CTRL - Essays on Video Games - edited by Dean Fee - Book Review

It's been a while, but work's been more than a tad hectic the last couple of months, and I've had little spare time. Fortunately, the bus trips to work have meant at least some time for reading, and I do love a good essay on the subject of video games. It so happens that, thanks to this fine tome from The Lilliput Press of Dublin, there's a lovely collection of them in CTRL. 

From John Patrick McHugh's 'Name Your Character' opener, which delves into the deeply personal significance video games can hold, to Brenda Romero's unique take on a house in 'Chasing Lilacs', a great deal of thought has been given to each contribution. 'Tip Of My Joystick' is possibly the most off the wall example in the book, but there is distinctiveness in each author's work. Every chapter brings something new to the reader's attention, and in the couple of weeks since I finished reading it, I still find the occasional realisation popping into my head.

With fourteen authors covering titles from Urban Chaos to Wanderstop, via classics such as Doom, Tomb Raider and Disco Elysium, the variety on display brooks no criticism either. I have read essay collections in the past on a variety of topics where the quality varies as much as the subject matter, but I can honestly say that in CTRL, editor Dean Fee has curated a faultless selection. 

Apologies for this being a short review. Spare time is still rather limited, but if you're a fan of video games and fancy delving into some truly intriguing and thought provoking essays on the matter, then CTRL is a highly recommended read.

You can pick up a copy of CTRL direct from The Lilliput Press' website here. 

Apple: The First 50 Years by David Pogue - Book Review

Apple is the last of the original "Holy Trinity" of personal computer manufacturers. Whereas Tandy and Commodore are long gone, by luck, good judgement, and even more luck (especially in the 90's!), Apple have not only survived but have become, at the time of writing, the third most valuable company in the world by market capitalisation. That doesn't mean much to the average person but some people's boats are floated by such things so, yeah, whatever. Anyway, to mark its fiftieth year, David Pogue has written what is intended to be a comprehensive history of the corporation. 

Before we dive into this absolute chonk of a tome, gentle reader, let us get the obvious out of the way first. Apple is, to put it mildly, a divisive company. Some absolutely love its products, corporate outlook, and sense of style (although not all at the same time), whereas others consider it an over-controlling crusher of personal choice and expression. This review isn't going to be a polemic either way. It's just a review of a book after all.

Must... resist... the... urge to caption the back cover photo!!!

Beginning with the two Steves, the author delivers a cleanly written and engaging history of the company. The layout is spacious and there's plenty of room for imagery to breathe. With a few sidesteps here and there, the narrative is delivered chronologically, and where hardware is discussed, boxouts provide the dates of availability, price at the time, some basic specs, and a factoid. Similarly, where significant individuals are introduced, they also receive a box out with a mini-bio including areas of interest before and after their time at Apple. 

Style, power, lead-acid batteries. What's not to like?

There isn't much left uncovered, with even cancelled hardware getting an airing too, although as a hardware person, I would like to have seen a smidge more detail on the "what might have beens." That being said, the book is already at near six hundred pages and the paper quality does come across as a compromise between print reproduction and sheer bulk. And if you ever wanted to know how the iPhone came about, well, you'll be well covered here.

If Robert Ludlum had written The Matrix novelisation. 

The tone can vary somewhat. Where criticism of the company is due, it is delivered with a light tough, perhaps too light, although to the credit of the author, it does not descend into full on fawning over the Church of Jobs and co. And yet, given the company's recent (cough) publicity (cough) with the current US Administration, no matter how warm and fuzzy using an Apple product might make you feel, they are, at the end of the day, there to make money and that's about it. 

Yes, cynical, I know, but it's true. The company just happens to be very good at it.

For all of their age, somehow the content still feels relevant.

Another (minor) flaw, but funnily enough only around the sections about the early 1990's, is that the dates get a bit confused. Events are mentioned in the wrong year, and the foretelling of ARM's contribution to Apple's financial survival is pushed a decade out. These aren't huge issues by any means, and it calms down once we head towards the millennium, but readers beware: using this tome as a reference will require additional confirmation before you start quoting it. Mind you, as I was taught at school, any and every source should be supported if being used as a reference. 

