The Comic Book Story of Video Games: The Incredible History of the Electronic Gaming Revolution

by Jonathan Hennessey

Jack McGowan (Artist)

A complete, illustrated history of video games--highlighting the machines, games, and people who have made gaming a worldwide, billion-dollar industry/artform--told in a graphic novel format.

Author Jonathan Hennessey and illustrator Jack McGowan present the first full-color, chronological origin story for this hugely successful, omnipresent artform and business. Hennessey provides readers with everything they need to know about video games--from their early beginnings during World War II to the emergence of arcade games in the 1970s to the rise of Nintendo to today's app-based games like Angry Birds and Pokemon Go. Hennessey and McGowan also analyze the evolution of gaming as an artform and its impact on society. Each chapter features spotlights on major players in the development of games and gaming that contains everything that gamers and non-gamers alike need to understand and appreciate this incredible phenomenon.

• ISBN10: 0399578900
• ISBN13: 9780399578908
• Publish Date: 3 October 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
• Imprint: Ten Speed Graphic
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 192
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780399578908

Reviews

[annieb123]

I'm a huge fan of video games. I was around and geeking out on Rogue in 1980ish. In fact, the following words still have the ability to make me smile and sigh nostalgically.

"It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."

*aaaah*

Anyhow, the point is, I have loved video games (and game theory and just plain games) forever. I was so excited about getting to read this book.

I may well have had inflated unrealistic expectations. It's also possible that any real comprehensive history of video games really needs to build up an extensive background context. It might be something entirely different. Whatever the reason, the reality of this book didn't live up to expectations.

I found the pacing very very slow and scattered. The art is somewhat rough and some of the character renderings I should have been able to recognize were not at all clear to me. Most of the drawings had labels so the characters (or historical innovators) were recognizable to me.

I did, however, learn quite a lot from this book (including the origin of the Sega games name). And I did finish it, but it was a close-run thing. It wasn't an easy read for me.

I wish the creators well, and I truly do hope this book does well, because video game history and electronic technological development is so integral to our shared human experience, especially in the last 60+ years. The book just wasn't for me.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.