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title: "The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 2: Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and the Billion-Dollar Battle to Shape Modern Gaming"
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# The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 2: Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and the Billion-Dollar Battle to Shape Modern Gaming

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The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 2: Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and the Billion-Dollar Battle to Shape Modern Gaming : Kent, Steven L.: desertcart.co.uk: Books

Review: Worth a read. - Good book. Lots of information for those wanting to learn about the industry. Couple of typos though, but they don't detract from the book.
Review: NOT QUITE SO RIVERTING SEQUEL TO THE CLASSIC 1ST VOLUME - NOT QUITE SO RIVERTING SEQUEL TO THE CLASSIC 1ST VOLUME The History of Video Games Vol. II to start with, reads like Mr. Boring suit, didn’t get on with Mr. Who cares, another corporate suit, because he did something that showed him up, and so Mr. Who cares was denied a promotion. It’s Microsoft history, makes no mention of how Gates initially found fortune by providing BASIC to every known 8 bit computer one earth. Or how he stole the O.S business from CP/M with a rip-off version. On Page 42, in the small print he talks about Gerald Larry Lawson. Wallace Kirschner and Lawrence Haskel invented the video game cartridge along with the system that would one day become the Channel F(un) in 1974. It was called RAVEN (Remote Access Video Entertainment). Lawson was involved with streamlining and fine tuning. He turned the prototype into a commercial product. Now it was called STRATOS. He repeats this on Page 533. On Page 112, it is stated that 57% of Playstation owners are 18 year old. On Page 113 this is repeated. Why? Supposedly many people helped with this book, I guess none of them did any editing. This happens repeatedly. On Page 272, we learn Jawel Karim’s “Me at the Zoo” was the first video uploaded to the most popular video hosting site. Not sure what’s that got to do with videogames. It is interesting to read on Page 308 that a reason for Xbox 360(Red Ring of Death) failure was the use of non-Lead Solder. Lead Solder, is supposedly illegal now, but when I have been doing electronics projects, Lead Solder is recommended for the long life of a joint. Non-Lead joints don’t last as long. It may not be healthy to breathe in while you actually solder through. On Page 323, we get a section of greyscale photos. It includes a comparison between the VCS game Spiderman and Marvel’s Spiderman. He seems to have a thing about movie games on the VCS more on this later. On Page 364, we learn about a “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest which was a drinking water contest that resulted in the death of the runner up candidate and the sacking of 10 Radio station Staff. They supposedly signed disclaimers, which turned out to be garbage. The family of the candidate got 16 Million(this bit is not in the book). And all because she wanted her kids to have a Wii. Apparently over drinking water is very bad for the brain because the brain does not have much room to swell. This is probably the dumbest thing I have ever come across. Around Page 400, he starts talking about the Record and Movie industry and how smaller companies were gobbled up by bigger companies until a situation was arrived at whereby there was no more format exclusive games only exclusive content within those games. Page 418 - he’s back to talking about Atari again. What is interesting about the programmers who broke away from Atari to form Activision is that from a current perspective, the games they created before leaving Atari were on the Dull and Boring side. E.g. Outlaw, Football, Video Chess and Bowling. Yet Activision created some of the best games ever released on the VCS. Page 424 – I remember Talladaga on the C64. Terrible Graphics but it had captivating gameplay. Madden Madden Madden. Why have one Sports game when you can 42? One would be too much for me. Good to see him acknowledging his error from the first book – Pele’s Soccer for the VCS was the first celebrity tie in. Populous. Ah yes the god game. Sim City. Slooow brainy games. Page 438 – we learn that every modern WW2 game can be traced back to Saving Private Ryan. Page 446 - We learn the origin of all those pretend to play guitar games started in 1996 with Parapper the rapper.... except I remember a 1987 C64 game called Street Beat. But this was about delivering demo tapes and getting people dancing. Really, these games are a variation on the 1970’s repeated colours/sound game Simon from MB, which was a rip-off of Touch Me from Atari in 1974, except it didn’t have the musical bleeps. And Like Guitar Hero it was originally an arcade game. Page 455 – We learn about Electronic Arts gobbling up every company in sight. And apparently destroying them, as the talent left. We learn about the start of pretend money in games, microtransactions, and how just like in the arcades when in certain games you could win by paying your way through the game, you could do the