A gift for sports fans and football afficianados Professional football in the last half century has been a sport marked by relentless innovation. For fans determined to keep up with the changes that have transformed the game, close examination of the coaching footage is a must. In The Games That Changed the Game, Ron Jaworski—pro football’s #1 game-tape guru—breaks down the film from seven of the most momentous contests of the last fifty years, giving readers a drive-by-drive, play-by-play guide to the evolutionary leaps that define the modern NFL. From Sid Gillman’s development of the Vertical Stretch, which launched the era of wide-open passing offenses, to Bill Belichick’s daring defensive game plan in Super Bowl XXXVI, which enabled his outgunned squad to upset the heavily favored St. Louis Rams and usher in the New England Patriots dynasty, the most cutting-edge concepts come alive again through the recollections of nearly seventy coaches and players. You’ll never watch NFL football the same way again.

How did we go from peach baskets to breakaway rims? From underhand lobs to 100-mph fastballs? The history of sports is full of hard-won victories, but they weren't all about being the fastest or scoring the most points. Lavishly illustrated, They Changed the Game tells 50 stories of pioneering players, obscure rules, and defining moments that have shaped the games we love. Spanning sports of all kinds, from football and tennis to speed skating and the Paralympic Games, this book celebrates how our most beloved pastimes evolved--and commemorates the trailblazers who made it all happen. Told through the artwork of talented artists from all over the world, this is a vibrant and stylish celebration of creativity both on and off the field. Winner of the National Indie Excellence Award for Best Sports Book, the Next Generation Indie Book Award for Best Illustration, and the Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medal.

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting for an engaging read aloud experience! Have you ever wondered what video games would be like if they never changed? The first games were little more than bouncing dots on a plain screen. Modern games include astonishing action, realistic environments, and epic story lines. Take a look at how video games have evolved over the years, and learn about the kinds of games we might be playing in the future.

"A middle-grade nonfiction book about the history and impact on pop culture of video games"--

The phenomenal growth of gaming has inspired plenty of hand-wringing since its inception--from the press, politicians, parents, and everyone else concerned with its effect on our brains, bodies, and hearts. But what if games could be good, not only for individuals but for the world? In Power Play, Asi Burak and Laura Parker explore how video games are now pioneering innovative social change around the world. As the former executive director and now chairman of Games for Change, Asi Burak has spent the last ten years supporting and promoting the use of video games for social good, in collaboration with leading organizations like the White House, NASA, World Bank, and The United Nations. The games for change movement has introduced millions of players to meaningful experiences around everything from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the US Constitution. Power Play looks to the future of games as a global movement. Asi Burak and Laura Parker profile the luminaries behind some of the movement's most iconic games, including former Supreme Court judge Sandra Day O’Connor and Pulitzer-Prize winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. They also explore the promise of virtual reality to address social and political issues with unprecedented immersion, and see what the next generation of game makers have in store for the future.

An acclaimed critic argues that video games are the most vital art form of our time Video games have seemingly taken over our lives. Whereas gamers once constituted a small and largely male subculture, today 67 percent of American households play video games. The average gamer is now thirty-four years old and spends eight hours each week playing -- and there is a 40 percent chance this person is a woman. In Bit by Bit, Andrew Ervin sets out to understand the explosive popularity of video games. He travels to government laboratories, junk shops, and arcades. He interviews scientists and game designers, both old and young. In charting the material and technological history of video games, from the 1950s to the present, he suggests that their appeal starts and ends with the sense of creativity they instill in gamers. As Ervin argues, games are art because they are beautiful, moving, and even political -- and because they turn players into artists themselves.

“McGonigal is a clear, methodical writer, and her ideas are well argued. Assertions are backed by countless psychological studies.” —The Boston Globe “Powerful and provocative . . . McGonigal makes a persuasive case that games have a lot to teach us about how to make our lives, and the world, better.” —San Jose Mercury News “Jane McGonigal's insights have the elegant, compact, deadly simplicity of plutonium, and the same explosive force.” —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother A visionary game designer reveals how we can harness the power of games to boost global happiness. With 174 million gamers in the United States alone, we now live in a world where every generation will be a gamer generation. But why, Jane McGonigal asks, should games be used for escapist entertainment alone? In this groundbreaking book, she shows how we can leverage the power of games to fix what is wrong with the real world-from social problems like depression and obesity to global issues like poverty and climate change-and introduces us to cutting-edge games that are already changing the business, education, and nonprofit worlds. Written for gamers and non-gamers alike, Reality Is Broken shows that the future will belong to those who can understand, design, and play games. Jane McGonigal is also the author of SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient.

The definitive behind-the-scenes history of video games’ explosion into the twenty-first century and the war for industry power “A zippy read through a truly deep research job. You won’t want to put this one down.”—Eddie Adlum, publisher, RePlay Magazine As video games evolve, only the fittest companies survive. Making a blockbuster once cost millions of dollars; now it can cost hundreds of millions, but with a $160 billion market worldwide, the biggest players are willing to bet the bank. Steven L. Kent has been playing video games since Pong and writing about the industry since the Nintendo Entertainment System. In volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games, he 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. In this book, you will learn about • the cutthroat environment at Microsoft as rival teams created console systems • the day the head of Sega of America told the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog to “f**k off” • how “lateral thinking with withered technology” put Nintendo back on top • and much more! Gripping and comprehensive, The Ultimate History of Video Games: Volume 2 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.

From Ruth to Robinson, Bowerman to Bolt, They Changed the Game tells 50 stories of pioneering players, obscure rules, and defining moments that shaped the games we love. Told through the artwork of dozens of talented artists from all over the world, this book is a celebration of creativity both on and off the field.

We Changed the Game is a story about a city looking to grow up, a laughable basketball league trying to be taken seriously and a bunch of unsung players given a shot or a second chance to make it in pro basketball. It¿s equal parts comedy, creativity and sheer luck and only could have existed in the free-wheeling `60s. Indeed it is the Wild West in tennis shoes. The Indiana Pacers were born on a partially-used cocktail napkin for $6,000 and staggered through some challenging times but, in the end, they carried the American Basketball Association (ABA) into respectability and eventually a merger with what is known today as the National Basketball Association (NBA). Between their ABA existence from 1967 to 1976, the Pacers captured three ABA titles, but also--and only known by a select few--teetered on the brink of extinction at least three times before finally finding two Indianapolis-based real estate legends who would take a gamble and purchase this team that no one else could or would, officially securing the Pacers' future as one of the top-contending professional basketball teams in the country.Indianapolis¿ love affair with the Pacers also triggered the explosion of downtown Indy. Market Square Arena was conceived, with the vision of then Mayor Bill Hudnut, and made possible because of the Pacer¿s popularity. From that catalyst eventually came the Hoosier Dome, the Colts, Banker¿s Life Fieldhouse, major hotel chains and restaurants galore. The Pacers changed the city¿s profile ¿ Naptown was laid to rest and a vibrant, progressive state capital emerged over these past 40 years. Indianapolis was alive. Through the eyes of Richard Tinkham, the legal counsel of the Pacers from Day 1 (who also served as innovator, negotiator, deal maker and fireman), and the mercurial Netolicky, please sit back and enjoy one of the most improbable and inspirational stories in professional sports history.