Videogames
James Newman's lucid and engaging introduction guides the reader through the world of videogaming, providing a history of the videogame from its origins in the computer lab to its contemporary status as a global entertainment industry, with characters such as Lara Croft and Sonic the Hedgehog familiar even to those who've never been near a game console. Video games explores: Why study videogames? What is a videogame? A brief history of videogames, from Pacman to Pokémon; The videogame industry; Who plays videogames? Are videogames bad for you? The narrative structure of videogames; The future of videogames. - Back cover
Video games
x, 198 pages ; 22 cm.
9780415281911, 9780415281928, 0415281911, 041528192X
54976528
1. Why study videogames?
Taking games seriously
Why study videogames?
Why have academics ignored computer games?
2. What is a videogame? : rules, puzzles and simulations : defining the object of study
Super Mario, Tamagotchi, Furby and AIBO
Classifying videogames
Ludic context : coin-op vs home system
What a videogame isn't
Why do players play?
Rules, winning and losing : videogames as games
Paidea and ludus in videogames
Types of game
Videogames and interactivity
So, what exactly is a videogame?
3. Manufacturing fun : platforms, development, publishing and creativity
Videogames in transition
Videogames and technology
Scrolling, exploration and memory : producing and storing videogame spaces
Complexity and diversity
The modern development studio
Division and roles
Management and design
Quality assurance
Videogame platforms
Finance, publishing and risk
4. Videogame players : who plays, for how long and what it's doing to them
The continuing myth of the videogame audience
Generation PSX, mainstream and hardcore : targeting the audience
Boys only? : audience demographics
Just five more minutes ... measuring audience behaviour
Game panics : 'effects' research and the inscribed audience
Assess the research. 5. Videogame structure : levels, breaks and intermissions
Non-interactivity in the interactive videogame
Level differentiation
Between levels
Save-die-restart : maintaining challenge in multi-session games
The durability of inter-level breaks
6. Narrative and play, audiences and players : approaches to the study of videogames
Ludology and narratology
PlayStation, CD-ROM and the cut-scene
The trouble with cut-scenes : 'active' and 'passive, ' 'stories' and 'instructions'
The (inter)active audience
The function of cut-scenes
Narrative and new media
Game time
7. Videogames, space and cyberspace : exploration, navigation and mastery
Adventures in space
Videogames and cyberspace
Spaces to play in and with
Videogames as spatial stories
Spatial typologies
Navigating cyberspaces
Space and gameplay
8. Videogame players and characters : narrative functions and feeling cyborgs
The videogame character as cultural icon
The lives of Mario
Developing characters
Player preferences
Experiencing at fist hand : being and watching the hero
Behind the visual
9. Social gaming and the culture of videogames : competition and collaboration on and off screen
The myth of the solitary gamer
The videogame as social space
Videogame culture
Sharing strategy
Fans as media producers
10. Future gaming : online/mobile/retro
From Pong to PlayStation
Have we played the future? : retrogaming and emulation
Continuity
Where next?
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