Retro games websites and books

[EdwardEmersonBarnard No.1887757]

No, I'm NOT looking for downloads.

The history of video games is an interesting topic, but while I have read a few books on the matter (Masters of Doom being the most interesting one), my knowledge of Internet sources is sorely lacking. Other than this place, pretty much the only website I know is Hardcore Gaming 101. But I remember a thread full of scathing criticism of said website, so my question is, what's the best alternative? What do you think is the best place to learn something about the history of video games and the games themselves?

Likewise, book recommendations would be very welcome. Other than Masters of Doom, I'm only really aware of Dungeons and Desktops, and Replay: The History of Video Games. I'm not really into sprawling, overarching but potentially undetailed narratives, so Masters of Doom is my favourite of these three. But I crave for more.

[Anonymous No.1887772]

I loved Racing the Beam, really good book on the Atari 2600. Gets kind of technical if you're interested in that kind of thing.

I also recommend Chrontendo, a guy plays through every Famicom game in order and gives a short review. You can see how the trends and genres change through time, it's really fascinating (like how every game starts incorporating RPG elements after Dragon Quest comes out, for example)

[Anonymous No.1887849]

Here's a few links...

http://www.filfre.net/2011/03/on-the-trail-of-the-oregon-trail-part-1/

http://web.archive.org/web/20070601183213/http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/spacewar.html

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070223a/barton_pfv.htm
(also look for the rest of the series; it's indexed by google)

http://www.eamonag.org/

You can find loads more by checking the wikipedia page for any game, publisher, or hardware platform you're interested in. For example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure

Best way though is to actually read books and magazine articles from the period itself. Here's a bunch:
http://www.atariarchives.org/
http://annarchive.com/
http://amr.abime.net/
One thing i really enjoy is reading the game reviews and interviews published in those magazines.

Btw, archive.org has an entire section for old computer manuals and magazines.

[Anonymous No.1887852]

Are books of games fine too?

[Anonymous No.1887856]

"High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games" is a book that's mostly categorized by game company and dedicates a page or two to each developer.

"Generation 16" is a Genesis version of Chrontendo. A guy goes through each game in release order while explaining any relevant history along the way.

I think HG101 gets shat on so much because people hold them to a higher standard than most other game websites. They used to be a source of well researched articles, but at some point they fell into the practice of producing weekly content. The informative stuff is still there, just know that they feature a lot more crap than hardcore gaming history now.

[Anonymous No.1887880]

Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children

seriously despite the bait title, this book is great

[Anonymous No.1887881]

>>1887852
>"Zool Rules"

Like fuck.

[Anonymous No.1887903]

http://gamepilgrimage.com/content/console-history

[Anonymous No.1887975]

>>1887881
suck it

[Anonymous No.1887992]

>>1887757
This one is really good, and detailed. It's also bursting with quotes from the people it talks about.

[Anonymous No.1888132]

Do read David Sheff's Game Over, which is still the ultimate book on the history of Nintendo.

I'm starting to read Console Wars, about the Sega / Nintendo rivalry, and while it's entertaining, it's definitely got an angle to it.

I haven't read it, but Racing the Beam is about the history of Atari and essays about the game design and programming that went into a number of games for the 2600.

[Joseph Joestar No.1888135]

>>1887757
Definitely check out SCROLL by Ray Barnholdt (of Retronauts, who brought Game Center CX to most peoples' attention) - it's fantastic. It's pricey to get them all but they're worth every penny. He gets into a lot of off-the-beaten-path topics and provides a lot of historical insight and facts that you won't find anywhere else.

>>1887856
To paraphrase HG101's derboo, there's something for everyone here to hate.

[Joseph Joestar No.1888141]

>>1888132
Game Over is a really fun book. Just be warned that it's somewhat skewed and there's still a number of errors, but it's pretty minor compared to the overall package.

Racing the Beam is great, I need to finish that someday. It gives you a lot of insight and respect for people that programmed for the 2600, and how they were able to get anything out of that hardware.

