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▶ Commentary, Criticism, and Cultural Studies ▶ History (Before 2000) ▶ History (2000 – Present) ▶ Memoirs |
The Big List of Books About Games isn’t a list of every book ever published about video games. But it is a good place to start as you delve deeper into game history and the study of game culture.
Not sure where to begin? Feel free to start with Video Game Canon: A Brief History of Video Games as Told Through 22 Games, a collection of essays about game history that I’m currently putting together.
Also look for books highlighted as “Recommended” as you browse the catalog. A few instantly spring to mind…
History buffs would do well to begin with Steven Kent’s The Ultimate History of Video Games, a book that provides a pretty good (though slightly embellished) overview of everything from Pong through the beginnings of the PS2/GameCube/Xbox era. David Sheff’s Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children fills in a lot of the gaps with a very detailed account of Nintendo’s rise from the early 1980s up through the dawn of the Nintendo 64. And Tristan Donovan’s Replay: The History of Video Games travels across the pond to cover the same timeframe with an additional focus on the game development industry in Europe.
I would also strongly recommend David Kushner’s Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, especially if you ever wanted to know more about the creation of Doom or the diverging career paths of John Romero and John Carmack.
The Big List of Books About Games will be updated on a regular basis, but if there’s a title you know I’m missing, please let me know through the Contact page.
Want more books? Visit The Video Game Library and The Video Game History Booklist to browse more titles about video game history and criticism.