-
Extra Lives
- Why Video Games Matter
- Narrated by: Tom Bissell
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $13.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
- The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes listeners on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius.
-
-
Behind the Scenes
- By SAMA on 11-27-17
By: Jason Schreier
-
Press Reset
- Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jason Schreier's groundbreaking reporting has earned him a place among the preeminent investigative journalists covering the world of video games. In his eagerly anticipated, deeply researched new book, Schreier trains his investigative eye on the volatility of the video game industry and the resilience of the people who work in it.
-
-
Audio Quality is Inconsistent
- By Amazon Customer on 09-14-21
By: Jason Schreier
-
The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 1
- From Pong to Pokemon and Beyond . . . The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World
- By: Steven L. Kent
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 23 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With all the whiz, bang, pop, and shimmer of a glowing arcade, volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games reveals everything you ever wanted to know and more about the unforgettable games that changed the world, the visionaries who made them, and the fanatics who played them. Starting in arcades then moving to televisions and handheld devices, the video game invasion has entranced kids and the young at heart for nearly fifty years. And gaming historian Steven L. Kent has been there to record the craze from the very beginning.
-
-
Long Live Gaming
- By Thomas M Paletta on 10-05-23
By: Steven L. Kent
-
Video Game Storytelling
- What Every Developer Needs to Know About Narrative Techniques
- By: Evan Skolnick
- Narrated by: D.G. Chichester
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With increasingly sophisticated video games being consumed by an enthusiastic and expanding audience, the pressure is on game developers like never before to deliver exciting stories and engaging characters. With Video Game Storytelling, game writer and producer Evan Skolnick provides a comprehensive yet easy-to-follow guide to storytelling basics and how they can be applied at every stage of the development process - by all members of the team.
-
-
Nice but shallow
- By Amazon Customer on 01-14-22
By: Evan Skolnick
-
Reality Is Broken
- Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World
- By: Jane McGonigal
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In today’s society, games are fulfilling real human needs in ways that reality is not. Hundreds of millions of people globally - 174 million in the United States alone - regularly inhabit game worlds because they provide the rewards, stimulating challenges and epic victories that are so often lacking in the real world. Jane McGonigal argues that we need to figure out how to make the real world—our homes, our businesses and our communities—engage us in the way that games do.
-
-
Starry-eyed but inspiring
- By Ryan on 03-07-12
By: Jane McGonigal
-
Significant Zero
- Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games
- By: Walt Williams
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When his satirical musings in a college newspaper got him discharged from the Air Force, it became clear to Walt Williams that his destiny in life was to be a writer - he just never thought he'd end up writing video games, let alone working on some of the most successful franchises in the industry - Bioshock, Civilization, Borderlands, and Mafia, among others. Williams pulls back the curtain on an astonishingly profitable industry that has put its stamp on pop culture and yet is little known to those outside its walls.
-
-
it's a bad autobiography not what the title says
- By Chelsea on 11-22-17
By: Walt Williams
-
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
- The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes listeners on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius.
-
-
Behind the Scenes
- By SAMA on 11-27-17
By: Jason Schreier
-
Press Reset
- Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jason Schreier's groundbreaking reporting has earned him a place among the preeminent investigative journalists covering the world of video games. In his eagerly anticipated, deeply researched new book, Schreier trains his investigative eye on the volatility of the video game industry and the resilience of the people who work in it.
-
-
Audio Quality is Inconsistent
- By Amazon Customer on 09-14-21
By: Jason Schreier
-
The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 1
- From Pong to Pokemon and Beyond . . . The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World
- By: Steven L. Kent
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 23 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With all the whiz, bang, pop, and shimmer of a glowing arcade, volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games reveals everything you ever wanted to know and more about the unforgettable games that changed the world, the visionaries who made them, and the fanatics who played them. Starting in arcades then moving to televisions and handheld devices, the video game invasion has entranced kids and the young at heart for nearly fifty years. And gaming historian Steven L. Kent has been there to record the craze from the very beginning.
