GamePro book highlights most influential video games

THE NEXT LEVEL

Mario, Master Chief, Link – these characters and others populate the pages of “The 25 Most Influential Games of All Time,” a hardcover book from GamePro.

“We decided to cast an eye towards a longer-term impact, either on the industry, or on gamers, or sometimes just in terms of dollars,” said George Jones, editor-in-chief of GamePro.

A team of writers came up with 40-50 initial nominees. Then, those nominees were discussed among a larger group of writers. A top ten was selected, then the following 15.

“It was an epic battle,” Jones said. “It took about two months of deliberating before we had them locked in.”

It’s a coffee-table type book with lots of art along with the text. It focuses on console and PC games, but excludes arcade games. This allowed the editors to focus on modern games that might otherwise have escaped notice, Jones said.

“We thought it would be more interesting to include titles like ‘Nintendogs,’” Jones said. “That game was one of the first games to make people understand that there was this whole big casual market.”

All of the games included came out between GamePro’s inception in April of 1989 and summer 2008. Only one game from each major series was selected, the most influential of the group.

To order, go online to www.gamepro.com.

– by Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman