Vintage Games 2.0 An Insider Look at the Most Influential Games of All Time

Chapter I The Innovators

1.1 Spacewar!: It’s Rocket Science

1.2 Pong: Easy to Learn, Hard to Master

1.3 Space Invaders: The Japanese Invasion

1.4 Zork: Sticking Graphics Where the Sun Don’t Shine

1.5 MUD: Swords with Friends

1.6 Rogue: Procedural Generation

1.7 Maze War: The First First-Person Shooter?

Chapter 2 The Early Adopters

2.1 Pac-Man: Gamers Just Want to Have Lunch

2.2 Donkey Kong: Miyamoto’s 800-Pound Gorilla

2.3 Pole Position: Where the Raster Hits the Road

2.4 Pitfall!: Activision’s Fearless Fortune Hunter

2.5 Flight Simulator: The Sky’s the Limit

2.6 Elite: The Stellar Sandbox

2.7 Pinball Construction Set: The Game of Games

2.8 King’s Quest: From Peanuts to Palaces

2.9 Wizardry: A New Perspective on Computer

Role Playing

2.10 Ultima: The Virtues of an Avatar

Chapter 3 The Early Majority

3.1 Super Mario Bros.: Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom

3.2 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Future

3.3 Final Fantasy: Console Games Get a Level Up

3.4 Tetris: The Perfect Video Game?

3.5 Street Fighter II: The Arcade Comes Back Swinging

3.6 SimCity: A City of Silicon

3.7 Civilization: Just One More Turn

3.8 Pool of Radiance: The Gold Box Games

3.9 Wasteland: Hot, Mean, and Radioactive

Chapter 4The Late Majority

4.1 Dungeon Master: Real Time Hits the Big Time

4.2 Myst: Creating Worlds, One Tent at a Time

4.3 Doom: Profound Carnage

4.4 John Madden Football: The Greatest Play

4.5 Sonic the Hedgehog: Faster than a Portly Plumber

4.6 The Sims: The World’s Most Profitable Ant Farm

4.7 Diablo: Click Click Boom

4.8 Starcraft: The ESport Zerg Rush

4.9 Pokémon: Gotta Catch’em All

4.10 Ultima Online: Persistence Pays Off

4.11 Super Mario 64: No Disc, No Problem

4.12 Tomb Raider: A 3D Platformer with Legs

4.13 Final Fantasy VII: The Legend of the Square Disc

4.14 Metal Gear Solid: Lights, Camera, Inaction!

4.15 Ocarina of Time: Miyamoto’s Finest Hour

Chapter 5 The Laggards

5.1 Dance Dance Revolution: Konami Shakes Its Money Maker

5.2 Grand Theft Auto III: The Industry’s Bad Boy

5.3 Halo: Combat Evolved: Spartans Never Die

5.4 Call of Duty: Wars with Friends

5.5 Half-Life 2

5.6 World of Warcraft: An MMORPG for the Masses

5.7 Wii Sports: Let Grandpa Teach You

5.8 Angry Birds: Slingshot to the Top

5.9 Minecraft: Let Them Build It, and They Will Play

Biography

Matt Barton

"Matt Barton knows how to tell stories, and he knows how to tell stories across the spectrum of media.　

Barton's interview style, a laidback, conversational tone that encourages developers to dig into the nitty-gritty of their experiences, made the jump to Vintage Games 2.0, his latest and best book that delves into the histories of the names you know and ones you don't but should.

Best of all, Barton draws deep from first- and secondhand sources to emphasize intimate details about—and in cases where he pulls from his vast archive of interviews, anecdotes from—the developers who made games like Space Invaders, Elite, Super Mario Bros., Rogue, Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto III, and more."

-David Craddock