The Gamer's Quarter

Adilegian · . Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 41

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!

dessgeega · Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject:

well, there's a little magazine called the gamer's quarter.
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Adilegian · . Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 41

elvis.shrugged · . Joined: 10 Jan 2006 Posts: 108 Location: Stratford, CT

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.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

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.
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“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!"

Adilegian · . Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 41

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

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.
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“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!"

RadarScope1 · . Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 24 Location: Missouri

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?

daphaknee · Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:32 am Post subject:

i want to write for the gamers quarter

....
....

haha,.

bleak · . Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 258

hey, me too!
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Not me

dessgeega · Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:40 pm Post subject:

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

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.

RadarScope1 · . Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 24 Location: Missouri

Adilegian · . Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 41

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

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.

Adilegian · . Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Posts: 41

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.

Intentionally Wrong · Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:18 am Post subject:

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.

ApM · Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:59 am Post subject:

Actually, the Chris Crawford book that I've read (Chris Crawford on Game Design) mostly talks about how awesome he used to be.

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Just a quick question, does anyone know of any quite good Riven articles?
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Intentionally Wrong · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:26 am Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

kuzdu · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:39 am Post subject:

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.

dire51 · . Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 5 Location: Could be anywhere

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.
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Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

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

ColecoVisionist · . Joined: 17 Jan 2008 Posts: 18

My book offers detailed descriptions/reviews of every game for every pre-NES system. For more info, click on the following link:

http://brettweisswords.blogspot.com/
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Classic Home Video Games 1972-1984

dessgeega · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 6:46 pm Post subject:

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

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!"

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

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!"

purplechair · . Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 378 Location: in my pants

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.