For this particular blog post I'd thought I'd do something a little different and review a book! Shock! Don't worry though, I haven't lost my head completely as the book is still about video games; the famous console battle between Nintendo and Sega to be precise. So is it a book worth picking up and reading on those spare moments you're not glued to your console screens? Let's find out shall we?
So as mentioned previously, the book is all about the events which happened in the late 80's leading up to the mid to late 90's; the famous battle between gaming powerhouse Nintendo and the cool newcomer, Sega. It ultimately tells the tale in great detail from various key people involved in 'the war', not just employees/employers of Nintendo & Sega but people from various companies and backgrounds who were involved in this important piece of gaming history. However, most of the story, and yes that's how how the book is set up, part novel and part factual history book, takes the Sega perspective of events as the 'main character' (if you want to call it that)Tom Kalinske, who became president of Sega Of America during this key point.
Console Wars definitely manages to differentiate itself from other history/factual written works as the majority of it is written as a story as previously mentioned. Harris went on dozens of interviews and trips to question the key players in order to gain the information they had and to understand what went on from their prospective. He then used the information he obtained to weave it altogether into a story. The book essentially tells the story of how Tom Kalinske became president of Sega of America (SOA) and how he lead the way in transforming the company into one of the most famous names associated with video games. The book spans across several years covering key events such as the creation of Sonic The Hedgehog, Sega's overtaking of Nintendo in terms of sales and market-share and the launch of the Saturn and its downfall plus more! The book isn't all about Tom Kalinske's and Sega's journey though. The book flips back and forward to multiple people who were instrumental during this time, such as Minoru Arakawa, Howard Lincoln and the rest of the Nintendo of America team to Olaf Olaffsson and his pioneering efforts to bring Sony on board into the video game market and ultimately go on to create the Playstation. There are so many first source stories and information contained in this book that even the most dedicated video game fans and historians will learn something new.
So that's what the book contains but is it any good? Does it translate well into a story? Are all the various viewpoints from different people make it too hard to read? Well I'm happy to report the book is very good. In fact I own quite a few gaming history books and I would say this one is my favourite precisely because it is told as a story rather than a generic historic documentary. And even though Harris flips back and forth between various people's viewpoints in the story, it still doesn't feel chaotic or hard to follow; it just feels like a story book with multiple characters helping to tell the same story. The book contains so much inside information that a gaming fan, especially one who loves either Nintendo or Sega.. or both, will very enjoy. The book goes in depth about some of the great and curious aspects of gaming such as how the employees of SOA had to battle against the employees of Sega of Japan (SOJ) to create Sonic in the way he is known today, or the details of how Sega nearly patterned with Sony following Nintendo's rejection but ultimately just missed out or why Sega decided to use aggressive advertising; it's all here! It is a fantastic book filled with all the facts and events which Sega put in place to challenge Nintendo and how they did it.
In conclusion then, the book is a definite must have for any retro gaming fan or any gaming historian really. The book is laid out so well and documents the various events in so much detail that, for me personally, It is my favourite piece video game history documentation. The way it is written as a story just adds that extra flourish. If you've ever been interested in the great battle between Nintendo vs Sega then this book is a must have for your shelf!
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