Posted by Brian on Monday, Jun 16, 2014
Console Wars by Blake J. Harris is a narrative account of the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo, the two video game behemoths of the nineties. The book mainly focuses on the meteoric rise of Sega and the man behind it: Tom Kalinske. Tom became the CEO of Sega of America in the late eighties, and turned Sega and its 16-bit console the Genesis from underdogs to market leaders. Console Wars details how he pulled this off. The history of Nintendo is also delved into, but, for the most part, they're portrayed as the enemy. As someone who owned a Genesis, I was surprised and interested in the inner workings of the video game industry. I highly recommend Console Wars to gamers and anyone who grew up during the nineties.
About the Author
Brian works as the Senior Adult Services Librarian at the Iowa City Public Library.
Before reading this, I'd been on a break from reading comic books for roughly a year and a half. It was for no real reason other than there not being anything that caught my interest. Ultimate Invasion definitely caught my interest. Short version--an alternative version of Reed Richards--Mister Fantastic--calling himself "The Maker" escapes from the regular Marvel Universe into a different one and stops a wide variety of superheroes from gaining their powers. He then controls that world--with the help of other super powered folk--until the past and future catch up with him. This volume is wild--incredible world building and art--and it got me very excited for this new Ultimate Universe. -Brian