Vintage Guide to Computer and Video Games

Thursday Nov 10, 2005

I love to read about games from the past. Vintage video games hold a special place in my heart, as I am sure they do for many of you. That is why I have kept most of my video game magazines and books, dating back to 1982. Looking through the pages and seeing where the technologies ultimately went, who won the various “video game wars” and seeing how far we have come is always a lot of fun.

A few summers ago, while on vacation, I stopped at a little used book store and found this gem amongst the bargain books. The “Usborne Guide to Computer and Video Games” is a fantastic little read and was written with the younger gamer in mind. Check out the “Future Games” section that describes how, by the year 2000, we will be playing games with people hundreds of miles away via little antennas attached to our chess boards :)

Click on the pictures below to see the larger image. Have fun!



[11] Comments
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Posted at 02:58PM Nov 10, 2005 by Christopher Melissinos in Games
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Wow, trip on the way back bus!

Posted by Jeffrey Olson on November 10, 2005 at 03:24 PM EST #

I'm pretty sure you're violating the DCMA. Better check your EULA, and get yourself some Sony DRM. TTYL

Posted by Shawn Kendall on November 10, 2005 at 11:50 PM EST #

Absolutely. I remember vividly the excitement of getting an Intellivision console back in 1980/81. The games seemed truly amazing at the time - "fabulous" graphics, "realistic" physics, and a great controller (12-button keypad [with graphics for each key changed for each game], action keys, and a 16-direction disk).

It's a little bit intriguing that the controller for the Intellivision isn't a million miles away from today's mobile phone handsets. If mobile phone designers wanted some clues on how to improve on phone form factors to make them into great modern games controllers, they could do worse than take some inspiration from the Intellivision.

Posted by Simon Brocklehurst on November 11, 2005 at 07:38 AM EST #

dude that's awesome! You should re-write that "story of computer games" to include the LAST 20 years too. that would be pretty frickin cool. :)

Posted by madsax on November 11, 2005 at 01:28 PM EST #

Hi, you should check out my blog, it might be of interest to you. http://greatestgames06.blogspot.com/ The rogue wanderer.

Posted by Rogue Wanderer on November 14, 2005 at 04:21 PM EST #

Wow - I totally remember getting this book from the library as a kid...

Posted by Jonathan Bruce on November 21, 2005 at 03:04 PM EST #

I was 11 and this was the first computer-related book I read in my life. The last few pages had the source code for a simple ZX-81 game (not shown in the scans). A whole new world unfolded, I've been spending the rest of my life doing computer work ever since.

Posted by vruz on January 28, 2006 at 03:50 PM EST #

Cool, I used to have this book too. (Along with a bunch of other Usborne techy books, like how to design and write an adventure game in BBC BASIC...)

Posted by Calum Benson on January 02, 2007 at 06:14 PM EST #

OMG... I have that book. I remember i lent it in the library when I was a wee little lad and I never returned it. lol, I gotta go find it. :D

Posted by Robert F on January 08, 2007 at 08:23 AM EST #

[Trackback] a guide, when they weren't vintage, and you didn't know what that word meant,...

Posted by tribe.net: blogs.sun.com on August 15, 2007 at 10:48 PM EDT #

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Posted by Tasi on October 17, 2007 at 05:06 AM EDT #

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