Steel Gear Press Adventure: The Atari 2600 at the Dawn of Console Gaming

Brought as a gift for my son that loves Retro gaming. He loved this book, he has re-read a few times !!

Gleich vorweg: Der "Blick ins Buch" auch für die gedruckte Version zeigt etliche bunte Bilder, die aufgrund ihrer Häufigkeit den Eindruck des Buches deutlich bestimmen. Das tatsächliche Buch ist aber nur ein eher billig wirkender schwarz-weiß Druck. Ein Versehen? Oder Täuschung? Normalerweise wäre das aber Grund genug, das Buch zurückzuschicken... ... aber dummerweise ist es so spannend und toll geschrieben, dass es auch in dem Zustand den Kaufpreis mehr als wert ist. Ich habe es regelrecht verschlungen. Darum gebe ich dem Buch trotzdem 5 Sterne und kann es nur empfehlen.

There are many books coming out that showcase the groundbreaking Atari 2600 console - originally known as the Video Computer System - but this one focuses solely on the unit, its rise and fall between 1970 and 1996 - as well as touches on its primary competitors the Colecovision and the Intellivison during the first console wars. It also focuses on several noteworthy titles including Adventure and describes how each title was groundbreaking - this commentary is more interesting and more relevant than other similar books which simply show artwork or list the titles without going very deep. A good read and a worthy novel for any Atari historian or gamer.

The text was very well written, with the author adding their own views and opinions on each of the titles covered. It was also nice how it was presented in a time line of releases.

I'm sure I'm not the only one with a large stack of unread books on the nightstand. So when I get word of new books like this on a topic of great interest, it goes on the wish list for some future time. But then I saw some troll post a negative review here based entirely on the title and not the content, which incensed me into pulling the trigger and getting it read. And I'm glad I did. Most Atari fans have memorized the history of the 2600. What Lendino uniquely does here is to relate those details in the context of the era in which they occurred, with a perspective informed by knowing now how it all turned out. It's part personal memoir, but not so much as to become a vanity project - just enough to evoke memories for those of us who were around in the 1977-1984 time frame and lived this stuff. I'd forgotten quite a bit. In addition to the history, the book includes short but comprehensive reviews of the most significant games released for each year the 2600 was sold. Significant means best and worst, and Lendino chose well, including important third-party releases from Activision, Imagic, and Parker Brothers. Each game features a screenshot (would have loved having those in color, but you can't always get everything you want in publishing), a gameplay synopsis, and just enough technical information without getting bogged down in arcane details best left to other books. It's good stuff, whether you lived it the first time like I did, or if you came in later on and want to appreciate the Atari phenomenon in its original context.