Böcker av Steven L. Kent

The definitive behind-the-scenes history of video games’ explosion into the twenty-first century and the war for industry power“A zippy read through a truly deep research job. You won’t want to put this one down.”—Eddie Adlum, publisher, RePlay MagazineAs video games evolve, only the fittest companies survive. Making a blockbuster once cost millions of dollars; now it can cost hundreds of millions, but with a $160 billion market worldwide, the biggest players are willing to bet the bank.Steven L. Kent has been playing video games since Pong and writing about the industry since the Nintendo Entertainment System. In volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games, he chronicled the industry’s first thirty years. In volume 2, he narrates gaming’s entrance into the twenty-first century, as Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft battle to capture the global market.The home console boom of the ’90s turned hobby companies like Nintendo and Sega into Hollywood-studio-sized business titans. But by the end of the decade, they would face new, more powerful competitors. In boardrooms on both sides of the Pacific, engineers and executives began, with enormous budgets and total secrecy, to plan the next evolution of home consoles. The PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Sega Dreamcast all made radically different bets on what gamers would want. And then, to the shock of the world, Bill Gates announced the development of the one console to beat them all—even if Microsoft had to burn a few billion dollars to do it. In this book, you will learn about• the cutthroat environment at Microsoft as rival teams created console systems• the day the head of Sega of America told the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog to “f**k off”• how “lateral thinking with withered technology” put Nintendo back on top• and much more!Gripping and comprehensive, The Ultimate History of Video Games: Volume 2 explores the origins of modern consoles and of the franchises—from Grand Theft Auto and Halo to Call of Duty and Guitar Hero—that would define gaming in the new millennium.

Earth, A D 2519. Less than a year has passed since the clone military of the Enlisted Man's Empire toppled the government of the Unified Authority. Now the clones rule Earth, but a new enemy has emerged - and set off civil war.

Private first-class Wayson Harris was raised among thousands of clones to be the ultimate soldier. But Harris isn't like the other Marines: he has a mind of his own. He figures he's paying for that when his first assignment is the smallest Marine outpost in the whole UA.

Rogue clone Wayson Harris is stranded on a frontier plane - until a rebel offensive puts him back in the uniform of a UA Marine, once again leading a strike against the enemy. But the rebels have a powerful ally no one could have imagined.

2514 AD: An unstoppable alien force is advancing on Earth, wiping out the Unified Authority's colonies one by one. It's up to Wayson Harris, an outlawed model of a clone, and his men to make a last stand on the planet of New Copenhagen, where they must win the battle and the war or lose all.

Lt Wayson Harris was born and bred as the ultimate soldier. But he is unique, possessing independence of thought. And when the military brass decide to blame the clones for the decimation of the U A republic, Lt Harris decides to stop being the scapegoat, with all the firepower he can muster.

After a blistering defeat by alien forces, clone soldier Lt Wayson Harris and his brethren have been exiled to the far reaches of the galaxy where the Unified Authority intends to use them as targets for live-fire training exercises.

Earth, 2516 A.D.: The Unified Authority has spread human colonies across the Milky Way, keeping strict order with a powerful military made up almost entirely of clones. But now the clones have formed their own empire, and they aim to keep it... no matter who they must defeat.