If forced in 1991 to pick either System 7 or Windows 3.0, I choose RISC OS 3.0 ;-)

All in all, this is an interesting read, and one that sheds a good deal of light on a tech company that was there at the very beginning of the personal computer revolution (as far as America was concerned - the Apple II was always stupidly over-priced in the UK), and one that has, in many ways, influenced the direction of travel for personal tech over the last 50 years.

As a single volume summary on the history of one of Tech's biggest companies, this one is hard to beat even once you take into account its idiosyncrasies. Leaving aside politics and corporate ethics (an oxymoron, surely?), it is a decent history and is an overall worthwhile contribution to the literature documenting Apple. You can pick up or order a copy in at the usual physical and online bookstores. 

Super Nintendo by Keza MacDonald - Book Review

It's exceedingly easy to view the video games industry with a cynical eye these days, where late stage capitalism and the general crappiness of the real world have combined to certainly leave your humble scribe more than a little jaded with the whole concept of gaming. So to avoid spiralling further down that particularly dark path, how about reading a book focused a company that is both synonymous with the industry and still, more than forty years after its first home console, striking out on new, inventive, and more importantly, fun directions? As luck would have it, Super Nintendo by Keza MacDonald is just the tonic. 

Coming in at nearly three hundred pages, the reader is taken on a historical tour of the Kyoto-based company via a dozen of its best know products and game series (I am not using the f-word here, that's too corporate and we're not talking about spreading fast food joints around the country!). Beginning with the Ultra Hand and ending with Splatoon, each chapter fuses the history of Nintendo and key individuals within a narrative that weaves in facts, amusing morsels and all out love for a company that remains as inventive today as it was when the Famicom landed in Japanese stores. 

Along the way, you will learn how Nintendo has managed to not only create genre defining video games, but also inspire others to celebrate that achievement in their own way. It's not just about video games either. I salute the level of collectorship of a certain gentleman in Alsace!

It has to be said that this is not an overly critical appraisal of the Japanese gaming giant. They have deserved criticism in the past (one does recall writing a missive to Edge back in the day - issue 97, the one with the Galleon cover - questioning their GameCube release strategy for the UK... I was a sarcastic so and so even then!), and yes, their legal teams make even Games Workshop's look like talented amateurs, but when it comes to delivering fun to gamers and non-gamers alike, they're among the best at what they do without behaving like many of the other large corporations that inhabit the video games world these days, as I'll note below.

What this book is, however, is a study Nintendo and its creations delivered with warmth and a genuine appreciation from an author who has decades of experience in reporting about the company and meeting its employees. This close connection shines through the text and as you discover more, you realise that by following its own path and indeed thinking like games players Nintendo has managed to thrive to this day, despite the odd mis-step and setback. This includes the Wii-U, the only Nintendo home console I have never owned, and the failure of which (alongside a tepid start to the 3DS's life) led then President of Nintendo, the late and sorely missed Satoru Iwata, to halve his salary and cut director payouts due to low sales figures, rather than let developers go. Then you have, as just one recent example, Microsoft's chainsaw approach to their gaming ambitions over the last couple of years. 

Anyhoo, gentle reader, you are not here to read about my deeply rooted cynicism of all things C-suite and AI related. 

Super Nintendo is a fantastic tome about a company that has made having fun the key reason to play video games, and one that should restore your faith in video games as a whole. Illuminating and uplifting, it is very much a reminder that gaming can, and indeed should, be joyous. Even if you're not a fan of Nintendo's vast array of gaming greats, I can still heartily recommend that you pick up a copy of Super Nintendo from the usual online and physical book stores.

You can follow the author on BlueSky: @mackeza.bsky.social, and you can read more of her work at the Guardian where she is the video games editor - that publication's weekly gaming newsletter is well worth signing up for too. 

