If you follow video game “journalism,” you’re probably familiar with Steven Kent. He has written about electronic entertainment for mainstream sources such as MSNBC and USA Today, and has been a
frequent contributor to Next Generation magazine. A few years ago, I’d heard he was working on a book about video games. The good news is that the book is finally finished. The bad news is that, since mainstream publishers took passed on it, you won’t find it at any bookstore: it is available only through Amazon.com.
The aptly named “The First Quarter” traces the roughly 25 years of video game history, starting with coin-operated mechanical games, which pre-dated Computer Space and Pong, and ending with the Japanese launch of PlayStation 2. All the major players and important figures in the industry are profiled, with liberal use of quotations taken from interviews with the author. In this respect, the book differs from “Phoenix”—Leonard Herman’s comprehensive history of video games which Kent acknowledges and praises. “Phoenix” has been criticized (wrongly, in my opinion) for laying out the events of the past 25 years very matter-of-
factly, which is like criticizing an encyclopedia for not having a more exciting narrative. “The First Quarter” serves as a good companion to “Phoenix,” as it expands upon that history with anecdotes and personal accounts. – Read the rest of the article here from Classic Gamer Magazine (courtesy of Old School Gamer)!
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