There have been novels based on video games for as long as there have been video games. Thing is, you could probably count the number of good ones on one hand. Pity writer Richard Cobbett, then, who spent the last week reading some of the very worst of them.
This is embarrassing to admit, but I haven't read much in the way of nonfiction books about video games. Don't get me wrong: there's some incredible work out there. In general, however, I've found that digging around for more books very quickly slides into work that is prohibitively technical, academic, or both.
I love me some Star Wars—so much so that I have read every single post-A New Hope book that has come out (and more than a few of the comics, too). A lot of the novels have come out in Japan as well, but with one major improvement: the awesome covers.
Harvey Smith, who has worked on stuff like Deus Ex and was most recently lead designer on Dishonored, has written a novel. You can check it out here.
If you need help sleeping tonight, why not curl up and listen to a man with a very proper accent read you a novel based on a video game about men with giant necks shooting monsters in the face.
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In 2006 when science fiction author Karen Traviss' editor asked her if she wanted to do a military video game tie-in novel, it was the first she'd heard of Epic Games' Gears of War. Today she's responsible for the entire fictional universe, steering the adventure of Marcus Fenix and company to its inevitable…
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If more story is what you crave from DICE's big first-person shooter due in the fall, you'll have to crack a book. Battlefield 3 is coming to paper and e-books, courtesy of writer Andy McNab, who's penning the first-person shooter inspired novel.
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As sure as spring gives way to summer, Kotaku's 2010 Summer Reading List is here to help you get your portable video game fix during the sunny, sandy situations where gaming isn't an option.
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The novel Ghosts of Ascalon attempts to bridge the 250-year gap between fantasy MMO Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, but is it a bridge too far? We speak to co-author Jeff Grubb about bringing Tyria's fiction up-to-date.
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Everyone has their reasons. What's yours, sister?
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After penning two novels based in the world of Epic Games' hit series, science fiction author Karen Traviss plunges headlong into the story as the lead writer for Gears of War 3.
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Richard Knaak's World of Warcraft Stormrage is getting the audio book treatment, BlizzPlanet points out.
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With a setting more than 3,500 years before the movies begin, The Old Republic filled with untold Star Wars stories, and LucasArts and BioWare are taking advantage, with new novels, comics, and short stories expanding the Old Republic universe.
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Because there are two sides to every conflict, Mythic and Games Workshop publishing arm The Black Library have released Forged By Chaos, a novel that explores the fragile, deadly alliance of the forces of Destruction.
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For all its violence and bombast, God of War is built around a mythology that's thousands of years old. So the fact somebody is making a novel out of it may not be as ridiculous as you first thought.
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The fiction of a video game's universe is fertile ground for novels, sprouting dozens of books annually that tap into gaming's beloved and unknown back stories.
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Elder Scroll Fans don't worry, Bethesda hasn't forgotten about you.
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BioWare celebrates the release of prequel novel Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne with a handful of screenshots from their upcoming PC role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins.
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