Hey! Listen!

A Journey Through the Golden Era of Video Games

By: Steve McNeil

Narrated by: Steve McNeil

Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

For fans of David Hardcastle and Retro Tech by Peter Leigh.

A hilarious history of the golden period of computer games from the creator of Dara O'Briain's Go 8 Bit.

It is fair to say Steve McNeil likes video games. He took a Nintendo Wii with him on his honeymoon (obviously), and spent so much time playing smartphone games in bed in the dark that he got eye strain and had to wear an eye patch. The locals nicknamed him 'the pale pirate'.

Steve's obsession with video games can be traced back to the golden period from the early 70s to the late 90s. In this book he will delve into these games - from the appallingly bad to the breathtakingly good. He will also take us through the nerdy geniuses who created them, their fierce rivalries and risks often leading to some of the most farcical moments in the history of entertainment.

This is a story of obsession, full of tales of Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Mario, Sonic, Wolfenstein 3D, Worms and many more. It will also answer important questions about the golden age. Questions like: Why did Namco feel they had to change the name of Puck-Man to Pac-Man because they were worried about graffiti, when Nintendo were more than happy to bring out Duck Hunt?

Joysticks at the ready. Let's do a gaming! 

©2019 Steve McNeil (P)2019 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

Critic reviews

"Equal parts hilarious and informative, Hey! Listen! should be in every gamer's library." (Lucy James, Gamespot)

"The 'A La Recherche du Temps Perdu' of the gaming community. The 'A La Recherche du Temps Pew-Pew-Pew', as it were." (Dara O'Briain)

"If 'Games Master' was a Nobel title passed on through the ages like 'Duke of York' or 'Rear of the Year' rather than simply the name of a 90s magazine and TV show then Steve McNeil would surely be the current holder of the esteemed position. What I'm saying is, he knows a LOT about games...." (Scroobius Pip)

Excruciating prose

So disappointed. I really like Go 8-Bit and was very much looking forward to this. But I only got 90mins into the audiobook.

Maybe if I found it funny… but every paragraph has a witless, convoluted digression, usually a laboured analogy. It became so infuriating that I had to give up. Imagine a toddler repeatedly snatching away the book you’re trying to read to blow a raspberry in your face: not that funny, even the first time, and gets old very quickly. (That’s my impersonation of the prose, by the way. As is this parentheses—these digressions always drag on and on, as if in the hope that they’ll eventually be funny.)

A good edit could transform this book, but as it is I’m setting it aside. First book I’ve done that with in years. Again, really surprised and disappointed, but it’s just too annoying.

Comprehensive and entertaining history of gaming.

Steve McNeil is a self-confessed gaming addict. This really shows through in this witty and comprehensive history of gaming, from the years before "Pong" through to "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time".

The book charts the history of the players in gaming history from their pre-gaming beginnings through their multiple incarnations (who knew there were so many 'Atari' companies?) in a highly entertaining and enjoyable manner. Steve's delivery adds a personal touch, and you can really tell that an incredible amount of work has gone into researching the material for this book.

Hopefully Steve can be persuaded to author a follow-up volume, charting gaming's progress since Ocarina of Time!

Definitely worth a listen.

Great! Listen!

A very good listen! lots of little factoids about games I didn't know and a few funny stories etc thrown in for good measure. :)

Great history of games

Great history of games with just the right amount of comedy. A great easy listen that desperately deserves a sequel.

A complete mess of opinions

Hey listen! I wouldn’t buy this audiobook. I’ll tell you why

Pro.

Some of the research is well done and is new to me.

That’s all the pros

Cons

Author puts into much effect on personal opinions, experience from childhood and terrible off beaten jokes that don’t work. Why is this a problem for the book? I’m a factual book based on history of a subject it takes the listener out of the experience and feels it’s a cheap way of making up a word count to get it published. I wish someone from the book company had the knowledge of the subject to make it a more face driven and not a authors wank bank of memory’s so it would flow better.

My concussion

It would be far better to just go on YouTube and put on a list of American sided videos from LGR or the British point of view with Kim Justice as both are just far more entertaining and get a great education on the subject of gaming.

Humorous look at history of games

Has lot of same as other similar themed books but less clinical. Steve give his own comical twist which makes it a more interesting read/listen.
Hoping he writes a book from Zelda to present day. Would be interesting to dig the dirt and hear the trials and tribulations of current developers and game studios.

awesome book written by an awesome man

steve mcneil's book of the the 1st half of gaming history is brilliant, funny, informative, detailed and just genius (less can be said about his actual game play on twitch 🤣)

i look forward to the 2nd book

oh, and sam was good too 👍

Brilliant

Informative and funny run through of gaming history. Interesting how many games I loved got a mention and how many completely passed me by! Great work Steve.

Superb take on the games industry

Incredibly well written with great humour! Narrator pronounced a few industry-specific words incorrectly, but doesn’t spoil at all.

Flew through this! Really enjoyed it!

Utter rubbish

Please don’t even bother. Lazily researched and half explained facts. Childish humour and it is, at times like hearing a long listless end of facts being read from Wikipedia.

The timelines and subjects jump around everywhere and there is far too much focus on obscure and random financial moves and mergers of companies where very little of a game is actually mentioned for long periods of time.

Also, it’s the strangest way I’ve ever heard someone pronounce ‘Black Mesa’ from Half Life… Give it a miss.