same with home games too. You see this everywhere now. It reminds me of how you used to get a limited version of a game as a demo for free say on a disk or tape on a magazine, and find you only have the first level and would have to buy the whole thing, in order to play more. But here you have paid for the game and apparently you need to keep paying to unlock what you thought you had paid for. I remember Electronic Arts, for Deluxe Paint on the Amiga. The go to tool graphics tool on the platform. Page 462 – We learn about the depressing death of originality in games these days, the quirky games that once came out of bedrooms and were published commercially are gone, at least for big publishers, now it’s this year’s version of the several games that just have no end of sequels, buying the same game over and over which seems completely insane. People can still do stuff like this of course for smart devices. By Page 470, we learn about mass lay offs followed by massive profit annocements. Developers who thought they were about to get a big bonus instead got the boot. Page 488, we are back to talking about Atari and E.T. It stated that no one cared about movie games, I think that could be extended to coin-op conversions too. Why else would you buy a game, and find you have photos of the coin-op on the package, yet you power it up and wonder what the connection to the photos were? Page 497, We are talking about Superman on the VCS, the first movie game, not Raiders of the lost ark as HSW says in his book.. On Page 534, he talks about Ray Kassar, the man who axed all the R & D at Atari, who milked rubbish coin-op conversions to death on the ancient VCS that wasn’t fit to run them, another book called Zap! - The Rise & Fall of Atari will tell you all about how he went everywhere in a Limo. About his plush offices. And how he treated staff like rubbish. When David Crane and co, demanded more, he was told they are no different than towel designers. On another time, he told others, that they were no more important than the people packing the cartridges into boxes. Yet, the author thinks the man who ran Atari into the ground has been wrongly recorded by history. There was a lack of managerial talent at the time that had the required knowledge and skills so they had to go with what they had. Managers who had no knowledge of IT or Video Games. What happened to Atari is the result. Not that Commodore fared any better. He is always talking about the pecking order and sales figures of various consoles as if the author was commentating on a horse race. Sometimes he is not sure, but continues anyway to try and place a pecking order anyway. This stuff gets tiresome, like some one reading a spreadsheet for an accountant. The book is easy to read, but not that interesting, at times when we get quotes from launches of consoles, it may have been better to just refer the reader to the Internet to watch it. I remember the original volume as being riveting but this just seems tedious. It also seemed to be comprehensive. This volume seems to be less so, but then there are less systems to talk about so that may be a factor in this. Also, the original volume was about pioneering days, whereas now it’s all about profiteering days and endless same old same old. In every area you care to look at. The Text is double line spaced, which make it easy to read, but sometimes there is a paragraph in microscopic small print at the bottom of the page. It is a strain to read. It also goes back into territory of the original book e.g. Atari and Nolan Bushnell repeatedly. As I have pointed out above. The book gets repetitive in places, repeating information it stated earlier. It also goes on about how much money one console made in comparison to another which gets tedious and meaningless after a while. The first volume, was quite daunting in it’s size initially, and a slog to start with, until I got drawn into it. The same is true of this volume, except the drawn in stage, occurred quite late into the book. The book ends with a debate regarding if videogames can be regarded as art. Then goes on about Roger Ebert for some reason. Who didn’t think they could. And then the book goes on and on about making the case for them to be Art.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | 534,745 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 1,202 in Cultural Studies |
| Book 2 of 2  | Ultimate History of Video Games |
| Customer reviews | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (241) |
| Dimensions  | 18.54 x 3.05 x 23.11 cm |
| ISBN-10  | 1984825437 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1984825438 |
| Item weight  | 987 g |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 592 pages |
| Publication date  | 24 Aug. 2021 |
| Publisher  | Crown |

## Images

![The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 2: Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and the Billion-Dollar Battle to Shape Modern Gaming - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71PIVXMA59L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Worth a read.
*by J***Y on 1 February 2022*

Good book. Lots of information for those wanting to learn about the industry. Couple of typos though, but they don't detract from the book.