-
-
Long Live Gaming
- By Thomas M Paletta on 10-05-23
By: Steven L. Kent
-
Video Game Storytelling
- What Every Developer Needs to Know About Narrative Techniques
- By: Evan Skolnick
- Narrated by: D.G. Chichester
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With increasingly sophisticated video games being consumed by an enthusiastic and expanding audience, the pressure is on game developers like never before to deliver exciting stories and engaging characters. With Video Game Storytelling, game writer and producer Evan Skolnick provides a comprehensive yet easy-to-follow guide to storytelling basics and how they can be applied at every stage of the development process - by all members of the team.
-
-
Nice but shallow
- By Amazon Customer on 01-14-22
By: Evan Skolnick
-
Reality Is Broken
- Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World
- By: Jane McGonigal
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In today’s society, games are fulfilling real human needs in ways that reality is not. Hundreds of millions of people globally - 174 million in the United States alone - regularly inhabit game worlds because they provide the rewards, stimulating challenges and epic victories that are so often lacking in the real world. Jane McGonigal argues that we need to figure out how to make the real world—our homes, our businesses and our communities—engage us in the way that games do.
-
-
Starry-eyed but inspiring
- By Ryan on 03-07-12
By: Jane McGonigal
-
Significant Zero
- Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games
- By: Walt Williams
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When his satirical musings in a college newspaper got him discharged from the Air Force, it became clear to Walt Williams that his destiny in life was to be a writer - he just never thought he'd end up writing video games, let alone working on some of the most successful franchises in the industry - Bioshock, Civilization, Borderlands, and Mafia, among others. Williams pulls back the curtain on an astonishingly profitable industry that has put its stamp on pop culture and yet is little known to those outside its walls.
-
-
it's a bad autobiography not what the title says
- By Chelsea on 11-22-17
By: Walt Williams
-
Doom Guy
- Life in First Person
- By: John Romero
- Narrated by: John Romero
- Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Doom Guy: Life in First Person is the long-awaited autobiography of gaming’s original rock star and the cocreator of DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein—some of the most recognizable and important titles in video game history. Credited with the invention of the first-person shooter, a genre that continues to dominate the market today, he is gaming royalty. Told in remarkable detail, a byproduct of his hyperthymesia, Romero recounts his storied career.
-
-
Intimate stories of gaming history in First Person
- By Emyli on 07-28-23
By: John Romero
-
Masters of Doom
- How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
- By: David Kushner
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history - Doom and Quake - until the games they made tore them apart. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry.
-
-
How it was
- By Ryan on 08-27-13
By: David Kushner
-
All Your Base Are Belong to Us
- How Fifty Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture
- By: Harold Goldberg
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through the stories of gaming's greatest innovations and most-beloved creations, journalist Harold Goldberg captures the creativity, controversy - and passion - behind the videogame's meteoric rise to the top of the pop-culture pantheon. Over the last 50 years, video games have grown from curiosities to fads to trends to one of the world's most popular forms of mass entertainment.
-
-
A History of Game Developers, Not Games
- By Brandon on 05-06-16
By: Harold Goldberg
-
Console Wars
- Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation
- By: Blake J. Harris
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 20 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A mesmerizing, behind-the-scenes business thriller that chronicles how Sega, a small, scrappy gaming company led by an unlikely visionary and a team of rebels, took on the juggernaut Nintendo and revolutionized the video-game industry. In 1990, Nintendo had a virtual monopoly on the video-game industry. Sega, on the other hand, was just a faltering arcade company with big aspirations and even bigger personalities. But all that would change with the arrival of Tom Kalinske, a former Mattel executive who knew nothing about video games and everything about fighting uphill battles.
-
-
Was hoping for so much more...
- By Rob G. on 11-17-14
By: Blake J. Harris
-
Disrupting the Game
- From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo
- By: Reggie Fils-Aimé
- Narrated by: Reggie Fils-Aimé
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reggie Fils-Aimé, retired President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America Inc., shares leadership lessons and inspiring stories from his unlikely rise to the top. Learn from Reggie how to leverage disruptive thinking to pinpoint the life choices that will make you truly happy, conquer negative perceptions from those who underestimate or outright dismiss you, and master the grit, perseverance, and resilience it takes to dominate in the business world and to reach your professional dreams.
