I wouldn't go so far as to call it a manifesto, but Antropy's book is definitely edging toward screed in her argument supporting the development of ho...moreI wouldn't go so far as to call it a manifesto, but Antropy's book is definitely edging toward screed in her argument supporting the development of homebrew, indie-made games. Her model for how she would like to see games work is the zine: intensely personal for the author, creative, cheap and easy to make, easy to distribute in low levels. The book is divided into eight chapters. She starts by talking about what's wrong with the videogame industry: essentially, that it puts industry before videogame, and it's making games first and foremost for the same white, male clientele it always did. Chapter two looks at the history of videogames, and how it used to have various forms of more populous distribution. From there, she talks more generally about what a game is, and what value it has in society at large. And how modders and hackers change games to reflect their own values: she talks about super Mario hacks, machinima, sampling, and mods. Further chapters offer useful examples of such games, and a general discussion on how these indie games are made, and how to make your own. The book ends with two very useful appendices, one listing good tools to start making games with (Twine, Gamemaker, Inform 7 and so forth) and another listing some games Anthropy finds inspiring: Sonic 2 XL, The Baron, and Digital: A Love Story, among others. It's an intensely personal book, as Anthropy (sometimes rather bluntly) details her own falling out with the larger videogame industry, and her own path to unleash the creativity she wanted to use for creating games. I'm not crazy about her industry/regular people distinction; it's got some truth to it, and it highlights some of the more glaring problems with the industry at large, but it's still overgeneralizing. Valve is not EA is not DoublFine and so forth. Still, it's a very passionate yet practical guide to why making your own game is important. I mentioned to someone that this book would make a good pairing with Ian Bogost's more scholarly-oriented How to do Things with Videogames, and it would: Bogost's book is on generating ideas for games, and Anthropy's is on how and why those games should be made.(less)
More of a 3.5 kind of thing. Essentially, this book is a collection of interviews various people have conducted with Joss Whedon over the course of hi...moreMore of a 3.5 kind of thing. Essentially, this book is a collection of interviews various people have conducted with Joss Whedon over the course of his career, starting in the early Buffy TV series days and culminating to the point just prior to cancellation of Doll House. A lot of Whedon's long-standing interests come into light here, including the influence of his mother on his feminist views, his atheism, and his love of Broadway and theatre. There's also a lot of behind-the-scenes details on TV and movie production--I didn't know about his involvement in movies such as Speed and X-Men, for example, nor his satisfaction with the former and disappointment with the latter. In all, the interviews present Whedon as an extremely creative individual, pursuing film, cinema, comic books, internet options, and even crocheting (his interview with a knitting site is one of the more esoteric, if still interesting, reads) with an open mind. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who didn't already have a pretty high interest in his works, but if you do, it's a must-read. A word of caution for those seeking to use this book for academic purposes: the questions asked here were asked generally by people associated with pop culture websites and zines. That means that while they're almost always insightful, they're not really very academically focused. So it does make for good research material, but some analysis will be necessary first.(less)
It's one of the most important books I could name when it comes to videogame journalism. Bissell explores games in terms of personal experience, artis...moreIt's one of the most important books I could name when it comes to videogame journalism. Bissell explores games in terms of personal experience, artistic potential, and storytelling power. He interviews the people behind games, and relates play experiences. Most of the game are, as he admits, fairly recent: Far Cry 2, Mass Effect, Fallout, etc. But the discussion is varied, while remaining generally on topic. To mix metaphors, though, at the point where I thought the book would build to a conclusion, it goes off the rails. I can understand what Bissell was arguing, but when the final chapter of your book is about your experiences doing cocaine and playing GTA IV for 30 hours straight, you have drifted from being relatable to your core audience.(less)
Feschuk and Michael Grange evaluate exactly what has brought the Leafs franchise to its current low point, and what could potentially bring about a di...moreFeschuk and Michael Grange evaluate exactly what has brought the Leafs franchise to its current low point, and what could potentially bring about a different future. "Leafs AbomiNation" is a twist on the term "Leafs Nation," the legion of self-professed Leaf fans. The title is a good indication of Grange and Feschuk's tone: unsubtle and snarky. For example: "fans were given white T-shirts bearing the Leafs' new corporate slogan--'Spirit is Everything!' (Vince Lombardi, the late NFL coaching legend who once famously declared that 'Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing,' must surely have vomited in his grave.)" If the thought of vomiting corpses somehow doesn't appeal to you, this may not be the book for you. And, on occasion, Feschuk and Grange's fan opinions seem to get in the way of their journalistic points, as when they decry the Leaf policy regarding jersey retirement, and the brief tirade against Matt Sundin. For the most part, though, the book is an impressive, in-depth investigation of the Leafs: their (at least relatively) glorious past, the interference of Ballard, the