Product Review

In the early 1970s, video arcade games sprung to life with the advent of Pong and other coin-operated games. Within just a few short years, if you had a quarter, you could go to the video arcade and play Space Invaders, Asteroids, or Pac-Man. If you were lucky enough to have an Atari system hooked up to your television, you could play Frogger or Galaga at home. By the early 1980s, arcade and video games were entrenched as a pop culture phenomenon, with players spending hours in arcades racking up as many points as possible. Arcade games were everywhere: restaurants, bowling alleys, department stores, grocery stores--anywhere that could accommodate a three-foot by five-foot machine. But, just as soon as the phenomenon began, it morphed into something else with the advent of hand-held games and more sophisticated home-gaming systems. Brian Eddy, former executive director, producer, and programmer for Midway Games, traces the evolution of arcade video games in Classic Video Games, giving readers an inside look at the stratospheric rise--and collapse--of the industry. Readers will reminisce about their favorite games, such as Centipede, Ms. Pac-Man, Tron, and Star Wars as they relive the glory days of the classic video game rage of the 1970s and 1980s.