Page 9 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #5

THE FIRST QUARTER: A 25-YEAR (which the author was part of). Perhaps this
HISTORY OF VIDEOGAMES isn’t such a bad thing, as the events in ques-
By Steven L. Kent tion are too recent to be viewed from an his-
466 pages torical perspective. On the other hand, the
$21.95 enormous success of Sony’s PlayStation—
BWD Press bringing videogames into the mainstream like
never before—is truly significant and deserves
Review by Mark Androvich more coverage. Whether due to Ken Kutaragi
turning down a request for an interview, or
If you follow videogame “journalism,” more likely due to the fact that Kent initially
you’re probably familiar with Steven Kent. completed the book years ago, there just isn’t
He has written about electronic entertain- much first-hand information regarding Sony
ment for mainstream sources such as and its battles with Sega and Nintendo in the
MSNBC and USA Today, and has been a mid-to-late 1990’s.
frequent contributor to Next Generation “The First Quarter” tapers off around
magazine. A few years ago, I’d heard he was 1996-97. Tomb Raider, and its ubiquitous heroine Lara
working on a book about videogames. The good Croft, are not even mentioned in the book, and neither
news is that the book is finally finished. The bad is Zelda 64, Metal Gear Solid, or other late 1990’s
news is that, since mainstream publishers took blockbusters. The only videogame media/journalists
passed on it, you won’t find it at any bookstore: it quoted or even mentioned are Electronic Games maga-
is available only through Amazon.com. zine founders Kunkel, Katz, and Worley and yet I’m sure
The aptly named “The First Quarter” traces the there are some interesting stories concerning the devel-
roughly 25 years of videogame history, starting opment of videogame magazines. Finally, although the
with coin-operated mechanical games, which pre- book opens with pinball, the recent demise of pinball is
dated Computer Space and Pong, and ending with never touched upon—perhaps this would have been a
the Japanese launch of PlayStation 2. All the major good way to close the book. But, as Kent writes, there
players and important figures in the industry are is no way to describe the ending of something which
profiled, with liberal use of quotations taken from does not end.
interviews with the author. In this respect, the The book is not without a few minor errors. For ex-
book differs from “Phoenix”—Leonard Herman’s ample, Hogan’s Alley is mentioned as being prominently
comprehensive history of videogames which Kent featured in the movie Back to the Future, even though it
acknowledges and praises. “Phoenix” has been was actually Wild Gunman featured in Back to the Fu-
criticized (wrongly, in my opinion) for laying out ture II. Misspelled words or improper punctuation is to
the events of the past 25 years very matter-of- be expected in personal projects of this nature (that
factly, which is like criticizing an encyclopedia for don’t have the luxury of a team of editors), but the
not having a more exciting narrative. “The First book is quite professional in its appearance.
Quarter” serves as a good companion to It’s a shame that “The First Quarter” was not picked
“Phoenix,” as it expands upon that history with an- up by a mainstream publisher, since it is written in a
ecdotes and personal accounts. style that makes it accessible to videogame fans and
Roughly half of the book is devoted to the Atari non-fans alike. If I have any criticism of the book at all,
age prior to Nintendo’s entrance into the American it is that the majority of the material will be familiar to
market in 1985, which is as it should be. After all, anyone who has read “Zap! The Rise and Fall of
this was the time of the true pioneers. Every sys- Atari” (1984) and “Game Over” (1993). Unfortunately,
tem and game since that time has built upon the the time period that those two books do not cover,
foundation created by people such as Steve Rus- 1995-2000, is also barely touched upon here. Perhaps a
sell, Ralph Baer, and Nolan Bushnell. All the myths more detailed discussion will have to wait for the
and legends—from the overflowing coin box at “second quarter.” The book could also have benefited
Andy Capp’s tavern to the burying of cartridges in from an index, and although the 21 pages of pictures
a New Mexico landfill—are covered. By tracing the were welcome, I would have liked to have seen more
careers of Atari’s executives, who later had a hand shots of hardware, advertising, or paraphernalia rather
in Nintendo, Sega, and Sony, the book illustrates than personalities. Still, the photos fit the book’s focus
just how influential Bushnell’s company turned out on the people behind the games rather than on the
to be. games themselves.
The next quarter of the book details the rise of Steven Kent has done us all a great service by pre-
Nintendo, from its initial difficulties to its ultimate serving the memories of the videogame pioneers in
domination of the U.S. market. Much of this infor- book form. When the rest of the world finally shows an
mation can also be found in David Scheff’s “Game interest in the origin of the largest segment of the en-
Over,” but Kent manages to summarize the impor- tertainment industry, historians will thank him for hav-
tant events. Even having read the other books on ing laid the groundwork.
the subject, there were a few tidbits regarding the
16-bit system “war” with Sega that I was previ- MARK ANDROVICH is a strategy guide author and Senior Editor
ously unaware of. for PSE2 Magazine, and was formerly a contributor to The 2600
Only about 60 pages are devoted to the 32-bit Connection fanzine. Although he’s been bugging us to publish
generation of systems, and much of that is related his work in CGM, we generally just use him to keep
to Congressional hearings on videogame violence Sarah entertained at CGExpo (while Chris checks out
the ”nerdy” stuff).
Classic Gamer Magazine December 2000 9