2.0 is printed in glorious full color, complete with screenshots, photographs, and box art.
Barton gives games their due by blocking off an entire chapter for each one. Chapters conclude with information on how to play the game in question, an invaluable resources for readers interested in experiencing games made before their time but that exerted considerable influence over contemporary titles.
Best of all, Barton draws deep from first- and secondhand sources to emphasize intimate details about—and in cases where he pulls from his vast archive of interviews, anecdotes from—the developers who made games like Space Invaders, Elite, Super Mario Bros., Rogue, Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto III, and more. For example, the makers of Wizardry modeled elements of their game after Oubliette. Barton points this out, but goes a step further by talking to the makers of Oubliette to get their take on criticisms that Wizardry cribbed perhaps too much from their game, which predated Wizardry but is less well-known due to being available only on PLATO terminals at universities.
Reading Vintage Games 2.0 is like sitting down with Barton to have a few drinks and listen to him tell stories he's accumulated over years of excellent conversations and research. My biggest knock against the book is its asking price—between $45 and $55 depending on where you buy. That's for a steep trade-sized paperback, even one as beautifully crafted as Vintage Games 2.0. At the same time, you'll get what you pay for and then some.
Aside from that, my issues amount to quibbles. Some sections could have used extra editing in terms of both factual errors and typos. The first time Barton discusses Halo, referenced in his Doom chapter, he repeatedly spells the developer as "Bungee" instead of "Bungie," the correct spelling used in Halo's chapter later in the book.
Another example: he wrote that players advance their Diablo characters via a skill tree. In fact, Diablo 2 uses a skill tree; in Diablo 1, players allocate attribute points across five stats every time they level up. Again, these are minor gaffes, but will stand out to players familiar with the dozens of games Barton examines.
December 16, 2019
Goes through many influential games in chronological order, with each game having its own dedicated chapter. These chapters are then grouped by his classification of The Innovators, The Early Adopters, The Early Majority, The Late Majority and The Laggards. I won't list them all but he covers the likes of Space Invaders, Pong, Pole Position, Flight Simulator, Sim City, Wasteland, Myst, The Sims, Dance Dance Revolution, and World Of Warcraft.
Each chapter tells the background of how the game come to be: What the developer/publisher's position in the market was, how the game's designer came up with the idea, how successful it was, what it was ported to, sequels, and which games it influenced.
Aimed at people wanting to know a bit more detail of influential games; either people wanting to learn about games before their time, or maybe older gamers wanting to reminisce.
Many facts were quite interesting. I've heard some of these facts before in isolation, but it was nice reading the backstory for many of these games. Although gaming is now widely accepted and ubiquitous, it wasn't always the case. It was interesting reading stories of the Donkey Kong arcade game being Nintendo's big break into the US market after their previous initial failure of Radar Scope. These “failure, then success” stories are interesting because you discover the risks and perseverance of the developers involved.
The writing style is fairly formal, but the occasional quotes add an informal tone. Sometimes the author throws a gaming reference in there without explaining it, so it's more of an inside joke. Early on, the book mentions “midway games” and I was a little confused if this meant the company “Midway” or if this was some kind of genre, or other description. The chapters following on from this do use the term “Midway games” to refer to games by the company Midway. Maybe it was just incorrectly lower-case.
Each chapter tells the background of how the game come to be: What the developer/publisher's position in the market was, how the game's designer came up with the idea, how successful it was, what it was ported to, sequels, and which games it influenced.
Aimed at people wanting to know a bit more detail of influential games; either people wanting to learn about games before their time, or maybe older gamers wanting to reminisce.
Many facts were quite interesting. I've heard some of these facts before in isolation, but it was nice reading the backstory for many of these games. Although gaming is now widely accepted and ubiquitous, it wasn't always the case. It was interesting reading stories of the Donkey Kong arcade game being Nintendo's big break into the US market after their previous initial failure of Radar Scope. These “failure, then success” stories are interesting because you discover the risks and perseverance of the developers involved.
The writing style is fairly formal, but the occasional quotes add an informal tone. Sometimes the author throws a gaming reference in there without explaining it, so it's more of an inside joke. Early on, the book mentions “midway games” and I was a little confused if this meant the company “Midway” or if this was some kind of genre, or other description. The chapters following on from this do use the term “Midway games” to refer to games by the company Midway. Maybe it was just incorrectly lower-case.
May 11, 2023
A fun read
This book was a lot of fun to read, though it is already getting dated eight years later. I've dabbled with videogames since the days of Pong and have played many of the games in this book, but there were definitely some revelations for me in here. Games I had missed somehow or remembered hearing about, but not playing. I'm motivated to find some of those titles now.
One complaint I have about the book is the inevitable problem any book about technology has: becoming outdated. The book doesn't contain any of the current generation of consoles or PC games and the Nintendo Switch was still a rumor at the time the book was published.
The bigger complaint is that this book could really have used some copy-editing. There are typos a-plenty, including a few cringe-worthy ones. Also there were issues like mixed up captions for images or surprisingly poor quality images. Really, you couldn't find an image of that classic game box without a big blank space on the front where the price tag was ripped off?
All in all, a worthwhile read, though. I look forward to Vintage Games 3.0! :)
This book was a lot of fun to read, though it is already getting dated eight years later. I've dabbled with videogames since the days of Pong and have played many of the games in this book, but there were definitely some revelations for me in here. Games I had missed somehow or remembered hearing about, but not playing. I'm motivated to find some of those titles now.
One complaint I have about the book is the inevitable problem any book about technology has: becoming outdated. The book doesn't contain any of the current generation of consoles or PC games and the Nintendo Switch was still a rumor at the time the book was published.
The bigger complaint is that this book could really have used some copy-editing. There are typos a-plenty, including a few cringe-worthy ones. Also there were issues like mixed up captions for images or surprisingly poor quality images. Really, you couldn't find an image of that classic game box without a big blank space on the front where the price tag was ripped off?
All in all, a worthwhile read, though. I look forward to Vintage Games 3.0! :)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews