Game Industry focused Books (are there any?)

JasonLavoie

Hey all, I've been buying up a whole bunch of books recently that I've been meaning to read, and I was wondering if there are any solid Game Industry focused books that I should check out.

I don't mean tutorial books though, but legit books on maybe where the industry is going, how do we get there, what can we learn from the past etc. etc. anything like that would be awesome.

I figured since I plan on staying and being apart of the industry for (hopefully) a long time, I'd love to really start building my knowledge of the industry as a whole, and not just the art side.

Any and all suggestions would be very appreciated


Edit: Doing some quick research, I found a list of top 50 books to check out - http://www.next-gen.biz/features/50-books-for-everyone-in-game-industry?page=0%2C1

Much more interested in hearing in your guys suggestions though. But this is a start

MattQ86

They're right to recommend Smartbomb. A lot of the "Cliffy B is making the equivalent to Halo for Xbox 2" stories are outdated but it's still an interesting read.

cman2k

I highly recommend The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell. I've met Jesse a few times and know people who work for him. He's a smart guy, you may know him from [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FSsztwbRW0&feature=fvw]his Dice talk[/ame] that made quite a splash last year.

I own this book and really enjoyed reading it, helped me understand the pseudo-art-science behind making good games a lot more. He really goes into depth of why we enjoy games, even out of the video-game context and deeper into the human psychological context.

Gav

Extra Lives by Tom Bissell is pretty cool - not entirely informative but gives an interesting perspective into why games "matter" in society.

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Extra-Lives-Video-Games-Matter/dp/0307378705[/ame]

Striff

I have not read it but Hourences "The Hows and Whys of the Games Industry" might be somewhat what your looking for. It seems like its more geared to getting into the industry, but I dunno.

http://www.hourences.com/books-and-media/

XenoKratios

cman2k wrote: »

I highly recommend The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell. I've met Jesse a few times and know people who work for him. He's a smart guy, you may know him from his Dice talk that made quite a splash last year.

I own this book and really enjoyed reading it, helped me understand the pseudo-art-science behind making good games a lot more. He really goes into depth of why we enjoy games, even out of the video-game context and deeper into the human psychological context.

That video is very scary, I hope that never happens. Thanks for that book though, it fun to read.

I like the idea of collecting information, but the people who collect it is what bothers me.

MattQ86

On The Media just released a series of podcasts covering games. It's just a quick look and could use some better examples but it does mention some books.

dejawolf

i was about to watch that video, then comcast intervened.

e-freak

Striff wrote: »

I have not read it but Hourences "The Hows and Whys of the Games Industry" might be somewhat what your looking for. It seems like its more geared to getting into the industry, but I dunno.

http://www.hourences.com/books-and-media/

it's a great book, but more on how to break into the industry rather than where it is going.

JasonLavoie

Thanks alot everyone, this definatly is a good start

And I do have Hourences book, definatly good to check out.