Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2021 -

There are plenty of books about the design of video games; there may be even more about their social and cultural meaning; there are even a few books about video game history. Yet there are not, to date, many serious books about the business of video games. Formerly CEO of SuperData Research, a games market research firm recently acquired by the Nielsen Corporation, Van Dreunen (New York Univ.) fills this gap by providing an "easy-to-understand-for-non-business-majors" look at the economics behind the massive and changing video game industry. The book charts the forces that drove the "games as product" (think arcade games and home consoles) ecosystem, and that now drive the "games as service" ecosystem (think mobile, free-to-play, and downloadable games) that is, if not entirely replacing, certainly displacing much of the former. Van Dreunen traces the "demise" of consoles while also explaining why they remain viable, and in this process challenges much of the conventional wisdom about why games companies succeed. His thesis--that business strategy deserves at least as much credit for successful games and platforms as the creative energies of developers--is compelling, and makes this book essential reading for those who want to teach or become employed in the production of video games.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

In this oversized volume that verges on the border between coffee-table volume and reference work, sports historian Coverdale provides a comprehensive bird's-eye view of the "American sports" domain during the tumultuous decade of the 1960s. The book comprises an introduction followed by ten substantive chapters, one chapter devoted to each year of the sixties. Each chapter commences with an overview of the larger social and political context for the relevant years before moving on to detailed coverage of the sports highlights of that period. Coverdale strikes a balance between basic data (e.g., scores, traditional statistics) and human-interest stories, including narratives about particular seasons and key events. Chapters are crisply written and provide reasonably comprehensive coverage while also preserving a sense of authorial discretion. Thus not every sport is highlighted to the same extent in each chapter. College sports coverage is limited to football and men's basketball. Notably, while the title does not explicitly so indicate, with the exception of intermittent (summer) Olympics coverage, the focus of this book is clearly on sports as experienced in the US, and not the global sporting landscape. Although the book will see most frequent use as a reference source, the various chapters warrant reading on their own merits.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.