Complete List of Game Related Books

[Flack]

No, I don't have one -- I'm looking to compile one! Once we get a decent list I'll move this over to the Classic Discussions forum to preserve it. Please respond with your favorite game-related books. There are now three categories: fiction, non-fiction and import, so be sure to let me know which one your book falls under. I'll compile them into the main post here for future reference.

.xX NON-FICTION Xx.

1000 Game Heroes by David Choquet
ABC TO THE VCS: A Directory of Software For The Atari 2600 by Leonard Herman (Rolenta Press (http://www.rolentapress.com))
Arcade Fever: The Fan's Guide to The Golden Age of Video Games by John Sellers
Chris Crawford on Game Design by Chris Crawford
Confessions of the Game Doctor by Bill Kunkel (Rolenta Press (http://www.rolentapress.com))
Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing by Stephen Kline
Digital Press Classic Guide (LINK (http://www.digitpress.com/dpg_plug.htm))
Digital Press Advanced Guide (LINK (http://www.digitpress.com/dpg_plug.htm))
Dungeons and Dreamers by Brad King and John Borland
Electronic Plastic by Jaro Gielens
Extra Life: Coming of Age in Cyberspace by David S. Bennahum
Game Machines: The Encyclopedia of Consoles, Handhelds and Home Computers by Winnie Forester (LINK (http://www.game-machines.co.uk/gameplan_01.5_UK/index.php))
Game On by Lucien King
Game Over: Press Start To Continue by David Sheff and Andy Eddy
Gaming Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools by Simon Carless
Gender Inclusive Game Design by Sheri Graner Ray
Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering by Andrew Huang;
Hacking Videogame Consoles by Ben Heck (LINK (http://benheck.com/book/))
Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace by Janet H. Murray;
High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games by Rusel DeMaria and Johnny L. Wilson
Know the Score by Gloria Skurzynski
Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture by David Kushner
Monster Gaming: The Complete How-To Guide for Becoming a Hardcore Gamer by Ben Sawyer
More than a Game : The Computer Game as Fictional Form by Barry Atkins
Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative by Mark S. Meadows
Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Videogames by Leonard Herman (Rolenta Press (http://www.rolentapress.com))
Pilgrim in the Microworld by David Sudnow
Power-Up : How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life by Chris Kohler
Project Arcade: Build Your Own Arcade Machine by John St. Clair
Retro Gaming Hacks: Tips & Tools for Playing the Classics by Chris Kohler
Revolutionaries at Sony by Reiji Asakura
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals by Katie Salen, Eric Zimmerman
Screen Play: The Story of Video Games by George Sullivan
Smartbomb : The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks... by Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby (LINK (http://www.smartbomb.us))
Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 by Van Burnham
The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games by Bill Kurtz
The First Quarter : A 25-year History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent
The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT by Stewart Brand
The Ultimate History of Videogames by Steven L. Kent.
The Video Game Theory Reader by Mark J. P. Wolf and Bernard Perron
Trigger Happy : Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution by Steven Poole
Videogames: In The Beginning by Ralph H. Baer (Rolenta Press (http://www.rolentapress.com))
Visual Digital Culture by Andrew Darley
What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Lit. and Learning by Gee
Zap by Scott Cohen

.xX FICTION Xx.

Blue Wizard Is About To Die! by Seth Fingers Flynn Barkan
Lucky Wander Boy by D. B. Weiss

.xX IMPORTS Xx.

Sega Arcade History by Famitsu DC (Japanese)
Sega Consumer History by Famitsu DC (Japanese)

[njiska]

The Ultimate History of Videogames by Steven L. Kent.
Dungeons and Dreamers by Brad King and John Borland

[McBacon]

Electronic Plastic by Jaro Gielens

[Keir]

I assume collector's guides and strategy guides (even general ones like "How to Win at Nintendo Games") don't count.

[Gapporin]

High Score was also co-written by Johnny L. Wilson as well (and if you're mentioning the Second Edition, I believe Chris Kohler also added some info).

[Cryomancer]

Tell me someone is gonna do this for fiction books, like the mario choose your own adventures, and the sonic picturebooks? Ah, maybe not.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

FYI: Supercade was MIT Press, not Rolenta. Although I think Leonard did contribute the article on the 2600.

[CosmicMonkey]

What's the name of that book about the history of the Playstation? It covers the whole design/dev process and has loads of prototype pics of pads and the PSX. It was reviewed in Edge magazine a good 2+ yers ago.

If anyone could help with the name of the book, it'd be very much appreciated.

Oh, and is it worth adding ISBN numbers to the list, just incase people want to order the books. Makes it a lot easier.

[Stark]

Japanesse books also or just US titles. If you include Japanesse books add:
Sega Arcade History (red book) by Famitsu DC
Sega Consumer History (blue book) by Famitsu DC

Also add this awesome book:

Game.Machines- The Encyclopedia of Consoles, handhelds and home computers 1972-2005 by Winnie Forester
http://www.game-machines.co.uk/gameplan_01.5_UK/index.php
http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/front/game_machines.jpg

[Ed Oscuro]

This book isn't solely about games, but it has some interesting info regarding Atari and holograms ("Thirteen 3D arcade versions of a game called "Cosmos" were poised to hit the home market when Atari hit the wall instead" on page 86):

The Media Lab: inventing the future at MIT
Stewart Brand
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Viking, 1987.
ISBN: 0670814423 DDC: 302.2307207444 LCC: T171

Both Sony books I have come across (one an official thing put out around '75, the other John Nathan's book) have limited information on games, mentioned in passing (much more in the newer one, naturally).

