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Dec 01, 2010

Mark rated it:

I'm a gamer, plain and simple. And what I find funny and part of the reason why I wanted to read this book is that, unlike movies and books and music, I can very seldom find myself in a position to have a conversation about games without feeling like a child or just plain awkward. For the life of me, I really don't know why. I have played games which have entertained and moved me just as deeply as some movies, books, and music. So why are Video games still the bastard child of entertainment?
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Jul 05, 2010

Katie rated it:

It's possible one of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much was to learn that I am not alone. I am not the only person in their mid (okay, late) thirties that still loves video games, often loses sleep because of them, and may have even called in sick to work once to finish a "mission". One of the reasons I have such a fondness for the author Mary Roach (Stiff, Spook, Bonk) is her ability to write about non-fiction subjects, specifically science, and entertain and amuse the reader a More...

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May 25, 2011

Elle rated it:

This was a fun read. Its like the conversations you have with your friends. You'll find yourself say 'Oh yeah! I remember that!" often. He talks about the more common games that we gamers play so its easy to relate. Any games that he talks about that you haven't played makes you want to! We ended up going out and buying Fallout 3 right afterward. It was really refreshing to hear someone appreciate the world of games, the place they take you. The only negative thing I have to say is that More...

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Jan 21, 2012

Mae added it

I read "Extra Lives: why video games matter" several months ago along with the "spinebreakers" podcast for thatguywiththeglasses.com, so forgive me if this review is a little hazy on specifics. For the most part, this book is a trip through video game history, chronicling the changes that took games from a single screen of black and green to the visually stunning sandbox games of today. What makes this book is not so much what its telling. but how, and the personal ancedotes More...

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Dec 01, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Read it for research at work, but it's effect stretched into personal life as well, which is sort of the nature of the book. Bissell's a great writer anyways, and he doesn't approach this from any sort of streamlined or overtly researched angle. Instead they're lengthy essays, thoughtful and entertaining, and by the end of it, he had me wanting to play video games and feeling all-around less baffled by my husband/man-friend's video gaming. I'm waiting for a free chunk of time to try out BioShock More...

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Sep 07, 2011

Ryan rated it:

Video games are in the same ghetto as comics seem to have a lot in common. They both suffer from the ghetto attitude, perpetually hoping to viewed in the same league of culture as books, film and now, tv. (Pretty much says the same thing on page 34)

Comics, or at least the comic book industry will need dramatic changes to survive, while video games are poised to probably be the Medium of The Future.

'Extra Lives' is an interesting critique of notable and recent-narrative video More...

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Aug 06, 2011

Brook rated it:

Very interesting and surprisingly personal book that doesn't have answers so much as questions. I have long struggled with the same problem as Bissell, namely, "Are video games even a good thing". I have gone through many of the same addictive, self-destructive behaviours that he has. When I finish a video game, I usually have had an engrossing, good time, and I feel a sense of accomplishment, but I don't feel better for it.

He makes a fairly half hearted argument as to why More...

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May 03, 2011

Johnny rated it:

The title of this book is Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. I normally wouldn’t begin a review with such a mundane sentence, but it is vital to understanding my reaction to the book. The eponymous question is never answered in this volume. The question appears to be an “excuse” for publishing the most self-indulgent essays I’ve read since some of my reviews on this site. At least, Bissell is honest about his bias against PC games. I can understand that. It’s very clear from the games that he More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 06, 2011

Yune rated it:

This is the answer to Roger Ebert's claim that video games can't be art.

I think this is an incomplete subtitle; I'd call this "Why Video Games Matter to Me [Tom Bissell]." This doesn't invalidate it in any way -- in fact, it makes for a more interesting read, intertwined with personal anecdotes as it is.

I've never been a huge gamer, particularly on the console, but I've, uh, dabbled and had a binge or two. (Oh, Halo...) I suspect that non-gamers who haven't felt the More...

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Feb 28, 2011

Colin rated it:

Have you ever had an intelligent conversation about video games? Out of all my friends there is only one who I can talk to in video games that goes beyond the basic “Did you beat (game title here) yet?”. When I say intelligent conversation I’m talking about a serious critique of a game. With this one friend I can tell him about that part in Mass Effect when I had to choose between Ashley and Kaidan. They were both pinned down by enemy forces but I could only get to one of them in time. The one I More...

