Karen Collins: Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design (2008)

“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

Publisher

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Hilde Corneliussen, Jill Walker Rettberg (eds.): Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader (2008)

World of Warcraft is the world’s most popular massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), with (as of March 2007) more than eight million active subscribers across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia, who play the game an astonishing average of twenty hours a week. This book examines the complexity of World of Warcraft from a variety of perspectives, exploring the cultural and social implications of the proliferation of ever more complex digital gameworlds. The contributors have immersed themselves in the World of Warcraft universe, spending hundreds of hours as players (leading guilds and raids, exploring moneymaking possibilities in the in-game auction house, playing different factions, races, and classes), conducting interviews, and studying the game design–as created by Blizzard Entertainment, the game’s developer, and as modified by player-created user interfaces. The analyses they offer are based on both the firsthand experience of being a resident of Azeroth and the data they have gathered and interpreted.

The contributors examine the ways that gameworlds reflect the real world–exploring such topics as World of Warcraft as a “capitalist fairytale” and the game’s construction of gender; the cohesiveness of the gameworld in terms of geography, mythology, narrative, and the treatment of death as a temporary state; aspects of play, including “deviant strategies” perhaps not in line with the intentions of the designers; and character–both players’ identification with their characters and the game’s culture of naming characters. The varied perspectives of the contributors–who come from such fields as game studies, textual analysis, gender studies, and postcolonial studies–reflect the breadth and vitality of current interest in MMOGs.

Contributors: Espen Aarseth, Hilde G. Corneliussen, Charlotte Hagstrom, Lisbeth Klastrup, Tanya Krzywinska, Jessica Langer, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Torill Elvira Mortensen, Jill Walker Rettberg, Scott Rettberg, T. L. Taylor, Ragnhild Tronstad.

Published by MIT Press, 2008
ISBN 0262033704, 9780262033701
336 pages

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Videogames and Art (2007), ed. Andy Clarke, Grethe Mitchell

From Madden NFL 2007 to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, videogames are firmly enmeshed in modern culture. Acknowledging the increasing cultural impact of this rapidly changing industry, Videogames and Art is one of the first books devoted to the study of videogame art, featuring in-depth essays that offer an unparalleled overview of the field.

The distinguished contributors range broadly over this vast intellectual terrain, positioning videogame art as a crucial interdisciplinary mix of digital technologies and the traditions of pictorial art. They examine machinima and game console artwork, politically oriented videogame art, and the production of digital art; they also interview prominent videogame artists about their work. Rounding out Videogames and Art is a critique of the commercial videogame industry comprising several critical essays on the current quality and originality of videogames.

An essential volume for our digital age, Videogames and Art will be a fascinating read for players, fans, skeptics, and scholars alike.

Published by Intellect Books, 2007
ISBN 1841501425, 9781841501420
283 pages

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