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This is a book review for Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution a book about the history and future of the video games industry by Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby.

I recently picked up Smartbombwhen I had a few bored minutes thinking it would maybe entertain me for a short while and I’d toss it aside. I’ve followed games and the industry for years and figured I’d know pretty much everything it had to say. However, after starting to read it I just couldn’t put it down and thoroughly enjoyed myself, it’s full of interesting nuggets even longtime veterans of the industry could appreciate.

The book touches on several topics mostly about the history of the game industry and some of the “stars” of the industry. It also tries to do a little prediction of the future of games as well as taking a shallow swim through some of the more esoteric parts of the industry you may not see every day.

The book starts out somewhat slow with a chapter on CliffyB and Epic (who tend to make good games but less interesting reading material) and then a chapter on gaming prehistory and the creation of the first games. Most of the info here was relatively dry to me and I had read it all many times before. However, if you’ve never read a lot about the history of video games this is an excellent place to do it.

Then the book quickly picks up pace in the next chapter with a fascinating look at Miyamoto and Nintendo. The beginnings of Nintendo and Miyamoto’s work are talked about as well as a look at a more Miyamoto today, the book continues this origin/present theme throughout. Even the most stalwart Nintendo fan can probably find a juicy tidbit here and will certainly be touched by Miyamoto’s love for the worlds he creates for us.

The next chapter looks at the founding of id and the origin of the legendary John Carmack and somewhat infamous John Romero. We are told about how they started id and founded what is probably the defining genre of the last decade of gaming (virtually an epoch in gaming time), first person shooters. The chapter also gives us a somewhat fluffy look into pro gamers and their lifestyle (I glossed over much of this part since I find it grossly boring.)

Then comes what is probably the pinnacle of the book, the chapter on Will Wright. We are told how Will went from curious kid to eccentric genius and a bit about what happened along the way. We find out what inspires Will’s mad genius and are given a look at his next game (which we’ve all come to know as Spore by now.)

Next up is a discussion on virtual worlds and a look at one of the other game designers I respect most, Raph Koster. We are given a glimpse into the development of Star Wars Galaxies and what nightmares that apparently entailed. There’s also a fairly interesting story about a MMO player who lives the more interesting portions of his life in virtual worlds, a more and more common occurrence and something I predict will only increase.

The book rounds out with a section on government thrusts into the game space, with Full Spectrum Warrior(which I’m actually playing currently and is quite decent) and America’s Army, as well as the future of games. Things like augmented reality (very cool) and military based games are discussed.

Overall I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in games and especially anyone interested in learning a bit more about some of the more interesting people in the industry. Sure there are a few chapters of fluff but after finishing the book I really felt It was a valuable read and worth the time spent, if only to steal a glimpse into the minds of some of the most brilliant persons making games today.