Ian Bogost: Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism (2006)
Filed under book | Tags: · game studies, gaming, video games
“In Unit Operations, Ian Bogost argues that similar principles underlie both literary theory and computation, proposing a literary-technical theory that can be used to analyze particular videogames. Moreover, this approach can be applied beyond videogames: Bogost suggests that any medium—from videogames to poetry, literature, cinema, or art—can be read as a configurative system of discrete, interlocking units of meaning, and he illustrates this method of analysis with examples from all these fields. The marriage of literary theory and information technology, he argues, will help humanists take technology more seriously and hep technologists better understand software and videogames as cultural artifacts. This approach is especially useful for the comparative analysis of digital and nondigital artifacts and allows scholars from other fields who are interested in studying videogames to avoid the esoteric isolation of “game studies.”
The richness of Bogost’s comparative approach can be seen in his discussions of works by such philosophers and theorists as Plato, Badiou, Zizek, and McLuhan, and in his analysis of numerous videogames including Pong, Half-Life, and Star Wars Galaxies. Bogost draws on object technology and complex adaptive systems theory for his method of unit analysis, underscoring the configurative aspects of a wide variety of human processes. His extended analysis of freedom in large virtual spaces examines Grand Theft Auto 3, The Legend of Zelda, Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, and Joyce’s Ulysses. In Unit Operations, Bogost not only offers a new methodology for videogame criticism but argues for the possibility of real collaboration between the humanities and information technology.”
Publisher MIT Press, 2006
ISBN 026202599X, 9780262025997
243 pages
Keywords and phrases
game engines, ludology, Sim City, videogames, Gonzalo Frasca, cellular automata, unit operations, ontology, narratology, Star Wars Galaxies, Janet Murray, Alain Badiou, first-person shooter, Thousand Plateaus, Stephen Wolfram, Tetris, Human Genome Project, psychoanalysis, Lev Manovich, Raph Koster
PDF (updated on 2012-8-11)
Comment (0)Karen Collins: Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design (2008)
Filed under book | Tags: · game studies, gaming, sound, sound design, sound recording, video games
“A distinguishing feature of video games is their interactivity, and sound plays an important role in this: a player’s actions can trigger dialogue, sound effects, ambient sound, and music. And yet game sound has been neglected in the growing literature on game studies. This book fills that gap, introducing readers to the many complex aspects of game audio, from its development in early games to theoretical discussions of immersion and realism. In Game Sound, Karen Collins draws on a range of sources—including composers, sound designers, voice-over actors and other industry professionals, Internet articles, fan sites, industry conferences, magazines, patent documents, and, of course, the games themselves—to offer a broad overview of the history, theory, and production practice of video game audio.
Game Sound has two underlying themes: how and why games are different from or similar to film or other linear audiovisual media; and technology and the constraints it has placed on the production of game audio. Collins focuses first on the historical development of game audio, from penny arcades through the rise of home games and the recent rapid developments in the industry. She then examines the production process for a contemporary game at a large game company, discussing the roles of composers, sound designers, voice talent, and audio programmers; considers the growing presence of licensed intellectual property (particularly popular music and films) in games; and explores the function of audio in games in theoretical terms. Finally, she discusses the difficulties posed by nonlinearity and interactivity for the composer of game music.”
Publisher MIT Press, 2008
ISBN 026203378X, 9780262033787
200 pages
Keywords and phrases
PlayStation, arcade games, LucasArts, iMUSE, MIDI, wavetable synthesis, dynamic music, Grim Fandango, Konami, FM synthesis, surround sound, Super Mario Bros, Sega Genesis, Nintendo DS, Commodore 64, sound chips, subtractive synthesis, diegetic, Intellivision, diegesis
PDF (updated on 2021-3-16)
Comments (3)Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, Matthias Böttger (eds.): Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism: The Next Level (2007)
Filed under book | Tags: · architecture, computer games, game studies, ubiquitous computing, urbanism, video games
“Computer and video games are leaving the PC and conquering the arena of everyday life in the form of mobile applications (such as GPS cell phones, etc.) – the result is new types of cities and architecture. How do these games alter our perception of real and virtual space? What can the designers of physical and digital worlds learn from one another? Space Time Play presents the following themes: the superimposition of computer games on real spaces and convergences of real and imaginary playspaces; computer and video games as practical planning instruments.”
With articles by Espen Aarseth, Ernest Adams, Richard A. Bartle, Ian Bogost, Gerhard M. Buurman, Edward Castranova, Kees Christiaanse, Drew Davidson, James Der Derian, Noah Falstein, Stephen Graham, Ludger Hovestadt, Henry Jenkins, Heather Kelley, James Korris, Julian Kücklich, Frank Lantz, Lev Manovich, Jane McGonigal, William J. Mitchell, Kas Oosterhuis, Katie Salen, Mark Wigley, and others.
Publisher Springer, 2007
ISBN 376438414X, 9783764384142
495 pages
Keywords and phrases
SimCity, Pac-Man, computer games, video games, gamespace, id Software, Perplex City, locative media, game designers, first-person shooter, virtual worlds, Augmented Reality, Linden Lab, ubiquitous computing, LARP, Counter-Strike, MMORPGs, Super Mario Bros, Spacewar, Blizzard Entertainment
PDF (11 MB, updated on 2015-7-2)
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