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Discussion The History of Nintendo by Florent Gorges

I got the Italian edition. Incredible books. Unfortunately, they stopped translating them after the third volume...

The French and Spanish editions seem to be our best bet. Other languages are not as lucky.
 
Gingerbread Man said:
I got the Italian edition. Incredible books. Unfortunately, they stopped translating them after the third volume...

The French and Spanish editions seem to be our best bet. Other languages are not as lucky.
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Is there a third volume in English? I’m only seeing 2. What does the 3rd cover?

Were they extremely limited Print runs for some reason? Really want to read them and own them but hard to justify the price without even viewing them. I only speak/read English so that’s my only option :(
 
DeuceGamer said:
Is there a third volume in English? I’m only seeing 2. What does the 3rd cover?

Were they extremely limited Print runs for some reason? Really want to read them and own them but hard to justify the price without even viewing them. I only speak/read English so that’s my only option :(
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AFAIK they never published the 3rd one (Famicom / NES) in English. You can find tidbits from the 4th one (Game Boy) on this channel:
 
Gingerbread Man said:
AFAIK they never published the 3rd one (Famicom / NES) in English. You can find tidbits from the 4th one (Game Boy) on this channel:
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Is that the authors channel, or does the YouTuber know the author? A couple of the videos is what led me to look into the book a bit more and want my own copies.

With prices of the book as high as they are that clearly means there is demand for the books. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t release a digital version at the very least. Pretty sad to hear that my only real option is to fork out the money to buy a used copy.
 
Gingerbread Man said:
The later. This is Florent Gorges' channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FlorentGorgesPlayhistoire
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Ok, that’s what I thought. Some of the videos tho led me to research it a bit and look to buy my own. Videos reference the book and seem to be well researched wigh a few tidbits of information I hadn’t heard from other books before.

I’d love to see all 4 volumes get released and finished translated to English.
 
Yeah I got both of the volumes in English years ago, really cool books and I wish they had continued them in English. Think the publisher was Pix n Love, you can’t even find them on the website anymore even in the archive.
 
DeuceGamer said:
Ok, that’s what I thought. Some of the videos tho led me to research it a bit and look to buy my own. Videos reference the book and seem to be well researched wigh a few tidbits of information I hadn’t heard from other books before.

I’d love to see all 4 volumes get released and finished translated to English.
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Gorges is an actual historian with personal connections in Japan. He does not repeat the traditional 4-5 talking points like (regrettably) most videogame "journalists", he does actual research on the subjects. For example, he de-mistified Yokoi's involvement with the Game Boy, crediting the actual creator, Satoru Okada. They also recently translated the manga of former Star Fox designer, Takaya Imamura.

He's not without flaws. There's a whole chapter in the Famicom book focused on the French market (nothing against the French market, but it's a drop in the ocean and maybe it should have been covered in a separate book), and the "lens" he's using are hardware-driven rather than software-driven, so you get little about the various internal software departments (the foundation of EAD, the EAD-R&D1 rivalry, the creation of key series, etc.).

That said, the books are still incredible, and it's a shame they are mostly unknown in the Anglosphere.
 
I have both Volume 1 and 2 in English. They are fantastic books, and I was disappointed the series didn’t continue. I didn’t realise they were worth so much these days.
 
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Gingerbread Man said:
Gorges is an actual historian with personal connections in Japan. He does not repeat the traditional 4-5 talking points like (regrettably) most videogame "journalists", he does actual research on the subjects. For example, he de-mistified Yokoi's involvement with the Game Boy, crediting the actual creator, Satoru Okada. They also recently translated the manga of former Star Fox designer, Takaya Imamura.

He's not without flaws. There's a whole chapter in the Famicom book focused on the French market (nothing against the French market, but it's a drop in the ocean and maybe it should have been covered in a separate book), and the "lens" he's using are hardware-driven rather than software-driven, so you get little about the various internal software departments (the foundation of EAD, the EAD-R&D1 rivalry, the creation of key series, etc.).

That said, the books are still incredible, and it's a shame they are mostly unknown in the Anglosphere.
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Yea, it seems like real research went into it and not just rehashing the same talking points most other books I’ve read/listened to make.

Since it doesn’t seem likely that I’ll find a copy that is reasonable, does anyone else have any other suggestions for similar book that has research done with actual interviews with those that would have actually been involved?
 
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Gingerbread Man said:
Gorges is an actual historian with personal connections in Japan. He does not repeat the traditional 4-5 talking points like (regrettably) most videogame "journalists", he does actual research on the subjects. For example, he de-mistified Yokoi's involvement with the Game Boy, crediting the actual creator, Satoru Okada. They also recently translated the manga of former Star Fox designer, Takaya Imamura.

He's not without flaws. There's a whole chapter in the Famicom book focused on the French market (nothing against the French market, but it's a drop in the ocean and maybe it should have been covered in a separate book), and the "lens" he's using are hardware-driven rather than software-driven, so you get little about the various internal software departments (the foundation of EAD, the EAD-R&D1 rivalry, the creation of key series, etc.).

That said, the books are still incredible, and it's a shame they are mostly unknown in the Anglosphere.
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Exactly this but still, I'm offended!! (joking of course) I wouldn't put the French market chapter as a flaw :p The fact these books got translations is a great bonus, but the author is French, the original publisher is French, the market for these books was the French market, so obviously there had to be a focus on the relationship with France.

And as a French person I'm glad we've had books that actually covered our market for once, and not just the US as usual (or "Europe" meaning the UK). It's also a great way to see the start of how France became such a Nintendo-centric market, and I'm genuinely curious to know if other European countries had similar books written this way for their market.

We have a lot of amazing journalists and historians who worked for this publisher (pix'n love) and for the French mook-like magazine IG Mag. The amount of research and details they provide blows my mind every single time, and they really deserve more translations and love!
 
Kreeth said:
Exactly this but still, I'm offended!! (joking of course) I wouldn't put the French market chapter as a flaw :p The fact these books got translations is a great bonus, but the author is French, the original publisher is French, the market for these books was the French market, so obviously there had to be a focus on the relationship with France.

And as a French person I'm glad we've had books that actually covered our market for once, and not just the US as usual (or "Europe" meaning the UK). It's also a great way to see the start of how France became such a Nintendo-centric market, and I'm genuinely curious to know if other European countries had similar books written this way for their market.

We have a lot of amazing journalists and historians who worked for this publisher (pix'n love) and for the French mook-like magazine IG Mag. The amount of research and details they provide blows my mind every single time, and they really deserve more translations and love!
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90% of the video game documentaries I watch and the things I read spend an incredible amount of time insisting on American-focused details that I have absolutely nothing to do with. It would not occur to me to complain though.
 


Great video, sourcing Gorges' Volume 4.

boodream said:
90% of the video game documentaries I watch and the things I read spend an incredible amount of time insisting on American-focused details that I have absolutely nothing to do with. It would not occur to me to complain though.
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Oh, absolutely. The American-centrism of videogame history tells everything with a distorted lens. The age of microcomputers in 80s Europe is entirely skipped, and the Famicom is not the Japanese version of the NES, it's the other way around, Holy Miyamoto!!!
 
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