Review of 'Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I sought this out for Nick Montfort's contributions and for the subject matter. What I found was a disjointed coffee table book with editing problems and black pages that absorb oils like crazy.
Van Burnham edits the collection and presumably writes the copy for the myriad games (arcade and home) that dot the pages in timeline order between 1971 and 1984. A broad selection of guest authors fill in the rest, and these articles range from fairly interesting to mailed-in copy.
A few of the articles are broken over multiple pages for no reason that I can see, and one of these has the wrong last page listing. This wasn't the only error, as the index had incorrect locations for some of the games.
In summary, some nice information and some nice pictures that trigger a lot of memories, and a presentation that left a lot to be desired. Glad …
I sought this out for Nick Montfort's contributions and for the subject matter. What I found was a disjointed coffee table book with editing problems and black pages that absorb oils like crazy.
Van Burnham edits the collection and presumably writes the copy for the myriad games (arcade and home) that dot the pages in timeline order between 1971 and 1984. A broad selection of guest authors fill in the rest, and these articles range from fairly interesting to mailed-in copy.
A few of the articles are broken over multiple pages for no reason that I can see, and one of these has the wrong last page listing. This wasn't the only error, as the index had incorrect locations for some of the games.
In summary, some nice information and some nice pictures that trigger a lot of memories, and a presentation that left a lot to be desired. Glad I can return it to the library.