Frenzy by Jamie Lendino - Book Review

Has it really been two years? Yep, I had to check but it was indeed March of 2024 that I last reviewed a tome from the keyboard of Jamie Lendino, and it really hadn't feel like that long ago. But here we are with his seventh book: Frenzy.

The ColecoVision was but a minor player in a small game as far as the UK, as home consoles were kind of lost in the home computer scrum of the early 1980's, but it is a machine that was part of my collection back in the day. And one that I do have fond memories of playing Donkey Kong on, but these days, RetroArch scratches the Coleco itch. Genuine hardware is lovely, but so is having space to swing a cat (so to speak).

Anyhoo, Mr Lendino is back to talk us through the history of the ColecoVision, the hardware it spawned, and the software that endeared the format to millions of fans. Regulars will know what to expect, but for the newbie, we have a well put together paperback of some 240-plus pages. This is a little more svelte than previous volumes, but not by a great deal, and this is determined by the subject matter anyway.

The book is divided into ten sections: the ColecoVision story and the hardware take up the first two, with the following four concentrating on the arcade conversions the system was renowned for. Console exclusives/conversions make up the seventh, whilst computer conversions are the eighth section's highlight. The Coleco situation today makes for an extremely interesting ninth category, before the final part details the rather active homebrew scene of the format. An epilogue ties everything together before the as-always comprehensive bibliography and notes list. 

This is an excellently written guide to one of the stand out formats of the original console era, and one that certainly had me pining for some spare time to re-visit more than a few games. There are a fair few photographs and screenshots, albeit in mono, and as with the author's previous tomes, this will remain part of my library for years to come as a go-to reference on the subject. 

What really caught my interest was the acknowledgements, and the casual comment of further books to come. The editor of the series wants a TI-99/4A entry, but there are ten more to come before that! Tongue in cheek maybe, but since Scullion hasn't agreed to do an Amstrad GX4000 Encyclopaedia yet, maybe Lendino will??? I mean, 250 pages, only 20-ish released games - that's got to be a winning ratio, surely??? No? Just me? Bugger!

Yeah, I'm being silly, but what isn't silly is Frenzy, and once again, the author has delivered a high quality history about a classic gaming format. I only hope that it won't be two years until the next book. In the meantime, you can pick up a copy from Amazon here, and check out his previous titles here. These are the UK links but you get the idea. You can also follow the author on BlueSky here. 

P.S. Although only briefly mentioned in the text, if you'd like to know more about the absolute dumpster fire that was the Coleco Chameleon, then check out my review of Smoke and Mirrors here. 

Gamers 2 - Ghosts in the Machine - The Golden Age of Micros by Mel Croucher - Book Review

Mr Croucher is back with a second entry in a planned five volume set of Gamers tomes, this time casting an eye on the glory days of the microcomputer - the 1970's and 80's. Twenty machines are featured within this near two hundred page tome and as with the first book, the presentational style is a first person view from the machine itself written in a style fitting to that computer's background.

The Altair 8800 is the first Ghost to speak, followed by the Commodore PET, Apple ][, and so on, until we reach the last micro of the 1980's the ill-fated, but oh so funky, SAM Coupe. As you can see from the contents page, there are a lot of familiar names for those who either lived through the period or know their history, and for this tired and cynical late forties enthusiast, the only entry that foxed me was for the Matra Alice. 

"Alice? Alice? Who the fu...?" as some of you of a certain vintage may ask (or sing), and to be fair, for a computer that only had 125 units produced and never left the borders of France, well, it was a fascinating tale to read. 

With each entry, you get a short fact sheet that provides details of the computer's creators, sales numbers, price, specs etc. I would have liked to have seen the sources for the sales figures, given how muddled various stated totals can be once you go down that particular rabbit hole, but there you go. The core texts prove to be entertaining potted histories/commentaries, and a nice line in humour abounds. There are also some photographs and software screenshots to spice things up a bit, albeit in mono, which is totally fine. 