[kevincure]

Here's my List (though it's a bit out of date):

VIDEOGAME BOOKS:
Trigger Happy / Poole
1000 Game Heroes / Choquet
High Score! / DeMaria Wilson
Game On / Lucien King
Ultimate History of VideoGames / Kent
Supercade / Burnham
Videogame Theory Reader
1UP Magazine Issue 3
Arcade Fever / Sellers
Blue Wizard is About to Die
Chris Crawford on Game Design / Crawford
Computer as Theatre / Laurel
Cybertext / Espen Aarseth
Digital Play / Stephen Kline
Dungeons and Dreamers / King
Electronic Plastic / Gielens
Game Over / Sheff
Gender Inclusive Game Design / Ray
Hacking the Xbox / Huang
Hamlet on the Holodeck / Murray
Know the Score / Skurzynski
Lucky Wander Boy / Weiss
Masters of Doom / Kushner
Medium of the Videogame / Wolf
Mind at Play / Loftus
Monster Gaming / Sawyer
More than a Game / Atkins
Nature of Computer Games / Myers
Opening the Xbox / Takahashi
Pause & Effect / Meadows
Phoenix / Herman
Pilgrim in the Microworld / Sudnow
Revolutionaries at Sony / Asakura
Rules of Play / Salen
Screenplay / Geoff King
Screen Play / Sullivan
Visual Digital Culture / Darley
What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Lit. and Learning / Gee
Zap / Cohen

If we count foreign releases, there are a ton more. I have a Chinese book called "Playstation 10th Anniversary" for instance. An Italian press puts out a series of books (in Italian) that take an academic look at a series (SimCity, for instance). There are tons more.

The list above is by no means exhaustive. I can think of one more book about a certain 95 system that will be released this week (*cough cough*).

[Porksta]

The Blue Wizard Is About To Die is a compilation of poetry, not a non fiction novel. How about that DOOM book. "Beyond DOOM" or something like that.

[kevincure]

Blue Wizard and Lucky Wander Boy are both fiction, but they're both books that I would consider essential to any "videogame culture" library.

[Flack]

Update: All of your submissions have been added (except Kevin's massive list, which I'm working on right now!). I've also expanded the list to include fiction, non-fiction and imports -- so no matter what your favorite genre of game-related book is, send 'em in!

[Mason P.]

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[Flack]

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Awesome -- added!

[Flack]

The DPG has a book listing. I've been maintaining the list since, so if you'd like a copy just pm me your email.

d'oh -- I didn't realize I was duplicating efforts!

[Johnny_Rock]

Is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson technically a video game book?

[diskoboy]

An oldie, but goodie..

"The Winners Book of Video Games" by Craig Kubey.

[hydr0x]

Game.Machines- The Encyclopedia of Consoles, handhelds and home computers 1972-2005 by Winnie Forester
http://www.game-machines.co.uk/gameplan_01.5_UK/index.php
http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/front/game_machines.jpg

don't forget the book about joysticks in the same line of books, no idea what it is called in the US (both books are originally written in german) and where to get it though :/

[PapaStu]

Oh theres a bunch..... (all fiction)

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell by David Michaels

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Opperation Barracuda by David Michaels

Halo: The Fall Of Reach by Eric Nylund

Halo: The Flood by William C. Dietz

Halo: First Strike by Eric Nylund
(side note, the Halo books are also sold in a 3pack bundle, with a little slipcase)

Brute Force by Dean Wesley Smith

Crimson Skies by Eric Nylund

Perfect Dark: Inital Vector by Greg Rucka

[lendelin]

Non-fiction:

James Newman. 2004. Videogames. London/NewYork: Routledge.

A good book which addresses fundamental problems of games (demographics of gamers, motivations to play games, structure in games, narratives and play, ect.), however sometimes the language is unnecessarily academic. A very good introduction to basic problems of how to study games blessed with some sections of a very good analysis, however.

[Griking]

A few that I own

Difficult Questions About Videogames (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0954882504/202-4844054-1418216)
Joystick Nation (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316360074/104-1995774-1375942?v=glance&n=283155)
Video Game Quest (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0962505722/qid=1135394300/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-1995774-1375942?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)

A few that I don't own that I may pick up

Gamers (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1932360573/ref=cm_lm_fullview_prod_3/104-1995774-1375942?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155)

The Medium of the Video Game (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/029279150X/ref=pd_sbs_b_1/104-1995774-1375942?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155) by Ralph Baer

[rolenta]

A few that I don't own that I may pick up

The Medium of the Video Game (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/029279150X/ref=pd_sbs_b_1/104-1995774-1375942?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155) by Ralph Baer

Note that Ralph Baer did not write this book - he wrote the introduction to it. The book is a collection of essays edited by Mark Wolfe.

[Griking]

A few that I don't own that I may pick up

The Medium of the Video Game (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/029279150X/ref=pd_sbs_b_1/104-1995774-1375942?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155) by Ralph Baer

Note that Ralph Baer did not write this book - he wrote the introduction to it. The book is a collection of essays edited by Mark Wolfe.

Ah, I see now that Amazon says that he just wrote the forward. My bad.

[njiska]

hey flack if you want to credit the authors properly Hacking the Xbox should be creditied to Andrew 'bunnie' Huang. That's how he's creditied on my copy.