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Videogames

Author: James Newman
Publisher: London : New York : Routledge, 2004.
Series: Routledge introductions to media and communications.
Edition/Format:   Book : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
James Newman's lucid, engaging introduction guides readers 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.
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Details

Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: James Newman
ISBN: 0415281911 9780415281911 041528192X 9780415281928
OCLC Number: 54976528
Description: x, 198 p. ; 22 cm.
Contents: 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?
Series Title: Routledge introductions to media and communications.
Responsibility: James Newman.
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Abstract:

James Newman's lucid, engaging introduction guides readers 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.

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