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Prepare to Meet Thy Doom: And More True Gaming Stories
From "Masters of Doom" author, David Kushner, comes "Prepare to Meet Thy Doom”, a compilation of true gaming stories covering many facets of America’s biggest entertainment business: the video game industry. In addition to more than a dozen fascinating tales of game creation, play, business, and controversy, “Prepare to Meet Thy Doom” follows up on Kushner’s previous bestseller, “Masters of Doom” with a long-awaited update on id Software founders John Romero and John Carmack.
6 pages, Audiobook
Published October 1, 2015
8 people are currently reading
229 people want to read
About the author
David Kushner
29 books228 followersDavid Kushner is an award-winning journalist and author. He is a contributing editor of Wired, Rolling Stone, and Spectrum and is an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
April 15, 2018
Kushner's first book, "Masters of Doom", is amazing, I really loved it. But this one is completely different, and sub-par. Masters of Doom is about real hackers and game designers in the late 1980s and early 1990s doing something really innovative and fun. But "Prepare to Meet Thy Doom" is about corporate executives, lawyers and marketers exploring boring video games. The book is just a bunch of old articles about old and irrelevant games (Guitar Hero and Rock Band were nice back then, but nobody cares about them these days). Grand Theft Auto is an important title, but the book doesn't digs deep into it - instead the many chapters/articles about the game simply repeat the same superficial information over and over again. Reading this book is just like browsing the 2000's archive of Wired or IGN: a lot of hype about huge game failures and not a single piece of interesting technical information. This book is a good example of what the video game industry is these days: boring, repetitive, derivative, annoying and profit-oriented.
November 9, 2019
Colección de artículos, sin un hilo conductor, con el objetivo de aprovechar el éxito de Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture. No les he encontrado especial interés y alguno de ellos, como los referidos a Second Life o a juegos con unos cuantos años encima, han quedado bastante anticuados.
July 7, 2019
Masters of Doom enthralled me, covering the genesis of modern PC gaming through its history of id software. Prepare to Meet Thy Doom is an oddly-titled follow-up that is less a work in itself, and more a collection of articles that are generally related to PC gaming. I say generally, because there’s pieces here on competitive chess, NeoPets, and bot-augmented online poker. The more kosher offerings include a follow-up piece on id software, as well as articles on Spore, Second Life, and the GTA series. Drawing on interviews with designer icons like John Romero and Will Wright, Kushner’s pieces often dwell on how PC games are continuing to push the developmental envelope – becoming more complex forms of entertainment, as they allow players to make their own experience. In Spore, for instance, there’s no static content to begin with: every bit of the animal and civilization that evolve are cobbled and produced by the player.. Rockstar Games is particularly notable for innovation: its latest games, GTA V and Red Dead Redemption II, are less games than ten hour cinematic experiences in which the player is driving the story. The game’s lead character grows throughout, shaped by the player’s decisions.
Those who are passionate PC gamers may find this of interest. Given that I effectively got it for free (Audible promotion), I can scarcely complain about it – especially since Wil Wheaton’s narration was, as usual, excellent. The narrator is largely responsible for my having experienced this book at all, given its slimness and the reviews griping about the lack of more substantial content. As much as I liked Masters of Doom, Prepare To Meet isn’t a stellar followup.
Those who are passionate PC gamers may find this of interest. Given that I effectively got it for free (Audible promotion), I can scarcely complain about it – especially since Wil Wheaton’s narration was, as usual, excellent. The narrator is largely responsible for my having experienced this book at all, given its slimness and the reviews griping about the lack of more substantial content. As much as I liked Masters of Doom, Prepare To Meet isn’t a stellar followup.
October 22, 2021
There is a nice breadth of subjects related to gaming covered but they suffer from 1) being 20 years out of date (Second Life, Neopets (?!)) or 2) written in a high-level way that would be suitable for someone who isn't familiar with gaming (i.e. your grandmother) so would be fine in a daily newspaper but not the target audience for this book. There's also a ton of information that was re-worked into Kushner's "Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto" book. Disappointing.
September 15, 2017
This book reads like it was written for my Grandma by an editor of late 90's Gamepro (When they largely based review scores on how much advertising dollars the publisher spent with them). There's an entire chapter about how revolutionary Spore will be. At the time of writing, Spore had not been released, yet the writer felt "confident" (aka - some extra cash in the pocket) to declare it a masterpiece.
In another chapter the author exclaims that Doom 3 got best in show at E3, EVEN THOUGH IT'S NOT EVEN FINISHED. Yeah, that's how E3 works. It's a show designed to showcase games in progress, so the fact that Doom 3 got best in show (even though it's unfinished!) isn't really something to make a big deal out of.