-
-
Engaging Autobiography
- By Ryan on 12-07-22
By: Reggie Fils-Aimé
-
Think Like a Game Designer: The Step-by-Step Guide to Unlocking Your Creative Potential
- By: Justin Gary
- Narrated by: Justin Gary
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Do you love gaming? Do you have ideas for games of your own and want to learn how to produce them professionally? Longtime game designer Justin Gary has the answers you seek. After 20 years in the gaming industry, creating such games as Solforge, Ascension, and the World of Warcraft Miniatures Game, Justin is now sharing all his secrets in Think Like a Game Designer. Best of all, Justin’s secrets are really simple, practical, and common sense steps you can take yourself.
-
-
Valuable Process and Insight Into Game Design
- By Nicholas Kwiatkowski on 03-09-22
By: Justin Gary
-
Mass Effect
- Revelation
- By: Drew Karpyshyn
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After discovering a cache of Prothean technology on Mars in 2148, humanity is spreading to the stars---the newest interstellar species, struggling to carve out its place in the greater galactic community. On the edge of colonized space, ship commander and Alliance war hero David Anderson investigates the remains of a top secret military research station---smoking ruins littered with bodies and unanswered questions. Who attacked this post, and for what purpose?
-
-
Enhances the enjoyment of the games substantially
- By Some Dude on 09-01-11
By: Drew Karpyshyn
-
Control Freak
- My Epic Adventure Making Video Games
- By: Cliff Bleszinski
- Narrated by: Kurt Kanazawa
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Video games are dominating the planet. In 2020, they brought in $180 billion dollars globally—nearly $34 billion in the United States alone. So who are the brilliant designers who create these stunning virtual worlds? Cliff Bleszinski—or CliffyB as he is known to gamers—is one of the few who’ve reached mythical, rock-star status. In Control Freak, he gives an unvarnished, all-access tour of the business.
-
-
CliffyB is a Legend as is his Tome
- By J. Beard on 06-17-23
By: Cliff Bleszinski
-
Ender's Game Alive: The Full Cast Audioplay
- By: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Full Cast Recording
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Experience Ender’s Game as you’ve never heard it before! With an all-new, original script written by Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game Alive is a full-cast audio drama that reimagines the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning classic.
-
-
Don't start with this audiobook.
- By Ryan on 10-24-13
By: Orson Scott Card
-
Getting Gamers
- The Psychology of Video Games and Their Impact on the People who Play Them
- By: Jamie Madigan
- Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Getting Gamers will show that rather than being a waste of time, video games can help us develop skills, make friends, succeed at work, form good habits, and be happy. Taking the time to learn what's happening in our heads as we play and shop allows us to approach games and gaming communities on our own terms and get more out of them. With examples from the games themselves, Jamie Madigan offers a fuller understanding of the impact of games on our psychology and the influence of psychology on our games.
-
-
very interesting and eye opening.
- By Saul Cabrera on 06-02-21
By: Jamie Madigan
-
Lost in a Good Game
- Why We Play Video Games and What They Can Do for Us
- By: Pete Etchells
- Narrated by: Ryan Burke
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Pete Etchells was 13, his father died from motor neurone disease. In order to cope, he immersed himself in a virtual world - first as an escape, but later to try to understand what had happened. Etchells is now a researcher into the psychological effects of video games, and was co-author on a recent paper explaining why WHO plans to classify "game addiction" as a danger to public health are based on bad science and (he thinks) are a bad idea. In this, his first book, he journeys through the history and development of video games via scientific study....
-
-
Not actually a book about video games
- By Chris B. on 10-18-20
By: Pete Etchells
-
Homo Ludens
- A Study of the Play-Element in Culture
- By: Johan Huizinga
- Narrated by: Scott R. Pollak
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this classic evaluation of play that has become a “must-listen” for those in game design, Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity in flourishing societies. Like civilization, play requires structure and participants willing to create within limits. Starting with Plato, Huizinga traces the contribution of Homo Ludens, or “man the player” through medieval times, the Renaissance, and into our modern civilization.
