The Video Games Guide

The Video Games Guide is the world’s most comprehensive reference book on computer and video games. Presented in an A to Z format, this greatly expanded new edition spans fifty years of game design—from the very earliest (1962’s Spacewar) through the present day releases on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and PC.
Each game entry includes the year of release, the hardware it was released on, the name of the developer/publisher, a one to five star quality rating, and a descriptive review which offers fascinating nuggets of trivia, historical notes, cross-referencing with other titles, information on each game’s sequels and of course the author’s views and insights into the game.
In addition to the main entries and reviews, a full-color gallery provides a visual timeline of gaming through the decades, and several appendices help to place nearly 3,000 games in context. Appendices include: a chronology of gaming software and hardware, a list of game designers showing their main titles, results of annual video game awards, notes on sourcing video games, and a glossary of gaming terms.

Video game expert Matt Fox lives in the medieval city of Canterbury in the United Kingdom. He is regional coordinator for a charity that runs engineering projects within schools and is also heavily involved with the teaching and promotion of space science in the UK.

Matt Fox
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 416
Bibliographic Info: photos (125 in color), appendices, glossary, index
Copyright Date: 2013
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7257-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0067-3
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Introduction  1

Key to Review Layouts  2

Guide to the Star Ratings  2

The Reviews  3

Between pages 128 and 129 are 32 pages containing 125 color plates

Appendices

1: Video Games Chronology  337

2: Chronology of Computers and Consoles  354

3: Video Game Designers  361

4: Video Game Awards  370

5: Video Game Sources  371

Glossary  373

“Well written, comprehensive, and informative. Recommended”—Choice; “delightful…readability and accessibly of the text is high, as is the accuracy of the information included”—Reference Reviews; “a labor of love…excellent”—Star-Telegram; “Fox presents an alphabetical reference to computer and video games created from 1962, to 2012 for platforms ranging from Atari and arcades to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PCs”—Reference & Research Book News; Reviews of the first edition: “brilliant”—BBC Radio; “indispensable”—GamesTM; “superb”—BBC Focus; “a must-have”—Retrogameplay.com; “comprehensive”—Ain’t It Cool News.