Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment

Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment by Jason Schreier

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This has been a book on my radar since it came out, but I had been delaying it because Blizzard at the end of the day, wasn’t a huge part of my life. But reading through the book was a fascinating journey through the history of the industry, the company, and a little bit, some revisiting of my history. To start, Jason Shreier does a fantastic job in this book. Comprised of 300 plus interviews from former blizzard and industry players, he weaves a great […]

Games Don’t Seem Fun?

Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry by Jason Schreier

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Not too long ago I reviewed gaming journalist Jason Schreier’s Blood, Sweat, and Pixels – a book looking at the development of a dozen games in the 2000s and 2010s. Due to the size of the games and the graphic fidelity, hundreds of people can work YEARS on a AAA game (a major game). It’s controlled chaos and tons of crunch (working nonstop for extended periods). Schreier told some compelling stories in that book, and in this followup he explores what it’s like to have […]

“Where do you stop? That’s the trickiest part.”

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made by Jason Schreier

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I bought this book when it came out in 2017. Ironically, I didn’t get around to reading it until a camping trip this past weekend! It seems silly to go out into the woods to read about video games. However, I’m glad I did have the time and space to finally sit down with a fun read instead of a “should” read. In the end, we only have so much time on earth, so why not do what makes us happy? For me maybe that’s […]

Press Reset and Replay

Replay by Tristan Donovan

Press Reset by Jason Schreier

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Replay – 4/5 I kind of wasn’t looking forward to this book in my library actually, and moved it up my queue to get it out of the way. It turned out that an editorial choice by the author to focus on software that implemented significant changes to the landscape of gaming (focusing on games instead of consoles/platforms) made this book a lot more fun and interesting that I had thought it would be. Too many game histories or books that reference gaming focus on […]

The most important question in video game development has nothing to do with making video games.

Blood Sweat and Pixels by Jason Schreier

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An incredibly, almost anemically, straightforward recent history and look behind the scenes reportage on the making of video games in the last two decades by a Kotaku writer whose day to day reporting is much more incisive and critical and political in its nature. I love video games and I’ve played through several of the ones here, and other than the last one detailed, as it was ultimately canceled, I’ve at least played or watched people playing all of them. So the history here is […]

What’s the cheat code to get a sequel?

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made by Jason Schreier

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I’ve been playing video games as long as I can remember. When I was a child I would walk to the laundry mat/videorama to rent new games. I was lucky to own a couple of titles, but if it wasn’t a birthday or Christmas, I had to use my allowance to rent. The game boxes filled two cases, facing forwards from floor to ceiling. There must have been 50 titles to choose from each promising a new magical adventure. I don’t think I ever gave […]



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