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Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World Paperback – March 29, 1994

by David Sheff (Author)

4.4 264 ratings

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A chronicle of Nintendo's climb to the top of the video game market describes the company's tactics and how it has become one of the most successful high tech companies in the world

Print length

451 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Vintage
Publication date

March 29, 1994
Dimensions

5.25 x 1 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0679736220
ISBN-13

978-0679736226
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage (March 29, 1994)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 451 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679736220
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679736226
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 1 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #718,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 264 ratings

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David Sheff

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DAVID SHEFF's books include Game Over, China Dawn, and All We Are Saying. His many articles and interviews have appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Wired, Fortune, and elsewhere. His piece for the New York Times Magazine, My Addicted Son, won an award from the American Psychological Association for Outstanding Contribution to Advancing the Understanding of Addiction. It led to his #1 New York Times Best Seller, Beautiful Boy, which was named the best nonfiction book of 2008 by Entertainment Weekly. Beautiful Boy was also an Amazon Best Book of 2008. Sheff and his family live in Inverness, California.

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4.4 out of 5

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Noreen Segrest

Required reading for any Nintendo fan

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2016

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To be blunt, David Sheff knocked this book out of the ballpark. The story of Nintendo's rise to power would likely have been interesting on its own, but Sheff's research clearly goes above and beyond what I had anticipated, making for a meticulously detailed, extremely gripping story (there were two chapters devoted to how Nintendo obtained the rights to Tetris, and I promise that that particular tale is so much more interesting than you'd think).

The book primarily focuses on the story of Nintendo of America, but there's plenty of attention devoted to the Japanese branch when needed. Sheff does a fantastic job humanizing the key players of the story, with a number of their personal stories interspersed with the overarching business narrative. Sheff also avoids sugar coating Nintendo's more controversial methods- the treatment of all sides of the story seems especially fair. The book's only noticeable flaw is that the final chapter or two aren't so exciting for modern readers- a lot of attention is devoted to Nintendo's future plans (the book was released in 1993), so we already know what does and doesn't end up happening- did you know that Sony is prototyping CDs that play movies!?

Overall, this is definitely a remarkable book, and is well worth a read by anybody with even a cursory interest in the history of video games.

4 people found this helpful

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Melissa J.

An excellent read, but the last 2-3 chapters haven't aged well

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2019

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If you grew up during the NES and SNES era, this book will likely be incredibly interesting. It's a wonderful companion piece to another book, Console Wars, which focuses on Sega during the 16-bit era but mostly glosses over Nintendo's details. Nintendo has a fascinating origin story, and this book is an excellent historical record. Since it was written in the mid-90s, the interviews were timely and fresh, and many of the key players were still in their roles when it was being written.

However, the speculation about the future of the industry has not aged well. The author breaks from his historical voice to ponder the future of CD-based entertainment and multimedia few times, and I skipped entire paragraphs at a time towards the end. Some sentiments, like how the "PC revolution never came" sound absurd in 2019, when most homes have multiple PCs, laptops, etc and other devices which do 90% of what PCs can. Reading on my iPad Mini, it felt a little ironic.

Other than this, the first ~400 pages are a wonderful read, and highly recommended for anyone who loves videogames and enjoys this kind of thing.

6 people found this helpful

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Chuckingdice

The History of Nintendo

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2015

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This title is a nice overview on the business side of how Nintendo went from a simple toy company to one of the video game giants in the world. Although I was looking for something that explored the background of the designers of these iconic games (which is briefly explored), the story of how NOA was built, the law suits and the marketing strategies were interesting dramas that would probably make a great TV show some day. If you've ever wondered how one of your favorite childhood past times continued to be one of your current favorite past times, check out this read. If you're interested business strategy, also take a look. If you're one of those people who think video games are for kids, or too violent, then quit reading this review on your handheld device/ smart phone.....and read this book anyway.

4 people found this helpful

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Aidan M

A Keen Business Review of my Favorite Youth Activity Growing Up

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2022

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I loved my NES, and know my toddler son and I play with our Nintendo Switch. I loved all the Nintendo systems. Glad I got this corporate insight on how they succeeded. I strongly recommend this book.

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Tony Ingesson

Great description of the business side, less so when it comes to hardware and the actual games

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2016

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The book gives a very interesting and quite well-written overview of the business aspect of Nintendo's rise to the top of the video game industry in the 1980s, although it goes no farther than circa 1994. However, the author seems to be quite clueless when it comes both to the hardware and technical aspects, and more seriously, when it comes to video games themselves. At least his descriptions when it comes to these issues are quite awkward and in several cases outright bizarre (such as portraying Super Mario World as lackluster compared to Sonic the Hedgehog). Even more jarring are the lengthy sections in which the author writes about particular products from the early 1990s in a language that looks like press statements.

However, anyone interested in the business side of Nintendo can find quite a few gems, as long as you don't mind skipping some parts.

One person found this helpful

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Charles

Fun Read

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2017

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Lots of interesting tidbits about Nintendo's history that I had never heard of. Skip the last few chapters though since they mainly cover how the author thought things might happen. With the Switch being a bit of a success I'd love to see those last few chapters replaced with a more modern take.

One person found this helpful

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guy incognito

Phenomenal Read

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2014

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Insanely addictive read, was hard to put down. From engineering ingenuity to financial takeovers to international politics with Bush and Gorbachev, this story has it all. What a history of not only Nintendo's ascension but the videogame industry from its infancy. Of how Atari employed a young Steve Jobs to help reduce number of chips used in games and how the creator of Tetris was rewarded for his ingenuity with a pc and a game boy (the only one in USSR). Can't recommend enough.

