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Comment: Edition: 3rd; Rolenta Press, 2001. Trade paperback; 3rd edition. Good condition with a bit of minor wear to the edges.
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Leonard Herman
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Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Videogames Paperback – January 1, 2001

by Leonard Herman (Author)
3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
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Book by Herman, Leonard
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  1. Print length
    388 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Rolenta Press
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2001
  5. ISBN-10
    096438485X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0964384859
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

...a definitive temporal overview of joystick jiggling, covering the ups and downs of the phenomenon ... Herman treats popular favorites and dismal flops with even-handed reverence, rarely injecting opinion that could color the facts in any way. -- Wired, Ian Christe --This text refers to an alternate paperback edition.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rolenta Press; 3rd edition (January 1, 2001)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 388 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 096438485X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0964384859
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4 ounces
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

About the author

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Leonard Herman

Leonard Herman

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Leonard Herman, The Game Scholar, is the Father of Videogame History. He is regarded as one of the earliest and most respected videogame historians. The first edition of Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Home Videogames, which was published in 1994, is considered to be the first comprehensive book about the history of videogames.

Mr. Herman, who is an award-winning lyricist, has written articles for Videogaming & Computer Illustrated, Games Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly, the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, Pocket Games, Classic Gamer Magazine, Edge, Game Informer, Classic Gamer Magazine, Manci Games, Gamespot.com, Old School Gamer Magazine and Video Game Trader, a magazine that he also edited. He has also contributed articles to several videogame-related books, including Supercade, The Video Game Explosion and The Encyclopedia of Video Games. Mr. Herman has also written the book ABC To the VCS (A Directory of Software for the Atari 2600), a compendium of game summaries. He has also written and designed user's manuals for the following Atari VCS games: Cracked, Save the Whales, Pick-Up, Rush Hour, Looping, The Entity and Lasercade, as well as the user's guide to Ralph Baer's Pinball! and KC's Escape for the Odyssey2.

In 1994, Mr. Herman founded Rolenta Press, a publisher of videogame books, whose catalogue included Videogames: In the Beginning, by Ralph H. Baer, the inventor of the videogame console, and Confessions of the Game Doctor by Bill Kunkel, the world's first videogame journalist. Two Rolenta Press books were included in a list of the top ten videogame books of all time by Game Informer magazine in 2008.

Mr. Herman has served as an advisor for Videotopia, Classic Gaming Expo and the National Videogame Museum. He has appeared in several episodes of G4's Icons and in the documentary, The King of Arcades. In 2003, Mr. Herman received a Classic Gaming Expo Achievement Award in recognition for his accomplishments in documenting game history.

Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
3.6 out of 5
20 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Rob Conder
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a must have for any gamer-especially the old schoolers...
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2011
Verified Purchase
Mr. Herman's book has garnered praise from all walks of the videogame industry, and for good reason. It's a great read, and I'll guarantee you'll learn something. I considered myself quite knowledgeable on the subject, but it just goes to show-someone ALWAYS knows more... well researched and coherent. This book will be referenced for years to come. Get your today, while they're still cheap!
One person found this helpful
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Rommager
4.0 out of 5 stars A good history of the video game industry
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2013
Verified Purchase
This book was an interesting read. It is organized by year, with what systems each company promoted and released. I found there were a LOT of video game consoles that I never had any idea that they even existed. Leonard Herman does a pretty good job of also covering the industry in European and Japanese markets as well.

Since he covers so much of the industry overall, the info really ends up being a collection of brief mentions of products that came and went over the years. He doesn't get into a lot of detail for any one particular company, and he rarely mentions specific games, unless they were particularly noteworthy.

What you can expect is a book that covers a history of when consoles were announced and released, info on the companies themselves and their marketing strategies and decisions they made, and how the products were received. What you will not find are in-depth stories of any particular company or game.

The book can be a little bit of a dry read at times, but I took it slow and read one or two chapters at a time. I found it to be an interesting read overall, especially since I remembered following the video game magazines so closely in the late 80's and through the 90's.
One person found this helpful
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Stephen Friedman
2.0 out of 5 stars A dry history of video games
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2001
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I purchased this book for my thesis (about cost structures of the video game console industry) and did find quite a bit of useful information in terms of what systems were produced when, historical prices, etc. However it was not a very entertaining read. Also, the organizationm of the book, which is broken down by year, makes it hard to follow events that lasted multiple years. (lawsuits, product development cycles, etc.) It's a decent book if you're doing research, or if you're a hard core video game history fanatic, but otherwise I wouldn't reccomend it. A much better book is David Sheff's Game Over, although that only focuses on Nintendo.
10 people found this helpful
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Scott Lewis
3.0 out of 5 stars Good history, if biased
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 1999
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Phoenix succeeds in being an excellent reference book covering practically every video game console ever in existence and some that never made it that far. Dry, but informative.
Unfortunately, the later parts of the book are really tough to read and the writer falls into biases. Rarely is Nintendo mentioned without a remark attacking it.
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Christophe
1.0 out of 5 stars Boring and unimaginative book, just chronological facts
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 1999
Unless you're a videogame techie, this book is boring as hell. I did not enjoy the content of this book because its writing style is repetitive and poor. Just a collection of technical facts from the 80s onwards evoking a bit of nostalgia for some of us. A pure waste of money otherwise.
3 people found this helpful
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Jose Luis Gonzalez
5.0 out of 5 stars A must have. Period
Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2019
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If you want to know some history about this medium known as videogames you should give yourself the chance to read this book.
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M. TUCKER
4.0 out of 5 stars Very dry, but also VERY detailed and accurate
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2006
This book is difficult to read through chapter by chapter and absorb all of the historical details Feinstien provides. Instead, consider this book a MUST HAVE for any sort of reference material on the history of video games. If you are a "student" of the video game era or a game designer, you should have this book on your book shelf. This book is hard to top on its in-depth history of the industry, and I have read quite a few on the subject. 4 stars, his writing style is very dry, otherwise it would be 5.
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Robert Morgan
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent historical overview of home video game industry.
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2000
I ordered this book to serve as "back up evidence" in a museum presentation I did several months ago concerning the history of video games, and it served its purpose well... and it's also earned a place in my personal book collection.
For years I've wanted to write a definitive history of video games, but now I don't feel like I need to- it's been done for me. Some may say that Phoenix is a dry regurgitation of press releases, but it's the most concise and most objective historical reference work concerning video games that I've read.
The book is short and blunt- there aren't sugary-sweet phrases or "sound bites" within- the book is chock full of facts and data for people who are truly interested in the evolution of the American video game industry.
As is usual with books of this type, there are several minor factual errors- I doubt that a 100% accurate book could ever be compiled. Leonard Herman has done an excellent job compiling information, and has done an admirable job staying away from opinion and conjecture. Despite small errors here and there, Phoenix stands as one of the best histories of electronic games, and a model for concise writing.
Now for the personal desires; I feel that Phoenix should have focused more upon computer games within the book- especially the 8-bit computers (Apple II, Commodore 64, and Atari 8-bit) which supplanted video game systems for several years- they are covered minimally in appendices. I would also have enjoyed a world-wide perspective, rather than an American-specific view. I also wish Phoenix had gone into detail concerning individual game systems and companies- there is little explanation concerning the disappearance of quite a few of them. Perhaps the stories concerning the failure of individual companies would overwhelm the book and obscure its purpose of showing the industry's growth and change, but it's a subject so far left uncovered.
Regardless of what I wish had been covered, what Phoenix does cover, it covers well. It's probably the most important book for classic video game enthusiasts to own and read.
17 people found this helpful
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