Replay: The History of Video Games (98 page)
Read Replay: The History of Video Games Online
Authors: Tristan Donovan
Feature examining controversial video games with references to the first two Grand Theft Auto games
Smith, Rob (2008)
Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts.
London, UK: Titan Publishing Group
Details about the making of Grim Fandango
‘The making of Grand Theft Auto’ (2008)
Edge
, Issue 187, April 2008, pp60-75
The history of the Grand Theft Auto series. Source for Sam Houser quotes, used with the kind persmission of Future Publishing
‘The vision of Mass Effect’ (2007) [DVD] In: BioWare (2007)
Mass Effect: Limited Edition
[Xbox 360] Electronic Arts
Mass Effect’s development team discusses the influences on the game
Toffler, Alvin (1964) ‘The Playboy interview with Ayn Rand’. In: Boaz, David (editor) (1997
) The Libertarian Reader: Classic & Contemporary Writings from Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman
. 1998 paperback edition. New York, New York: The Free Press, pp161-168
Background on Ayn Rand and her beliefs
Walker, Sophie (1997) ‘Computer Nerds discover sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll’.
The Independent on Sunday.
6 July 1997. [Online]
www.independent.co.uk/news/computer-nerds-discover-sex-drugs-and-rock-n-roll-1249248.html
[Last accessed: 7 March 2010]
Report on Sensible Software’s Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll
‘Who’s the daddy now?’ (2009)
GamesTM
, Issue 82, April 2009, pp62-71
Feature on BioShock
28. Magic Shooting Out Of People’s Fingers
‘An audience with Jenova Chen’ (2009)
Edge
, Issue 206, October 2009, pp62-67
Interview with the co-founder of Thatgamecompany
Barton, Laura (2005) ‘The question: Have the Artic Monkeys changed the music business?’.
The Guardian
, London, UK. 25 October 2005. [Online]
www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/oct/25/popandrock.arcticmonkeys
[Last accessed: 7 March 2010]
The Arctic Monkeys challenge the music business
Cousins, Mark (2004)
The Story of Film.
2008 paperback edition. London, UK: Pavilion Books
Hollywood’s move towards summer blockbuster movies in the 1980s
Donovan, Tristan (2003) ‘Top 20 Publishers’.
Game Developer,
Volume 10, Number 9, September 2003, pp30-35
Figures on the world’s largest video game publishers measured by annual turnover
Experimental Gameplay Workshop presentations (2002) [Online]
www.experimental-gameplay.org/2002/index.html
[Last accessed: 7 March 2010]
Summary of the first Experimental Gameplay Workshop
Experimental Gameplay Workshop presentations (2005) [Online]
www.experimental-gameplay.org/2005/index.html
[Last accessed: 20 March 2010]
Summary of the 2005 Experimental Gameplay Workshop that featured Rag Doll Kung Fu, Braid and the Experimental Gameplay Project Kyle Gabler helped start
PopCap Games (2006) ‘Survey: Casual computer games as TV replacement’. [Press release] 13 September 2006
Survey shows demographics of PopCap’s audience is outside the video game norm
Purchese, Robert (2010) ‘Bejeweled sales reach 50m worldwide’.
Eurogamer,
10 February 2010. [Online]
www.eurogamer.net/articles/bejeweled-sales-reach-50m-worldwide
[Last accessed: 7 March 2010]
Bejeweled hits 50 million sales landmark after 10 years
Reynolds, Christopher (2009) ‘Braid has been “very profitable” for creator’.
Now Gamer,
18 March 2009. [Online]
www.nowgamer.com/news/307/braid-has-been-very-profitable-for-creator
[Last accessed: 7 March 2010]
Interview with Jonathan Blow on the success of Braid
Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the support and help of many other people. My partner Jay Priest tops the thank you list for his design work on the book, support in getting the whole project off the ground, sound advice, help with the research and business aspects, and – above all – for his patience and unfailing support over the year-and-a-half it took me to write it.
Keith Grimes and David McCullough’s insights and suggestions were incredibly helpful, as was their willingness to help me sift through dozens and dozens of good (and many not so good) games when putting together the book’s game guide. Also a special thanks to Keith for making the i
Book version possible.
Tom Homewood gets a big thank you for his work on the cover design and his advice on typeography as does my crack proofreading team of Ruth Smith, Cathy Wallace and Rachael Wood, who were willing to make their way through a book on a subject they knew nothing about in meticulous detail. Cathy Wallace gets an extra mention for her tweets.
My Japanese translator Klara Ellefson went beyond the call of duty by providing me with numerous useful insights in Japanese culture and through her willingness to help track down several of the Japanese developers I interviewed.
Thanks also go to: Cathy Campos of Panache PR for her patience with the delays to the book’s completion and her PR work, Jess McAree for the legal pointers, and Jon Savage for inspiration (although he doesn’t know it).
Lastly, and by no means least, I’ll like to thank the hundreds of game industry veterans, PRs and agents who I contacted while researching this book for the time they took in answering my many questions, helping me track down the information I needed and for digging out photos or images for the book. A special thanks goes to Ralph Baer, Dona Bailey, Dave Nutting, Cynthia Franco (of the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University, Dallas), Richard Garriott, Eugene Jarvis, Ed Logg and Philip Oliver who all went the extra mile.
Table of Contents
2. Avoid Missing
Ball For High Score
3. A Good Home Recreation Thing
4. Chewing Gum, Bailing Wire And Spit
5. The Biggest Eureka Moment Ever
13. I Could Have Sworn It Was 1983
17. Sega Does What Nintendon’t
19. A Library In A Fish’s Mouth
21. We Take Pride In Ripping Them To Shreds
23. You Haven’t Lived Until You’ve Died In MUD
27. The Grooviest Era Of Crime