There's a chapter about a young chess prodigy. You know, chess. In a book about videogames. Nerdstuff. Cause you're a videogame nerd and therefore you'll like other nerdy stuff, right?
Then there's the inconsistencies. In multiple chapters, the Hauser brothers and Rockstar games are entirely responsible for Grand Theft Auto, but in another chapter, Dave Jones is responsible. Oh, and in case you didn't know, Dave Jones' next game APB will be earth-shatteringly good. Nothing like it has ever been seen before. You know, APB? That game that we all play all the time?
The hyperbole in this book makes it impossible to take the opinions seriously though it is kind of funny to hear someone gush over these games, almost all of which were total failures (Spore) or just a fad (Guitar Hero). Hope the author has some are areas of interest, cause I can't see anyone in the game industry taking him seriously after reading this.
In another chapter the author exclaims that Doom 3 got best in show at E3, EVEN THOUGH IT'S NOT EVEN FINISHED. Yeah, that's how E3 works. It's a show designed to showcase games in progress, so the fact that Doom 3 got best in show (even though it's unfinished!) isn't really something to make a big deal out of.
There's a chapter about a young chess prodigy. You know, chess. In a book about videogames. Nerdstuff. Cause you're a videogame nerd and therefore you'll like other nerdy stuff, right?
Then there's the inconsistencies. In multiple chapters, the Hauser brothers and Rockstar games are entirely responsible for Grand Theft Auto, but in another chapter, Dave Jones is responsible. Oh, and in case you didn't know, Dave Jones' next game APB will be earth-shatteringly good. Nothing like it has ever been seen before. You know, APB? That game that we all play all the time?
The hyperbole in this book makes it impossible to take the opinions seriously though it is kind of funny to hear someone gush over these games, almost all of which were total failures (Spore) or just a fad (Guitar Hero). Hope the author has some are areas of interest, cause I can't see anyone in the game industry taking him seriously after reading this.
October 18, 2020
It's difficult for me to measure how disappointed I was by this book. After thoroughly enjoying Masters of Doom I was actually excited to read this book. Maybe that is the reason I disliked this so much. Without the comparison, maybe it's a fine book. I don't know.
The fact is that this collection of vignettes just aren't as charming or detailed. I supposed you could attribute it to the fact that this is a collection of short pieces as opposed to an entire book on one topic. However, there is no way that I can get around being somewhat offended that Kushner resorted to including the death of the Eve Online player Sean Smith, better known as Vile Rat. It was just stooping to list the details of the death of an American diplomat serving his country. But Kushner doesn't stop there. He has to go on to go through the story of two teenagers who blame a video game for the reckless act that caused the death of an innocent driver. Kushner goes on to dwell more on Grand Theft Auto for what I can only assume is sensationalism.
At the end is the list of the original publication of the disparate articles that Kushner penned for different magazines. And that is all this is. A poor collection of someone's penned articles. Some of them are moderately interesting. Some are the seeds that a book like Master's of Doom could sprout from. But most just aren't worth the effort.
Talk about a let down.
The fact is that this collection of vignettes just aren't as charming or detailed. I supposed you could attribute it to the fact that this is a collection of short pieces as opposed to an entire book on one topic. However, there is no way that I can get around being somewhat offended that Kushner resorted to including the death of the Eve Online player Sean Smith, better known as Vile Rat. It was just stooping to list the details of the death of an American diplomat serving his country. But Kushner doesn't stop there. He has to go on to go through the story of two teenagers who blame a video game for the reckless act that caused the death of an innocent driver. Kushner goes on to dwell more on Grand Theft Auto for what I can only assume is sensationalism.
At the end is the list of the original publication of the disparate articles that Kushner penned for different magazines. And that is all this is. A poor collection of someone's penned articles. Some of them are moderately interesting. Some are the seeds that a book like Master's of Doom could sprout from. But most just aren't worth the effort.
Talk about a let down.
July 7, 2023
Based on the reviews I’ve been reading on Goodreads people are not a big fan. I understand why people wanted a proper sequel to the Masters of Doom. What you’ve got is an update and a collection of articles that were probably published in GQ or Wired.
If you are looking for a new info about gaming, you’re not going to find it here. Most of these are from the mid-2000s/ early 2010s. If you know that’s going in this is not a bad collection of stories.
This type of book was very common for sports writers were they would collect memorable essays stories, or interviews from sports writers from publications like sports illustrated, Time, other publications and put them together in a book, that is what this book is a collection of articles written by this author it’s an interesting reflection of what was popular at the time rock band Neopets and illustrates how quickly taste and less popular changes.