### ⭐⭐⭐ NOT QUITE SO RIVERTING SEQUEL TO THE CLASSIC 1ST VOLUME
*by T***R on 29 March 2023*

NOT QUITE SO RIVERTING SEQUEL TO THE CLASSIC 1ST VOLUME The History of Video Games Vol. II to start with, reads like Mr. Boring suit, didn’t get on with Mr. Who cares, another corporate suit, because he did something that showed him up, and so Mr. Who cares was denied a promotion. It’s Microsoft history, makes no mention of how Gates initially found fortune by providing BASIC to every known 8 bit computer one earth. Or how he stole the O.S business from CP/M with a rip-off version. On Page 42, in the small print he talks about Gerald Larry Lawson. Wallace Kirschner and Lawrence Haskel invented the video game cartridge along with the system that would one day become the Channel F(un) in 1974. It was called RAVEN (Remote Access Video Entertainment). Lawson was involved with streamlining and fine tuning. He turned the prototype into a commercial product. Now it was called STRATOS. He repeats this on Page 533. On Page 112, it is stated that 57% of Playstation owners are 18 year old. On Page 113 this is repeated. Why? Supposedly many people helped with this book, I guess none of them did any editing. This happens repeatedly. On Page 272, we learn Jawel Karim’s “Me at the Zoo” was the first video uploaded to the most popular video hosting site. Not sure what’s that got to do with videogames. It is interesting to read on Page 308 that a reason for Xbox 360(Red Ring of Death) failure was the use of non-Lead Solder. Lead Solder, is supposedly illegal now, but when I have been doing electronics projects, Lead Solder is recommended for the long life of a joint. Non-Lead joints don’t last as long. It may not be healthy to breathe in while you actually solder through. On Page 323, we get a section of greyscale photos. It includes a comparison between the VCS game Spiderman and Marvel’s Spiderman. He seems to have a thing about movie games on the VCS more on this later. On Page 364, we learn about a “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest which was a drinking water contest that resulted in the death of the runner up candidate and the sacking of 10 Radio station Staff. They supposedly signed disclaimers, which turned out to be garbage. The family of the candidate got 16 Million(this bit is not in the book). And all because she wanted her kids to have a Wii. Apparently over drinking water is very bad for the brain because the brain does not have much room to swell. This is probably the dumbest thing I have ever come across. Around Page 400, he starts talking about the Record and Movie industry and how smaller companies were gobbled up by bigger companies until a situation was arrived at whereby there was no more format exclusive games only exclusive content within those games. Page 418 - he’s back to talking about Atari again. What is interesting about the programmers who broke away from Atari to form Activision is that from a current perspective, the games they created before leaving Atari were on the Dull and Boring side. E.g. Outlaw, Football, Video Chess and Bowling. Yet Activision created some of the best games ever released on the VCS. Page 424 – I remember Talladaga on the C64. Terrible Graphics but it had captivating gameplay. Madden Madden Madden. Why have one Sports game when you can 42? One would be too much for me. Good to see him acknowledging his error from the first book – Pele’s Soccer for the VCS was the first celebrity tie in. Populous. Ah yes the god game. Sim City. Slooow brainy games. Page 438 – we learn that every modern WW2 game can be traced back to Saving Private Ryan. Page 446 - We learn the origin of all those pretend to play guitar games started in 1996 with Parapper the rapper.... except I remember a 1987 C64 game called Street Beat. But this was about delivering demo tapes and getting people dancing. Really, these games are a variation on the 1970’s repeated colours/sound game Simon from MB, which was a rip-off of Touch Me from Atari in 1974, except it didn’t have the musical bleeps. And Like Guitar Hero it was originally an arcade game. Page 455 – We learn about Electronic Arts gobbling up every company in sight. And apparently destroying them, as the talent left. We learn about the start of pretend money in games, microtransactions, and how just like in the arcades when in certain games you could win by paying your way through the game, you could do the same with home games too. You see this everywhere now. It reminds me of how you used to get a limited version of a game as a demo for free say on a disk or tape on a magazine, and find you only have the first level and would have to buy the whole thing, in order to play more. But here you have paid for the game and apparently you need to keep paying to unlock what you thought you had paid for. I remember Electronic Arts, for Deluxe Paint on the Amiga. The go to tool graphics tool on the platform. Page 462 – We learn about the depressing death of originality in games these days, the quirky games that once came out of bedrooms and were published commercially are gone, at least for big publishers, now it’s this year’s version of the several games that just have no end of sequels, buying the same game over and over which seems completely insane. People can still do stuff like this of course for smart devices. By Page 470, we learn about mass lay offs followed by massive profit annocements. Developers who thought they were about to get a big bonus instead got the boot. Page 488, we are back to talking about Atari and E.T. It stated that no one cared about movie games, I think that could be extended to coin-op conversions too. Why else would you buy a game, and find you have photos of the coin-op on the package, yet you power it up and wonder what the connection to the photos were? Page 497, We are talking about Superman on the VCS, the first movie game, not Raiders of the lost ark as HSW says in his book.. On Page 534, he talks about Ray Kassar, the man who axed all the R & D at Atari, who milked rubbish coin-op conversions to death on the ancient VCS that wasn’t fit to run them, another book called Zap! - The Rise & Fall of Atari will tell you all about how he went everywhere in a Limo. About his plush offices. And how he treated staff like rubbish. When David Crane and co, demanded more, he was told they are no different than towel designers. On another time, he told others, that they were no more important than the people packing the cartridges into boxes. Yet, the author thinks the man who ran Atari into the ground has been wrongly recorded by history. There was a lack of managerial talent at the time that had the required knowledge and skills so they had to go with what they had. Managers who had no knowledge of IT or Video Games. What happened to Atari is the result. Not that Commodore fared any better. He is always talking about the pecking order and sales figures of various consoles as if the author was commentating on a horse race. Sometimes he is not sure, but continues anyway to try and place a pecking order anyway. This stuff gets tiresome, like some one reading a spreadsheet for an accountant. The book is easy to read, but not that interesting, at times when we get quotes from launches of consoles, it may have been better to just refer the reader to the Internet to watch it. I remember the original volume as being riveting but this just seems tedious. It also seemed to be comprehensive. This volume seems to be less so, but then there are less systems to talk about so that may be a factor in this. Also, the original volume was about pioneering days, whereas now it’s all about profiteering days and endless same old same old. In every area you care to look at. The Text is double line spaced, which make it easy to read, but sometimes there is a paragraph in microscopic small print at the bottom of the page. It is a strain to read. It also goes back into territory of the original book e.g. Atari and Nolan Bushnell repeatedly. As I have pointed out above. The book gets repetitive in places, repeating information it stated earlier. It also goes on about how much money one console made in comparison to another which gets tedious and meaningless after a while. The first volume, was quite daunting in it’s size initially, and a slog to start with, until I got drawn into it. The same is true of this volume, except the drawn in stage, occurred quite late into the book. The book ends with a debate regarding if videogames can be regarded as art. Then goes on about Roger Ebert for some reason. Who didn’t think they could. And then the book goes on and on about making the case for them to be Art.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great read, only let down by poor print quality
*by A***E on 18 October 2021*

I enjoyed the writers style and it make for a great book to dip into. Some readers may find the format abit "jumpy", however if are into retro gaming then I'm sure you will find the text engaging as you reminis about your past. Very interesting to get the quotes from alot of the industry heads at the time. Just a shame that the print quality (in my copy) was bad towards the end of the book, numerous pages were fuzzy and difficult to read.

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