"As video games evolve, only the fittest companies survive... In volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games, [Steven L. Kent] chronicled the industry's first thirty years. In volume 2, he narrates gaming's entrance into the twenty-first century, as Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft battle to capture the global market. The home console boom of the '90s turned hobby companies like Nintendo and Sega into Hollywood-studio-sized business titans. But by the end of the decade, they would face new, more powerful competitors. In boardrooms on both sides of the Pacific, engineers and executives began, with enormous budgets and total secrecy, to plan the next evolution of home consoles. The PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Sega Dreamcast all made radically different bets on what gamers would want. And then, to the shock of the world, Bill Gates announced the development of the one console to beat them all-even if Microsoft had to burn a few billion dollars to do it... [This volume] explores the origins of modern consoles and of the franchises-from Grand Theft Auto and Halo to Call of Duty and Guitar Hero-that would define gaming in the new millennium"-- Provided by publisher.

Foreword / by Mark Cerny -- Introduction: "Why on earth?" -- Sony, the one and only -- The last days of Sega: a cautionary tale -- Nintendo in third -- "But what about Sony?" -- "Impossible to beat Sony in this race" -- A rising tide -- The launch from hell -- "Mostly dead": the afterlife of the arcade business -- "Slightly less horrific than I imagined" -- Rise to the heavens -- Microsoft's revolution -- One bluffs. One checks. One calls. -- Keeping secrets -- "So you say you want a revolution" -- Wii wins -- The games that defined generation seven -- Electronic Arts Activision: the biggest publisher in games -- Movies and games : trapped in a bad romance.