The Game Console: A Photographic History from Atari to Xbox
Condition: Used - Very Good
Buy Now, Pay Later
As low as
$3
/ mo
Learn more
- – 4-month term
- – No impact on credit to apply
- – Instant approval decision
- – Secure and straightforward checkout
Ready to go? Add this product to your cart and select a plan during checkout.
Payment plans are offered through our trusted finance partners Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay, Apple Pay, and PayTomorrow. No-credit-needed leasing options through Acima may also be available at checkout.
Learn more about financing & leasing here.
Free shipping on this product
30-day returns
Learn more
This item is eligible for return within 30 days of receipt
To qualify for a full refund, items must be returned in their original, unused condition. If an item is returned in a used, damaged, or materially different state, you may be granted a partial refund.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
Availability:
Only 1 left in stock, order soon!
Arrives
Jun 17 – Jun 22
Recently Viewed
Description
The Game Console is a tour through the evolution of video game hardware, with gorgeous full-color photos of 86 consoles. You’ll start your journey with legendary consoles like the Magnavox Odyssey, Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Commodore 64. The visual nostalgia trip continues with systems from the 1990s and 2000s, and ends on modern consoles like the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U. Throughout the book, you’ll also discover many consoles you never knew existed, and even find a rare peek at the hardware inside several of history’s most iconic video game systems. Read more
Publisher : No Starch Press
Publication date : November 6, 2018
Edition : 1st
Language : English
Print length : 264 pages
ISBN-10 : 1593277431
ISBN-13 : 37
Item Weight : 2.35 pounds
Dimensions : 8.38 x 0.86 x 10.38 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #1,299,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #526 in History of Engineering & Technology #559 in Video Game Art (Books) #1,013 in History of Technology
Frequently asked questions
If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is:
Jun 17 – Jun 22
Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
- Klarna Financing
- Affirm Pay in 4
- Affirm Financing
- Afterpay Financing
- PayTomorrow Financing
- Financing through Apple Pay
Learn more about financing & leasing here.
Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Hardcover
This books is a great collector piece. The book itself is a nice hard cover with a rough feel around the console controller which is interesting. I really enjoy all the pictures of the past game consoles in order. It shows a picture of the device as well as a physical break down of the console. There is also a break down of the components as well as a history of the product. One thing I like about this is that it provides several consoles I did not even know existed so that was definitely a plus. The history is pretty detailed. It is not like text book deep detail but it gives you the highlights such as who created the console and some fun small facts which is interesting. The picture details is also very nice. Overall I think this book is a great collector piece to really show how much gaming consoles have changed to what we have now.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2019 by RedAkuma82
Format: Hardcover
The video game consoles are concisely covered and the author never dives too deep into the history or gets weighed down by the technical. Game Console is not an extremely detailed reference, but makes a great coffee table book. The photos are generally clear and the consoles and boards are well-presented. There are few extra labels or other identifiers to get in the way of the images. The text is well-written, and I appreciate the list of consoles at the end that were not included in the book; I'm looking forward to follow-up volumes. As far as the printing, they did a good job; the paper and printing are very good, but the binding might be a little weak. In addition, my copy was dented and a corner was torn a bit, possibly by Amazon's minimal book shipping "box".
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2019 by Zach
Format: Hardcover
I pre-ordered this book years ago & honestly after it had been delayed for so long, I never actually expected it would be released. But lo & behold, it showed up at my front door! This book is a very interesting piece for any video game fan or collector. The images are all produced with clarity & beautiful color reproduction. The facts that accompany every page add to the wealth of information this book preserves. It will sit proudly next to my copy of Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games. I want to thank the author Evan Amos for all his work in photographing and preserving video game history. As a manager of a small game store, I will be able to utilize this book to help pass on historical info to new generations of gamers. Amazing book, keep up the great work!
