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April 25, 2002  





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AtariAge Store: Books

Many classic gamers are also closet historians and amateur psychologists, so we've included a wide range of books here. From videogame histories, to cultural studies, to price goods, you may find some things you didn't know existed. And don't forget that flea market guide for your next road trip!

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Arcade Fever:The Fan's Guide to The Golden Age of Video Games

Product Description:
Do you remember the difference between playing “singles” and “doubles”? Have you mastered the delicate art of hyperspace? Can you say “joystick” in polite conversation without blushing? If you’ve answered “yes” to any of these questions, then “Arcade Fever” is the book for you--the world’s first illustrated tribute to Asteroids, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Q*bert, Gauntlet and many more of the mind-blowing games you played in your youth. You want to reminisce about the coolest Atari cartridges, the silliest-named arcade oddities, and the funkiest bass riff ever used in a video game? You want interviews with early arcade heroes like Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Robotron designer Eugene Jarvis and “Pac-Man Fever” composers Buckner + Garcia? You want to look at revealing pictures of Dragon’s Lair hottie Princess Daphne? It’s all in “Arcade Fever”, an infectious celebration of ’70s and ’80s arcade culture.

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Arcade Treasures With Price Guide

Product Description:
Today, a sense of nostalgia and the irresistible urge to play have combined to make arcade memorabilia and antique arcade games one of the hottest collectible fields of our time. This book is filled with 447 color photos of the greatest games ever to hit the arcade scene-the earliest arcades' strength testers and fortune tellers, perennial favorites like baseball games and SKEE-BALL, wild pinball games from the middle of the century, and modern electronic video game like PAC MAN and Q*BERT. While American manufacturers have maintained a solid grip on the market, some interesting offerings are included from foreign manufacturers. Also included are a section on novelty products, a detailed discussion of the development of different game trends, a history of significant manufacturers and designers, and a thorough price guide.

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Atari Jaguar : Official Gamer's Guide

Product Description:
Complete walkthroughs and strategy for every title! Not just vague hints and tips like those other books! Includes: Alien Vs. Predator, Brutal Sports Football, Bubsy, Cannon Fodder, Cybermorph, Doom, Dragon: Bruce Lee Story, Flashback, Hover Strike, Iron Soldier, Kasumi Ninja, Madden, Rayman (Preview), Tempest 2000, Theme Park, Trevor McFur, Woflenste.

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Collecting Classic Videogames

From the Publisher:
"Here is a grand review of the home video games that entertained the nation, and much of the world, during the 1970s and 1980s. In over 1000 color photographs, many of the video games for the extremely popular Atari, Colecovision, and Intellivision systems are displayed, ranging from Asteroids and Donkey Kong to Pac-Man and Zaxxon. Games from less familiar systems, such as Bally's Astrocade, GCE's Vectrex, Magnavox's Odyssey, and RCA's Studio II, are featured as well. Also included are examples of each system for which games are displayed, a wide variety of hand-held, table-top, and stand-alone games, video game memorabilia, an engaging text, and current market values both in the captions and listings in the back of the book."

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Complete Pinball Book

Product Description:
This fantastic book tells the detailed history of pinball games from the 1930s to the 1990s, including the evolution of all sorts of game features--from flippers and bumpers to sound, scoring, and tilt mechanisms--all immersed in the complex and magnificent artwork characteristic of pinball machines. Pinball manufacturing giants like Gottlieb, Williams, and Bally are well represented, in addition to several lesser-known and foreign manufacturers. With a listing of over 3,000 games built to date, statistics, pricing information, and over 900 color photographs (including close-ups, flyers, images of rare prototypes, and games never before seen in print), this is essential for the libraries of all pinball lovers.

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Electronic Plastic

Electronic Plastic

Book Description

Electronic Plastic displays a visually exciting survey of the snazziest oldschool computer games. First introduced in the mid 70s, kids were addicted to the portable handhelds and tabletops for about a decade. By today these computer games have become both rare and impressive eyecatchers, as well as landmarks of portable consumer electronics. Strikingly, their allround retrostyled casts, colourful packaging and bubbling typefonts showcase genuine 80s vibes.

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Extra Life: Coming of Age in Cyberspace

Product Description:
Bennahum writes a rich account of what it was like to be among the first to grow up with computers as an important part of daily life, where the critical parts of the most coveted toys are electronic rather than mechanical. What lends Extra Life such poignancy is that it ranges far beyond mere push-buttons and keyboards to incorporate the new electronic world into the larger life of a boy growing up in New York. Bennahum delves into his own psyche to show how the computer revolution dovetailed with other revolutions surrounding his coming of age, such as coping with his parents' divorce, emerging from being an outsider, and youthful (sometimes illegal) strivings for adulthood.

