Jay See Double You wrote:The first quarter by Steven L. Kent. Circa 2000. It's a historical look at video gaming focusing on 1975-2000 (book was released post JP PS2 launch, pre US PS2 launch, so that's when the story stops.) But it does cover stuff from before that time. It actually goes way back, covering things like specific machines and individuals that predated, and inspired the invention of pinball. Games like baffle ball, and people like gottlieb, bally, Williams, etc. I can't remember if it goes back pre-1900, but it at least goes way back to very early in that century.

It's full of quotes and interviews, inside facts, etc. It covers the founding of nintendo, and Sega, coleco, mattel, commodore, and most detailed of all, Atari. It spends more time in the "atariage" than any other period, but 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit readers will not feel chinced.

It focuses primarily on the business side of gaming, and has a very editorial feel. But it's anything but a cold, detached, emotionless presentation. A couple negatives: there are occasional profanities in the quotes that I wish he wouldve edited out, but he didnt. I also think that for a book so detailed in everything, he really laid down on his comparative hardware analysis of SNES vs. genesis. And lastly, I've never been aware of more editing errors in a book in my life. There are typos etc all over the place. But it doesn't really do too much to harm the content of the book itself.

It's definitely worth the read. You should check it out!