What’s better than getting one amazing book for under $10? Getting TEN of them, of course!
Constellation Games by Leonard Richardson has joined StoryBundle, the nifty indie curation idea that groups a series of books on a certain topic, then makes them available on a pay-what-you-will basis. If you pay more than the average, you get extra books!
As StoryBundle describes it:
Continuing its popular ‘pay what you want’ ebook bundles, StoryBundle – http://storybundle.com – is proud to present the Video Game Bundle. The specially curated set of 10 full-length game culture & history books/magazines spans such notables as Prince Of Persia’s Jordan Mechner, Kill Screen Magazine, ‘father of games’ Ralph Baer, Generation Xbox and acclaimed game-related fiction from Leonard Richardson. In total the bundle features almost $100 worth of books for a fraction of that price.
The Video Game Bundle, curated by Independent Games Festival chairman emeritus and game industry veteran Simon Carless, includes multiple titles that are making their ebook debut, plus a host of other rare and sought-after titles. It’s the first video game-themed bundle for a site that has already sold more than a hundred thousand books through its popular horror, sci-fi and fantasy book bundles.
Highlights from the initial set of five books and two magazines include Jordan Mechner’s extensive diaries on the making of seminal ’80s platform game Karateka (“Jordan’s journals are remarkable… a great inspiration” – Will Wright, SimCity/The Sims creator), as well as Jamie Russell’s painstakingly researched ‘Hollywood and games’ non-fiction book Generation Xbox, which spans the Super Mario Bros movie through Spielberg’s LMNO and beyond.
Other notables include two full electronic issues (‘Back To School’ and ‘Change’) of literate, acclaimed game magazine Kill Screen – spanning almost 200 pages of writing from a who’s who of video game critics, and Leonard Richardson’s fictional novel about “space aliens and video games and love and computer programming”, Constellation Games (“AN AMAZING BOOK… one of the smartest, most passionate, most principled science fiction novels I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.” – Cory Doctorow, New York Times best-selling author & BoingBoing co-editor.)
Also packed into the base set of books are Killing Is Harmless, a surprising book-length journey by critic Brendan Keogh through the surprising narrative twists and turns of 2K and Yager’s thought-provoking game Spec Ops: The Line, and Confessions Of the Game Doctor by the late Bill Kunkel, a borderline gonzo memoir of the ’80s Electronic Games Magazine editor. Game Informer magazine notes of Kunkel’s ‘Game Doctor’ that it “details the slings, arrows, sex and drugs of outrageous fortune… as a warts-and-all autobiography, it’s unmatched.”
Must-have bonus books include the world eBook premiere of Ralph Baer’s ‘In The Beginning’ – a vital autobiography on the Odyssey creator’s role in the creation of video games – plus Jordan Mechner’s acclaimed Prince Of Persia diaries (“A fantastic read.” – D.B. Weiss, co-creator; HBO’s Game of Thrones), and IndieGames.com editor Mike Rose’s essential book-length rundown of ‘250 Indie Games You Must Play’.
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Seriously. This is a GREAT deal, with some amazing titles for anyone interested in video games and game culture. Grab your bundle now – it’s only around for 20 days!
