Note: This book has since been reprinted under a different name, “The Ultimate History Of Video Games“.
Story: In the beginning, there was Spacewar, a game designed and played by college students, on college campuses, using lab time on college mainframe computers. And people took note. Though Spacewar got no commercial action, it was only a matter of time before others had the same idea, or created their own games after experiencing Spacewar for themselves. Thus was born the video game industry, now a hyper-competitive, multi-billion dollar industry dominated by Nintendo, Sony and Sega – built on the ashes of now-extinct outfits like Atari, who at one time could do no wrong. This book traces that history, referring frequently to interviews with designers, programmers, executives, and others whose actions shaped the industry.
Review: While I’m pining away for that Holy Grail known as The Ultimate Classic Game Book, I’m quickly discovering that existing tomes each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Leonard Herman’s “Phoenix” is a drier read than yesterday’s police blotter, yet it uncovers a wealth of forgotten hardware and software developments, information valuable to collectors. Many readers felt J.C. Herz’ “Joystick Nation” skimped on the history of those very same games, though it was meant to be less a history and more of an academic exercise. “The First Quarter”, then, reads like the Wall Street Journal version of “Phoenix”.
Rather than concentrating on minutiae of hardware release dates and specs, “The First Quarter” looks into the decisions behind those releases, the personalities behind the scenes. And on that, I must give Mr. Kent – a game historian frequently called into service by various mass media entities – a lot of credit: he interviewed damn near everyone. Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, early Atari engineer/designer Al Alcorn, controversial Atari CEO Ray Kassar (who fired Bushnell), and such legendary game creators as Warren Robinett (Adventure for the Atari VCS), Toru Iwitani (Pac-Man), Shigeru Miyamoto (Donkey Kong and the early Mario games), Eugene Jarvis (Defender and its bevy of sequels)…the list is almost endless.
The real prize interviews, however, are with executives such as the heads of Nintendo, Sega and Namco, and pivotal decision-makers such as Kassar, whose reign at Atari saw some of the company’s most stratospheric highs and biggest mistakes. It’s interesting to hear what these people have to say about their colleagues, the working conditions, the expectations, their worries, and the realities of the market at the time.
Like “Phoenix”, “First Quarter” can sometimes be a very dry read, with the frequent interview excerpts providing a much-needed jolt of opinion and color (and sometimes colorful language as well). But it’s also an addictive read, and should be of great interest to those who wonder what the bosses behind their favorite games – and no, we’re not talking about the boss character at the end of the game’s last level – were thinking.
Year: 2000
Author: Steven L. Kent
Publisher: BWD Press
Pages: 466 pages