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Adilegian .
Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 41
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Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:52 pm Post subject: Print Publications about Videogames |
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Heyo!
I'm doing some research on print publications about videogames, and I've already got a pretty good lead on some general theoretical writing (namely Jesper Juul). I figure I'll just check out the resources that Juul lists in his Works Cited page for follow-up material there.
I'm particularly interested in writings (or collections of writings) about specific games. I found The Halo Effect, which turned out to be pretty interesting despite the fact that the game does nothing for me. Can anyone recommend anything else along these lines? (Recommendations on general theoretical work are welcome, too!)
Thanks! |
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dessgeega loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 6563 Location: bohan
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Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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well, there's a little magazine called the gamer's quarter. _________________
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Adilegian .
Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 41
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:13 am Post subject: |
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dessgeega wrote: | well, there's a little magazine called the gamer's quarter. |
Well duh!
Figured you guys might know who else occupies your neck of the game-critical woods.
EDIT: Just bought me a few issues. What are the odds that you'll reprint the older editions? |
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elvis.shrugged .
Joined: 10 Jan 2006 Posts: 108 Location: Stratford, CT
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:23 pm Post subject: |
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I only know of web magazines.
The Escapist isn't too bad, as far as online gaming journalism goes.
I discovered a lovely British magazine called The Player yesterday. Good stuff!
The Gamer's Quarter is the only gaming magazine I read in print. |
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Shapermc Hot Sake!
Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279
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Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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There's Stephen Kent's book about Doom 3 which is pretty interesting even though I don't like the game.
There's also GAM3R 7H3ORY (which was supposed to turn into a book): http://www.futureofthebook.org/gamertheory/
And there's the Game Culture Journal issue about game books: http://www.gameculturejournal.com/current.php which has some reviews/interviews about books related to specific games.
I use to know of a few others, but I can't remember them for the life of me. I know of lots of really good books on games with some sections about specific games, but not quite what you're asking for. _________________ “The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932
"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!" |
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Adilegian .
Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 41
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Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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Shapermc wrote: | There's Stephen Kent's book about Doom 3 which is pretty interesting even though I don't like the game.
There's also GAM3R 7H3ORY (which was supposed to turn into a book): http://www.futureofthebook.org/gamertheory/
And there's the Game Culture Journal issue about game books: http://www.gameculturejournal.com/current.php which has some reviews/interviews about books related to specific games.
I use to know of a few others, but I can't remember them for the life of me. I know of lots of really good books on games with some sections about specific games, but not quite what you're asking for. |
Hey, yeah, I think these are useful! Thanks a ton!
I've checked a hilarious book out of USM's library, Videogames and Psychology, which reads like a dated 1950s propaganda film...except for videogames. I've also picked up a copy of Homo Ludus, which has been just great.
I dunno if this is the right place to ask, but what's the average delivery time on hard copies of TGQ? |
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Shapermc Hot Sake!
Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279
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Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:20 pm Post subject: |
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We average about a month (2-6 weeks), but currently with GDC and me being in limbo things are a bit backed up. If you have any specific questions about an order hit me up with an email or PM. _________________ “The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932
"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!" |
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RadarScope1 .
Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 24 Location: Missouri
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Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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This might be a bit off the mark from what you are looking for, but I thoroughly enjoyed "Masters of Doom" by David Kushner to be a great read. It's a very insightful look not only at the development of a game and its impact, but also at the people who created it.
Shaper, this thread has reminded me to ask - what's up with the next issue of TGQ? |
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daphaknee just enemies now
Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 892 Location: YAY AREA
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:32 am Post subject: |
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i want to write for the gamers quarter
....
....
haha,. |
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bleak .
Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 258
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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hey, me too! _________________
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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Not me |
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dessgeega loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 6563 Location: bohan
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:40 pm Post subject: |
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RadarScope1 wrote: | This might be a bit off the mark from what you are looking for, but I thoroughly enjoyed "Masters of Doom" by David Kushner to be a great read. It's a very insightful look not only at the development of a game and its impact, but also at the people who created it. |
id's story is fascinating, to be sure, but david kushner is a hack. that book is very shoddily written. _________________
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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I like how he used their Dungeons and Dragons campaign to foreshadow the breakdown of their relationship, though. Also how he played up Carmack as a freaky deaky nerd who says 'mmm' and the end of every sentence. |
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RadarScope1 .
Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 24 Location: Missouri
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Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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dessgeega wrote: | RadarScope1 wrote: | This might be a bit off the mark from what you are looking for, but I thoroughly enjoyed "Masters of Doom" by David Kushner to be a great read. It's a very insightful look not only at the development of a game and its impact, but also at the people who created it. |
id's story is fascinating, to be sure, but david kushner is a hack. that book is very shoddily written. |
Well, maybe I don't know enough about id (not being sarcastic - I truly don't). I assumed, as with any book like this, that there were embellishments at some point. Anyway, I still enjoyed it. |
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Adilegian .
Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 41
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Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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RadarScope1 wrote: | This might be a bit off the mark from what you are looking for, but I thoroughly enjoyed "Masters of Doom" by David Kushner to be a great read. It's a very insightful look not only at the development of a game and its impact, but also at the people who created it. |
No, it's not really off the mark. Right now, I'm trying to perform a reading survey of what's been written about videogames from within the subculture, so anything like that is useful. |
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, it's really enjoyable for it is. you can't expect anyone great to have written the biography of id software because it's simply not that interesting a story. But, it'll do for a wet afternoon. |
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Adilegian .
Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 41
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Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 3:20 am Post subject: |
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I'm reading through The Video Game Theory Reader, and it's pretty clear where most of the writers' philosophical and cultural biases lie. (Postmodernism, counterculture, and so on.) Many of them seem to labor under the assumption that anything is good because it is new.
Mark J. P. Wolf's "Abstraction in the Video Game" is by far the best I've read thus far. (I read the first 100 pages today, going through the Foreword, the Introduction, and the first four essays.) I'm pleased to learn that someone can write about videogames as a medium with an historical awareness of media that extends beyond cinema.
Warren Robinett's "Foreword" is so biased against the perceived elitism of traditional media that he reveals an ignorance of terms and the nature of non-digital forms just to make his point. He compares the videogame revolution with the (badly researched) case of writing's introduction into oral societies, assuming that poetry is only a written activity. (Poets in cultures with marked oral traditions can recite whole epics by memory, and blind old Milton dictated his final work on his deathbed to his boy assistant.) Then he makes the incredible claim that writing (like videogames) was "a new technology." Writing was a new medium, for Christ's sake. Pens and typewriters are different kinds of technology.
I've ordered my own copy of Homo Ludens because the temptation to annotate in the library's copy will break my conscience, and I've ordered a copy of Hamlet on the Holodeck. |
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Intentionally Wrong .
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 248 Location: [Subject Hometown Here]
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Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:18 am Post subject: |
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Because of its proximity to hypertext and other "new media" forms, Interactive Fiction has gotten quite a bit of attention from the academic community, and consequently more than one book published on the subject. I recommend Nick Montfort's "Twisty Little Passages". He does a decent job of relating IF to its neighbors in the literary and computational worlds. Particularly considering your response to Warren Robinett's "Foreward", I think this is an appropriate recommendation.
Incidentally, I noticed books by Espen Aarseth and Chris Crawford on the Amazon page I linked. While their works might also satisfy your request, I have misgivings about even bringing them up. What little I've read of their respective works seem less interested in reflecting the realities of the crafting of videogames than in marshaling support for their particular conception of the idealized game-making process. |
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ApM Admin Rockstar
Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 1210 Location: Ottawa, ON
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Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:59 am Post subject: |
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Actually, the Chris Crawford book that I've read (Chris Crawford on Game Design) mostly talks about how awesome he used to be. |
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Cycle Mac daddy
Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 2:47 am Post subject: |
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Just a quick question, does anyone know of any quite good Riven articles? _________________
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Intentionally Wrong .
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 248 Location: [Subject Hometown Here]
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:26 am Post subject: |
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Cycle wrote: | Just a quick question, does anyone know of any quite good Riven articles? |
It isn't in print, and I'm only listing it because I will take any opportunity whatsoever to link any writing by this author, but there's always Andrew Plotkin's review. |
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Shapermc Hot Sake!
Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279
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Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:02 pm Post subject: |
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Cycle wrote: | Just a quick question, does anyone know of any quite good Riven articles? |
you mean outside of "Riven is Probably my Favorite Game Ever" from issue four of TGQ? _________________ “The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932
"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!" |
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kuzdu .
Joined: 03 Dec 2005 Posts: 70 Location: Washington Heights
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:39 am Post subject: |
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I would recommend the Rules of Play Reader, I'm not a big fan of the authors' original book (Rules of Play) but the reader has a lot of good stuff. Also, anyone interested in games should read The Ambiguity of Play by Brian Sutton-Smith, it's more based in the study of play, but still a lot of important stuff. |
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dire51 .
Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 5 Location: Could be anywhere
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:00 am Post subject: |
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I'm not sure if this qualifies, but has anyone here read Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie by Rob O'Hara? I enjoyed it quite a bit, even though I never owned a C64.
Also, there's a book that I've written about "growing up gaming", so to speak... link's in my sig. _________________ Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman |
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Cycle Mac daddy
Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:06 am Post subject: |
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Huh, I was goinf to bring that book up myself. I was linked to it and your website from Hardcore Gaming 101 a couple weeks back. _________________
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dire51 .
Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 5 Location: Could be anywhere
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:39 am Post subject: |
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Cycle wrote: | Huh, I was goinf to bring that book up myself. I was linked to it and your website from Hardcore Gaming 101 a couple weeks back. |
Kurt was nice enough to give me a mention there, which I thank him for. Have you had a chance to read it yet? _________________ Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman |
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ColecoVisionist .
Joined: 17 Jan 2008 Posts: 18
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dessgeega loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 6563 Location: bohan
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Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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can we ban the guy who posts in every thread to shill his book already? _________________
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Shapermc Hot Sake!
Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279
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Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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First off, this should have been a PM. Second, he does contribute other things and in this case it's relevant to the topic. I think we're going to let bygones be bygones. _________________ “The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932
"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!" |
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Shapermc Hot Sake!
Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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http://grandtextauto.org/2008/05/16/digital-culture-play-and-identity-a-world-of-warcraft-reader/
Just saw this pop up the other day. It doesn't look terrible actually! And it's reasonably priced for an academic publisher. _________________ “The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932
"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!" |
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purplechair .
Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 378 Location: in my pants
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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I get lectures in game studies from Tanya Krzywinska, who nobody seems to have heard of. She's written a few books, and they're all pretty good, although I think the latest one (Videogame/Player/Text) is probably my favourite. The others, I'm less fond of, but I think that's just because they make me feel stupid.
I read some excellent book a few months ago, which I've completely forgotten the name of. But, erm, I'd recommend that book as well. If I could. (I'll look through my notes and stuff tomorrow and try and find out)
Oh, and if you're looking for stuff about MMORPGs and stuff, a friend has assured me that Play Between Worlds by T.L. Taylor is great. |
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