[Anonymous No.1888318]

Man, I'd love to help you guys, but all the books I've read are the ones from Pix n'Love. And from what I've read around here, the english branch is really bad, like they haven't shipped books that were supposed to be shipped months ago.
And lots of them aren't translated in english too. That's too bad, because there's a brunch of them really interesting. They have consoles "bibles" which talked a bit about the console history but mostly have every game released on them (but not the non-official games). There's the NES bible, the SNES, the Game Boy and the PC Engine one.
They also have a brunch of books about the serie, how Mario got big from the begining to 1991, the Castlevania serie, the history of Sonic...
The History of Nintendo serie by Florent Gorges,so Nintendo as a card game company and a game company, second volume is about the G&W, then the NES.
And finally, they got some books translated, like Japan Arcade Mania and Gunpei Yokoi biography. inb4 conspiracy theories about his death

And that's about it. Really interesting if you can read them in french.

[Anonymous No.1888505]

>>1887856
>I think HG101 gets shat on so much because people hold them to a higher standard than most other game websites. They used to be a source of well researched articles, but at some point they fell into the practice of producing weekly content. The informative stuff is still there, just know that they feature a lot more crap than hardcore gaming history now.
A lot of their older articles centered around better known series aren't even that well-written. They contain so many mistakes, as if the author were just speedrushing through each game through an emulator just to cover the one game in the series he really likes. They also whine too much about the difficulty in older action games, which seems pretty odd for a site calling itself "Hardcore Gaming."

[Anonymous No.1888513]

>>1888318
I really need to get Florent's Yoshihisa Kishimoto biography one of these days.

[Anonymous No.1888514]

>>1887992
Seconding this recommendation. The cheesy "tips n' tricks"-style title doesn't do it any favors, it's a legit history book. Although, as you might read in other reviews, the first half is really the book's strong point. It's all about arcades, pinball, the rise of consoles, early legal battles, and as this anon mentioned, it's full of quotes and very well-sourced. It's Americentric but hey.

[Anonymous No.1888545]

http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/02/02/making-crash-bandicoot-part-1/
This is a really in depth account of the making of the first crash bandicoot. It's just about one game, but it talks a lot about the industry at the time and especially the transition from 2d to 3d for a lot of games.

[Anonymous No.1888552]

>>1888505
If you have a problem with it not being up to your standards, do something instead of just bitching about it on every thread.

[Anonymous No.1888561]

>>1888552
we are doing something, warning others of their shit opinions. Don't be so mad HG101 writer

[Anonymous No.1888569]

>>1888561
I'm not sure getting butthurt on /vr/ is doing something about their articles, anon :).

[Anonymous No.1888570]

>>1888135
I concur with SCROLL magazine. It looks great, and has interesting things to say about games that have been talked about to death. Highly recommended.

[Anonymous No.1888575]

>>1888552
>>1888569
Actually, I used to browse their forums, but they tend to be overly sensitive to any form of constructive criticism, dismissing it as "pedantic", "butthurt" or "nitpicky." Kinda like how you're doing right now.

[Anonymous No.1888580]

>>1887856
>Generation 16
Glad to finally find another fan on here I have been trying to push his channel for a while. The production values are top notch and I love how he actually discusses the culture at the time of releases and relvent history. His bit on Michael Jackson in the moonwalker segment was awesome, the story of legal battles of Tetris was also awesome, his history of EA was really informative. That show is just top notch and I wish he had more subs so he would put out episodes more frequently.

[Anonymous No.1888584]

>>1888569
you have to admit them complaining about difficulty is pretty funny for a site that promotes itself as hardcore.

[Don Rumata !!rYqzYYFAejo No.1888594]

>>1887849
Seconding Filfre's books. The man's one of the best games historians and writers I know of, even if he's more of a computer history guru at times (amazing articles for the Amiga!). You won't find a better personality talking about interactive fiction.

>>1888135
Ray deserves full attention for the Artdink issue. It's not as comprehensive as I would like, but a magazine feature like this would astound folks back in the day. He's good at page layouts and can analyze an obscure game's significance in a pinch. I also really enjoyed his Boku no Natsuyasumi project.