-
-
Excellent analysis
- By Lance on 01-13-23
By: Johan Huizinga
Publisher's summary
Tom Bissell is a prizewinning writer who published three widely acclaimed books before the age of 34. He is also an obsessive gamer who has spent untold hours in front of his various video game consoles, playing titles such as Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, BioShock, and Oblivion for, literally, days. If you are reading this copy, the same thing can probably be said of you, or of someone you know.
Until recently, Bissell was somewhat reluctant to admit to his passion for games. In this, he is not alone. Millions of adults spend hours every week playing video games, and the industry itself now reliably outearns Hollywood. But the wider culture seems to regard video games as, at best, well-designed if mindless entertainment.
Extra Lives is an impassioned defense of this assailed and misunderstood art form. Bissell argues that we are in a golden age of gaming - but he also believes games could be even better. He offers a fascinating and often hilarious critique of the ways video games dazzle and, just as often, frustrate. Along the way, we get firsthand portraits of some of the best minds (Jonathan Blow, Clint Hocking, Cliff Bleszinski, Peter Molyneux) at work in video game design today, as well as a shattering and deeply moving final chapter that describes, in searing detail, Bissell’s descent into the world of Grand Theft Auto IV, a game whose themes mirror his own increasingly self-destructive compulsions.
Blending memoir, criticism, and first-rate reportage, Extra Lives is like no other work on the subject ever published. Whether you love video games, loathe video games, or are merely curious about why they are becoming the dominant popular art form of our time, Extra Lives is required listening.
Critic reviews
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Extra Lives
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Steven J McMillen
- 11-05-13
Poorly titled book
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
If you like video game review anthologies, this is your book.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
The interviews with game designers were interesting, but I didn't expect and was uninterested in the psychoanalytical self examination that is the other main aspect of the book.
Which character – as performed by Tom Bissell – was your favorite?
There is only one character in the book, since it's basically autobiographical; the author. Yet he's still not my favorite.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Extra Lives?
I'd cut out all the left wing political statement nonsense.
Any additional comments?
This book will absolutely NOT give an argument of any substance for why video games matter. If anything it will give an implicit argument that they are equally as ephemeral as the different other drugs the author describes using in the book. I believe they do matter, but no self referential indulgent blather can possibly argue for that belief.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chelsea
- 10-30-14
Doesn't follow through on subtitle
Any additional comments?
An interesting, well-informed and very well performed book. Occasionally a little too subjective (as in off topic), but the biggest problem I had with the book was that very little of the content provided any evidence or compelling argument for why video games matter. For anyone looking for a glimpse into the gamer experience it might be very rich, but being well familiar with the gaming world already I felt let down by a lack of insightful commentary. Feels like a missed opportunity or maybe a book that was finished and published without enough reflection.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Scott
- 08-25-11
Video Gaming - Far more than just virtual bullets
This book is a refreshing look at game design from a player's perspective. The author rightly points out that gaming critique now is now solely limited to whether a new game is entertaining enough to be worth spending some money. If you've enjoyed any PC or console game for dozens of hours you've wondered why is this particular form of game play so uniquely fun? The author explores the answers using many major titles (but will invariably miss some of your personal favorites). He confesses a bias for console games (a controller over a keyboard) as an avid PC gamer I found the distinction not pertinent to book's themes. He poses many excellent questions: What is the nature of storytelling in a video game? How much and what impact do good writers have on a story? Should the game's story drive the player or should the game design allow the player to drive the story? What are the possibilities of open-ended story telling? (as opposed to cut scenes/cinematics) which the author and game designers view as limiting at best. He describes major titles, so one can understand the features that were overlooked by above mentioned limited critical perspective. This includes a notorious car jacking series (which I've smugly avoided as trashy) describing the many details of the extraordinarily rich virtual world it creates. Another recent gaming flop, the latest in the an FPS series set in landlocked Africa, instead of its previous tropical setting, (the latest panned by many as poor) is described for its completely unscripted physics and unique character/NPC interaction. He covers the skills to needed to complete the now outdated 2D scrolling games (i.e. why they were so fun in their day) but mainly describes role playing & shooter games as well as few obscure but completely unique and award winning games. If you haven't explored every single last major video game franchise at the very least you'll learn of new unique gaming experiences to be had.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Roy
- 07-02-10
Ever Wonder about Video Games?
