Console Wars opens with an author’s note that explains, “In certain situations, details of settings and description have been altered, reconstructed, or imagined,” and goes on to reveal that “most of the dialogue in this book has been re-created.” These are the first warning signs of what proves to be a good story poorly told. The global market battle waged by Nintendo and Sega in the ’80s and ’90s is an ideal subject for a pop history book. It’s an era when the home video-game industry was still taking shape, and two Japanese companies saw a new cultural frontier up for grabs. Blake J. Harris’ retelling pits the prim control freaks of Nintendo against the disruptive upstarts of Sega as they compete not just for market supremacy but also for an elusive coolness factor that could expand their audience beyond kids and hobbyists.