The Game Console: A Photographic History from Atari to Xbox is a book that records the history of the most influential, zany, outlandish gaming consoles in a visual, skeleton-like fashion. It is less like a book and more like a tour through a museum of the systems capable of turning anything into a fun, interactive experience. Given that, there is not much to write about concerning the author, Evan Amos, and his reasons for creating the compilation of consoles. Despite this, Amos includes an introduction, detailing his start and why he made this The Game Console.
In the first paragraph, Amos states that his interest in gaming consoles blossomed from Wikipedia, saying that “in Wikipedia, he found a source of knowledge and discovery for many systems he had never heard of, and he wanted to know more about all of them” (Amos 1). But there was one issue that bugged Amos about Wikipedia, and it was the photos. Amos explains that due to licensing issues, Wikipedia editors have to take it upon themselves to find an image of the console that isn’t copyrighted. And since most editors were ill-equipped to do so, the quality of photographs were poor.
Amos, a hobbyist photographer for some time, decided to accept the challenge and went from passionate reader to serious contributor. He became enthralled with the process, to the point of reaching out to local collectors to photograph consoles he didn’t have access to. Amos also created a Kickstarter in order to raise money for the purchase of many of the consoles in this book. Amos states that this book “is the result of countless hours of taking and editing photos, scouring eBay listings for rare items, and searching through old newspapers, magazines, and books for the stories behind the consoles.”. Amos ends off the introduction with a final sentence that encapsulates everything this book was made for, “From beautifully designed consoles to bizarre-looking controllers, and from beloved successes to massive failures that bankrupted companies, let’s not let this history fade away.”
I love this book for several reasons. Each console has a “Specs” section: a small waffle grid that normally features info on the launch price, processor, coprocessor, RAM, VRAM, and games. These little bits of information are awesome because they really show you the advancements in technology throughout each generation of consoles. For example, the RAM level from consoles in the 1980’s would be around 1-64 KB, whereas today’s top consoles will have 4-8 GB. For perspective, there are 1,024 KB in 1 MB, and there are 1,000 MB in 1 GB. Another thing that helps show how far gaming has come since its inception are the photographs. A great thing that Amos’ does in particular is that he includes photos of the console’s internals, in the same way a burger commercial would show off ingredients.
One minor gripe I have has to do with the progression of the book. I like that Amos’ divides all the consoles into their respective generations, each chapter opening with an excerpt about how that generation impacted gaming and its advancements. But one thing that I found a little weird was that the consoles in every chapter do not seem to follow a chronological order, often backtracking to a few years in the past. I may be nitpicking here, but the use of generations gave me the impression that the progression of consoles would be more linear. And so when I started reading this book, it confused me.
The Game Console: A Photographic History from Atari to Xbox is one of the most engaging reads when it comes to the gaming world. It has intricate and thought out pictures, interesting and statistical descriptions, and an inspiring inception. This coffee-table book is one you should definitely buy, being a great introduction into now a vastly successful industry.