Console Wars

There's two important points to make about this book:.

1. Harris is a good writer. His research and narrative work effortlessly guide you through six or so years of epic change.
2. Consoles just have no soul. Harris and his principal sources seem to never question how ultimately the console industry boils down to marketing brinksmanship and how hollow that makes the entire endeavour.

Maybe this isn't really Harris' fault, but the world of 80's-90's consoles (and probably still today) is so hopelessly full of corporate hagiography that we're led to believe everyone previously fabulously rich executive is a genius in this emerging world of video games. Tom Kalinske, Sega of America's president and Harris' messiah in a suit, is treated like a trailblazer for what–thirty years later–really just amounts to edgelord marketing. It's a weird lens on the industry that seems to gloss over how commodified and exploitative these same suits made their arena.

There are no creatives here. This isn't Masters of Doom or any other history of the creative rise of video games, but rather the celebration of corporate gaming. Even Sega's rise is ultimately depressing in that context. Console Wars is a great history... it's just that it's a documentation of the most banal process of extracting wealth from games rather than any form of creativity beyond ad-wizardry.

I remember getting a Nintendo for Christmas in the late 80s and it shaping my entire childhood. Later on I'd go onto to get a Super Nintendo, a Genesis and a Playstation before heading to college and eventually buying any system I wanted. The systems that truely shaped my gaming experience were, without a doubt NES, SNES and PSX.

Console Wars goes into the history of Nintendo, Sega and Sony with the rise of the console industry in America. Having been a kid at the time, I did't know show much of an underdog Sega was at the time – and how badly managed Sega was in Japan. Nintendo had it's problems as well. The story behind the creation of Donkey Kong Country was amazing and made me surprised the game even got made – better yet that it was (possibly) the best game for that system.

Executive Summary: A good, but not great look at one of the key times in video game history.

Full Review
I don't read a lot of non-fiction. Most of what I do read tends to be about computer stuff. However video games have been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember.

I still consider the 16-bit generation to be one of the best. The games hold up so much better than the 32/64 bit generation that followed as 3d was being introduced. The art style is a lot more timeless and some really great games were released. It probably helps that I was 10-13 or so during this time period.

I was a Nintendo kid. I own every console from NES through Game Cube, plus the original Game Boy. Nintendo lost me in college as they continue to focus on kids and decided to neglect those of us who belong to the “Nintendo Generation”.

This is the first book I've read on this time period. From the title, I was expecting this to talk about both sides of the “Console Wars” and that was my first disappointment. If I had read the blurb, I would have realized that this was mostly Sega's story. In particular, Tom Kalinske's story. He was brought in to run Sega of America and take on Nintendo.

It's hard to know if I was just too young for Sega at the time, or if I truly just like Nintendo better, but I never got the big deal. Give me Mario over Sonic anyday. Or really screw them both and give me a new Zelda game to play.

That said if not for Sega and Tom Kalinske, the video game industry would be that much poorer for it as Nintendo had a near monopoly before he showed up and turned things on their head.

Mr. Harris did extensive interviews to write this book, and I imagine he either got more time/better interviews from the Sega folks than the Nintendo side. You get glimpses of the inner workings of Nintendo, but most of the time you see the actions of Nintendo through the eyes of their competitors. If you were a Nintendo kid like I was, you may find yourself as disappointed with this as I was. If you're a Sega fan, you might come away differently.

The other big drawback of this book is the format. For some reason he decided to write the book as though he/we were present while events were happening and apparently made up a bunch of the dialogue and conversations in the book based on his interviews.

What this does in my opinion is bloat the book while rarely going deep on some of the key points. He could have either written a much shorter version of the same book, or given a lot more depth at the same length.

It does make the book very readable though. It's an easy read, and there is definitely a lot of interesting stuff in here that those of us who grew up during this time period or are simply fans of video games and their history should enjoy.

He touches on most of the major events: The introduction of Sonic the Hedgehog, The launch of the SNES, The Sega Scream and ad blitz, Mortal Kombat, the government hearings on violence in video games and the creation of the ESRB. Things end with the first E3, the launch of the Sega Saturn, and Sony's entry into the market with the Playstation.

I think if this book got more in depth and was more balanced with its inside looks at both Sega and Nintendo it would have been a much better book, but it's still a good one worth a look if you're a fan.