The Legacy of the Forgotten by Martin Gamero Prieto - Book Review

A few weeks back, I reviewed The Legacy of 3dfx, a highly informative tome that focused on the history and products of 3dfx, a company that for a brief period defined the PC graphics card industry. Of course, they were not the only company to address that market and, with only AMD (who purchased ATi in 2006), Nvidia and latterly Intel still in the consumer 3D graphics card market, there were once many names who, at one point or another, were familiar to potential consumers. This Kickstarter-funded volume takes a long and highly detailed look at those competitors who really should be remembered. 

Jazzy cover first this time.

This is another well produced volume, coming in at just over five hundred pages and matches the overall feel of the 3dfx book. As before, the dust jacket is fairly plain (aside from the colour) but it is the actual book cover that has the most striking imagery. 

The dust jacket is scarily orange. 

The author begins with coverage of the Bitboys, a group I honestly can't remember hearing about at the time they were prevalent. Following them is S3 Incorporated and S3 Graphics (the book explains this very clearly). My overriding memory of S3 (in whichever guise it was at the time as I didn't know of the difference) is that they were pretty naff for actual 3D work. Their inclusion here not only clarifies their products and the reasoning behind them, but also provides a huge dose of context for their policies, which was extremely informative for me.

Videologic comes next, and this was a company whose products had the potential to dominate the low and middle end of the market, so much so in fact that the inclusion of the Nvidia briefing slides in this book demonstrates a) how good Videologic were, b) how much of a threat they were seen as and c) how nasty Nvidia could be in the corporate battlefield. 

Matrox follows up and, whilst I remember them for their productivity cards, they tried their hand at 3D too. Finishing off the list is Number Nine, one of those competitors that always seemed to loiter in the background in group test reviews in contemporary magazines.

Each company entry follows the same format, with a brief run down of the corporate history, details of their products and explanations of their uses, the technology that powered their products, before closing with a personal opinion piece from the author. Each section is written with a definite sense of style and the author's voice is easy to discern. In addition, there are photographs, tables, diagrams and more to illustrate the products and their capabilities. 

The Legacy of the Forgotten is a well-written and interesting look at the companies that tried to compete in a sub-section of the personal computer bear pit (as well as other potential uses) but never reached the heady heights of market leader or managed to stay the course in that particular fight. That's not to say they all failed, as some are still around today (in much different guises), but their contribution to the PC graphics world should not be forgotten, and this book is the perfect way to ensure that their legacy lives on. 

You can pick up a copy of The Legacy of the Forgotten here, and follow the publisher on Twitter here. I for one am really looking forward to what they bring out next.