| 
 enlarge | Author: Matt Barton
Publisher: A K Peters Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: $39.00
Buy New: $31.20
You Save: $7.80 (20%)
New (20) Used (7) from $31.20
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 151757
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 451
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.5
ISBN: 1568814119
Dewey Decimal Number: 793.93209
EAN: 9781568814117
ASIN: 1568814119
Publication Date: March 3, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Customer Reviews:
 A Night (or Two) At The Museum ... May 18, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
"Dungeons and Desktops" is a very comprehensive review of the history of computerized role-playing computer games. It's as if Matt Barton had built a museum for these games and is giving you a personal tour of each and every game, from the earliest text-based games to the latest massive-multi-user graphical adventures. It's amazing how many games he covers (one wonders how he found the time to write the book if he actually played each game - as it appears). At points, his attention to detail may seem a bit wearing but that's only because I'm not as much of a fanatic as Barton is.
Readers should be warned that this is not a casual book - it's a very serious treatment of the genre and would make an excellent addition to any game-developer's curriculum, especially those interested in creating high fantasy and role playing games. Also, Barton writes very well, as his language is neither pretentious nor dim-witted. He clearly loves his subject and does an excellent job of sharing his enthusiasm and insights with his readers. A real pleasure to read.
For computer/player game savvy April 10, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The title tells it all: an ehaustive history of role playing computer games. Though I didn;t stop to check them, there are many URLs for more interesting history
An incredible tour-de-force of a recreational industry. April 4, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Dungeons & Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing games is an incredible tour-de-force of a recreational industry. Chapters cover early tabletop wargames such as "Chainmail" and its precursors, to the pencil-and-paper Dungeons and Dragons game, to the very first computer role-playing games programmed into university mainframe computers (and often deleted by administrators, making many of the first RPGs forever lost to history!). The saga continues with early classics like Wizardry, The Bard's Tale, Ultima, and Pool of Radiance; the rise of casual-friendly action RPGs like Diablo; and the success of massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs) such as the wildly popular World of Warcraft. Console RPGs are also mentioned briefly, most notably trailblazer console RPGs such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. What sets Dungeons & Desktops apart is its in-depth discussion of literally dozens of early CRPGs, many more that even the most avid gamer has likely ever heard of. From two paragraphs to several pages are devoted to each CRPG title, giving a crystal clear picture of what playing the game was like (including its highlights, flaws, and bugs), its commercial success (or failure), and sometimes notes as to what its development team may be doing today. Black-and-white computer screenshots and a handful of color plates illustrate this "must-have" history and resource for CRPG aficionados everywhere. "My advice to anyone who really wants to learn the history of CRPGs is to start with the newer classics and gradually work backwards. It's still relatively easy, for instance, to find copies of Baldur's Gate or [Might & Magic VI: The] Mandate of Heaven and get them running on a modern PC... I would recommend skipping the early Windows 95 or Windows 3.1 games though - these can be excruciatingly difficult to get running even for emulation experts. If you a little further back, though, to the DOS era, things get much easier thanks to DOSBox." Highly recommended.
Nerd Game Nostalgia March 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Reading this history of computer role playing games is a pleasant dive into the deep end of gaming history. I was so hopeful for this book that I pre-ordered a copy for myself and my son who lives in Europe. The book didn't disappoint me.
The book brought back loving memories of my sons and their mom tag teaming the games on game consoles and fighting me for time on the computer.
The author does an excellent job in presenting the history of the CRPG. He starts with the introduction of the lineage to D&D, Traveller, and other games and proceeds to discuss the wealth of games in ages relating to computer development (sound cards, graphic cards and most importantly memory). He briefly discusses the various game features and the gradual development of some of the game play features. Games are discussed and the author rates the games based on personal and other professionally written criticisms. Interwoven among the description of games, the rise and fall of many gaming companies is discussed based on good and extremely poor product decisions.
This is a good read and should be read like a dessert if the few errors in grammar and language usage don't distract you (professional proofreading must be a lost art form). It will refresh your memory regarding the games of the past and introduce you to some games you may have missed. If you are addicted enough, the author does provide some information on how to continue to play some of these games today.
RPG and Video and Computer Game Fans Won't be Dissapointed! March 22, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I finally received my copy of Matt Barton's Dungeons & Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games, and it was definitely worth the wait. Similar to the popular Gamasutra articles Matt wrote and the book was inspired by, the book is broken up into various Ages, such as The Dark Age, The Golden Age, The Modern Age, etc., though in a greatly expanded fashion. This is a logical and effective means of organization and helps guide the reader through the progressively more sophisticated - though not necessarily better - CRPGs over the years.
There is plenty of theory and before you get into the meat of the book, exactly what is and what isn't a CRPG is discussed in great detail. For the most part I agree with the definitions and delineations of the various related genres (adventure, RPG, MUDs, JRPGs, etc.) and I believe this can be used as the basis for future works by other authors. In short, the reader gets a clear picture of what exactly the author means by "CRPG" in its many forms and why some of the other games - even though they might exhibit several RPG characteristics - really fall under another classification.
It's a fun, easy read with consistent pacing. There are no "dead" spots in the book and you are constantly looking forward to the next page. Matt has always balanced scholarly writing with a mainstream sensibility, and his reputation as the "Dennis Miller of Videogames" holds true here as well, with references to individuals like philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein sprinkled throughout the book. This approach works here as well as it ever has, providing some perspective for some of Matt's more original points.
While this book does not attempt in the course of discussion to catalog every CRPG ever made - and the fact that there have been many hobbiest and low circulation semi-pro works across hundreds of different platforms makes such a feat impractical - the vast majority of games worth discussing are all here, with a few nice surprises, like coverage of some of the games on the PLATO mainframe. In all, even the most jaded RPG enthusiast should find little to quibble about in the selection of games represented in the book.
Beyond being broken down into various Ages, the book further discusses individual games and series in each of these sections, in what some other reviewers have referred to as a collection of reviews. This is not exactly true, as the author is not reviewing each of the games as much as he's describing their components and what it does and doesn't advance in terms of the then state-of-the-RPG-art (in respect to the Age it's in). Nevertheless, based on the information, the reader can definitely get an idea of whether it's a game that he or she would like to play, so in that one way, it can act like a review despite it actually being a tool for the greater narrative.
So what are some of the downsides of this book? While there are hundreds of photos, some have come out too dark in the printing to make out details, which is disappointing as seeing the games and related items is a lot of fun. I also didn't care for the title screen of Ultima II being used rather than an in-game screenshot, particularly since the Ultima II title screen is repeated in the color insert (The color insert is tough to find because it's on thin paper stock, but it's definitely there!). Nevertheless, a high percentage of the images help enhance the narrative rather than detract from it and I'm sure the image contrast is something the publisher can fix in future editions of the book.
While we'll no doubt all have our personal criticisms of this work based on our own biases (what, obscure RPG y from obscure platform z is not there?!), one fact remains--this book is very, very hard to put down. For my money, that makes any minor criticism a non-factor in regards to the greater good of the overall work. So, kudos to my videogame brother for the accomplishment and if you have even the slightest interest in RPGs or video or computer games in general, buy this book!
|
|
|