First, I am not a gamer. Second, I try to find books that inform me about subjects unfamiliar. This book will inform and excite those seeking to understand the attraction of games. It will inform people with family members and friends who spend hours, in the dark, competing with others on-line.
The book combines gaming history, psychology of gamers, programming, and the development of gaming as an art form.
The book is wonderfully written and read by Tom Bissel. It will keep the interest of anyone who listens.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Geoffrey
- 06-28-10
Interesting, even for a novice...
With the exception of a handful of hours at Goldeneye and Super Mario Galaxy, I haven't played video games since the days of the SNES. Sometime last year, I saw what kids these days were playing and was quite frankly was scared. Not because of the super violence in them. But because the apparent limitless entertainment possibilities of them seemed to threaten my business - movies - with obsoleteness. I've been looking for a book about video game aesthetics and with this I finally found it. The narration is personal and casual - making me wish that more authors did their own narration instead of hiring "professionals".
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Aaron
- 07-09-10
Gamer or Not, Must Listen
Extra Lives is an incredibly interesting account of the authors personal experience with video games. It's not quite what I expected, but it was incredibly enjoyable.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amy
- 06-23-21
Long Rambles to Fleeting, Inarticulate Points
That I originally had this shelved under sociology-psychology-ethics-and-medicine should explain what kind of book I was expecting when I picked this up and a lot about why I'm disappointed after reading it.
Extra Lives is - according to the subtitle, Why Video Games Matter - supposed to be about why video games do and/or should matter to players and/or the wider public. That is not what this book is about. Extra Lives is a rumination on the author's thoughts on and experience of playing various open world RPGs from a gameplay and a storytelling standpoint. Fleetingly mentioned in those lengthy stories and critiques are various points that I agreed with - that video games allow players to vent by letting them act as they would not in real life; that video games are a new artistic medium still evolving and finding its place; that, at their best, video games may allow for interactive stories - but they are not the center of the book even though they should be. These points, after all, are what the title promises the book is about. However, this is not the case and the book is worse off for it.
Though funny, Extra Lives would have done well with a good editor enforcing that, say, each chapter be about a point (an individual reason why video games matter) and the author use a story about a game to illustrate that point. 'Video games do interactive storytelling in a way that films/novels cannot as illustrated by my experience of playing Mass Effect, where being forced to kill a character of which I was very fond due to my previous choices in the game was extremely upsetting. Even worse, shortly afterwards was being able to save only one of my remaining squad.' A book written like that might have been a compelling read. If nothing else, it undoubtedly would have seemed far more coherent than the semi-articulate, rambling mess that some publisher let past their desk. This is not a book I would recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- pwood86
- 07-08-16
writing so serious it takes the fun out of games
The author is clearly an accomplished wordsmith. But with so many metaphors and alliterations packed into one sentence every sentence gets a bit annoying and difficult to follow. Then instead of it sounding sophisticated, and why games should matter, it comes off as pretentious. Almost parody. I appreciate the effort, but it was a bit over the top.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- SAMA
- 07-21-10
Preaching to the Converted
Tom Bissell's many hours on Grand Theft Auto, as well as hanging out with various game celebrities, shows a lot of passion in this production.
I was able to easily grasp at what he's saying, since I'm a gamer. However, I think from the perspective of a non-gaming reader, there is a lot that is lost in translation.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Greg Ressler
- 08-04-22
Dated exploration of what the author got out of games
It’s got a talented narrator, the author goes through games that he’s played and what he’s gotten out of them.
It’s surprising how dated in just about 10 years this book has gotten, I had to remind myself multiple times that this was an older book written before better recent examples have come out.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
- The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes listeners on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius.
-
-
Behind the Scenes
- By SAMA on 11-27-17
By: Jason Schreier
-
Press Reset
- Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jason Schreier's groundbreaking reporting has earned him a place among the preeminent investigative journalists covering the world of video games. In his eagerly anticipated, deeply researched new book, Schreier trains his investigative eye on the volatility of the video game industry and the resilience of the people who work in it.