My favorite articles were the the profiles on Nolan Bushnell and Gary Gygax, the creator of DND, Eve online story, because those are always crazy. These type of works are like anthologies which are always gonna be up and down one advantages you can skip around the stories that you find interesting.
If you are looking for a new info about gaming, you’re not going to find it here. Most of these are from the mid-2000s/ early 2010s. If you know that’s going in this is not a bad collection of stories.
This type of book was very common for sports writers were they would collect memorable essays stories, or interviews from sports writers from publications like sports illustrated, Time, other publications and put them together in a book, that is what this book is a collection of articles written by this author it’s an interesting reflection of what was popular at the time rock band Neopets and illustrates how quickly taste and less popular changes.
My favorite articles were the the profiles on Nolan Bushnell and Gary Gygax, the creator of DND, Eve online story, because those are always crazy. These type of works are like anthologies which are always gonna be up and down one advantages you can skip around the stories that you find interesting.
January 11, 2021
This was perfectly serviceable, but also a huge letdown compared to Masters of Doom. The title is misleading - the subtitle is correct. It really should have called "More True Gaming Stories From The Author Of Masters of Doom Plus A Brief Update On The Doom Guys" but that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.
Many of the chapters are interesting but end abruptly, with no conclusion. A few overlap with each other and would be the meat of the book if edited together, but in the end you end up with "here is Wil Wheaton reading some Kotaku articles".
There are also some peculiar edits in the audiobook I have (bought it on Humble Bundle). It sounds like some re-records were edited in (no big deal) but they have a different tonal quality, and once there is a word inserted at slightly the wrong time stamp, causing a stutter where you hear the original and revised take, and then miss whatever was supposed to be after that.
Many of the chapters are interesting but end abruptly, with no conclusion. A few overlap with each other and would be the meat of the book if edited together, but in the end you end up with "here is Wil Wheaton reading some Kotaku articles".
There are also some peculiar edits in the audiobook I have (bought it on Humble Bundle). It sounds like some re-records were edited in (no big deal) but they have a different tonal quality, and once there is a word inserted at slightly the wrong time stamp, causing a stutter where you hear the original and revised take, and then miss whatever was supposed to be after that.
November 18, 2022
I don’t recommend this book as an overview of current digital gaming world. For that this book in much outdated. 10-15 years old stories are ancient in current digital world. But the book serves as a history document or walk in the memory lane for us old timers who still remember those programs/events/companies.
The inside view of young professional chess player’s life an interesting extension of other, somehow very much software related, stories. It was fun to google those people in these stories and check how they are doing now.
These stories are a collection of articles from several magazines. Styles and point of views differ between stories, but Kushner’s writing is light and funny to read. My rating: strong four stars.
The inside view of young professional chess player’s life an interesting extension of other, somehow very much software related, stories. It was fun to google those people in these stories and check how they are doing now.
These stories are a collection of articles from several magazines. Styles and point of views differ between stories, but Kushner’s writing is light and funny to read. My rating: strong four stars.
August 26, 2017
This book is comprised of a dozen or so stories about game developers and players which have nothing to do with each other and there is no common thread linking the stories. Thus, it's just a collection of blog posts or articles strung together. Tell me, why would I care to read a book that throws Nolan Bushnell in with the Flappy Bird kid and a smack-talking chess player? I WOULDN'T!
The "Doom" part of it--the part described on the back cover--lasted about 10 pages, a summary of Carmack and Romero in recent years which does not require personal interviews.
2 stars is generous because this is crap and I ended up skipping ahead far too often (with a groan).
The "Doom" part of it--the part described on the back cover--lasted about 10 pages, a summary of Carmack and Romero in recent years which does not require personal interviews.
2 stars is generous because this is crap and I ended up skipping ahead far too often (with a groan).
March 7, 2018
This is a nice light collection of articles published by David Kushner about various events and games in the gaming industry. Each would probably make a good book, but here they are presented as overview articles. This isn't bad, but I want more depth on all of these, from the article on Jack Thompson, to GTA's development and SPORE. The article on SPORE was written before it was released and it reminded me how much we were all looking forward to it. In a similar way to No Man's Sky which was another open world game which had big promissess about an algorithmically generated universe, it too was a colossal disappointment.
November 12, 2017
Would agree with most of the reviews, Kushner’s follow up is not at the same level as Masters of Doom; perhaps not due to any fault of the author, but the nature of John Carmack and John Romero and how their story is one of grit, drive and ambition and thus their story is naturally very engrossing.
Kushner’s latest work is a collection of short articles/essays from over the years that capture the essence of each subject matter being focussed on.
