COMPETITION - WIN 101 Video Games To Play Before You Grow Up Book - The Perfect Preparation For Ready Player One

The latest Spielberg directed movie, Ready Player One will hit cinema screens in March and I for one cannot wait.  The movie based on a novel by Ernest Cline has a plethora of 80's references taken from movies, music, D&D and most importantly video games.  Now, for me that's okay as I've been a gamer since the days of my rubber keyed Sinclair Spectrum 48K.  However, for some who are not into games, this could be a bit of a turn off for going to see what I know will be a epic experience in the cinemas.

Well, first let me assure you that if you have no knowledge of video games then that's okay.  You will still enjoy the movie.  I recently read the book and there are a lot of references to Japanese Anime and I have no clue on this subject.  It didn't stop my enjoyment, in fact I can honestly say Ready Player One is one of the best books I've read in years.

If, however you wish there was a quick way to get genned up on the video game genre then you are in luck thanks to author, Ben Bertoli.  You see he's brought out a handy, extremely easy to read book called '101 Video Games To Play Before You Grow Up.'  Now don't worry if you have grown up because it will still be the book for you.  After all, we're all kids at heart.

There are 144 pages in the book packed with colour and each page or two is dedicated to a video game that you should play (or at least know about.)  There are a lot of modern games in the book including Hearthstone and Rocket League but there a number of classic games too, some of which are mentioned in Ready Player One.  It also pleases me to see classics such as Lucasarts' Monkey Island making an appearance in the book.

The format and the layout makes it such an easy book to read.  A perfect one to have sitting on your coffee table for that odd pick up and read while you wait for the kettle to boil.  Each game includes parental rating guidelines, year it was released, trivia, back stories and story line previews so you can really bluff your way through the history of video games.

There are some genuinely interesting fun facts in the book.  For example, if I can return to Monkey Island, did you know that Guybrush Threepwood's first name came from an art program where every file ended with '.brush' when saved?  Guybrush was originally just a file named 'guy.brush.'

You can tell the book was written by someone who not only knows about video games but actually enjoys them too.  Ben Bertoli has written articles for Nintendo Life, Kotaku, and Polygon, and helped make games for phones and tablets, including Tic-Tac Bananas, Champs of Numeria, and Froggy Phonics

COMPETITION

We're going to give away a copy of the book, so to be in with a chance of winning just answer this simple question:

What does VR stand for?

1 - Virtual Reality
2 - Virtual Racing
3 - Virtual Raspberry

Post your answers either below, on our Facebook page or Twitter page.
Closing date is Saturday 24th February, 4pm GMT. The competition is open worldwide. We will select the winner at random and will contact the winner for a postal address so we can get the book in the post within the week. We cannot substitute the prize or be responsible for loss in the post.

Good luck.
Rob Wainfur
@thebeardedtrio

The Bearded Trio - The Site For Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Williams and a whole lot more.

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