-
-
Audio Quality is Inconsistent
- By Amazon Customer on 09-14-21
By: Jason Schreier
-
Lost in a Good Game
- Why We Play Video Games and What They Can Do for Us
- By: Pete Etchells
- Narrated by: Ryan Burke
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Pete Etchells was 13, his father died from motor neurone disease. In order to cope, he immersed himself in a virtual world - first as an escape, but later to try to understand what had happened. Etchells is now a researcher into the psychological effects of video games, and was co-author on a recent paper explaining why WHO plans to classify "game addiction" as a danger to public health are based on bad science and (he thinks) are a bad idea. In this, his first book, he journeys through the history and development of video games via scientific study....
-
-
Not actually a book about video games
- By Chris B. on 10-18-20
By: Pete Etchells
-
All Your Base Are Belong to Us
- How Fifty Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture
- By: Harold Goldberg
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through the stories of gaming's greatest innovations and most-beloved creations, journalist Harold Goldberg captures the creativity, controversy - and passion - behind the videogame's meteoric rise to the top of the pop-culture pantheon. Over the last 50 years, video games have grown from curiosities to fads to trends to one of the world's most popular forms of mass entertainment.
-
-
A History of Game Developers, Not Games
- By Brandon on 05-06-16
By: Harold Goldberg
-
Masters of Doom
- How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
- By: David Kushner
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history - Doom and Quake - until the games they made tore them apart. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry.
-
-
How it was
- By Ryan on 08-27-13
By: David Kushner
-
The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 1
- From Pong to Pokemon and Beyond . . . The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World
- By: Steven L. Kent
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 23 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With all the whiz, bang, pop, and shimmer of a glowing arcade, volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games reveals everything you ever wanted to know and more about the unforgettable games that changed the world, the visionaries who made them, and the fanatics who played them. Starting in arcades then moving to televisions and handheld devices, the video game invasion has entranced kids and the young at heart for nearly fifty years. And gaming historian Steven L. Kent has been there to record the craze from the very beginning.
-
-
Long Live Gaming
- By Thomas M Paletta on 10-05-23
By: Steven L. Kent
-
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
- The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes listeners on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius.
-
-
Behind the Scenes
- By SAMA on 11-27-17
By: Jason Schreier
-
Press Reset
- Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jason Schreier's groundbreaking reporting has earned him a place among the preeminent investigative journalists covering the world of video games. In his eagerly anticipated, deeply researched new book, Schreier trains his investigative eye on the volatility of the video game industry and the resilience of the people who work in it.
-
-
Audio Quality is Inconsistent
- By Amazon Customer on 09-14-21
By: Jason Schreier
-
Lost in a Good Game
- Why We Play Video Games and What They Can Do for Us
- By: Pete Etchells
- Narrated by: Ryan Burke
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Pete Etchells was 13, his father died from motor neurone disease. In order to cope, he immersed himself in a virtual world - first as an escape, but later to try to understand what had happened. Etchells is now a researcher into the psychological effects of video games, and was co-author on a recent paper explaining why WHO plans to classify "game addiction" as a danger to public health are based on bad science and (he thinks) are a bad idea. In this, his first book, he journeys through the history and development of video games via scientific study....
-
-
Not actually a book about video games
- By Chris B. on 10-18-20
By: Pete Etchells
-
All Your Base Are Belong to Us
- How Fifty Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture
- By: Harold Goldberg
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through the stories of gaming's greatest innovations and most-beloved creations, journalist Harold Goldberg captures the creativity, controversy - and passion - behind the videogame's meteoric rise to the top of the pop-culture pantheon. Over the last 50 years, video games have grown from curiosities to fads to trends to one of the world's most popular forms of mass entertainment.
-
-
A History of Game Developers, Not Games
- By Brandon on 05-06-16
By: Harold Goldberg
-
Masters of Doom
- How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
- By: David Kushner
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history - Doom and Quake - until the games they made tore them apart. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry.
