Books about video games used to be few and far between unless you counted strategy guides, but in the last handful of years video games, and the art surrounding it has progressed greatly.
Here are the best five books about video games that you can read this year:
1. Console Wars by Blake J. Harris
Last year was a huge year for Blake J. Harris. His book seemed to be popping up everywhere; with interviews at big outlets like Nintendo Life and Polygon.
"Console Wars" chronicles Sega in the early 90s from an insider's point of view. It skips over the boring, telling type of history and goes straight for the good stuff to keep the pace up and the story interesting unlike many other videogame-related books.
2. Extra Lives
Sure, both "Extra Lives" and "Console Wars" are both about video games, but that is where the similarities end. Where Harris' novel about Sega delved into the inner workings of a video game publisher, "Extra Lives" dives into the deep inner workings of individual development teams.
The book includes anecdotes on games such as Mass Effect and Left for Dead, and discusses why games such as these two are so intriguing to gamers around the world.
3. Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal
McGonigal takes a similar approach to video games in "Reality is Broken" to what Bissel did in "Extra Lives". It paints video games in a whole new light, especially compared to what the general public views them as.
"Reality is Broken" looks at games as "escapist art", and discusses how they deal with the many social problems of our world today, just as many other forms do.
4. The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia
This is THE book for Zelda fans. It starts with an introduction from famous videogame designer Shigeru Miyamoto and then gives readers unprecedented insights into the true origins of Princess Zelda and Link.
Along with the stories, "Hyrule Historia" is packed with concept art from games like Skyward Sword in the beginning, and moves on to show off art from pretty much every Zelda game ever released in the final 100 pages of the book.
5. Clipping Through
Have you ever wanted to know what it's like to go to the Game Developer's Conference and talk to all of the biggest names in the videogame industry? Well, Leigh Alexander has you covered with her bargain priced eBook, "Clipping Through".
Unlike the other four books in our list, this book is more from the videogame journalism viewpoint, but that doesn't stop it from being a great, enticing read.
With these five great videogame-related books, your bookcase might not look like this quite yet, but with these books finding success, there is more of a chance than ever that you could have this many video game books in the future.
Have a favorite that we missed? Let us know in the comments so we can add it to our shelf!
Published: Mar 26, 2015 05:02 pm