For those wanting to know the history of video game machines (don’t we all?) than Games.Machines (a video game encyclopedia) is the book for you, covering almost all consoles, handhelds and home computers from 1972 to 2005. The book contains an illustrated history of more than 400 game machines and contains technical and historical data of each, totaling at 224 pages in full color.
There’s also plenty of interesting facts that most gamers will find interesting. Find out about historical events such as the video game crash of ’84 where Atari produced an insane amount of game cartridges and ruined most of the console industry. Find out that Sony supported Microsoft with the MSX before they became bitter rivals. See how companies were unable decide whether to make consoles or computers and often mixing the two together. The Nintendo 64’s four controller ports impress you? The Atari 5200 was light years ahead with four controller ports back in 1986! Want to know why Sony entered the console market? It’s all mentioned in this easy to read book.
The consoles and handhelds are outlined with either a page or more each and with a few pictures of the system and games. Tech specs and approximate number of games for each machine are listed as well as other interesting facts. However on a few consoles the total number of units sold is “unknown” which is a shame and doesn’t really tell you if it was a success or not.
Games.Machines does a good job of condensing a whole systems life into just one or a few pages but it is kind of inadequate for the important machines in history such as the NES, Mega Drive, SNES and PlayStation just to name a few. Also, while the book mentions the important game titles for each system, the pictures are usually of other games and not those landmark titles.
Overall the book is easy to read, informative and fulfills its purpose of showing the history and progression of video games. Games.Machines does have a few slight mistakes but is very accurate overall and is only missing a few of the more obscure and rare systems. If you want to find out more about the history of video games, than you can’t go wrong with Games.Machines. The book comes highly recommended.
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