At long, long last, I can finally reveal something I’ve been working on for absolutely ages. It’s called Curious Video Game Machines, and it’s a book all about rare and unusual consoles, computers and coin-ops. Here’s the blurb to show you what I mean:
The story of video games is often told as the successive rise of computers and consoles from famous names like Atari, Commodore, Nintendo, Sega, Sony and Microsoft. But beyond this familiar tale, there’s a whole world of weird and wonderful gaming machines that seldom get talked about.
Curious Video Game Machines reveals the fascinating stories behind a bevy of rare and unusual consoles, computers and coin-ops – like Kimtanktics, a 1970s wargame computer made out of calculator parts, or the suite of Korea-exclusive consoles made by car manufacturer Daewoo. Then there’s the Casio Loopy, a 1990s console that doubled up as a sticker printer, the RDI Halcyon, a 1985 LaserDisc-based machine that could recognise your voice, and the Interton VC 4000, a German console made by a hearing-aid company, as well as a range of bizarre arcade machines, from early attempts at virtual reality to pedal-powered flying contraptions.
There are tales of missed opportunities, like the astonishingly powerful Enterprise 64 computer, which got caught in development hell and arrived too late to make an impact on the British microcomputer market. And there are tales of little-known triumphs, like the Galaksija DIY computer kit that introduced a whole generation of Yugoslavians to computing before the country became engulfed by war.
Featuring exclusive interviews with creators, developers and collectors, Curious Video Game Machines finally shines a light on the forgotten corners of video-game history.
I started working on Curious Video Game Machines more than two years ago, and now the book is finally available to preorder, with a release date at the end of November. I’m so excited to share it with the world!
You can preorder the book direct from the publisher here (with a limited-time introductory discount), or find it on Amazon UK here, as well as on Hive and at various other bookshops. You can also preview the first couple of chapters on Google Books.
I’ll be posting lots more about Curious Video Game Machines over the coming months, and I’ll also be highlighting a different machine every week over on my Twitter page. The first of these – on the RDI Halcyon – is above.
That’s it for now, but I’ll leave you with this little video from Rees, whose amazing Atari knowledge was invaluable when writing the book…
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