At the back of the book, we have a Hall of Fame and separate Roll of Honour for those who paid a little bit more to support the publication effort, then details of the entire Gamers series. These comprise of the cover designs and contents pages, as well as the expected dates of availability for both backers and the general public. The schedule seems to be pretty consistent (assuming the following Kickstarter's are successful), with Gamers 5 due out to supporters by July 2027, and to a wider audience by December 2027. 

This is another interesting publication from Mel Croucher, and one that filled in some gaps in my knowledge as well as being an overall enjoyable read. For those wanting a compact reference on the subject, it is a worthy effort. Whether the author can land the following three Gamers tomes without the presentational style becoming tired remains to be seen, but so far, I am looking forward to the third volume's Kickstarter.

Gamers 2 is in the hands of backers now, and general availability is due in July this year. The publisher's page for this volume can be found here. Gamers 1 is available from all good bookshops - you can check out where exactly from the publisher's page here. 

Voices From A Future Passed by Robert Napier - Book Review

Acorn Computers remains for many of a certain generation the quintessential British computing company. From its scrappy founding at the tail end of the 1970's to its (almost) inevitable demise just shy of the millennium, Acorn Computers rode the wave of the 1980's personal computing rush. Yet up until now, there hasn't been a truly personal perspective on just how the little company that could achieved such success. With this oral history from Robert Napier, now is your chance to find out.

At nearly 300 pages in length, Voices From A Future Passed contains the recollections of a multitude of people connected to Acorn. Some names are instantly recognisable to the follower of computing history: Sophie Wilson, Steve Furber, and Christopher Curry to name but three. Yet the sheer breadth of the contributions within this fine tome encompasses BBC staff, hardware developers, distributors, and more. As you can see from the below images, there's a lot of them!

This was an easy read, and because each memoire is presented from the point of view of the interviewees, the style never feels stale. Individual voices shine through the text, and because each chapter is effectively self-contained, makes reading through the book linearly or just dropping in here and there a choice of six and two threes.

In addition to the above, there are additional chapters on the Radcliffe Report which led to the BBC's Computer Literacy Project, a pocket history of general computing up until the rise of Acorn, a BBC Basic primer, details of the Cambridge/Manchester rivalry, and a guide to the various machines Acorn did, and did not, release.

By the time I reached the back cover, my knowledge of Acorn, its people, and its history had been greatly expanded, and I have no qualms at all in recommending Voices From A Future Passed to anyone with even a passing interest in the history of personal computing. I know this will become a fine resource for future reference. 

There are, however, a couple of observations that require noting. And when I say observations, I mean, observations, not criticisms.

The first is that there is, by the very nature of the format, a lot of topic repetition. Individuals who worked at Acorn at the same time were often involved with, or aware of, the same projects, so you'll hear a lot about fruit machines. However, each addition to the narrative exhumes more information, so you never truly feel like you're experiencing Groundhog Day.

The second is that even with nearly thirty contributors, we barely get out of the 1980's. That is not a weakness of the book per se, just that if you were wanting to know more of the Acorn post-Archimedes release, then there's pretty slim pickings here. Maybe an opportunity for another volume perhaps?

Voices From A Future Passed is a terrific read. For the period it does cover, there is depth and detail galore, making it an essential purchase, and one that can be made from Amazon here. There's also the author's website here. You can buy this book in person from a quartet of computing museums, who will also receive a donation from each sale regardless of where the copy was bought from. There's more info at Riscository here. 

All that remains for me now is to prepare for the RISCOS North show which is happening this weekend in Warrington. If you want to keep up with news about RISC OS goings on, check out The Iconbar and Riscository. There's also two continuing publications that are essential RISC OS reads: Archive Magazine and Drag 'N Drop. 

Expect a show report next week along with a few pictures.

Leaps + Bounds by Bitmap Books - Book Review

The latest release from Bitmap Books intends to provide a visual guide to the nine (so far) console generations that have (in most cases, but not all) graced the homes of gamers over the last fifty plus years. From an original concept from Hans Kleinenberg, text by Stew Shearer, illustrations from Adam Rufino, and design by Sam Dyer and Hans Kleinenberg, let's have a look at how they do.