2 people found this helpful

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trevoracious

Nintendo's Biography

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2016

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This is an incredibly in-depth biography of Nintendo. It goes all the way back through the company's history and then traces its progress through the lives of those in and close to Nintendo.

Great bit of journalism for anyone interested in the company.

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Adinan Batista Alves

Still a must read

Reviewed in Brazil on August 2, 2019

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A must have classic to understand how the gaming industry began by Nintendo entering in America. There are some errors here and there (Sigeru Miyamoto) but it's still an important book for videogame enthusiasts and historians.

Chase Strolenberg

Dated but Exceptional

Reviewed in Canada on March 7, 2017

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There is so much information in this book that you can't just stumble over doing a search on the internet. Though some pf the opinions in the book are outdated, it is an excellebt snapshot in time of an era when the industry was new and every Noth American home that could afford it had a Nintendo.

I would recommend this to any fan who wants to understand the history and business practices of the early game industry, specifically Nintendo.

Ivancho

Captivating story of how Nintendo grew up

Reviewed in Spain on November 22, 2014

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Very difficult book to put down and very easy to read. Would recommend including a timeline to help illustrate the complexity of the events that unfolded.

Alexander I.

Eins der besten Bücher zur Videospielgeschichte

Reviewed in Germany on July 17, 2014

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Obowohl diese Buch aus der ersten Hälfte der 90er Jahre stammt, ist es noch immer das Standardwerk zur Entstehungsgeschichte und dem Aufstieg von Nintendo. Ausführlich und nie langweilig wird der Weg Nintendos aus dem 19. Jahrhundert bis ca. 1993 (bis zum SNES) beschrieben, Akteure vorgestellt und Geschäftsmodell und wegweisende Managemententscheidungen analysiert.

Dem Autor gelingt es dabei stets spannend zu schreiben und Kontext vor die reine Aneinanderreihung von Fakten zu Stellen. So werden zusammenhängende Geschichten erzählt, und andere zeitgleich stattfinden Dinge ausgespart, bis die eigentliche Geschichte oder Anekdote zu Ende erzählt ist. Zeitgleiche Dinge werden danach in eigenen Geschichten wieder aufgegriffen. So springt zwar die Erzählung ständig in den 80er Jahren hin und her, dafür aber bekommt man den vollständigen Kontext vieler Dinge mit. Auch nimmt sich der Autor oft Zeit um die Biografie der wichtigsten Akteure zu beleuchten und ihre Motivation damit auf eine gehaltvolle Grundlage zu stellen. Dabei verliert sich der Autor nie in unwichtigen Details und offenbart ein unglaubliches Hintergrundwissen, dass mit viel Sinn für Humor eingestreut wird.

Das Buch ist nicht nur die Geschichte Nintendos, sondern auch des gesamten Videospielbusiness und der Kultur der 80er und frühen 90er Jahre. Letztendlich ist es auch eine Business-Analyse, die Nintendo als einen Konzern vorstellt, der ausschliesslich langfristig denkt, kurzfristige Renditen (für Investoren und Anteilseigner) ignoriert, Mitarbeiter leistungsgerecht bezahlt, höhere Managementposten im Unternehmen fast ausschliesslich aus eigenen, verdienten Mitarbeitern rekrutiert und bereit ist, in Visionen langfristig zu investieren und Notfalls auch Geld zu verlieren um Ideen gegen Widerstände durchzusetzen. Nintendos unglaublicher Erfolg dürfte gerade heute, wo die Religion des maximalen Shareholder Value wütet wie nie, ein interessantes Lehrstück in Unternehmensführung sein. (Das die Unternehmensführung spätestens seit 2002 auch ideologisch gewechselt haben dürfte, ist eine andere Geschichte und nicht mehr Thema dieses Buches.)

Die Entwicklungsgeschichte der berühmtesten Nintendo-Spiele und des Meisters Shigeru Miyamoto kommt ebenfalls nicht zu kurz. Wer mit Nintendo aufgewachsen ist, wird hier eine Unmenge an Aha!-Momenten und Flashbacks in die "gute alte Zeit" erleben. Videospielern sei dieses Buch alleine daher schon wärmstens ans Herz gelegt.

An weiterführender Lektüre möchte ich hier unbedingt noch "Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation" empfehlen, welches Nintendos Aufstieg gerade aus der Konkurrenten-Perspektive von Sega beleuchtet. Auch die zeitliche Abfolge der Handlung der Bücher passt perfekt - wo "Game Over" aufhört, führt "Console Wars" fort. Auch empfehlenswert ist "The Ultimate History of Video Games". Idealerweise vor "Game Over" gelesen, bringt es einen sehr empfehlenswerten Überblick über die komplette Spielebranche vom Anfang mit mechanischen Apparaten bis heute. Ein sehr guter Kontext um sich anschliessend auf der Couch "Game Over" zu widmen um schliesslich die alte Nintendo-Konsole vom Dachboden zu holen und die "gute alte Zeit" noch einmal aufleben zu lassen.

Ich habe es getan und Mario, Zelda und Metroid noch einmal neu für mich entdeckt. Danke dafür. 5 Sterne.

2 people found this helpful

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Yanick Morin

but hey it's like going in the past to see what was doing ...

Reviewed in Canada on January 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

Very interesting for anybody liking video games history. But near the end you truly realise the age of the book, but hey it's like going in the past to see what was doing your favorite hobby in 1992.

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