My cautious recommendation: get The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers (Vol. 1, lol) on Amazon when it's available to order. I now dislike the author's attitude towards his subject and his work style, but the content itself is consistently interesting. Nowhere else are there detailed write-ups on games from dB-SOFT or the whereabouts of Ys' creators. Wait on buying this, though, since I don't know if Szczepaniak's going to nickel and dime a platinum backer like me for the next two volumes (expecting digital copies).

>>1888584
It's mostly Kurt Kulata sucking hard at arcade games like Galaxy Force II, which I think you can learn to beat and enjoy with patience. Derboo rarely if ever complains.

[Anonymous No.1888612]

>>1888575
You're entitled to your opinion, but if you're not going to do anything more than what you're doing now (i.e., voicing your complaints on a random thread that's gonna get deleted in a day or so), then it's not really "constructive criticism". Write hatemail to the webmaster or something at least .

[Anonymous No.1888623]

>>1888612
You're right. Maybe it's time I come back to that forum.

[Anonymous No.1888631]

>>1888623
There you go. And at the very worst you can let them know where they can shove it.

[EdwardEmersonBarnard No.1888654]

Wooow, that's a lot of excellent recommendation! Thanks everyone so far, please don't stop!

>>1887772
>>1887856
Thanks for mentioning the Youtube channels even though I forgot to ask for videos in the original post. They sound extremely interesting. I once found a content-rich Youtube channel dealing with old games, but it was Russian, and my understanding of Russian is extremely limited.

---------------------
Reading all the answers reminded me of two Internet sources that I once found, saved in my bookmarks and promptly forgot about them (because they are about MUDs and Interactive Fiction, and I never played games from these genres all that much). Here they are.

http://mud.co.uk/richard/
Richard Bartle's site full of articles and other writings about MUDs.

https://archive.org/details/getlamp-interviews
Archive of uncut interviews with Interactive Fiction authors, conducted by Jason Scott for his movie GET LAMP.

[Anonymous No.1888697]

The Cutting Room Floor is dedicated to game's beta and prototypes. It is very interesting and contains many stories around popular games development and secrets. Great to debunk myths or to win at trivias or just to learn many things on gaming history. Updated very often.

tcrf.net

[Anonymous No.1888787]

>>1888697
too bad its so nintendo slanted

[Anonymous No.1888821]

>>1888787
Then hack some fucking Genesis and TG16 games and contribute to the Wiki then.

[Anonymous No.1888835]

>>1888821
I'm not autistic enough to notice the difference between different releases :(

[Anonymous No.1888838]

>>1888821
It's not even just that I went to look up gradius to see the differences between them all and NOTHING. Fucking gradius?!!?1 you would think someone would have done that.

[Joseph Joestar !!Gw0DoE7xkFM No.1889310]

>>1888545
Seconding this; it's a fantastic site. He used to have some anecdotes about the making of Way of the Warrior that aren't there anymore, though (apparently he found the costumes wadded up in a bag in his garage about ten years after the fact and they were completely rancid).

This is a pretty interesting account of the making of Gex (and some other games). He's pretty bitter, so take it with a grain of salt:
http://games.greggman.com/game/gex/

>>1888584
>>1888594
I'll have to re-read some of these articles, but aside from some early ones I never really noticed the authors complaining about difficulty much - but between here and SHMUPS there's been a lot of anger over it, specifically in reference to the use of the word "Hardcore" (which is more about the site's intended focus on offbeat or lesser-known games than difficulty).

>>1888623
I usually stay off the site/article feedback sub forum, what criticisms did they call nitpicking?

[Anonymous No.1889314]

>>1889310
HG101 doesnt have a street fighter 2 article even, I know its a common as shit mainstream game but I still want to see how the ports stack up.