The preface is provided by Bitmap Books, before a rather nice foreword by the CEO of Analgue, Christopher Taber. A curated selection of milestones mark the progression of the home console before we get ot the core of the book - the consoles themselves, categorised by the aforementioned generations. 

The format is simplicity itself. Each machine (excluding the unreleased consoles, which we'll get to presently), receives two pages. the first details the year of release, dates of availability, sales figures (where known), and number of games released. A potted history of the console gives some background, and the lovely artwork of Adam Rufino completes page one. The second page is dominated by a screenshot of a selected title from the console's library, and two or three facts to add flavour to the entry. Overall, this works well, and the contrast between the artwork and the screenshot is appreciated. Some might decry the lack of photography of the actual hardware, but I really do like what they've done here. 

Unreleased hardware retains the details and artwork, but no screenshots. 

There is some good stuff in here, and the only real criticism I can offer, aside from a re-wording of the New 3DS's 4GB mention, is that the Pippin was NOT built using the same kit as the Apple Classic II. Sorry, peeps, but simply not true. There's a Wikipedia page entry with the story of the Pippin's genesis, but the referenced links do not support the detail in that particular section. For the sake of this book review, however, categorically, the Pippin that was prototyped and delivered to consumers was not built using the same hardware as the Classic II. Not even the same processor architecture. An evolution of an earlier project, possibly, but that raises the question as to how accurate the Wiki entry is. There's nothing to corroborate a lot of the "Bandai and Apple" section, so I don't know, but if someone does have additional info, then I'd be happy to learn more. 

There was probably an earlier console concept at Bandai, but the Pippin does not use a 68030.

Does this spoil Leaps + Bounds for me? No, not at all. This are mere niggle in the overall scheme of things, but it is something that the potential buyer should beware of, as well as anyone who wants to use this tome as a source of reference. Always check your sources and, where possible, more than one. As an aside, the most recent issue of PC Pro has a retro piece on the Pippin and it pretty much regurgitates the Wiki story. If you hadn't guessed by now, I have many questions about the history and I may post again on the topic in the coming days.  

Overall, I really do like the latest publication from Bitmap Books, and it's one that will be enjoyed as much by reading through cover to cover, as it will be just dropping in for casual perusal. You can pick up a copy of Leap + Bounds directly from Bitmap Books, as well as the usual online and physical bookstores. 

Update 13.03.26

After some thought, I've decided the story behind the Pippin's genesis is worthy of another post, just not yet. I've prepped most of a post but without more research, it's just going to be supposition rather than actual verifiable and evidenced fact. I kind of have a time line of events, one that does include the Classic II discussion and the licensing decision, but not connected as either the Wiki or PC Pro piece have it. For another day then. What I can say is that next week will see my review of Robert Napier's Voices From a Future Passed. 

The Spanish Passion by Rob Anderson and Javier G. De Gabiola - Book Review

This is not, as the title may suggest to readers of a certain age, the latest addition to Mills & Boon's 2026 catalogue, but instead the most recent (at the time of writing) in the "Helion Wargames" series, and a timely one too considering that 2026 marks the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the armed conflict it covers.

Full disclosure for this review: I've known Rob via the show scene and a few games with the TWATS (Tantobie Warfare And Tactical Society) for a long time now. That association will not colour this post, I bought this copy with my own funds, and neither the authors nor the publisher have seen this review before it has been posted. 

With that out of the way, let's get down to business.

My knowledge of the Spanish Civil War is best summed up by stating that I've read Antony Beevor's 1999 history of the conflict, and that Orwell's A Homage to Catalonia is on my to read list. Even from such a limited background, I am very much aware that the conflict was not as simple as the general teaching of history likes to put across, and this is especially important when it comes to the concept of "historical wargaming." 

What we have here is a book of two, almost equal, halves - an approach that works very well in delivering the author's intentions. Rob handles the wargaming side, and Mr De Gabiola tackles the history - the events leading up to the War, what happened during it, and the materiel used by the combatants. Both write well, their distinctive voices clearly evident in the text, and this combination gives the reader, knowledgeable in the period or not, a very good grounding in the subject matter.

