Product Description

Home of Sega, Nintendo, and Sony, Japan has a unique and powerful presence in the world of video games. Another thing that makes Japan unique in the gaming world is the prevalence of game arcades. There are 9,500 game centres in Japan with more than 445,000 game machines. Arcade Mania introduces overseas readers to the fascinating world of the Japanese gemu senta. Organised as a guided tour of a typical game centre, the book is divided into nine chapters, each of which deals with a different kind of game, starting with the UFO catchers and print club machines at the entrance and continuing through rhythm games, fighting games, shooting games, retro games, gambling games, card-based games, and only-in-Japan games. Covering classic games from Space Invaders to Street Fighter, games that are familiar to Westerners in their home console versions (Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Dance, Dance Revolution), as well as the unique, quirky games found only in Japan, Arcade Mania is crammed full of interviews with game makers and star players, and packed with facts about the history, background and characteristics of each game, all lavishly illustrated with photographs and game graphics. This book is a must-have for gamers everywhere.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79039 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-15
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
Intelligent, witty and informative - even if you're not an arcade lover, you'll get lost in this amazing book. --Neo magazine, November 2008

About the Author
Brian Ashcraft, based in Osaka, is the editor of Kotaku, one of the biggest gaming blogs on the net (one of the top 20 most popular blogs in the world, according to Technorati.com, with approximately 750,000 hits (2 to 3 million readers) per day. Tokyo-based Jean Snow's Art, Design, and Media-themed blog (www.jeansnow.net) has about 3,000 readers per day. Both are experts on the Japanese gaming scene, and are experienced writers: in addition to their blogging activities, Brian is a contributor to Wired Magazine and Jean has a column on design in The Japan Times.

Customer Reviews

ARCADE MANIA : TOUR GUIDE NOTES FROM ONE HAPPY READER
After spending the past few years following author Brian Ashcraft via his daily post work on respected gaming site Kotaku I was more than interested in picking up this, his first published book covering arcade game centers in Japan.

The book starts off with an introduction from the author that sets the tone for the rest of the book, its feels obvious that it is written by a man who has a great love of his subject matter (games) regardless of genre and design.

As you are led through the chapters from the front of the Arcade "Mania" with "UFO catchers" through to the "Games of Luck" and onto the "Dedicated Cabinets", "Shmups" and "Card Games", Brian keeps your interest firmly between the pages with his unique style of writing which feels more conversational to me rather than formal. Its more telling I think when an author writes as if from one fan to another rather than coming off as pretentious and overbearing which in this case isn't an issue in fact think of this as the ideal pocket guide to have as you walk around the Game Centers of Tokyo and Osaka. While it really covers the arcades on a broad basis it does mention some specific ones such as Taito Hey and from that it pieces together the elements of an arcade from his travels to quite a few of them for "research" which is a cool way of saying playing a few rounds, interviewing some of the key arcade players who are both currently on the scene or played competitively for a protracted period of time. The player profiles are in depth without being too invasive and add color to the world of Arcade Mania.

The visual presentation of the book is a joy to behold with Jean Snow and Brian Ashcrafts collaborative design giving the book a life of its own.
It feels what some would call "retro" but has a high level of polish and gloss to it which I guess makes it "Bashcraft Retro HD".

It just all feels like a complete package!

I'm giving this book 4/5 based purely on the fact that this is "Bashcrafts" first book and I'd like to set the bar to a certain height that Brian can definitely do better than. This is not to say the book is not great, it really is everything a book should be : engaging and informative, funny and intelligent and most of all, essential!

Once its sequel becomes available for pre-order you have guaranteed yourself one guaranteed customer!!!

Shaun Mc

A guide book not a history book
If your goal is to learn about arcades in general (Japanese or not) then the internet will always be the best source of information. This book simply can't compete with it at less than 200 pages.

But if you're going to Japan and don't want to research the arcades of Japan online by yourself. Then this will do as all you really need is a little guide book with a general over view and having a decent print book will always be better than a pocket full of pages printed out from your computer.

This book is strictly a "restaurant guide" sort of book. It does feature interviews with a various people tied to the industry along with decent pictures. However, like one of the sites Brian writes for (Kotaku), this book lacks a lot depth and that's unfortunate but can be said about most books on the subject of arcade gaming.

good stuff
If you are a fan vidoe games and if you go nuts for all things japan, this book is for you the kotaku editor, has done a great job with this book and the layout of each page draws you in with it's bright snazy graphics