Yes, not Masters of Doom caliber, however Kushner is still the Master; one has no doubt.
Kushner’s latest work is a collection of short articles/essays from over the years that capture the essence of each subject matter being focussed on.
Yes, not Masters of Doom caliber, however Kushner is still the Master; one has no doubt.
February 21, 2019
This is a tough one - what's in here is interesting (if you're interested in the subject matter) but it's basically just a collection of articles most if not all of which seem to be available on the internet to read.
Further, and more annoyingly, for at least one of the articles it isn't the full article - I noticed when once chapter just abruptly ended ('The Making of The Beatles: Rock Band').
But, as I say, what is in here is interesting, and the audiobook is read by the always excellent Wil Wheaton, so it's probably worth an Audible credit...
Further, and more annoyingly, for at least one of the articles it isn't the full article - I noticed when once chapter just abruptly ended ('The Making of The Beatles: Rock Band').
But, as I say, what is in here is interesting, and the audiobook is read by the always excellent Wil Wheaton, so it's probably worth an Audible credit...
January 4, 2021
This review is for the audiobook version of this book.
After Masters of Doom, I expected not only more, but better from this book. This is a collection of outdated (even by the time of publishing!) articles, that are many times pretty shallow, others very, very dated. Some of them are interesting for the historic context at the time, but that's it. On the way it was added here, we don't get even that, and it depends on the person to search or remember it.
Well, one plus is that the narration was good, I guess. Still, easily skippable.
After Masters of Doom, I expected not only more, but better from this book. This is a collection of outdated (even by the time of publishing!) articles, that are many times pretty shallow, others very, very dated. Some of them are interesting for the historic context at the time, but that's it. On the way it was added here, we don't get even that, and it depends on the person to search or remember it.
Well, one plus is that the narration was good, I guess. Still, easily skippable.
October 6, 2024
Prepare to Meet Thy Doom: And More True Gaming Stories is a collection of articles from gaming magazines and online publications from the early 2000s. While Masters of Doom was a groundbreaking work that captured the evolution of the gaming industry through an engaging narrative, this “book” lacks the same depth and cohesion. The collection feels disjointed and dated, even more so in 2024, with many of the articles already stale at the time of publication in 2015. It’s a nostalgic glance at gaming’s past but pales in comparison to more insightful works in the genre.
July 11, 2019
If you've already read Masters of Doom and Jacked, this book isn't worth it.
Tiny update on id Software, and 4 or 5 chapters covering what's in Jacked.
The rest of the chapters had a few good nuggets of info, but since they're unrelated it's not a book you'll get sucked into.
Masters of Doom is a must read.
If you have to have more, I'd skip Jacked, and get Prepare to Meet Thy Doom; but it's not on the must read list.
Tiny update on id Software, and 4 or 5 chapters covering what's in Jacked.
The rest of the chapters had a few good nuggets of info, but since they're unrelated it's not a book you'll get sucked into.
Masters of Doom is a must read.
If you have to have more, I'd skip Jacked, and get Prepare to Meet Thy Doom; but it's not on the must read list.
October 13, 2019
The narration by Wil Wheaton is amazing; it is clear he understands the topic and has a passion for the world of online and gaming.
The stories are interesting and provide some interesting insights into the gaming world. However, it just lacked it being brought together into key themes and things to consider in respects to gaming and society.
It is worth a read (listen); but is not the deep insight and thematic assessment I was expecting.
The stories are interesting and provide some interesting insights into the gaming world. However, it just lacked it being brought together into key themes and things to consider in respects to gaming and society.
It is worth a read (listen); but is not the deep insight and thematic assessment I was expecting.
July 12, 2017
This book is a great read for anyone interested in video games and gaming culture. It's kind of all over the place, covering Atari, Grand Theft Auto, Doom/Quake, Pong, Dungeons and Dragons and a few others, in semi-random seeming order. All that said, there's a lot of good meaty behind the scenes that even non-gamers would probably find interesting.
June 13, 2018
This book is a collection of essays by the guy who wrote Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture. It starts off with what could be an epilogue to a new edition of that book. It then proceeds through various video game stories.
The biggest takeaway of this book is how big fads can just as quickly disappear. For example his stories about Neopets and Second Life. The last chunk of the book is mostly about Rockstar - it's so funny how worked up people got about their games. And now, either I'm just not in the same circles as the pearl clutchers, or it's just not that big a deal anymore. I think it's finally become clear that a huge chunk of us playing games are in our 30s and 40s and should have access to any media we darn well please. And when it comes to kids - until there's conclusive research that it doesn't jack up kids who weren't already on that path, it's no different than parents deciding their ids can watch rated R movies. As someone makes clear in the article (and which no one seems to get on TV to mention during these scandals) the games sell millions and like 2-5 kids murder people. Clearly, it's on those kids, not the games or this would be a Purge Planet every time one of those games came out.