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2018 by Davide
Format: Hardcover
Encyclopedia of console game history. Anyone of certain age group who have had exposure playing some of the games are bound to be interested in reading this excellent picture history of some well known and not so well known console system. The size of hardback book is perfect; not too big, not too small (for me). Papers are not the glossy kind that will leave fingerprints all over. Layout is chronological with many of console system's innards neatly laid out which is something most of us probably never tried (at least not in the way it was photographed here. This book is really a labor of love. It may be niche but I can say it sure bring back memories of fun time I've had playing the games.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2018 by A. Kim
Format: Hardcover
First off, the good stuff - I bought this book for its photographs and for that it is excellent. The entire point of this book was to show off some of the best photography of game consoles ever accomplished and to that end it was completely successful. Having worked on many of these consoles at one point or another repairing or modding them, I particularly loved the shots of the PCBs, and the exploded parts views - I'd love to know how exactly he got those shots. Another awesome thing was the inclusion of so many obscure consoles. There were several that I've never seen in the wild and it was awesome to get such clean images of them. There are, however, some issues that buyers might want to know before pulling the trigger on this. I have been an avid gamer and collector for over 30 years and I know many of the stories and specs behind these consoles first hand, and I have seen or read rigorous research on many others. The author of this book is a photographer rather than a savvy retro gamer or a historian. While this book is an excellent source of game console visuals, it's not a good source of accurate historical information about the consoles, (nor does it claim to be). - Its organizational structure is more emotional than logical. The author has logically organized consoles into their generally agreed-upon "generation", but within each generation seems to order them using some criteria which escapes me - it's not by maker, not by release, not by popularity or sales - possibly it's some combination of these but I don't know which. - Each console has one or two technical specs that seem to have been chosen somewhat at random and lack context when it wouldn't have consumed much more space to provide more specs and relevance. (i.e. the Sega Mega Drive's 512 colors, but only 61 on screen at once) - Many of the data presented including written descriptions and technical facts are erroneous. - Some consoles include images of every variation, others include only a couple of variations but omit more obscure ones, and still others are missing primary or prominent variations altogether. - The epilogue includes a list of consoles the author was aware of but did not include which is more incomplete than the author seems to be aware of. I don't fault him for this - he can only photograph the things he has access to, but no one should consider this book a reliable reference for anything other than images. This is my super nit-picky list of specific examples of the above that jumped out at me from the page upon my first skim-through. This should not be interpreted as a complete list of everything wrong, it's just enough to establish my point that this isn't a reliable historical reference. - Makes the statement that every Nintendo Entertainment System originally sold included ROB - the NES launched in several configurations only one of which included ROB, and this was true even of the limited test market run that happened in New York prior to the NES nationwide release the following year. - Lists the SNES color pallet as 32,786 - it should be 32,768 (when my son was reading the book he quizzed me on this and tried to tell me I was wrong - but I've been dealing with powers of 8 for too long not to have them memorized). - The Genesis/Mega Drive/(Sega/Mega) CD section is missing quite a few important inclusions and would confuse anyone not actually familiar with the history of these consoles. It properly lists the Mega Drive model 1 first, but does not show the Genesis model 1 at all, nor speak to it. Instead of presenting the Mega Drive and Genesis as the same console under different names, it lists them separately which would be fine except that it begins the conversation about the Genesis with model 2 only - making it appear as though the console was only renamed Genesis when it was re-designed many years after release. Similarly the Sega/Mega CD model 1 isn't depicted at all - it begins the conversation about Sega CD with the model 2. This isn't me saying that this isn't a book you should buy - far from it. This was definitely worth the $20 asking price and I would gladly buy it again. I think it's fantastic if you use it for the pictures - particularly for the really obscure stuff like the Casio Loopy for example. In fact I want more. I very much hope this book is successful enough that the author teams up with a gaming historian to create a revised edition that's more complete and accurate. I would love to see the tops and bottoms of PCBs for every console, not just a couple at random. I would love to see every known variation of a console, and at least a line item for any that the photographer couldn't lay hands on. I would love to see this photographer given access to more prototypes like the Nintendo Playstation and the Sega Pluto. I would love to see more complete spec sheets and possibly even some tables comparing like specs within a generation. I would love to see start and end production dates, lifetime console sales and timelines showing the overlap. But for now I'm happy to have what's on offer here.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2021 by Samson Wick
Format: Hardcover
The Game Console guides the reader through a photographic journey of each generation of gaming history. Amos's photos provide great visuals throughout this book (especially the detailed internal breakdowns), and the short excerpts provide info on what makes each console notable and interesting. There isn't too much text (as the title says, this is "a photographic history"), but all the important details are there and the photos are where the book really shines. The popular consoles are covered, but the real treat is seeing and learning about all the not-so-famous consoles that you may have never seen. It's great to be able to progress through each generation, seeing the various designs and how things progress over the years.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2018 by Kevin P
Format: Hardcover
Evan Amos is an amazing photographer. Look for pretty much any system on Wikipedia and marvel over the great images they have - and 99% of the time, Amos is the photographer. This book gives you more then the images online. I especially love the exploded views of consoles, that really let's you see how they were put together, and the amazing engineering going on cramming as much as possible into as little of an area as possible. A fantastic journey for anyone into gaming, and especially retro consoles.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2019 by Patrick Waks
Format: Hardcover
This is a good book for techie people who are game collectors. I don't think it would work for the person who plays Xbox on the weekends but someone who has an actual collection would enjoy this. The photos are very well done and the write-up is just enough to get the idea of the console without being overbearing. It is a decently sized book as well, with a nice sturdy cover and pages that are high quality. It would make a great gift.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2020 by Robert Stevens