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Jan 24, 2011

Nicole rated it:

I'm not a gamer. I picked this up in the hope of better understanding why some people are, and I think Bissell does succeed in explaining why video games matter to people who play them. I'm not sure he's very successful at explaining the significance of video games to our culture in general, and, despite the title, I don't think he's trying to. He has a lot to say about how he thinks the gaming experience could be improved and how game design could be an art form, and I have to admit I am intrig More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 29, 2010

Steve rated it:

I had high hopes for this book, though I'm not a gamer. I was very interested to see Bissell's argument. Although his argument wasn't very strong as to why video games truly matter within the cultural landscape, he did a great job of showing why video games matter to the people to whom they matter.

The only huge problem I had with the book was that I was loving every single chapter...until the last one. And it still bugs me how much I just truly disliked that chapter. In fact, I didn' More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 02, 2010

Emily rated it:

I found this book about the narrative achievements and deficiencies of video games frequently thought-provoking and amusingly written. The author describes gameplay in a way that's rarely boring and effectively explains the differences in style between games I've never played. His descriptions of even the furnishings in people's offices can be entertaining. I don't need much convincing to find video games an interesting/important medium (in another life I might spend all my free time playing Ass More...

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Nov 17, 2010

Matt rated it:

Though I don’t play as often as I used to, I consider myself a gamer. I like the idea of someone unpacking the idea of why video games matter, and I think that topic would make for a good book. Unfortunately, Extra Lives is not that book. The problem is not that I necessarily disagree with Bissell’s opinions on whether or not games matter – the problem is that the book really isn’t about that topic at all.

The title is more than a little misleading. While Bissell doesn’t spend much More...

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Sep 30, 2010

Ed Wagemann rated it:

Extra Lives

My soon to be five year old son wants a Star Wars light saber something or other video game for Christmas this year. The first problem with that is that this game is for the Wii game system and I only have a PlayStation 2. The second problem is that I have not yet been sold on this notion that video games aren’t just a waste of time and they are turning the youth of America into dumb, fat and happy drains on the purse strings of their hard working parents. Just like mos More...

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Sep 23, 2010

Christopher rated it:

So a book about video games by an author with an impressive resume sounded pretty interesting to me. And it even has a chapter called "Little Big Problems", which I assumed would be about Little Big Planet (by far my kids' favorite video game ever).
I should have known from this bit in the intro what I was getting into:

There are many fine books about the game industry, the theory of game design, and the history of games, overmuch discussion of which will not be found here.

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Jul 28, 2010

Ethan added it

BOOK REVIEW

‘Extra Lives’ asks: What’s in a game?

By Ethan Gilsdorf, Boston Globe Correspondent | June 17, 2010

These are potent days for video gamers. The baby steps taken by Pong, Space Invaders, and Doom have become the thundering footfalls of Halo, Gears of War, and Mass Effect. The industry rakes in billions. Production budgets for some games rival those of movies.

The problem is, no one knows how to talk about gaming — these Xbox and PlayStatio More...

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Jul 10, 2010

John rated it:

It's a tough sell. The author has to make his book accessible enough for non-gamers, but still interesting enough for gamers of all levels. As a result, this book veers erratically between a genuinely entertaining 'experiential' account of the author's video gaming habits, and a boring, dime-a-dozen primer on video games. For example, the blow-by-blow recounting of the opening minutes of Resident Evil might be interesting to someone who has never played the game before, but as someone who has pl More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2010

Andy rated it:

I'll admit that I'm not a huge video game player. I play a couple of games on my computer, and played video games a lot as a kid and teenager, but it's been almost 20 years since I played many games and haven't spent much time playing anything since the PlayStation came out. So, if you're really a gamer, you might get more out of this book than I did.

With that said, I saw this author speak and picked up his book at the speaking engagement. He freely admitted that while the subtitle o More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2010

Matt rated it:

This was a really really good book, on a subject I'm fascinated-repelled by.

