A Tale of Two Halves: The History of Football Video Games

Whether you're into Sensible Soccer, Kick Off, MatchDay, FIFA, Pro Evolution Soccer, This Is Football, Championship Manager, Premier Manager, old-school or new-school Football Manager, or any of the plethora of other footy games, this book is for you. The beautiful game has had some brilliant (and plenty of awful) video game renditions. A Tale of Two Halves pays tribute to them all.

Painstakingly researched and written by football-obsessed games journalist, historian and documentarian Richard Moss (whose other works include The Secret History of Mac Gaming, Shareware Heroes, FPS: First Person Shooter, TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming, and Football Manager, a one-day-at-a-time experiment-turned-ebook), A Tale of Two Halves delves deeply into the rich and surprisingly varied history of video game football in all its many styles and forms. Primarily covering footy gaming’s formative years – 1980 to 2010 – the book splits the genre into two distinct eras: a first half dominated by fast and simple 2D action; and a second half that veered more towards hyper-authentic 3D simulation.

Packed with trivia, history and analysis on over 400 games, A Tale of Two Halves features hundreds of screenshots, dozens of bespoke illustrations, 13 interviews with pioneering football game developers, and a variety of themed features, nostalgic Easter eggs, and “memorable game mode” mini-essays scattered throughout: a feast for football fans to enjoy.

Includes interviews with:
Andrew Prime (Ultimate Soccer Manager), Andriy Kostiusko (Football Tactics), Ben Fawcett (This Is Football), Carlos Abril (PC Fútbol), Chris Wild (Giant Killers and Official Club Manager), Gerald Köhler (Antoss/On The Ball), Jim Bagley (Striker), Kevin Toms (Football Manager), Marc Aubanel (FIFA International Soccer), Mariusz Trzaska (Liga Polska Manager), Matt Furniss (Soccer Kid), Michitaka Tsuruta (Captain Tsubasa) and Simon Prytherch (LMA Manager)

Specifications:

• 628 pages. 250mm × 250mm.
• Hardback. Foil-blocked cover. 'Boot lace' bookmark ribbons.
• Edge-to-edge high quality lithographic print.
• Sewn binding for enduring quality and the ability to lay flat for ideal double-page image viewing. Shrink-wrapped.
• Volumetric weight: 3kg.