Andrea Contato, as you may recall, is the author of Through the Moongate, a two-volume book that chronicles the history of Origin Systems and Richard Garriott’s career as a game developer. He is also the author of a five-volume work, published (or soon to be published) in Italian, on the history of video games and the gaming industry.

The first volume was translated into English and published (after a successful crowdfunding campaign) back in 2023, and the good Mr. Contato is now in the process of translating the second volume. This next book covers the seemingly short period between 1980 and 1984. While not a long span of time in absolute terms, this micro-era saw the emergence of text-based adventure games, the Atari VCS, Nintendo’s Donkey Kong, the first of the Wizardry games, the first of the Ultima games, the release of Missile Command, the rise of Activision and Sierra On-Line, the release of the Commodore 64, the first of the King’s Quest games, the first of the Flight Simulator games…and, of course, the video game crash of 1982.

If you’ve read Andrea Contato’s books before, you’ll know the extensive and thorough nature of the research that informs his writing. Video Games: The People, Games, and Companies – Part II — which I’ve been working on editing — is full of quotes and anecdotes from many of the luminaries of video gaming who established themselves during these pivotal years of the industry’s history, all retold in Mr. Contato’s engaging, playful style.

Publication of this English translation of Video Games: The People, Games, and Companies – Part II is, starting today, being crowdfunded on Kickstarter. As was the case with the first book, digital, paperback, and hardcover editions of the book are available. A €9 (about $10 USD) pledge will get you a digital copy of the book; €27 (about $30 USD) will get you a paperback copy, and €55 (about $60 USD) will get you a hardcover copy. Also up for grabs is a companion book detailing the process of re-creating The Sumerian Game, as well as copies of Part 1 of the Video Games series, and the Through the Moongate books.

The First Age of Update: Well, that didn’t take long!

It’s done! Success! We reached the goal in exactly 5 hours and 30 minutes. I’m really happy with the result, and I have to thank you all for the enthusiasm and support. 

Having reached the first milestone, I can now announce that the first stretch goal has been unlocked, which is –check notes- the Video Games Stage 2-themed bookmark designed by Franco Brambilla, an Italian artist and illustrator, well known for his beautiful sci-fi artwork. Here’s his official website.

It’s an honor for me that he accepted to design the cover of my books.

So now we move on to the second stretch goal, which will be for all supporters: a digital copy of The Sumerian Game on Steam, allowing you to play all the modes, including those reconstructed and reimagined based on the limited and incomplete information available.

There are additional stretch goals defined for the campaign, including a set of cardboard prints of Video Games– and Sumerian Game-related artwork at 15,000€, woven patches and magnets bearing the Video Games logo at 22,000€ and 29,000€ (respectively), and pins with the Video Games and Sumerian Game logos at 36,000€.