I think they are afraid of getting BTFO once they found mega drive version was actually better than the SNES

[Joseph Joestar !!Gw0DoE7xkFM No.1889371]

>>1889314
AFAIK it's because there's a lot of ports, and it would be time consuming to get pictures and impressions of everything - in a similar vein, there's only just now a Megaman article, although that's because of how many games there are.

Anyway, I agree, it would be nice to see the comparisons.

[Anonymous No.1889464]

>>1889371
The Japanese Wikipedia lists pretty much every version of the game.

[Anonymous No.1890230]

>>1888594
>Szczepaniak
I assume he was just stirring up drama to bait the Gawker sites into giving the book more publicity. The book looks seriously thick with interviews and I can't wait to read it.

[Joseph Joestar !!Gw0DoE7xkFM No.1890585]

>>1890230
I'd like to read the interviews, but I'm gonna wait to see if someone's selling their copy first.

[Anonymous No.1890896]

>>1890585
That interview with the Mitchell staff on the HG101 blog was a painful read.

[Anonymous No.1891067]

>>1890896
is HG101 going to become on of those shitty ass SJW blogs that whines about the patriarchy like kotaku? I thought retro games were safe :(

[Anonymous No.1891073]

>>1891067
Don't worry, Cannon Dancer is a manly game.

[Anonymous No.1891092]

>>1891067
>>1891073
The interview on the blog is nothing special, but I got the impression that Mr. Ozaki and Mr. Yotsui were irritated by Sketcz's constant questioning of their business practice.
http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2014/08/mitchell-corporation-arcade-games.html

The HG101 forum does have its share of bleeding hearts though.

[Anonymous No.1891176]

>>1891092
I know this is totally off topic but what the FUCK is wrong with the gaming industry now? I mostly stick to retro so I don't see it that often but I've been following this SJW drama shit lately and why are these asshole leeches trying to ruin our hobby. They don't even like games they just latch onto things to push their social agenda. Neogaf, kotaku, rock paper shotgun its all cancer and needs to be eliminated. WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with people, if games are art, art is subjective and it can be sexist racist and whatever the hell it wants to be, it does not have to be held to a certain standard. Heck these toxic people even persecute people just because of the way they choose to live if they don't agree with it, THE VERY THING THEY CLAIM TO BE AGAINST. SJWs are nothing but bullies who can't see their own hypocrisy because they are too busy smelling their own farts. (ie princess sevenleaf)

[Anonymous No.1891185]

>>1891176
>what the FUCK is wrong with the gaming industry now?

The AAA games industry decided it wanted to be Hollywood and subsequently vanished up its own asshole.

[Anonymous No.1891216]

>>1891185
AAA studios are just trying to chase CoD bucks they will finally get their shit together. Indie devs on the otherhand have become a tightknit community of morons that won't let anyone else in who doesn't conform to their way of thinking. Critical thinking is obviously impossible for these people because they are in way too deep and white knight for each other even though they know they may be in the wrong. Of course an SJW can do no wrong as we all know.

[Joseph Joestar !!Gw0DoE7xkFM No.1891974]

>>1891092
Maybe the wi-fi beams he's always bitching about made him do it?

Seriously though it's sad, but that's most of his interviews. I mean, the "friendly" ones at least - not counting the ones where he's stalking/threatening people or quoting stuff that was off-the-record like he did to piss off the ASSEMbler people and shit.

It's really sad; the concept of his book is a great idea, it just happened to be wasted on him.

[Anonymous No.1891979]

>>1891216
The reason these SJW indie developers are so far up their own ass is because THEY ARE INCAPABLE OF MAKING GOOD GAMES.

Why? Because MAKING GOOD GAMES REQUIRES HARD WORK TO WHICH THESE GEN Y FAGGOTS ARE ADVERSE TO.

[Anonymous No.1891983]

>>1887757
I've been thinking about reading this book but then I'm confirmed as an official nerd and there's no going back :(

[Oakland No.1892036]

>>1890230
Man, I'm glad the book is finally out, but nearly $50 is quite a bit, even if it is giant. Considering this is just the FIRST book though...

