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    3. Trial of the Space Invaders
    • Trial of the Space Invaders
    • Trial of the Space Invaders

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    Trial of the Space Invaders: The Case that Changed Video Games

    Simon Parkin

    Formats & Editions

    'The best, liveliest account yet of the origin of video games. Trial of the Space Invaders is deeply researched, vividly written, and revelatory'

    Keza MacDonald, author of Super Nintendo

    A fascinating, page-turning story about one of the great mysteries of the twentieth century: who invented video games, who got the credit, and how the fight over a new art form helped shape the world'

    G . T. Karber, creator of Murdle

    In the autumn of 1988, in a New York City courtroom, two video game giants faced off over a question as simple as it was explosive: who invented video games?

    For more than a decade, Magnavox had used a set of foundational patents to extract more than $100 million from its rivals. The patents reached back to the medium's origins: a 1966 prototype from which the first home video game console - and, Magnavox argued, an entire industry - had sprung.

    Nintendo saw things differently. As Super Mario Bros. conquered the world, the Japanese toymaker set out to prove that, not only had Magnavox not invented video games, but also the patents had even been fraudulently obtained. The case threatened to rewrite the medium's creation story. If Nintendo succeeded, Magnavox's patent empire could collapse.

    Based on court records, interviews and previously unseen sources, Trial of the Space Invaders is the untold story of the lawsuit that defined modern gaming. Simon Parkin takes us on a thrilling journey from the birth of a new artform to its turning point, exposing the secret settlement that reshaped our culture.

    'Simon Parkin does a brilliant job of telling the very human and captivating stories that underpinned the creation of a whole new industry that sits at the heart of our culture today'

    Tim Minshall, author of Your Life Is Manufactured

    'This lovingly researched, deftly rendered book tells the surprisingly thrilling story of how video games leapt from the research lab into the home'

    J. Robert Lennon, co-editor of Critical Hits

    'A meticulously researched, compellingly written corporate drama that feels ready for the big screen. Reminiscent of Michael Lewis and Patrick Radden Keefe at the height of their powers'

    George E. Osborn, author of Power Play

    More books by Simon Parkin
    The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad
    Simon Parkin
    The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad
    The Island of Extraordinary Captives
    Simon Parkin
    The Island of Extraordinary Captives
    A Game of Birds and Wolves
    Simon Parkin
    A Game of Birds and Wolves

    Praise for Trial of the Space Invaders

    • PRAISE FOR THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN OF LENINGRAD:

    • Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Royal Society Science Book Prize

    • 'An astonishing story brilliantly told . . . It is as moving as it is gripping to read'

    • Jonathan Dimbleby, author of Endgame 1944

    • 'A richly researched and meticulously observed account of a little-explored corner of 20th-century history' - Guardian

    • PRAISE FOR THE ISLAND OF EXTRAORDINARY CAPTIVES:

    • Winner of the Wingate Prize

    • 'Vivid and moving'

    • Max Hastings, Sunday Times

    • 'Eye-opening, insightful and brilliantly written' - Daily Mirror

    Simon Parkin

    Simon Parkin

    Simon Parkin is an award-winning British writer and journalist. He is a contributing writer for the New Yorker, Guardian and Observer, and is the author of A Game of Birds and Wolves, The Island of Extraordinary Captives, which won the Wingate Literary Prize, and The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Royal Society Science Book Prize. His first book, Death by Video Game: Tales of obsession from the virtual frontline, was a New York Times Book Review 'Recommend Read' and his podcast, My Perfect Console, interviews with well-known guests about video games, has been picked as one of Time Out and Vulture's best podcasts. He lives in West Sussex.

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