Lost In Cult is an indie publisher that values video games as an art form and a piece of history, and appreciates how they can shape and influence us. Its latest book, The Console Chronicles, uncovers the history of game consoles from their conception until the present, with stories from game players and creators alike unfolding across its 400+ pages.
While the book is comprehensive and informative, personal stories are also woven throughout. Abram Buehner, senior business development manager at Lost In Cult, tells me this was intentional.
“It was important that we deliberately made space for the personal to stand apart from the historical. In my mind, this allows for two intertwined narratives to unfold: one is how the industry and medium changed over time, and the other is how those changes created new experiences that were uniquely important to us as players.”
The book begins with a deep dive into the birth of the home console, evolving from the arcade machines that came before it, with a breadth of information about The Magnavox Odyssey, the first-ever video game console. Later, you may read about a writer’s experience receiving a console on Christmas morning, and another’s turmoil over selling their beloved SNES in exchange for a brand-new PS1.
The Console Chronicles excels at providing context, both from the industry and those who played the consoles at home. Buehner tells me that this “symbiosis [is] critical to the book’s success."
More Than Just Game Preservation
As The Console Chronicles is first and foremost a history of the home console, a lot of research was needed to make this a reality. However, as we all know, games and consoles aren’t always well-preserved.
Buehner tells me, “There’s a crisis of information preservation in the gaming sphere. We always think about preservation through the lens of software — for good reason. But what we’re losing at an even faster rate than the games (and hardware) is the context.”
With information that should be within living memory quickly becoming lost to time, projects like The Console Chronicles are more important than ever. Buehner says that he struggled to find even fundamental information when researching older consoles:
“I really wanted to have, for example, concrete regional release dates, launch prices, and more for each major console in the book. But that proved impossible. Especially when you get back ‘as far as’ the ‘90s, you start to struggle to surface basic facts. Box art proved to be a struggle too; not just box art for niche vintage titles either. We’re missing a lot of high-resolution scans of fairly contemporary games (there were even some Switch titles without adequate scans).”
Buehner explains that there’s more to preserving gaming history than just the codes of games. The context surrounding the work is just as important to record, and it’s down to those who are passionate about gaming history to do so. “We’re also indebted to the individuals who go out of their way to upload old game commercials to YouTube or magazine scans to the Internet Archive.”
Consideringthe Internet Archive lost a major copyright case recently, it’s possible that it might become even more difficult to find this type of context in the future.
The Console Chronicles does its part to preserve these aspects of gaming culture, with images of the consoles, game cartridges, controllers, and cover art throughout the book, and specs for the majority of the consoles it highlights.
Finding Stories That Brought The Console Chronicles To Life
The Console Chronicles isn’t written by just one person - writers from across the industry contributed their experiences and stories.
Buehner tells me, “We had the benefit of working with Damien McFerran and the Time Extension team on this book. Time Extension is one part of the Hookshot Media network (which includes sites like Nintendo Life), and we leveraged Hookshot’s roster of writers heavily in The Console Chronicles.
“Damien commissioned about half the book’s features, relying on the writers he knows across his sites and also his connections beyond them as an industry veteran. […] I commissioned the other half of the book myself, mainly by soliciting open pitches from the Lost In Cult community while also reaching out to a few colleagues who I knew had fascinating stories to share.”
This resulted in a collection of wide and varied essays, with original voices in every section of the book. Buehner explains that this led to some unexpected coverage that made the book even more unique: “I never would’ve thought to cover the Sega Dreamcast bootlegging scene in Argentina. Or the memories made with Famicom clone consoles. These tales came from our community.”
These personal tales give the history told in The Console Chronicles life. They emphasise how important our connections to games and consoles are, and create the full picture of gaming culture, from creation to experience. As Buehner says, “They’re the lifeblood of The Console Chronicles and what makes our journey through time stand out.”