Part of Bissell's accomplishment, to me, is how upfront he is about what he wants out of games-- an emotionally rich experience, one that is worth something in terms of how it casts his own life in a new light. I think this is pretty well understood as what most of us want, but I think if Bissell left it unsaid, as most people would, he'd have circles run around him by designers telling us the other interestin More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2011

Danny rated it:

To review Tom Bissell's latest work, it seems one must start off with a little personal background, so as not to be dismissed out-of-hand as an outsider. Here, I can readily admit to my great fondness of games and all things gamey and thereby actually hope to increase (for once in life) your estimation of my worth as a book reviewer. To be more specific though, Bissell's 'research' does cover an awful lot of first-person shooter games, which he lumps together with many action/adventure games a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 07, 2010

Trin rated it:

Here's the whole of my experience with video games: when I was growing up in the '90s and almost every other kid I knew was getting a Nintendo or a Sega or a PlayStation, my parents bought me a console called Socrates. Socrates was a robot who looked kind of like the one from Short Circuit, and all of the (preloaded, unexpandable) games in his system were designed to teach you about math and spelling and other such crunchy, educational things. This was the only gaming system I was ever allowed t More...

7 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2010

Megan rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2012

Corinne rated it:

I'm a video game fan. I thought I should throw that out there before I proceed with this review, since it means I'm inevitably a bit biased toward the subject matter explored in Extra Lives. But I am not exactly the stereotypical epitome of a pale, basement-dwelling, socially crippled, obsessive Gamer (you have to write it in italics and with a capital "G"). I just enjoy playing, thinking about, and talking about video games. A lot.

And now, having finished Extra Lives, I've More...

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Aug 21, 2011

Bryan rated it:

I was expecting more from this book somehow, and it may have something to do with the subtitle. 'Why Video Games Matter', while being a worthy and attention-grabbing (and therefore probably book-selling) question, is not one which this book actually tries to answer. Instead, the author seems to be trying to figure out What Games Mean, sometimes to the culture at large, more often to gaming culture, and usually to himself.
This is not to say that these are questions not worth answering. Vi More...

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May 24, 2011

Juli rated it:

After I read this, I borrowed someone's xBox and tried to play a bunch of first-person shooter games. I've always loved video games, and I appreciate the points that Bissell makes about the ways that gaming can impact individual and collective experience and the ways that video games push traditional narrative structures (and could, really, push the envelope even further). After reading this book, I wanted to play every crazy zombie, mafia, alien shooter game I could find. Unfortunately, as i More...

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Oct 20, 2010

Richard rated it:

“Extra Lives” starts off strong. The author has a talent for taking elements, facets or facts of the game industry and putting them together in ways I’ve just never thought about. For example, I usually think of meaningfulness in games in terms of intellectual engagement or artistic merit, but he also talks about the raw visceral experience games can create, the ways in which videogames can be emotionally or even physically affecting. He also talks about how most game designers come from program More...

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Jun 23, 2010

Chris rated it:

Considering how often video games take over my time and usurp the things I really SHOULD be doing, I couldn't help but take an interest in this after stumbling upon it. Not sure what to expect, I dove in.

Holy crap, this is some of the most insightful writing about video games, and musings upon the subject and medium as a whole that I've ever read. Goes to show that there are, at least, a few people in the game world that want to break out of simply "blowing stuff up." Also, More...

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Jun 11, 2011

Brian rated it:

A good read, though I expected a bit more. By the end of the book, the prose came across as a well-spoken intellectual speaking about video games over a few pints of beer.

Watching someone's mental progression through the personal conflicts associated with playing some notable video games is a pretty interesting topic. I felt a bit irked at a few moments, though. For one, and purely on a technical matter, was the comment of Wolfenstein 3D being the "first first-person-shooter" More...

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Jun 22, 2011

Oliver rated it:

An excellent but overly short collection of recycled magazine pieces that constitute one author's first stab at serious video game criticism. Bissell has a few good points--games can't succeed by using narrative in the same way that films do, game mechanics are how the game must evoke its mood and fulfill its artistic purpose--but these are complaints that have been made elsewhere by designers like Jonathan Blow (who is interviewed in the book). Furthermore, Bissell's treatment of games is som More...

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