-
-
How it was
- By Ryan on 08-27-13
By: David Kushner
-
The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 1
- From Pong to Pokemon and Beyond . . . The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World
- By: Steven L. Kent
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 23 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With all the whiz, bang, pop, and shimmer of a glowing arcade, volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games reveals everything you ever wanted to know and more about the unforgettable games that changed the world, the visionaries who made them, and the fanatics who played them. Starting in arcades then moving to televisions and handheld devices, the video game invasion has entranced kids and the young at heart for nearly fifty years. And gaming historian Steven L. Kent has been there to record the craze from the very beginning.
-
-
Long Live Gaming
- By Thomas M Paletta on 10-05-23
By: Steven L. Kent
Related to this topic
-
Significant Zero
- Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games
- By: Walt Williams
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When his satirical musings in a college newspaper got him discharged from the Air Force, it became clear to Walt Williams that his destiny in life was to be a writer - he just never thought he'd end up writing video games, let alone working on some of the most successful franchises in the industry - Bioshock, Civilization, Borderlands, and Mafia, among others. Williams pulls back the curtain on an astonishingly profitable industry that has put its stamp on pop culture and yet is little known to those outside its walls.
-
-
it's a bad autobiography not what the title says
- By Chelsea on 11-22-17
By: Walt Williams
-
Bumblebee & Me
- Life as a G1 Transformer
- By: Dan Gilvezan
- Narrated by: Dan Gilvezan
- Length: 1 hr and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bumblebee & Me takes you behind the scenes of the original Transformers television series for a first-hand look at the making of a classic. Experience the controlled chaos of the recording sessions, learn the secrets behind creating a character voice, get to know the members of the cast close up and personal. Chock full of stories, reminiscences, anecdotes and never-before-seen photographs, Bumblebee & Me is sure to satisfy even the most knowledgeable and discerning Transformers fan.
-
-
Bumblebee...In His Own Words :)
- By Christine Klunder on 02-23-15
By: Dan Gilvezan
-
Explore/Create
- My Life in Pursuit of New Frontiers, Hidden Worlds, and the Creative Spark
- By: Richard Garriott, David Fisher
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An inventor, adventurer, entrepreneur, collector, and entertainer, and son of legendary scientist-astronaut Owen Garriott, Richard Garriott de Cayeux has been behind some of the most exciting undertakings of our time. A legendary pioneer of the online gaming industry - and a member of every gaming Hall of Fame - Garriott invented the multi-player online game, and coined the term "Avatar" to describe an individual's online character. In this fascinating memoir, Garriott invites listeners on the great adventure that is his life.
-
-
The Modern Day Explorer
- By Elijah on 04-17-17
By: Richard Garriott, and others
-
Shock Value
- How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror
- By: Jason Zinoman
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Much has been written about the storied New Hollywood of the 1970s, but while Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola were making their first classic movies, a parallel universe of directors gave birth to the modern horror film - aggressive, raw, and utterly original. Based on unprecedented access to the genre's major players, New York Times critic Jason Zinoman's Shock Value delivers the first definitive account of horror's golden age.
-
-
A good listen, but narrow in scope
- By Billy on 01-31-13
By: Jason Zinoman
-
Of Dice and Men
- The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It
- By: David M. Ewalt
- Narrated by: David M. Ewalt, Mikael Naramore
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Of Dice and Men, David Ewalt recounts the development of Dungeons & Dragons from the game’s roots on the battlefields of ancient Europe, through the hysteria that linked it to satanic rituals and teen suicides, to its apotheosis as father of the modern video-game industry. As he chronicles the surprising history of the game’s origins (a history largely unknown even to hardcore players) and examines D&D’s profound impact, Ewalt weaves laser-sharp subculture analysis with his own present-day gaming experiences.
-
-
Interesting Topic, but Terrible Execution.
- By Diebold on 02-11-14
By: David M. Ewalt
-
Best. Movie. Year. Ever.
- How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen
- By: Brian Raftery
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a veteran culture writer and modern movie expert, a celebration and analysis of the movies of 1999 - arguably the most groundbreaking year in American cinematic history.
-
-
Like talking about movies with a friend
- By Shawn Inmon on 05-30-19
By: Brian Raftery