[game_preservation] Calling for resources! Books! Websites! Whatever!

[Chris Lepine]

Hi Andrew,

I can recommend a few books on the subject of video games that I've  
read over the years. AFAIK, none are available as a free download ...  
but they do provide a great sense of game history:

Dungeons and Desktops, by Matt Barton
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Desktops-History-Computer-Role-playing/ 
dp/1568814119
(probably the most comprehensive history of role playing games ever  
written - he literally reviews a huge number of games, talks about  
their design, style, etc)

Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop  
Culture, by David Kushner
http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Doom-Created-Transformed-Culture/dp/ 
0375505245
(the history of id software - very good storytelling, and insights  
into the personalities of the two Johns)

The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon, by Steven  
L. Kent
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-History-Video-Games-Pokemon/dp/0761536434
(more of a referential history of video games)

Dungeons and Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture from Geek to  
Chic, by Brad King & John Borland
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dreamers-Rise-Computer-Culture/dp/ 
0072228881
(some good storytelling that follows the life of Richard Garriott  
among others - it gave me a good sense for how Ultima was conceived  
in relation to his personal life)

Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game  
Programmers, by James Hague
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/
(free, interesting, interviews with some of the big names of the 80s  
and early 90s - it gave me a sense for the development challenges  
that developers face)

And although these are only tangentially related, books on the  
development of the Commodore 64 and Apple //e are extremely important  
for understanding the history of video games as they helped to create  
the possibility for mass-market computer games:

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, Steven Levy
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/729

On The Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore, by Brian  
Bagnall
http://www.variantpress.com/books/on-the-edge
(seems to be temporarily Out of Stock)

Hope that helps.

- Chris

---
The Artful Gamer: In Search of the Lyrical and Poetic in Video Games
http://www.artfulgamer.com


> Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:44:36 +0000

> From: Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>

> Subject: [game_preservation] Calling for resources! Books! Websites!

> 	Whatever!

> To: IGDA Game Preservation SIG <game_preservation at igda.org>

> Message-ID: <49669DF4.4070907 at aarmstrong.org>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

>

> I'm now board of not updating the resources and projects pages:

>

> http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/Resources

> http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/Projects

>

> I need your links, books, website and whatever you think is  

> historically

> related to videogames. I'm more aiming at broader sites with videogame

> knowledge (so I'll be adding http://www.wikia.com/ and

> http://www.magweasel.com/ for instance). However, if you can provide a

> specific article, great! (better if it covers more then one game  

> however).

>

> I will be trying (in between getting a job, grr, and doing some other

> bits) sorting out the page at least filling it with random links for

> now. In the future I hope to get the domains I've had for a while for

> the Digital Game Canon project online and with a quick and dirty

> PHP/MySQL solution so I can add these links in much better ways (so I

> can tag them, have source lines generated, have boxes for the URL or

> item name, page references, etc.).

>

> ALL HELP IS APPRECIATED! Honestly, there are a LOT of sites I've  

> visited

> I need to add now, but also there are a lot I have not! One of them  

> may

> be yours! Post it!

>

> And if there is any other site which helps list game

> history/preservation projects, resources and links, please, I'd  

> love to

> know of it :)

>

> Thanks,

>

> Andrew

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