Solaris is delighted to announce it will publish The 100 Best Video Games (that never existed), an outrageous – and, frankly, hilarious – new title from the redoubtable Nate ‘Frog Croakley’ Crowley, this December.
Solaris signed the book following the ever-surprising Crowley’s exploits on Twitter. After rashly tweeting he would dream up an imaginary computer game for every favourite said tweet received, Crowley found himself engaged in an epic quest to conjure up hundreds of entirely fictional titles.
The results, ranging from ‘chilling’ MMO Hawks Versus Voles Online to sidescreen scroller / cockney beat-‘em-up BeastEnders and beyond, were by degrees hilarious, touching, grotesque, and – crucially – entirely made up.
The tweets soon went viral, garnering coverage on prominent sites including Buzzfeed and Rock Paper Shotgun, at which point the author evolved the concept to include fan donations to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
Solaris – the publishing arm of video games developer Rebellion – saw the potential for a print collection of the best of the tweets featuring artwork from in-house video games artists, and lo, a book was born.
Since the Twitter project the book is based on was run as a fundraiser for amphibian conservation, Crowley will continue to honour frogs and their other moist pals by donating 15% of sale proceeds to ZSL. The money will go towards habitat conservation and breeding programmes for critically endangered amphibians.
Solaris Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Oliver commented:
“Nate Crowley is a man with a boundless imagination. Add to that a sense of humour that is cuttingly satirical, while not being shy of the odd Viz-esque bit of smut and silliness, and what you have is one of the funniest and weirdest writers around: an author for our post-truth world, who takes those post-truths and turns them into things of wonder.”
Nate Crowley commented:
“Having done some initial work with the art team at Rebellion, I’m staggered by their level of talent and experience – I think they are really going to make this project shine. Being able to call on a small army of professional artists to draw my silliest ideas is a power I should never have been allowed to wield, but I will endeavour to use it wisely. I’m very grateful to all the folk who donated to ZSL in support of the original twitter project, and am happy to say a split of my proceeds will go directly to amphibian conservation. Let the games begin!”
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The 100 Best Video Games (that never existed)
by Nate Crowley
“If these games did not exist, it would be necessary to invent them” – Voltaire
The 100 Best Video Games (that never existed) is the world’s first post-truth gaming book.
From 1980s hits like Star Trek: Bee on the Bridge, right through to modern classics like 90s Goth Soccer and BinCrab Destiny, this high-end retrospective takes the reader on a lavish tour of the most memorable and groundbreaking games never to have been made.
Painstakingly illustrated by a team of genuine industry artists, and written by professional over-imaginer Nate Crowley, this book doesn’t just throw out silly ideas – it expands on them in relentless and excruciating detail.
As well as the 100 games featured, articles throughout the book examine an entire fictional history of games, with hundreds more existentially challenged titles referenced.
If you end up with a lingering temptation to Google Desert Git 2 or Gorilla Sky Justice to check it’s not real, this book has done its job…
