Consoles
Image: Damien McFerran / Time Extension

A new book aims to highlight the history of the video game console in a "comprehensive but conversational" fashion.

The Console (or, 'The Con50le', if you prefer) is penned by seasoned games journalist and occasional Hookshot Media contributor Mike Diver and will cover the industry's birth in the 1970s all the way up to the present day.

"All the well-known names and massive selling consoles are here: the Nintendo Entertainment System, the SEGA Mega Drive, the Atari 2600, the Xbox 360, the PlayStation," reads the book's PR. "But there's plenty of room for hardware that many a gamer won't have heard of before, from Japan-only releases and home computer conversions to ill-advised experiments with VHS and all manner of micro-console magic. Even the consoles that came and went without notable commercial success left a mark, an imprint, on this compelling history - and THE CONSOLE unravels it, explains it, one fascinating machine at a time."

The 192-page hardback tome will also feature insight from collectors, illustrative photographs and lists of must-play titles for each format. It will cost £28 and launches this month via White Owl.

If you've heard of Diver before, that's because, in addition to contributing to our network of sites, he has also written for VICE, EDGE, The Guardian, and Official PlayStation Magazine.

He also has four other gaming-related gaming books under his belt: Indie Games: The Complete Introduction to indie Gaming, How to Be a Professional Gamer: An Esports Guide to League of Legends, Retro Gaming: A Byte-Sized History of Video Games, and From Coin-Ops to Table-Tops: The Essential Electronic Games Guide.

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