Replay: The History of Video Games

Executive Summary: This book doesn't offer the depth of history that some of the others I've read do, but what it lacks in depth it makes up for in its breadth. If you want a higher level history of video games, this may be a better choice than some of the other books out there.

Audiobook: Gary Furlong does exactly what I want from a nonfiction narrator. He reads clearly with good pacing and inflection without getting in the way of the book. It does seem apparent he's not familiar with some of the concepts however as he mispronounces a few things (like GUI) that just made me cringe a little every time it occurred.

That said, I think while it doesn't benefit from audio like some fiction books do, it's a decent option.

Full Review
I've lost count of how many books I've read on the history of video games. Some are on certain companies/technologies/games. Others have been purported to be a “complete” history. Most of those I've read have been good but are often lacking. This isn't a fault of those books so much as the fact that there is so much history to tell, inevitably you have to focus on some things at the expense of others.

Most of the overall history books I've read tend to focus very heavily on America and Japan as well as primarily on console gaming. This book sets out to tell a wider history and I felt it did a pretty good job of it. In addition to covering the usual topics we get numerous chapters on computer gaming as well as later chapters dealing with portable/phone gaming and online gaming.

There is also chapters dealing with gaming in Europe and other parts of Asian that seem to always go ignored in all the other books I've read. These chapters aren't as detailed as some of the others, but it was nice to see their addition and for me personally they offered the most new material.

I've typically been more of a computer gamer than a console gamer, so it was nice to more history about computer gaming beyond Space Wars on the PDP1 and Doom. The book spends time with a variety of computer platforms and how gaming evolved from simulations and mainframe gaming to the rise of gaming on the personal computer. I could probably read books focusing on just this part of gaming alone.

I knew almost nothing about gaming in Europe. I knew a little about it in South Korea and China, but not much more than I did about Europe. This book doesn't spend a ton of time on those subjects but it's still nice to see it included.

I grabbed this book on a daily deal, and I'm happy I did. While there was a lot of material I already knew about, there was a lot of things I didn't. I'm a sucker for good nonfiction books on gaming, computers and/or technology so this worked well for me.

If you're looking for a book that digs into some subjects others seem to neglect, or just want a higher level history that doesn't spend too much time on any one subject this is a pretty good option.