One of the level designers for WoW has apparently written a book on the game's original development. The Kickstarter [1] for it failed due to an unrealistic funding goal, but if you're looking for something along those lines it might be something you'd be interested in keeping track of as he's planning on re-launching a funding campaign with a smaller budget.
Not a book, but the blog posts on making the original Crash Bandicoot [2] make for a great read, especially due to some of the issues they ran into in trying to squeeze out every last bit of performance from the original Playstation. [3]
You may find that such a book, while interesting, will be a hard read. Writing is a skill, and one crafted by journalists, not necessarily by game development experts.
I... don't know about that. I reckon lots of folks rather read the comments at HN than the piece itself.
The journalistic 'style' of journalistic pieces seems 'too fiddly' for some, and even 'infantilized' for other people. It's a matter of taste and I'm sure this style is set as standard because it works, i.e., pleases the majority of readers.
I have an interest in this bacause I accidentally studied a bit (one of my majors shared some of its credits with the Journalism program at my college).
The things people dislike, as I see them:
1- Giving context through elongated prose or "fluff", instead of straight to the point facts.
Some people would just rather have a list of the games Synergistic worked in instead of the five first paragraphs of this piece, for example. Also: "Blizzard’s protests fell on deaf ears. CUC was determined (...)" vs. "Blizzard protested but CUC did not comply".
2- Using examples when they're not needed (for that audience). Explaining what happened of relevance in the 70's for someone who was _there_ during said period, for example.
3- Nonlinearity in telling the story. Going back and forth on quotes from different people. Presenting the controversy kinda like a conversation. Makes the editing clear and some readers reject pieces where it's clear some stuff was left out or is out of order.
Anyway, maybe I've written too much about this. In any case, I really do believe that, in this age of personalized content, there are enough people who reject the 'journalistic style' to warrant publications that actively avoid it.
Something tells me that folks like Jason Schreier or Patrick Klepek or--in a different sort of way--Jeff Gerstmann are actual industry insiders. Despite being, hisssss, journalists. Maybe we shouldn't play the dismiss-it-out-of-hand game.
Also doesn't qualify due to being written by a 'journalist' but Blood, Sweat and Pixels is a great book. Has a lot of behind-the-scenes stories / vignettes about your favorite games of the past couple of years. Was a very informative read.
For real. I got a strong whiff that the author had little to no familiarity with Sierra or Dynamix and the cult adoration their games and creators had.
GDC 2013: Shout at the Devil: The Making of Diablo III https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG10e0-JyjY
GDC 2015: Against the Burning Hells: Diablo III's Road to Redemption with Reaper of Souls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bajI1oGPhog