Reference Reviews
Doug’s Student Reference Room
The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to PlayStation and Beyond. Edited by Mark J.P. Wolf. 380 p. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. ISBN 13: 978-0-313-33868-7. $75.
In the past few years, students have shown an increasing interest in researching the history of video games but few comprehensive resources are available. Wolf’s book offers an academic resource accessible to high school students that traces the evolution of video games, from the precursors of Computer Space and Pong to home systems like the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3. Divided into five sections, the first section begins with a definition of video games and includes discussions of formats, platforms, early influences and ways to analyze video games. The second section takes readers through the early years of a fledgling industry that came to be led by Atari, which created arcade games, home console systems and personal computers. The third section looks at Nintendo’s rise with the development of new home game console systems, the expansion of the industry made possible with the use of the CD-ROM, the introduction of handheld systems like Game Boy and the early iterations of online gaming. The fourth chapter follows the next generation of home systems such as PlayStation and Nintendo 64, as well as the proliferation of online games that began to attract participants numbering in the millions. The last section looks at the video game development process, explains technical trends in graphics and sound, describes over forty genres of video games, examines moral and ethical issues surrounding video games, and offers a vision of the future that includes video games not just as entertainment, but as narrative, simulation, education and art. A timeline, a glossary, an extensive bibliography and sidebars featuring key company profiles also are included. This volume provides a much-needed addition to the serious study of video gaming. Highly recommended for school, public and academic libraries.
—Doug Achterman