Wikipedia and Game Consoles.

General and high profile video game topics.
matmico399
Posts: 1419
Joined: November 25th, 2015, 6:11 pm

Wikipedia and Game Consoles.

Postby matmico399 » December 30th, 2017, 1:15 pm

While I really enjoy playing games I also enjoy reading the backstories on consoles and the stories behind them, the hits and misses and the wise and foolish decisions done by CEO’s. I was bored today so I started Wikipediaing Consoles. Man there is so much I did not know about. It’s like a good book You can’t put down. So just a shout out to fellow gamers during times of boredom. The Dreamcast has been an esp fascinating story.

User avatar
Gentlegamer
Posts: 787
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 1:01 am

Re: Wikipedia and Game Consoles.

Postby Gentlegamer » December 30th, 2017, 2:45 pm

Just say no to wikipedia.

User avatar
scotland
Posts: 2561
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:33 pm

Re: Wikipedia and Game Consoles.

Postby scotland » December 30th, 2017, 5:12 pm

matmico399 wrote:While I really enjoy playing games I also enjoy reading the backstories on consoles and the stories behind them, the hits and misses and the wise and foolish decisions done by CEO’s. I was bored today so I started Wikipediaing Consoles. Man there is so much I did not know about. It’s like a good book You can’t put down. So just a shout out to fellow gamers during times of boredom. The Dreamcast has been an esp fascinating story.


I for one love the stories about hardware. I just started one about Atari, and it begins by contradicting earlier books (on details about the history of Pong, in this case). Wikipedia is a good primer, but dive into some of the books. Pick your favorite - lime the Saturn or Genesis I'm guessing for you - and ask around. I'm up for a mini book club on some of the best ones. I hope we get more books before the key players in the 70s and 80s aren't around any longer to ask.

User avatar
Stalvern
Posts: 1952
Joined: June 18th, 2016, 7:15 pm

Re: Wikipedia and Game Consoles.

Postby Stalvern » December 30th, 2017, 6:04 pm

If you like tons of stories from the people who were there and are generally interested in the hardware and business sides of things, Brian Bagnall's books on Commodore are some of the best stuff you'll ever read.
Last edited by Stalvern on December 30th, 2017, 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
scotland
Posts: 2561
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:33 pm

Re: Wikipedia and Game Consoles.

Postby scotland » December 30th, 2017, 6:45 pm

Stalvern wrote:If you like tons of stories from the people who where there and are generally interested in the hardware and business side of things, Brian Bagnall's books on Commodore are some of the best stuff you'll ever read.


Thanks. I just bought Commodore: Company on the Edge to read in 2018

matmico399
Posts: 1419
Joined: November 25th, 2015, 6:11 pm

Re: Wikipedia and Game Consoles.

Postby matmico399 » December 31st, 2017, 11:57 am

Thanks Scotland and Stalvern, will do!

User avatar
pacman000
Posts: 1141
Joined: December 30th, 2015, 9:04 am

Re: Wikipedia and Game Consoles.

Postby pacman000 » December 31st, 2017, 2:39 pm

If you like Wikipedia, might I suggest reading Old-Computers.com, Video Game Console Libary, or The Dot Eaters?

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/default.asp

http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com

http://thedoteaters.com/?page_id=6

Much of, perhaps even most of Wikipedia's info should've come from these sites; Wilipedia's just big and easy to cite. They get a lot of incoming links which gives them preference in search engines, but the actual information's from other sources.

For specific systems I'd suggest fan sites. Here's a list:

https://curlie.org/Games/Video_Games/Console_Platforms/

It's broken into categories for each system.

User avatar
Retro STrife
Posts: 2530
Joined: August 3rd, 2015, 7:40 pm

Re: Wikipedia and Game Consoles.

Postby Retro STrife » January 3rd, 2018, 9:13 am

If you like reading about individual game consoles, I highly recommend Winnie Forster's "Encyclopedia of Game Machines". There's 2 editions, both out of print and available used on Amazon, but save some money and get the 1st edition (the 2nd edition only added a few of the newer consoles). IMO it's the best book on the hardware side of things and worth owning by every console collector. Each console is profiled for 2-5 pages, so you won't get super in-depth backstories, but still an excellent read. It's my favorite gaming book and played a big part in my console collecting.

https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Gam ... 3000153594

For a more in-depth look at the history of consoles and the industry in general, my favorite book is called "High Score" by Rusel DeMaria. There may be better pure texts out there, but the combination of images and text in High Score can't be beat and is perfect for people like me with short attention spans. The newest edition is pricey, but the previous edition is under $10 on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/High-Score-Illus ... 0072231726


Return to “Video Games General”