Funded on Kickstarter, this lavishly produced book focuses on Sensible Software, the iconic developer behind titans of 1990s computer gaming such as Sensible Soccer and Cannon Fodder. The stories within offer a fantastic insight into a time when the studios in the UK helped reshape a global industry. The book's real strength, however, is its pages of artwork, showing sprites, screenshots and photos from the finest years of Sensi, as the outfit was affectionately known.

2 A Theory of Fun (Raph Koster)

Penned by veteran games designer Raph Koster, A Theory of Fun was written 10 years ago, a long time considering the rapid pace of advance for its subject matter. And yet the book remains a key games design text that is still in print and highly relevant. While it was conceived to help games designers, it will be fascinating and informative for anybody involved in any field of design, or those curious about, well, harnessing the power of fun ...

When the Atari VCS arrived in homes in 1977, it changed the world of entertainment. More famously known as the 2600 and fondly remembered for its wooden front, the VCS was not the first console, but the impact it made served as a foundation for the games industry to this day. In Racing the Beam, US professors Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost take a remarkably detailed look at the console's history and the way it redefined the public's perception of gaming. And they do so with flair.

Presently games development is a multibillion-pound business globally, steeped in highly specialised technology that often involves teams of hundreds of staff crafting a single release. And yet games development is something a beginner can tackle today perhaps more readily than ever before. Combining the Raspberry Pi open source computer, programming language Python and Simon Monk's book on the two, for example, offers an affordable, achievable way to make basic games for a wide range of would-be programmers.

The history of video games isn't just a series of facts; it's tale of creativity, technological progress and of trying to satisfy humanity's natural desire to play. And nowhere is that story told better than in Tristan Donovan's comprehensive book Replay. It's an engaging read, filled with great stories of the people and games that changed the face of entertainment. Picking up the evolution of video games in the late 1940s and following it through to 2009, it's an essential volume for anybody with a love for the medium.

Games are often viewed as mind-numbing escapism, and their players disregarded as time wasters. Yet in her book Reality is Broken, Jane McGonigal argues that games boast the potential to be a powerful force for positive change in the world. The author carefully makes a compelling case for using games' ability to make people feel happy and rewarded across many spheres of life, to tackle everything from depression and poor health to social problems. Through the lenses of sociology, psychology and cognitive science she delivers a persuasive tome.

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