Video Game Books Used To Be Amazing

9 responses to “Video Game Books Used To Be Amazing”

1. 

   Batguy

   May 1, 2012 at 2:40 pm

   I have the Island of Secrets book. Spent weeks typing it up on the Apple IIe in the school library when I was about 15. Spent the time away from the computer reading it from cover to cover repeatedly.

   Never bloody worked. I ran it, it produced errors, and I had no idea how to debug at the time.

   And yet I still have fond memories of the book. Weird. Maybe I should use my modern day 1337 hax0r skillz to try it out again!

   Reply
   1. 

      Batguy

      May 1, 2012 at 2:41 pm

      Just realised that it’s not clear in the story – Island of Secrets has several thousand lines of BASIC code in the back of the book. Type it up and you get your own awesome text adventure game! Fun to type AND to play!

      Reply
      1. 

         Ben “BlueMaxima” Latimore

         May 1, 2012 at 3:21 pm

         I always thought it was a bit counter-productive to type up the code to text adventures, considering you’d have to code the solution so you know what it is 😛

         Reply
   2. 

      Awnshegh

      May 1, 2012 at 5:01 pm

      Had this one for my TRS-80 too. Got errors and had to give up. So wanted to play it though.

      Reply
2. 

   Lachlan

   May 1, 2012 at 3:23 pm

   Fix the images!

   Reply
   1. 

      Ahtaps

      May 1, 2012 at 6:30 pm

      And the links!

      Reply
3. 

   Lord Bob

   May 1, 2012 at 6:01 pm

   Jeez I think my local public library still has some of these.
   Similar story to batguy, typed for weeks on a txt adventure program on my uncles old atari only to have it hang at the main menu.

   Reply
4. 

   Jiff

   May 1, 2012 at 11:16 pm

   I like when they prefix “video games” with “the”

   Reply
5. 

   Glock

   May 3, 2012 at 4:11 am

   Haha, I still have the Usborne Guide to Computer Games at home. There was another one as well called something like Usborne Guide to Microcomputers. Both had some great BASIC programmes included that ignited a passion in me for making simple BASIC games (usually text “Choose Your Own” adventures).

   Not all of the modern gaming books are bad though… here is a couple amazing books every gamer should read:

   Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
   Author: David Kushner

   The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon–The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World
   Author: Steven L. Kent

   Reply