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Game Over: Press Start to Continue

Game Over Press Start To Continue

Book Description

The riveting story of Nintendo's conquest of the interactive entertainment industry offering true tales filled with cocky arrogance, confidence and international intrigue that rival any novel. Whether it is recounting the struggles over the game"Tetris," offering blow-by-blow narrative of Nintendo's bitter legal warfare or its see-saw competition with other companies for market leadership, Game Over is a masterful piece of business journalism and technical reportage-a book both cautionary and... (AA ed. note: this book also has information about Atari, although it is primariy about Nintendo)

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Joystick Nation
Joystick Nation: How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our Minds

Editorial Review, Amazon.com

This is a look at the revolution that changed the way we play video games. From the prototypical Space Wars, Hunt the Wumpus, and Adventure to modern shoot-em- ups, brain-busters and simulations. J. C. Herz examines what has kept us glued to screens and joysticks. It also explores how video games shaped the way those raised on them (like Herz herself) interact with their world. Joystick Nation gives an overview of video game history, interviews with the brains behind the most influential games, explorations of what makes various types of games work for various people, and even a peek into a major game development company during the critical countdown to a major release. Herz is a witty writer whose personal approach to the topic can resemble a riff by a stand-up comic. You'll find yourself nodding along with her reactions and smiling--maybe even laughing out loud.

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Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of Videogames

Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Videogames

Editorial Review, Wired, Ian Christe

"...a definitive temporal overview of joystick jiggling, covering the ups and downs of the phenomenon ... Herman treats popular favorites and dismal flops with even-handed reverence, rarely injecting opinion that could color the facts in any way."

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Playing for Profit : How Digital Entertainment Is Making Big Business Out of Child's Play (Wiley/Upside Series)

Product Description:
Playing for Profit examines how digital interactivity will affect the future of the technology and entertainment businesses, demanding new rules, different players, and bigger profits. It takes an insightful look into the strategies and methods that are driving the digital entertainment and interactive gaming industries, dissecting the thinking behind such issues as product innovation, market domination, risk taking, attracting and nurturing visionary employees, and unparalleled customer...

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Revolutionaries at Sony: The Making of the Sony Playstation and The Visionaries Who Conquered The World of Video Games

Product Description:
Until three years ago, Sony had never released a video game. Not only was this a market will notoriously difficult consumers, but it was a field dominated by two ferocious companies, Nintendo and Sega. However, in four short years since its founding, Sony Computer Entertainment managed to dominate the video-game world by giving to the world's top-selling game machine, the Playstation. Today, more than 10 million Playstations have been sold, and the widely anticipated second generation of its...

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Supercade

Product Description:
From the fist interactive blips of electronic light at Brookhaven National Labs and the creation of Spacewar! at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; to the invention of the TV Game Project and the myriad systems of Magnavox, Atari, Coleco, and Mattel that followed; through the rise of the Golden Age of videogames and forward into the imagination of millions, Supercade is the first book to illustrate and document the history, legacy, and visual language of the videogame phenomenon.

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Trigger Happy
Trigger Happy : Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution

Book Description

Videogames first came on the market thirty years ago as a marginal technological curiosity. Now they are virtually everywhere. Videogame sales have equaled movie sales. They are played by more adults than children, and game design can even be studied in college. Yet videogames are still often viewed as a minor form of entertainment, at best shallow, or at worst harmful. Now, Steven Poole argues that videogames are a nascent art for on track to supersede movies as the most popular and innovative...

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Twin Galaxies

Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of High Scores


Book Description

...settles all arguments by telling you what the current high score is on almost any game and who you have to beat to beomce the new world champion! ...authority that establishes the rules and standardized tournament settings on each game! ...organizes video game and pinball playing into a sport, with a tradition of contests, statistics, world records and star players! ...coordinates an international schedule of tounaments players can compete in to gain entrance into this record book! ...brings credit to thousands of youth around the world who know they are the best!

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The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon--The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World

Product Description:
Based on more than 500 firsthand interviews with the creative geniuses and inspired crazies who transformed a backroom novelty into a cultural phenomenon, The Ultimate History of Video Games is the definitive account of the brilliant, quirky, wacky world of electronic entertainment. You’ll discover the behind-the-scenes story of the games you grew up with--from Pong, Pac-Man, and Mortal Kombat to Pokemon and beyond. Author and gaming historian Steven L. Kent chronicles the exploits of eccentric designers, insanely great programmers, and maniacally driven entrepreneurs who wagered everything on a modern-day art form that no one thought would succeed. Entertaining, addictive, and as mesmerizing as its subject, The Ultimate History of Video Games is a must-have for anyone who's ever touched a joystick. Note: This is a new edition of First Quarter by Steven Kent.

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U.S. Flea Market Directory : A Guide to the Best Flea Markets in All 50 States

Midwest Book Review

Over 1,000 listings document flea markets across the country, including travel directions, hours of operation, number of vendors, and general specialties and quality of listed markets. This should be required take-along reading for any avid flea market fan who wants to travel.

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ZAP!: The Rise and Fall of Atari

Product Description:
This book belongs in every videogame fan's library. Long out of print, Scott Cohen's 1984 history of Atari returns in a new printing with a fresh look.

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