Books about gaming

[Blackhawk]

I expect to have a lot of reading time over the next couple of months, and have been trying to think of some new topics to bury my nose in. Can anyone recommend any books about gaming? Video gaming of all varieties is my focus, but I wouldn't cringe from something about games played on a table.

I'm talking about good, well-written and researched books about the hobby of gaming or the history of gaming.

I'm not looking for gaming fiction, game guides, game design manuals, programming guides, etc.

[Smoove_B]

I read Game Over about a decade ago and enjoyed it tremendously. It's a pretty impressive story and I never knew their secret plans with the NES until I read this book...

I'm pretty sure most of the material in that book is common knowledge by now, but I enjoyed it. I'll have to check my shelves and see if there are any others but that's the first one that came to mind.

[raydude]

Console Wars was mentioned in a Penny Arcade strip a few weeks ago. I looked at the first couple pages via Amazon's "Look Inside" and it seemed to start out pretty good. I will probably buy it as a birthday gift for myself.

[AWS260]

If you like tabletop RPGs, Of Dice and Men.

[Smoove_B]

Had to check my Amazon wishlist for ideas as all of my other gaming books are on design...

Anyway, it might be more of a coffee table book, but 1001 Videos Games You Must Play Before you Die looked interesting along with Masters of Doom.

Sorry I don't have any more.

[wonderpug]

Reality is Broken - Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

I've been following the author of that, Jane McGonigal, ever since I saw her give a keynote at PAX East. She's a big advocate for gaming, and how it's not at all the bogeyman evil that it often gets perceived as.

You may also be interested in trying her website, SuperBetter. Once upon a time she got a really bad brain injury that had a long, slow, and painful recovery. She was fighting depression and anxiety because of it, and she was having trouble staying motivated to persevere through the exercises and treatments she needed. She decided to make a game out of her recovery and use the motivating carrots found in video games to give her motivation and victories for her real life recovery. It worked for her, so she made a web version of the game so it could help other people get through their own life challenges.

I'm trying to think of other gaming books but mostly I can only think of interesting articles or interviews I've read. If you can find a write-up of how Ms Pac-Man got developed I found that story to be really interesting when I saw the devs talk about it (again at PAX East).

[Holman]

I'll recommend Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People, and Fantastic Adventures from Chess to Role-Playing Games by Jon Peterson if you want a (very) thorough parallel history of wargaming and tabletop role-playing games. It's sometimes rather dry, but the story is rich and occasionally quite funny. No one has pulled it all together like this before.

The sample pages at Amazon will give you a good idea of what you're in for.

[Blackhawk]

Thanks for all of the replies. I've got a starting point to pick out a few to read over the coming months.

[TheMix]

Reality is Broken - Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

I've been following the author of that, Jane McGonigal, ever since I saw her give a keynote at PAX East. She's a big advocate for gaming, and how it's not at all the bogeyman evil that it often gets perceived as.

You may also be interested in trying her website, SuperBetter. Once upon a time she got a really bad brain injury that had a long, slow, and painful recovery. She was fighting depression and anxiety because of it, and she was having trouble staying motivated to persevere through the exercises and treatments she needed. She decided to make a game out of her recovery and use the motivating carrots found in video games to give her motivation and victories for her real life recovery. It worked for her, so she made a web version of the game so it could help other people get through their own life challenges.

I'm trying to think of other gaming books but mostly I can only think of interesting articles or interviews I've read. If you can find a write-up of how Ms Pac-Man got developed I found that story to be really interesting when I saw the devs talk about it (again at PAX East).

Did she do a TED talk? That really sounds familiar...

Apparently yes. I might have caught it on Netflix streaming.

[Zarathud]

Green Ronin Publishing has a book "Hobby Games The 100 Best" where game designers explain the importance of 100 games to the industry.

[wire]

If you like tabletop RPGs, Of Dice and Men.

I was going to suggest this book as well...it was a good read and I enjoyed the blend of storytelling and the history behind D&D.

[Archinerd]

This one is on my Amazon wish list. Simulating War: Studying Conflict through Simulation Games.

In this new work, [Philip Sabin] explores the theory and practice of conflict simulation as a topic in its own right, based on his thirty years of experience in designing wargames and using them to educate both military and civilian students.

It could be really dry and boring. I won't know for awhile though, I still have to read all of the other books I bought this year before I can justify buying any more.

[Isgrimnur]

I still have to read all of the other books I bought this year before I can justify buying any more.

That's cute.

[Jeff V]

I can't believe this is more than 10 years old already, but I did much of the research as well as a lot of ghost writing for Games that Sell. If you are by chance interested in what market forces were driving the industry more than a decade ago (actually, IIRC, my analysis was all on the top selling games of 2001), this book might be of interest.

Caveat: I never saw or read the finished product.

[Archinerd]

I still have to read all of the other books I bought this year before I can justify buying any more.

That's cute.

I'd like to have at least one backlog in my life I have any hope of ever getting through.