Reading List
At my desk at Telltale, I have a small library of books that I use as my key reference materials in new media and the only textbooks of value with-in my New Media work.
“The Language of New Media” by Lev Manovich
This is the number one book I state as required reading for any individual working in any electronic media in any form. Yes, I’m that board in my assertion. This is a very accessible academic text that provides the right kinds of question about the wide world of New Media. Lev spends most of the book using a film criticism background as a starting point in analysis of New Media texts including video games, 3D animation, and et all.
“The Ultimate History of Video Games” by Steven L. Kent
While there are other books that focus on specific periods and or projects in the game industry, the Kent book is a good compressive history from the beginnings of the industry till around 2000 with the idea of Microsoft working on the Xbox. The beginning of the book is pretty much all about Nolan Bushnell, but then moves boarder when the history starts containing more people and stories. The only real setback I have with the book is the lack of pictures. While there is a section in the middle of select photos, being able to put the face to a lot of the names would make the book better.
GameTap
No, not a book but an on-line service. However, I see GameTap as complimentary to Steven L. Kent’s book. Turner Broadcasting runs the operation as their entry into entertainment programming for the Internet.
For the monthly fee ($10), you get access to all of the GameTap’s library of games to play as much and as long as you want. The key to GameTap with the Kent book is first reading about a certain title in the Kent book, then actually playing the game. The only part that’s noticably missing from GameTap is all games created for Nintendo. This isn’t an oversight but Nintendo’s refusal to loan out emulators (and thus focus on the Wii’s Virtual Console). Still, GameTap runs great by providing these classic to mostly modern titles with great ease of installing.
I should also note that GameTap has a free service and a paid service. The free service providing a rotating menu of games for free and the paid service providing the full catalogue.
Ed note: GameTap also features and co-publishes Sam & Max; A project I also work on and get paid for.
“The New Media Reader” edited by
This book is a collection of hidden diamonds of influential text in New Media. While some of the texts seem to be dry and irrelevant, but as you read a section, you then realize how it was the foundation of much larger things in technology and New Media.
The first thing to note is the CD that comes with the book. It includes emulators and software of various key applications like Spacewar! and video such as Douglas Engelbart’s first presentation of the mouse, word processor, hyperlink, computer-supported cooperative work, video conferencing, et all.
The book itself contains some standards such as the GNU Manifesto and selections from Marshall McLuhan. Then there are the other selections such as “The Lessons of LucasFilm’s Habitat” which is a postmortem of the first MMO that ran on Commodore 64. A lot of MMOs wouldn’t have gone so wrong had the creators read this article.
While it’s certainly true you can find pretty much all of the content in the reader in one form or another, having all of the content in one place makes this book such a value.
“Supercade: A Visual History of Video Games 1971-1984″ by Van Burnham
This book I hesitate to include because it doesn’t completely hit the mark. The book starts out with a quick but decent history of early video game and leads into a catalogue of video games in the era. However, the book’s text turns more into a nostalgia-porn where the contributers talk about their play time with the piece and not actually about the piece. While certainly the oral history of game play is important, doing so for each title makes every entry read the same.
So why bother including the book in this list? It’s a good visual cross-reference of titles from the era.
What am I missing?
Got suggestions to add? Love to hear from you! Comment and tell me about it!
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