Anyway, the essays are well-written and it's a near time capsule of gaming trends in the early 2000s.
The biggest takeaway of this book is how big fads can just as quickly disappear. For example his stories about Neopets and Second Life. The last chunk of the book is mostly about Rockstar - it's so funny how worked up people got about their games. And now, either I'm just not in the same circles as the pearl clutchers, or it's just not that big a deal anymore. I think it's finally become clear that a huge chunk of us playing games are in our 30s and 40s and should have access to any media we darn well please. And when it comes to kids - until there's conclusive research that it doesn't jack up kids who weren't already on that path, it's no different than parents deciding their ids can watch rated R movies. As someone makes clear in the article (and which no one seems to get on TV to mention during these scandals) the games sell millions and like 2-5 kids murder people. Clearly, it's on those kids, not the games or this would be a Purge Planet every time one of those games came out.
Anyway, the essays are well-written and it's a near time capsule of gaming trends in the early 2000s.
June 12, 2018
I really enjoyed "Masters of Doom" but this book is just a rag-tag of small stories with little to connect them other than "these people play games".
The first chapters are still very interesting, chronicling the stories of Atari and Second Life, but after those are told it's basically scraping the bottom of the barrel.
The first chapters are still very interesting, chronicling the stories of Atari and Second Life, but after those are told it's basically scraping the bottom of the barrel.
August 24, 2021
It had some good articles in, but it was just that, a collection of previously published articles. Some are quite dated now.
The downside to the book was that it felt like it left stories unresolved at the end without any notes to cover the gap (which in some might be over a decade) between original publish and book publish date.
The downside to the book was that it felt like it left stories unresolved at the end without any notes to cover the gap (which in some might be over a decade) between original publish and book publish date.
July 29, 2022
This probably closer to 3 and a half stars. The disparity of the essays is a blessing and a curse as the tone varies wildly. However, there are a lot of interesting stories here for gamers who played between 2002-ish to around 2011 with everything from Doom 3 to GTA to EVE Online to Neopets being covered, and Wil Wheaton is always a quality audiobook narrator.
January 23, 2024
Masters of Doom was a masterpiece. Second best book I read last year. This one, however, is sub-par. It's a collection of essays and articles that Kushner wrote for magazines like Wired. Some articles are good but most are superficial and feel like they're just edited versions of something you'd find on IGN or Wikipedia.
March 14, 2024
The collection of stories read in 2024 are an interesting jump into the past. It's fun reading articles and opinions of this time and thinking about how things actually played out more long term.
The large variety of topics covered were mostly ones I enjoyed, a few I cared less about. Overall wasn't a bad read.
The large variety of topics covered were mostly ones I enjoyed, a few I cared less about. Overall wasn't a bad read.
January 22, 2025
Meh, each chapter has a different story about how game came to be. The beginning was interesting with the history of dungeons and dragons, and a few others were interesting , rockstar and the beginnings of vr. But why are disjointed and sometimes repetitive and written with different tones and tenses, maybe they are just an anthology. But yeah. Skipped a lot of chapters.
September 24, 2025
This was a pretty good collection of a bunch of David Kushner's articles and essays for different publications on video games. I enjoyed the different takes on the different stories that took place in the gaming space while Kushner was writing these essays. I think I'm going to pick up and read his take on the Grand Theft Auto games next.
October 17, 2025
A 10 year old book about video games was weird; many stories from the 80s. The author jumped around back and forth in time, sometimes leaving and returning to the same game. Or other times had multiple stories of the same game back to back, with the second occurring before the first. Some games had much more detailed research than others - comparing <10 minutes to >30.
Not my favorite
Not my favorite
March 26, 2017
I enjoyed listening to Wil Wheaton narrate this, but many of the stories (articles from various magazines) overlapped in content. As such, this collection of stories felt very redundant at times. And the transitions between stories were very abrupt. I often found myself saying, "Wait, that was it?" with regard to Wil Wheaton suddently talking about a completely different subject.
July 29, 2017
A collection of gaming stories. While some were very good (Vile Rat) some were not good (Dont call be Bobby Fisher). The writing was good, but this is not a patch on Master of Doom. Worth the listen, but if i had to pick, it would be Masters of Doom.
August 3, 2017
I had such high expectations, since I LOVED the author's story of Doom. Maybe it was this books short stories, and total short length. I loved the depth of the original. Wish I had read that again instead...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews