Blood, sweat, and pixels The triumphant, turbulent stories behind how video games are made

Here's a lively, informative look at how a video game gets made, from the idea in someone's head this is the dream, anyway to creating an explosively popular, best-selling adventure played by millions around the world. The author looks at the origin and design of several games: Project Eternity, Uncharted 4, Diablo III, Halo Wars, and others. Each game has its own special story: Halo Wars, for example, started out as something else and was changed to accommodate the wishes of its backer, Microsoft; Project Eternity brought a dying company back to life through the then-unusual idea of crowd funding. The author, who writes for the video-game website Kotaku, is clearly a huge fan of video games, and his enthusiasm is contagious; even if you've never played one of these games, you'll be riveted by the account of how they came to be. Fans of books about business, too, should enjoy it very much.--Pitt, David Copyright 2017 Booklist