Gaming Books Round-up

The Bad

Sadly, not all the gaming books out there can be as good as Masters of Doom or Raising The Bar – most of them, especially those with loose titles or unofficial status, tend to be really rather poor. Most can be described as a collection of banalities and near useless information which falls straight past the intended audience because hardcore gamers already know everything that they contain, while casual gamers would never read them.

So, which books out there are best avoided and why? Do they have any merit buried within them which may make them suitable to you or someone you know? It's doubtful, but possible. Check out our list below to find out which books we suggest you stay clear of.

Be warned: this page does contain information about the much-mocked girl gamer marketing push and, therefore, also the colour pink. It's not something we're especially happy about either, but we have to bring you the truth no matter how garish and patronising it is for both sexes.

Game On!: From Pong to Oblivion

Author: Simon Byron, Steve Curran, David McCarthy (256 pages)
UK Price: £10.49
US Price: $29.55

In some ways, Game On! isn't all that bad a book and it does admittedly make for some fairly interesting light reading if you're the type of person to really, actually keep a lot of books on your coffee table.

The book is nicely sized and filled with bright, colourful graphics and the plentiful pictures and double-page spreads look like they've been artfully juggled and arranged on the page. That's quite a feat when most of the pictures are either of men with big swords and sixpacks or buxom women with very short skirts – i.e. not the type of material which can usually be tastefully arranged.

However, the problem with the book is the list itself. In alphabetical order, the authors break down what they think are the best games ever made, starting with Animal Crossing: Wild World and ending with World of Warcraft. Along the way are games like Pong, Oblivion, Asteroids and Soul Blade – all worthy entrants depending on if you're looking at the best or the most important games ever.

Unfortunately, the whole books seems to accommodate far too much to the console audience and there are plenty of PC classics missing from this list, which narrows the market too much for my liking.There's no Deus Ex, no System Shock, no Sim City. The console focus means that even Doom and Quake are nudged out in favour of Warioware and Dance Dance Revolution.

Even in console terms there are obvious games missing - no Sonic The Hedgehog, River City Ransom, Castlevania or Metroid. On top of this the book is already out of date - no mention of BioShock or The Orange Box. Not even Knights of The Old Republic gets a mention.

It's a shame because the writing is nicely done and pretty informative, the presentation is top-notch and the authors are all credible and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, the list itself suffers fantastically. True, you could say that that's just my opinion - but the entire book is just theirs, which renders the whole book kind of moot anyway.

The Girls Guide to Gaming (DS Lite Edition)

Author: Blackdog Media (256 pages)
UK Price: £6.99
US Price: $19.69

Ugh. Just ugh, Ok? The most obvious and obscene attempt I've yet seen for anyone to try and cash in on the new 'girl gaming' market and the powerful combination of Nintendo and the colour pink.

A collection of hints, cheats and tips for so-called girly games, most of the information in the book can be freely and easily found on the internet which makes putting it in a book format at all fairly pointless given that the topic itself is targeted at the computer-literate.

What makes the book so bad though is the at least mildly offensive spin on the information of 'girl gamerz lol'. Ugh. Just take a look at the publicist's blurb for example:

"Do you want to take on the boys at their own game and beat them every single time? You want to prove that games AREN'T just for the guys anymore! Are you, your daughter, your niece or your best friend a Nintendo DS or DS Lite girl gamer? Tired of other gaming publications ignoring all your favourite games in favour of the latest big boy's toys? So you want all the latest gaming gossip and the hottest hints and tips especially written for you? So do we, and its about time."

Obviously, I'm a man, but I still have two sisters interested in gaming and my girlfriend is at least as hardcore a gamer as I am in her own right – and the very notion of some sex divide in the gamer market is frustrating to both me and them. Games don't sell to girls less because publishers don't use enough of the colour pink, they sell less because (broadly speaking) developers rarely make decent games which appeal to the female half of the market. Instead, we get endless re-runs of WWII games and Duke Nukem clones, so the Boys vs. Girls approach is both moot and annoying.

The fact that the book, which is useless to start with, fails to pick up on this point is the nail in its garishly pink coffin.