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Masters of Doom

How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture

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Masters of Doom

By: David Kushner
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
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About this listen

Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history - Doom and Quake - until the games they made tore them apart. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry - a powerful and compassionate account of what it's like to be young, driven, and wildly creative.

©2003 David Kushner (P)2012 Audiobooks.com Business Professionals & Academics Video Game Game Inspiring Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

"Compelling . . . Masters of Doom succeeds on several levels. It's just great storytelling, with perfect pacing, drama and characterization. It's also an excellent business book, a cautionary tale with the kind of insider detail that other writers working in the genre should envy." ( Houston Chronicle)
“Kushner’s mesmerizing tale of the Two Johns moves at a rapid clip . . . describing the twists and turns of fate that led them to team up in creating the most powerful video games of their generation. . . . An exciting combination of biography and technology.” ( USA Today)
“Meticulously researched . . . as a ticktock of the creative process and as insight into a powerful medium too often dismissed as kids’ stuff, Masters of Doom blasts its way to a high score.” ( Entertainment Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant
This is an interesting listen, if you grew up playing Wolfenstein and Doom covering everything from the first Commander Keen game to Quake. If you are not into computer games then this is probably not for you.
The narration is a little cutesy sometimes, and I didn't really like the impressions of the iD guys. However it was interesting enough to keep me listening.

If you grew up with Doom you'll like this.

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An essential listen for any video game fan, and a fascinating retelling of the history of one of the most influential games and teams in games history. Read brilliantly by Wheaton!

Brilliant

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I thought this was a cracking listen and love Will's narration. I do however think the story seems to end rather abruptly, which was slightly unnecessary given the time at which it ends, but the rest is good stuff.

Great story

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After Elite, Doom was my favourite game. To find out the backstory to its creation was like this was brilliant. The atmosphere, passiin and optimism of working in startup organisations always attracts me. It is all recreated here, along with the darker elements.

Behind the scenes

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Fantastic book, gives great insights to the events that I grew up with, getting an inside perspective gives so much more meaning to what happened.

Will does a great job reading the book and putting weight behind the words with enthusiasm.

Great book for those who grew up on Doom

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