''The Ultimate History of Video Games'' is a 2001 non-fiction book by

Steven L. Kent Steven L. Kent (born August 28, 1960), son of woodworker Ron Kent, is an American writer, known for both video game journalism and military science fiction novels. Career In 1993, Steven started work as a freelance journalist, writing monthly ...

. Published initially by Prima Publishing and then by

Three Rivers Press Three Rivers Press is the trade paperback imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. It publishes original paperback titles as well as paperback reprints of books issued initially in hardcover by the other Crown imprint ...

, it is an updated version of the self-published ''The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games''.

Development

The book was constructed primarily from over 500 interviews, with industry figures granting multiple conversations. Three potential sources declined. He had originally intended to release the book in 1995, and then in 1996, but then he "finally published the damned thing" independently in 2000. 5,000 copies of this first edition were quickly sold exclusively through

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, and then Prima Publishing bought the rights. Kent initially opposed referring to the new edition as "ultimate". An index was added. He bemoaned that the Three Rivers Press edition was released before the launches of the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

. In 2018, and again in 2019, he mentioned that he was working on a second volume, which was eventually published in August 2021 and titled “The Ultimate History Of Video Games, Vol. 2” .

Reception

Ken Gagne of ''Gamebits'', reviewing ''The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games'', said it suffered frequent typos and disliked that Kent largely withheld his own opinion. However, ''LudoScience'' called it "an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of video games". ''

Nintendo Life Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and oth ...

'' said that the 2001 rerelease as ''The Ultimate History of Video Games'' was Kent's "seminal work". ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' noted Kent's "infectious enthusiasm" and called the book "a loving tribute" to the videogame industry. Tim Rotertson at ''MyMac.com'' called Kent a "gifted writer" and gave the book a 5/5 rating, but suggested that it should have been multiple volumes for more depth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ultimate History of Video Games, The

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Three Rivers Press books