Video games are revolutionary story-telling devices, enabling the user to immerse themselves in a digital fictional world and take control of the story’s protagonist.
The cultural impact of technology, the internet, and especially video gaming is undeniable, and evident across all forms of art and entertainment. For every game that’s based on a book, there are handfuls of books about, or alluding to video games. Even Classic FM recognize the significance of video gaming in their Handy Guide series, with Video Game Music.
Fiction, non-fiction, nostalgic or futuristic, these are a few of our favourite must-read books for video game nerds.
Terrible Old Games You’ve Probably Never Heard Of – Stuart Ashen
Based on the popular series of videos by British YouTube reviewer, collector, tat specialist and now author, Stuart Ashen (Ashens), Terrible Old Games You’ve Probably Never Heard of delves into the world of old games that were a bit rubbish at the time, and have aged even worse. It will come as no surprise that there are more than a few, but Ashens has taken it upon himself to ‘collect’ the most entertaining of them in this full color illustrated hardback, packed with witty, articulate and hilarious critique of some of the biggest wastes of energy every committed to cassette tape.
The Art of Video Games – Chris Melissinos
Melissinos presents video games as not just mere play, but richly textured emotional and social experiences that have crossed the boundary into culture and art.
Along with a team of game developers, designers, and journalists, Melissinos chose a pool of 240 games across five different eras to represent the diversity of the game world. Criteria included visual effects, creative use of technologies, and how world events and popular culture manifested in the games. More than 3.7 million votes (from 175 countries) later, the eighty winners were featured in The Art of Video Games exhibition and book.
Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson’s third novel features the Metaverse, a blend of VR and augmented reality that most people use to escape the physical world, with some people never thinking to return. Players create avatars for themselves with near-complete freedom, allowing them to become whatever they desire.
Hiro’s exploration of the Metaverse leads him to mind-bending discoveries about information, language, data, history, and power that challenge everything he thought he knew about reality.
Critics hold the novel in high esteem, considering it a parody of cyberpunk due to its satiric and absurd humour, and Time magazine list the novel in their 100 all-time best English-language novels written since 1923. So if you’ve ever been interested in the firmware programming language of the brainstem, give Snow Crash a try.
Scott Pilgrim – Bryan Lee O’Malley
The fantastic world of Scott Pilgrim is heavily inspired by ’90s video games, and follows Scott’s quest to date Ramona Flowers, the way-out-of-his-league love interest. To do this he must defeat her exes in battle, and when he does they explode in a shower of coins.
But there’s more to it than earning the right to date her, as each bob-ombastic battle won gives him the confidence he needs to achieve his goal.
Nostalgia is the name of the game, though despite the inherent escapism, it’s more about how Scott grows as a person with each obstacle he overcomes in the game that is life.
Ready Player One – Ernest Cline
Ready Player One is a love letter to late-20th-century pop culture, revelling in the things we’re nostalgic for, presented in the form of the ultimate video game Easter-egg hunt.
Set in a dystopian world where the majority of people live inside the OASIS, a virtual paradise which most agree is superior to reality, Wade Watts is seeking a series of cryptic clues encoded to OASIS by the game’s creator.
The first player to find all of Halliday’s clues inherits Halliday’s fortune and the game itself. So determined players from all over the world compete to see who has the best knowledge of the pop culture that inspired the OASIS.
The book tackles the notion of escapism and the way that modern connectivity is changing our culture, exemplifying greed and antagonism, and providing some with a unique platform for greatness.
Geeky Chef Cookbook – Cassandra Reeder
The cake is NOT a lie thanks to Geeky Chef Cookbook, with recipes inspired by movies, books, television and gaming!
Cassandra Reeder is a super-geek blogger, author and avid cook. Inspired by her love of sci-fi and fantasy, she creates actual recipes for all the delicious delicacies you’ve seen grace your screen. From Skyrim to Zelda, to Warcraft, this book features over 60 recipes that you can follow to pay hardcore tribute to geeky culture in your everyday life.
Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
Ender’s Game is a classic 1985 military sci-fi novel, and a must-read for any sci-fi combat gamer, taking place in Earth’s future, after a series of conflicts with an insectoid alien species – In anticipation for a third invasion, children are trained from a young age through increasingly difficult games, including some in zero gravity, where the stand-out talents of the series protagonist are revealed.
Winning the 1985 Nebula Award for best novel, and the 1986 Hugo Award for best novel, it has become recommended reading for many military organizations.
Its sequels, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind and Ender in Exile, follow Ender’s subsequent travels to many different worlds in the galaxy. Those waiting on the next installments of Halo, Gears of War and Destiny expansions will find the series very enjoyable.
