So, this book has been out for a while, but they released the audio book a year or two back (read by Wil Wheaton) - and I just started listening to it last week. If you haven't checked it out, it's basically the history of John Carmack and Romero, from early childhood, then their work at Softdisk and founding of id.

The beginning of the book was interesting, but then the author starting going into the history of the team's work on Commander Keen, and I knew I loved this book. They're just talking about Wolf 3D now, so I have a ways to go - but if you are a fan of id or Apogee published shareware games, or just love gaming history, DEFINITELY pick up this book (especially audio if you like the format) - it's awesome!

The history of Romero and Carmack has always fascinated me, but I have yet to read through that whole book. Maybe I'll give it another look. Shareware games basically defined the majority of my childhood, so those guys are like my idols.

ID should give GOG more love :/

It would be fantastic to have the classic id games on GOG. I sincerely doubt Bethesda would ever release them here though. :/

I still have a lot of trouble understanding why. There is undeniably a lot of revenue to be made here on GOG. All concerns about piracy should be long gone with those games on every abandonware site on the net. It's just mind-boggling to me how Bethesda can still refuse to cooperate.

Yup, I'm in the same boat. I had a friend when I was around 11 or so, and we used to call up the BBSes and download as many shareware games (Apogee and Epic Megagames) as we could. We probably got most of the kids in our class hooked on Wolf 3D. But that's what we'd play - we'd do the new Sierra or Lucas Arts game when it would come out, but the rest of the time it was all about shareware - there were just so many awesome titles. Good time to be PC gaming.

Seems ironic that the guys that make their old engines open source aren't allowed to sell their old games DRM free really...

I read it a couple of years ago and quite liked it. Interestingly, before I read it I think I favored Carmack over Romero, but afterward I felt more favorably inclined toward Romero and actively disliked Carmack. Both guys have their flaws, but Romero seems more like a guy who's just over-enthusiastic about gaming while Carmack seems like a genius with some creepy personality defects.

I too read this some years ago and loved it. All the way through it, I had moments of "Man, I wish I'd have been there at that particular time, place..." Great read if game post-mortems, making-ofs and biographical stories are your thing.

Yup - I totally feel the same way (at least so far into the book). I never really knew too many details about Romero before, but he seems like a guy who loves a lot of different things (including a love for the art of gaming in general) and has awesome energy. That's the big bitter-sweet thing for me when it comes to reading computer/gaming history books. In one sense, I get really pumped up, as I see all this creativity and energy that went into making these products, and it gets me psyched for my own stuff. But at the same time, I get a massive amount of "mannnnn, I wish I had been there and a part of that, wish I had been friends with them, etc", and I get kind of bummed out. I just keep reminding myself that there's always new opportunities when it comes to anything in technology.

Happens to me too, bitter-sweet thing indeed. Those days seem so golden in a lot of ways. Yes, I suppose the trick is to take that inspiration gained and apply it to your own manifesting in life.

There are these great interviews Matt Barton on YouTube did with John Romero and Brenda Romero (first part of hers is here); worth checking out, in case you haven't seen them.

Awesome links, thanks! Just watched all the videos in the set - very interesting. (Then got sucked into a bunch of other interviews - gaming history is way too addictive!)

Matt Barton's interviews are a cornucopia of exciting gaming history alright.

Bringing this back to books in that context, I can also recommend:

Game Over, Press Start to Continue by David Sheff: Fantastic read about the history of Nintendo.

The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent: It's been a long while I read this, only remember it vaguely but do know I enjoyed it tremendously.

Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Videogames by Leonard Herman: Very thorough history volume, don't be turned off by the somewhat tacky cover design. The link shows the 2nd edition, which I read. There has been a 4th one announced apparently, you could check the author's site for any news, but be warned that I got a trojan alert about the site's favicon when I went there: www.rolentapress.com

Postmortems from Game Developer by Austin Grossman: Interesting read as well, looking at challenges met during the development of now classic titles.

Awesome, thanks for these. Ultimate History of Video Games I own and read (very good book), and Game Over I have on my list to purchase - the other two I didn't know about though, I'll add those as well. The last one looks very interesting, I love reading postmortems - firsthand info of what went on behind the scenes is awesome.

I can also recommend Vintage Games (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6371151-vintage-games) - it focuses on a few specific titles across different genres, but it's got a ton of screenshots/art/photos, and was a lot of fun to read. They got bonus points from me for including text adventures as well!

Ah, that one's co-authored by Matt Barton. I had been wondering about his books. Thanks!