There’s a special feeling you get when you first see and hold a book you wrote for the first time. Usually, it’s bittersweet–you always feel that there was more work to do, and plenty of parts you aren’t happy with. You brace yourself for the inevitable scathing reviews, and just hope that those are balanced out by people who appreciate what you tried so hard to accomplish. Above it all, though, is the simple fact that you’re now holding something in your hand that was all just thoughts in your head and bits floating around in cyberspace just a few days before.

I tried to do something with Vintage Game Consoles that I hadn’t done before, at least in terms of game history: really focus on telling good stories. When I researched each of the platforms the book covers, I went far beyond the dry, technical information and facts you’d find on Wikipedia or even other game books. What I wanted to find–and share–were the stories of the people who did brilliant things and how they did them. In some cases these were the big shot owners of companies, but, more often than not, it was folks you’ve likely never heard of, engineers, designers, and even the occasional janitor who made the real difference in the games we play and the machines we play them on.

I really hope you enjoy this book. If you do, please help spread the word. Tell some friends about it, or post a review on Amazon. For, much like so many excellent, but doomed machines we lovingly cover, our own book depends almost entirely on word of mouth advertising from folks exactly like you.

As always, I appreciate your support and raise my drinking horn to you.