The are photographs and maps galore, and when we get to the wargaming section, some rather nice artwork by Renato Dallas. Tables are included to cover the naval and air forces, and summaries of the multitude of units each side fielded are succinct but detailed. Scenarios for gaming are suggested, and include diagrams and photography of troops on the table. There is a very handy painting guide, a list of manufacturers who cover the period in a variety of scales, and a bibliography that provides the reader with avenues of further research. 

What The Spanish Passion does, and Rob says this himself in the introduction that follows the useful timeline of the war, is give you the basics you need to deliver a table top game. Rulesets are up to you, but for the background and historical specifics, this book gets you going, and if you're only going to read one tome on the subject for gaming purposes, then this is the one for you. However, and this is a big "however", we are talking about historical wargaming, and Rob rightly says that further reading is recommended - hence the bibliography. For me, the gaming side of hobby is just a social enterprise, a laugh, so to speak. My actual interest comes from the history itself. Learning about the period is a source of enjoyment as well as allowing me to add flavour to the table experience when I'm umpiring. It also prevents that overly game-centric idea that one attendee to a show put into words a few years back - "Just because it wasn't there doesn't mean in can't be on the table."

Frankly, gentle reader, I think that's complete bull hooks. History is rich with detail and experiences, and whilst gaming for the sake of gaming might be the only thing about this hobby that floats your boat, by not diving into the actual history of the game you're playing, you're kinda missing the point of historical wargaming. And when it comes to the Spanish Civil War, this is the best starting point I know of. How far down the history rabbit hole you go is up to you, but the first step of that journey should begin with this extremely fine tome. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to pay my respects to Catalonia

You can pick up a copy of The Spanish Passion from Helion & Co here.

Run 'N' Gun by Dave Cook - Book Review

One of the joys of a growing library of books about videogames is that the result of reading them is a broadening of my horizons. A prime example of this is Run 'N' Gun from Bitmap Books. As I perused the contents page of this near 500-page behemoth, it rapidly became apparent that outside of a couple of examples (The Ascent and My Friend Pedro), I'd played nothing contained within that had been released this century. Looking further back, only the inclusion of the first third of Die Hard Trilogy permitted me to say I'd played a run and gunner to completion this decade - and that was for a Fusion Retro article! Had I fallen so low in my esteem for video games? Or was I just having that all too common experience of being middle-aged and just not having enough time in the day to do this stuff?

After slurping a good amount of Ringtons tea and settling my nerves, I set about this volume with gusto, revelling in yet another classy, and classic, publication from the ever-reliable publishing house of Bitmap. 

From the introduction and preface by the author, Dave Cook, and a pair of forewords (Keiji Inafune - Capcom and the Mega Man series, and Chad and Jared Moldenhauer - Cuphead), it is clear that the run and gun category of videogames is both beloved, and one that has graced many a platform - some eighty listed here. Add to the mix the design by Sam Dyer, contributions from Kurt Kalata, Graeme Mason, SEGA Lord X, and Chris Scullion, as well as the visual contributions by Paul McNally, Julien Fouillat, and Jorge M. Velez, and what you have here is a tome that tells you almost everything you need to know about this ever-green corner of the videogames world. 

Chronological in order, each entry receives at least a half page. Some get a full page, but no matter which option is used, the reader is presented with details of the game's plot, the author's opinion, and at least one screenshot. Key releases are permitted several pages, adding deep dives, classic moments and the like. Everything is cleanly laid out and the visuals, as is typical of the publisher, pop out of the page. The explanations, bon-mots, and commentary inform and entertain, demonstrating a clear affection towards the type yet without varnishing any flaws or issues, and given the sheer array of entries, a lot of effort has been put into this tome. As for the period covered, we start off in 1980 with Wizard of Wor, and end with 2023's Prison City. Fittingly, the last pages are dedicated to the finishing sequences of a curated selection.

The funniest thing about reading this book was that as I progressed through the ages, I realised that I had played an awful lot more run and gunners than I realised, just a very long time ago. How could I have forgotten Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters? Truly a game I played the heck out of as I awaited replacement F29 Retaliator disks as the copy bundled with my Amiga A500 was one of the bugged ones. Or Rambo III on the Mega Drive and its joyous/annoying over-the-shoulder archery antics? Or Alien Breed? Alien 3? The Chaos Engine? 

Contemplating this enlightenment, I found the true worth of this book, its Bitmap brethren in general, and those of other publishers. It's not just learning about games, it's about wanting to play them. As such, a trip to Steam, GOG, and the "archives" (cough!) meant that I had a couple of weeks over the Christmas period experiencing a goodly selection mentioned within Run 'N' Gun's pages. I decided that my love of videogames was as strong as ever, just that this adulting malarkey had gotten in the way a bit. With that comforting thought, I brewed another mug of Ringtons and fired up Cuphead.

Run 'N' Gun is another high quality Bitmap Books wonder and one that really should be on your shelves. Certainly my first read through (because there will be many a future referral to this tome) re-opened my eyes to not only the classics I had played, but many that I had not, and it was worth carving out the spare time to give them a go. 

You can pick up or order a copy of Run 'N' Gun from the usual physical and online book stores as you prefer. For me, I always try to use the publisher's website here. However you do so, you really do owe it to yourself to giving this excellent book a read!

Psygnosis - Games People Play - Tome One - Book Review

For a company synonymous with the 16-bit gaming era and beyond, it may perhaps surprise you that there hasn't already been a book covering the history of Psygnosis. However, thanks to the efforts of Christophe Boucourt, ably assisted by Andrew Fisher and Mark Hellewell, as well as publisher Editions64K, here we have the first of a two volume set that examines the founding, history and software of that pivotal developer and publisher.

Tome One comes in at just over 430 pages and covers the period of 1980 to 1993. Although not founded until 1984, the history rightly covers the events that led to the company's creation, as well as the state of the contemporary UK 8-bit software scene. Combining narrative and oral history, the book takes the reader through the many stages that led to the company delivering their first game in 1986, and from then on, through a mixture of internally developed titles and externally sourced games as a publisher, creating a software catalogue that (mostly) still stands up to this day. Sorry, Air Support, I wanted to love you, but it was not to be.

Demos and cancelled efforts also received fair coverage, as do the studios that had titles published by the company: Traveller's Tales, Reflections, and Bizarre Creations to name three. 

Those familiar with the period will know of the attraction of CD-ROM's as the 90's really got into gear, and Psygnosis were at the forefront of that technology. From the CD-i to the FM-Towns and CD32, it is evident that pushing the boundaries of what was possible was very much a company mantra. Even without such shiny kit, your humble scribe remembers well loading up Armour-Geddon and experiencing that pre-rendered intro for the first time! The game itself was pretty good too. And yes, after perusing the vast array of titles covered here, I'd be lying if I said I didn't fire up an emulator or two and slip back thirty plus years. Sigh... 

Anyhoo...

Psygnosis' acquisition by Sony forms a neat break in the narrative that will be continued in Tome Two, and if that holds up to the quality of the first book, readers will be in for a treat. I know I'll be pre-ordering as soon as it is announced!

There are a wide variety of publications catering to the history of videogames - from Chris Scullion's fantastic, continuing encyclopaedic efforts, to individual memoirs from the likes of Sid Meier and Walt Williams. Mr Boucourt and co's efforts are a perfect combination of the two approaches - the games are given their due praise and attention (the imagery pops off the pages!), while the people involved get to tell their own stories in their own words. 

Given the progression of the art form that is video gaming, this book is a timely reminder of how the industry has developed, grown, and changed. In your humble scribe's opinion, in some ways for the better, yet in many more ways for much worse, but what cannot, and should not, be forgotten is the journey to where we are today. Psygnosis - Games People Play is a heartfelt celebration of just a small part of that history, and one that any who love video games should most definitely read. 

You can pick up a copy of Psygnosis - Games People Play - Tome One direct from the publisher's website, as well as view their other offerings, here.