The DVD was fantastic though, worth every cent I spent on it and I'm sure the book is just as good, seeing as it can and will be more indepth with info on Westone, whereas the DVD just had a very short interview with Nishizawa in the office.

That said, I'll just order it next week when I get paid. Hopefully it goes down in price slightly.

[Anonymous No.1892048]

>>1891974
There's an underlying vibe to their short and straight answers, as if they want to tell Sketcz "it's easier said than done" or "we shouldn't be taking business advice from a foreigner who has never worked on a single game in his life."

[Joseph Joestar !!Gw0DoE7xkFM No.1892070]

>>1892048
Yeah, I agree with you there. I bet they were talking shit about him afterward, too. Hell, I would.

[Anonymous No.1892186]

>>1891979
They do put a lot of effort in to masking their lack of ability with arty-farty bullshit. That's got to count for something...right?

Can't jump in this game? That's uh...it's...that's because its meant to represent man's grounding in reality...or something. I-It's totally not because I don't know how to program jumping! Honest!

[Anonymous No.1892193]

>>1891983
You're already posting on 4chan, anon. There's already no going back.

[Anonymous No.1892253]

>>1892070
You talk shit about everyone behind their backs.

[Anonymous No.1892276]

>>1892253
At least it's accurate shit.

[Anonymous No.1892864]

Dungeons & Dreamers: A Story of How Computer Games
Created a Global Community
By: Brad King & John Borland

In 1974, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson published the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons, a fantasy role-playing game. Through the next 40 years, computer game developers used these fantasy worlds as archetypes for the budding virtual game worlds These games would become as varied as books in a library, but the essence of each was built upon community. People gathered and played...together. Dungeons & Dreamers: A story of how computer games created a global community follows the designers, developers, and players who built the virtual games and communities that define today's digital entertainment landscape and explores the nature of what it means to live and thrive in virtual communities.

"Dungeons & Dreamers tells the epic story of the rise of the games industry from its geeky roots to its mass market dominance. None of us who were there at the beginning had any expectations it would rise to overshadow all other communications media combined...but it has." --Richard Garriott de Cayeux, creator of the Ultima franchise

"Most people think social gaming started with MySpace and Facebook. Dungeons & Dreamers puts the lie to that myth. The community of gamers that led directly to the online social space we inhabit today got its start in the 70s, grew in the 80s and became a phenomenon in the 90s." --Warren Spector, creator of Deus Ex

You wouldn't expect the first chapter of a computer game history book to be about a pen and paper game, but once Dungeons & Dreamers points out the connection between D&D and , it's hard not to see everywhere. From Doom to Madden, from Ultima to The Elder Scrolls, Dungeons & Dreamers connects all of them brilliantly with one game, and that game is Dungeons & Dragons. --Anthony Savini, director, Dungeons & Dragons: A Documentary

http://a.pomf.se/bpwjqh.mobi

[Anonymous No.1892865]

Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System
By: Nick Montfort & Ian Bogost

The Atari Video Computer System dominated the home video game market so completely that "Atari" became the generic term for a video game console. The Atari VCS was affordable and offered the flexibility of changeable cartridges. Nearly a thousand of these were created, the most significant of which established new techniques, mechanics, and even entire genres. This book offers a detailed and accessible study of this influential video game console from both computational and cultural perspectives. Studies of digital media have rarely investigated platforms--the systems underlying computing. This book (the first in a series of Platform Studies) does so, developing a critical approach that examines the relationship between platforms and creative expression. Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost discuss the Atari VCS itself and examine in detail six game cartridges: Combat, Adventure, Pac-Man, Yars' Revenge, Pitfall!, and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. They describe the technical constraints and affordances of the system and track developments in programming, gameplay, interface, and aesthetics. Adventure, for example, was the first game to represent a virtual space larger than the screen (anticipating the boundless virtual spaces of such later games as World of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto), by allowing the player to walk off one side into another space; and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was an early instance of interaction between media properties and video games. Montfort and Bogost show that the Atari VCS--often considered merely a retro fetish object--is an essential part of the history of video games.

http://a.pomf.se/uvvgyt.pdf

[Joseph Joestar No.1893038]

>>1892253
'course I do :). But I talk shit about them to their faces too (relatively speaking).

