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Trial of the Space Invaders
The Case that Changed Video Games
Brief Description
In the autumn of 1988, in a New York City courtroom, two video game giants faced off over a question as simple as it was explosive: who invented video games? For more than a decade, Magnavox had used a set of foundational patents to extract more...
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Trial of the Space Invaders
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See moreFrom award-winning journalist and historian Simon Parkin: The gripping untold story of how the court battle that defined the birth of video games
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Description
In the autumn of 1988, in a New York City courtroom, two video game giants faced off over a question as simple as it was explosive: who invented video games?
For more than a decade, Magnavox had used a set of foundational patents to extract more than $100 million from its rivals. The patents reached back to the medium's origins: a 1966 prototype from which the first home video game consoleβand, Magnavox argued, an entire industryβhad sprung.
Nintendo saw things differently. As Super Mario Bros. conquered the world, the Japanese toymaker set out to prove that, not only had Magnavox not invented video games, but also the patents had even been fraudulently obtained. The case threatened to rewrite the medium's creation story. If Nintendo succeeded, Magnavox's patent empire could collapse.
Based on court records, interviews and previously unseen sources, Trial of the Space Invaders is the untold story of the lawsuit that defined modern gaming. Simon Parkin takes us on a thrilling journey from the birth of a new artform to its turning point, exposing the secret settlement that reshaped our culture.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781399714617
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 21 January 2027
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Sceptre
Illustration: c. 30 integrated illustrations
Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Width: 153.0mm
Height: 234.0mm
Weight: 0g
Pages: 416
About the Author
Simon Parkin is an award-winning British writer and journalist. He is a contributing writer for the New Yorker, Guardian and Observer, and is the author of A Game of Birds and Wolves, The Island of Extraordinary Captives, which won the Wingate Literary Prize, and The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Royal Society Science Book Prize. His first book, Death by Video Game: Tales of obsession from the virtual frontline, was a New York Times Book Review 'Recommend Read' and his podcast, My Perfect Console, interviews with well-known guests about video games, has been picked as one of Time Out and Vulture's best podcasts. He lives in West Sussex.
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