Next-Gen.bizs Top Video Game Book Picks by Ernest Adams
Discover Ernest Adams' top video game book picks on Next-Gen.biz, featuring essential reads like Theory of Fun for Game Design, Masters of Doom, and The Ultimate History of Video Games. From game design and industry history to business insights, explore the definitive books every gamer and developer needs.
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Theory of Fun for Game Design
by Raph Koster
Discusses the essential elements in creating a successful game, how playing games and learning are connected, and what makes a game boring or fun.
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The Ultimate History of Video Games
by Steve L. Kent
Traces the history and development of video games, providing information on the first games, influential developers, how the games have changed over the years, and the most popular games.
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Everything Bad is Good for You
by Steven Johnson
From the New York Times bestselling author of How We Got To Now and Farsighted Forget everything you’ve ever read about the age of dumbed-down, instant-gratification culture. In this provocative, unfailingly intelligent, thoroughly researched, and surprisingly convincing big idea book, Steven Johnson draws from fields as diverse as neuroscience, economics, and media theory to argue that the pop culture we soak in every day—from Lord of the Rings to Grand Theft Auto to The Simpsons—has been growing more sophisticated with each passing year, and, far from rotting our brains, is actually posing new cognitive challenges that are actually making our minds measurably sharper. After reading Everything Bad is Good for You, you will never regard the glow of the video game or television screen the same way again. With a new afterword by the author.
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The Mythical Man-month
by Frederick P. Brooks (Jr.)
General literature -- Introductory and Survey.
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Game Over
by David Sheff
How did a Japanese company that once manufactured playing cards end up capturing nearly all of America's multi-billion dollar video-game industry in the early '90s? What is it about games that feature an obstinate ape ("Donkey Kong") and an intrepid plumber ("Super Mario Bros.") that make them so addictive to consumers of all ages? And was it inventive genius or business hardball that enabled Nintendo to gross more after taxes in 1992 than Apple, IBM, Microsoft or all the major U.S. film studios combined?
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Masters of Doom
by David Kushner
Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to co-create the most notoriously successful game franchises in history—Doom and Quake—until the games they made tore them apart. Americans spend more money on video games than on movie tickets. Masters of Doom is the first book to chronicle this industry’s greatest story, written by one of the medium’s leading observers. David Kushner takes readers inside the rags-to-riches adventure of two rebellious entrepreneurs who came of age to shape a generation. The vivid portrait reveals why their games are so violent and why their immersion in their brilliantly designed fantasy worlds offered them solace. And it shows how they channeled their fury and imagination into products that are a formative influence on our culture, from MTV to the Internet to Columbine. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry—a powerful and compassionate account of what it’s like to be young, driven, and wildly creative. “To my taste, the greatest American myth of cosmogenesis features the maladjusted, antisocial, genius teenage boy who, in the insular laboratory of his own bedroom, invents the universe from scratch. Masters of Doom is a particularly inspired rendition. Dave Kushner chronicles the saga of video game virtuosi Carmack and Romero with terrific brio. This is a page-turning, mythopoeic cyber-soap opera about two glamorous geek geniuses—and it should be read while scarfing down pepperoni pizza and swilling Diet Coke, with Queens of the Stone Age cranked up all the way.”—Mark Leyner, author of I Smell Esther Williams
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The Xbox 360 Uncloaked
by Dean Takahashi
"The Xbox 360 Uncloaked" is the result of more than a hundred interviews, many at the highest levels of Microsoft, as well as countless months of independent investigative reporting. With unprecedented access, San Jose Mercury News Technology and Gaming Writer Dean Takahashi goes beyond the official story to reveal a true insider's look at the creation of the XBox 360 and Microsoft's multi-billion dollar gamble to become a leading force in the global video game industry. Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, the entire Microsoft Xbox 360 team, and the industry's most celebrated game developers -- all of the major players are included in this captivating book.