Every Day is Play. The Celebration of the Video Game – Review

When Matt Keynon set upon a journey of the discovery of gaming – he didn’t realise at the beginning it would take him through so many adventures to get to his end goal – a somewhat similar experience to a video game.


Every day is play: The celebration of the Video Game is one of the greatest books we’ve ever read and reviewed. Let’s just get that out there first of all. And we’ll tell you why…


This bible of gaming is about Matt’s dedication to the spirit of gaming – its art and design and the play and fun associated with what is a passion and obsession for many gamers – including ourselves here at GamesYouLoved. This isn’t just a ‘hobby’  – it’s a way of life.


We did know a little bit about Matt and his homage to gaming previously – having seen some of the Mega Drive Exploded Series and graphic gaming art imagery released a few years back. 

But his story goes back even further than this. In fact it starts when Matt was just 6, having inherited his Uncle’s Atari MVS and a batch of games. This initial spark set him on a path of play, discovery and investigation. His intro piece to this in the book describes it beautifully (no spoilers further!).


And this book is a result of his hard work..from the time in 2005 when the idea of producing a book first came to Matt – to now, when we can all enjoy the fruits of his labour.  

With Nolan Bushnell the founding father of Atari and video games writing the foreword – this could only get better. And it does. Visually stunning artwork and design stretches from cover to cover and we love the mix of and variety entries, which for us sums up gaming over the years. It has no limits – to our imagination as gamers and the people who make and develop video games.

From Mario to Sonic, Pac Man to Space Invaders, all the popular characters are here. But even they are not just in typical form as you often see in popular media. Artists, publishers and game developers re-enact these gaming characters in different forms in captivating artwork. You will be surprised, engaged and interrupted (in a good way) with every page turn. And this is no comic or lightweight read. Weighing in at over 300 pages this is heavyweight in every sense of the word. And the print and finishing quality…Well – judge for yourself from these pictures. Anyone into having quality books on their gaming shelf will appreciate what we have here.


In terms of specific content – there are many many entries and contributors to the project. Including Darren Wall’s Rom Alerts – showing off the 16-BIT work in 2005 to the Sensible Software book just recently. Edge Magazine has an array of interesting cover artworks that hit you from the beginning too.

Art is a key factor and the likes of Atomike Studio use Mario to great effect, as well as some impressive console art. 

We could go on. 


The imagery here should do the talking. And over the next few weeks we will be releasing more on our Instagram and social channels on Facebook and Twitter.

Finally lets not forget – this book could not have been made without you…the community. As a Kickstarter success this project was successfully delivered by Matt with his massive effort, skill, dedication and determination – and you believed in him.  


Well done – you have a fantastic book to show for it!


Get yours here:


www.fangamer.com


Matt’s links:


www.gamepaused.net


@matthewdkenyon