Game Over
by David Sheff · first published 1993
73% recommend18% neutral9% critical
Why HN recommends it
Well-told history of Nintendo's early days and its push into the U.S. with the NES, full of anecdotes; recommended to anyone interested in video game history, including the Tetris rights story.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Gradually Americans have become aware that the game is over: The Japanese have already landed. A Trojan horse has been smuggled into one out of every three American living rooms by our children. Through its video-game system, Nintendo has dominated a growing industry, projected to be worth $6-$7 billion in the United States in 1993, and has transformed itself into one of the world's most successful and influential corporations. As Nintendo Co. Ltd., ruled by its formidable chairman, Hiroshi Yamauchi, racks up huge profits, people in the electronics industry are wondering why American companies
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…that will play on an unmodified PS1. [1] http://digital-law-online.info/cases/24PQ2D1015.htm [2] For more information on the early history of Nintendo up to the late SNES era, see the excellent book "Game Over" by David Sheff: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0679736220/ [3] http://www.nesdev.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=1219
on “Nintendo's weird and wonderful CIC lockout chip” ↗Game Over by David Sheff. An older book about the early days of Nintendo and specifically focused on how Nintendo came to the U.S. with the N.E.S. Lots of interesting anecdotes and well told. I am always surprised…
on “Ask HN: What are more books like “Masters of Doom” or “Showstoppers”?” ↗anyone itnerested in this story should read "Game Over" - http://www.amazon.com/Game-Over-Nintendo-American-Industry/d... I got it as a gift with some magazine years ago (and lost it in the mean time) - but basically it tells the story about nintendo from…
on “Tetris Company sues VC-funded OMGPOP” ↗…interesting article, Upon further linkage I've found this other submission http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=580391 - it carries even more interesting stuff. However, I am still trying to find the book "Game Over" I've had... seems like I've lost it somewhere, which makes me extremely sad. That book, my friends, is full of suspense, nostalgia, business know-how etc. edit: the book I'm talking about is this:…
on “The making of Playstation” ↗There is a very good description in this book: "Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World" http://www.amazon.com/Game-Over-Nintendo-Conquered-World/dp/...
on “Nintendo visionary Hiroshi Yamauchi dies aged 85” ↗RIP. Honestly, I thought he was older. Read, if you haven't Game Over http://www.amazon.com/Game-Over-Nintendo-Conquered-World/dp/... It is, essentially, a great book (unlike boo.com) about a startup called Nintendo. You wont regret the read, even if you're not into games.
on “Nintendo visionary Hiroshi Yamauchi dies aged 85” ↗…gaming history, though: - Blood, Sweat and Pixels by Jason Schreier - Masters of Doom by David Kushner - The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent was required reading for me in college - Game Over by David Sheff - Dungeon Hacks by David Craddock
on “Deus Ex at 20: The oral history of a pivotal PC game” ↗If this is interesting to you, I recommend the book Game Over by David Sheff.
on “Former Nintendo employees reveal what it took to launch the NES” ↗…Doctorow) -- I recommend this to every entrepreneur and technologist I know, if only because it will inspire you to create something great. - Masters of Doom (David Kushner) -- History of id software - Game Over (David Sheff) -- History of Nintendo; seriously wild
on “Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read” ↗If you can, try to get ahold of 'Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World' book by David Sheff. I got it eons ago as a freebie along with 'Arcade' magazine and proceeded to read it as I had nothing better to do at the time. It has to be one…
on “It’s a-me: How Super Mario became a global cultural icon” ↗By far the most compelling telling I've seen of the "How BPS and Nintendo got the Tetris rights" story is in chapters 13 and 14 of David Sheff's book "Game Over". The whole book is a good read if you're into game history (apart from the Atari chapter, which leans too hard on Nolan Bushnell as a source), it's basically the only time people at Nintendo talked at…
on “The Murky History of Soviet-Born Tetris” ↗I've never heard that the character was "based on" Mario Segale, just named after him. It is my dim recollection from reading Game Over by David Sheff many years ago that the incident when "Segale was said to have made an impression on his tenants when he allegedly stormed into Nintendo's offices in Tukwila, Wash., demanding they catch…
on “Mavis Beacon was the top typing teacher in the US, then she vanished” ↗There is also a book called Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children http://www.amazon.com/Game-Over-Nintendo-American-Industry/d... I believe there is a newer edition out.
on “Never give up: The story of the man behind Tetris.” ↗…shipped with modem capability. Hiroshi Yamauchi the CEO thought the Nintendo Network could be a big play. It never panned out but it was a proprietary pre-internet dial up system. I read about this in "Game Over" by David Sheff, but here's another source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Computer_Network_System
on “Linux for Nintendo 64 (1997)” ↗Unfortunately, the legacy of David Sheff's Game Over is tarnished. He took shortcuts and got some important details wrong. An historian should find additional sources for the statements made in the book.
on “Former Nintendo employees reveal what it took to launch the NES” ↗