>>1887757
There are some really good interviews with members of M2 about the Sega 3D Classics line for 3DS. They're really fascinating if you enjoy any of those games, have interest in how porting and emulation processes (should) go, and/or interest in Sega Genesis or Arcade hardware. There's links to them all on this page:

http://blogs.sega.com/category/sega-3d-classics/

[Anonymous No.1893039]

Got it for Christmas. Decent read and list for retro.

[Anonymous No.1893060]

>>1892865

Seconded.

[Anonymous No.1893065]

>>1887757
Aside from direction quotes, interviews, statements. Largely no place. You'll find a lot of bias and opinionated bullshit and weakly researched articles most of the time.

[Anonymous No.1893071]

>>1893065
Noting direct quotes that don't pertain only to the individual or the company should largely be taken with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous No.1893356]

Has anyone seen the HG101 DVD on the untold story of japanese game development? It looks interesting, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to spend money on this.

[Anonymous No.1893374]

>>1893356

>you are reading a book about history of games, and suddenly this guy slaps your gf's butt. What you gonna do?

[Anonymous No.1893380]

>>1893374
slap it again

[Don Rumata !!rYqzYYFAejo No.1893384]

>>1893356
Get the book first. The DVD's good and very informative, but nowhere near as polished as its parent item.

[Anonymous No.1893680]

>>1893384
Is there a list of game developers interviewed for the book.

[Anonymous No.1893869]

>>1893384
idk $50 is kinda pricey...

[Anonymous No.1893895]

>>1893039
If I remember correctly there are barely any NES games on this list.

[Joseph Joestar !!Gw0DoE7xkFM No.1894008]

>>1893869
It's on sale for about 40 bucks right now at Amazon. Still way overpriced, though.

[Anonymous No.1894059]

Just got done reading Console Wars. It's a cool little book chronicling the career of Tom Kalinske's career at Sega. Although Sega is the focus, it also gives good insight into the history and inner workings of Nintendo. One complaint I've heard is the author does take some liberties with the history. And for the ADD crowd Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg have picked up the movie rights.

[Anonymous No.1894421]

>>1887852
Shouldn't it be smarter than Mario, cooler than Sonic? I thought Sonic was known for his way too cool attitude instead of being smart.

[Oakland No.1894451]

>>1893356
I got the DVD when they first sold them separately from the kickstarter. I LOVED it, but there are parts where it's obvious it's just meant to be supplemental footage for the book, such as some interviews being incredibly short. Some of the recordings have the occasional framerate skip too, but it's very uncommon.

I spent around $60 on the DVD and I find that it was fully worth it, consideing seeing the DECO and Westone's office gave me the biggest smile.

Somehow I don't really feel like spending $47 on the book. Like, it's not that it's not worth it, seeing as it's over 500 fucking pages, but $47 is a lot of goddamn money for a book.

[Anonymous No.1894464]

>>1894421
He sorts things out, how can he not be a genius?

[Anonymous No.1894474]

>>1894421
'...manlier than Cloud, more articulate than Doomguy...'

[Anonymous No.1894895]

>>1893374
tell him to shave jesus fuck whats wrong with him?

[Anonymous No.1895392]

>>1888318
I feel like Pix n Love books are pretty hit & miss. Some are great (story of nintendo, kishimoto and gunpei) but most feel like wikipedia/internet/old magazines compilations.
Still, I hope that other editors start publishing video game books.

>>1891983
They got it in my small French town library, so it must be pretty main stream lol.

[Anonymous No.1895398]

>>1887757
all your history from when machinima was still decent is actually pretty compelling.

[Anonymous No.1895467]

>>1888580
>>1888580
>>Generation 16

I tried watching his first episode. Tell me he gets better, because he sounds so.. dull.

He needs to learn to talk better and not pause