coaching and GM moves of Imlach. And, more recently, actions of John Ferguson Jr as coach, Peddie and Tanenbaum as owners, and the Teachers' Pension Fund, as well as some hope in Brian Burke. They also place quite a bit of blame on the Toronto fans; a good fan, of course, supports their team in good times and bad, but if they're doing that, what motivation does the team owner have to improve things? At the core of the book is a question at the core of many sport franchises: what does it mean to manage a team? Should winning games or economic success be the main focus? As the Leafs' track record as most profitable franchise and long streak of Cupless seasons demonstrates, they're not the same thing. Feschuk and Grange's solution is a little farfetched--they basically propose supporting the current GM Burke, and putting some fan pressure in the form of box office towards getting Teachers' to realize that a win is a necessary goal, not an unnecessary risk. But as a piece of sport journalism, it's a nice summary of how the Leafs got to this point, and what could change things, with comparisons to other sport franchises.(less)
Jim Rossignol delivers an account of his experiences as a game journalist, with extended sections on his encounters in London, Seoul, and Reykjavik. T...moreJim Rossignol delivers an account of his experiences as a game journalist, with extended sections on his encounters in London, Seoul, and Reykjavik. To address some of the concerns leveled against him by critics of the book, I did notice that it drifted a bit, but I found that, overall, to be a positive point; the book is clearly meant to be a very personal account of video games and the game industry, and some small amount of imprecision works well with that goal. And it's never so much that it derails the discussion at hand. I will concede the other argument, that the book seems stuck between audiences; there's a little too much on the potential of online multiplayer gaming, which the avid gamer would already be more or less familiar with, and yet it still occasionally takes too much for granted for an audience unfamiliar with games in general.
That said, I loved the sections recounting various small moments, from the EVE Online stories to Rossignol's own slide and/or rise into game journalism. He uses a nice mix of light material and deeper theory, from video game scholars to the ever-prolific Marshall McLuhan. And his speculation on what videogames may become and why this question is important provided a nice end to the book. Elsewhere, discussing the process of writing, Rossignol notes that developing an argument for a book is much different than developing an argument for the article length he's used to. For what it's worth, I'm glad he made the switch.(less)
Operating from an impressive wealth of knowledge, Roz Kaveney argues for the value of the superhero comic, in terms of the notion of the superhero, an...moreOperating from an impressive wealth of knowledge, Roz Kaveney argues for the value of the superhero comic, in terms of the notion of the superhero, and the ongoing, continuity-based narrative. The book is divided up into seven chapters. Chapter one is a general discussion of superheroes, in which Kaveney touches on a number of different aspects, including but not limited to her own experience as a reader, the comic book in comparison to the sagas of the opera, the differences between Marvel and DC, a general history from the Golden Age to the current moment, and other superhero perspectives. The rest of the chapters all focus more narrowly on specific topics. Chapter 2 deals with her chief claim that comics should be studied as valuable long term narratives, with a thorough analysis of Brian Bendis' Alias. Chapter 3 continues in that general direction with another "thick" work that is more specifically about the nature of superhero comics: Alan Moore's Watchmen. Chapter 4 looks at long-term runs, with features on Miller's Dark Knight Returns, Busiek's Avengers Forever, and Morrison's New X-Men. Chapter 5 is on reboots and company-wide events, including DC's Crises and Marvel's Civil War. Chapter 6 argues that comicbooks have significant influence on developments in other mediums, by tracing the outputs and influences of Joss Whedon. And the final chapter considers the superhero movie, up to Elektra (perhaps not the best end point). I'd like to say that Kaveney's book is accessible, but as someone who's been reading comics for nearly twenty years, my opinion on the matter is a little suspect. I can say that chapter 2--which dealt with the comics I was least familiar with--discussed Alias in such a way that I was never in the dark. The caveat to accessibility is that those exceptionally familiar with comics may occasionally be waiting politely for the recap to end so the argument can continue again, but it's such a nice argument that it isn't much of a burden. It's scholarly level investigation and research, without getting bogged down in sources and theories. I think I might seek out other stuff by Kaveney, based on the strength of this book.(less)
Neil David Sr. (or David Sudnow, as my copy stubbornly claims) describes in great, great detail his experience playing Breakout when it first came out...moreNeil David Sr. (or David Sudnow, as my copy stubbornly claims) describes in great, great detail his experience playing Breakout when it first came out on a home console. It's an extremely in-depth tale of his obsession with the game, from his trip to talk to Atari designers in person to his personal demand that he create the exact perfect playing sequence. It's of a reasonable amount of interest to those interested in game history, or game scholarship, as it's one of the earliest (and again, most detailed) account of what it was like to play such games when they first came out, and how they were experienced on a phenomenological level. There's a lot of comparisons with addiction, for example, and a lot of negative comparisons with other types of performance, such as playing the piano. I can't imagine what would keep you reading to the end if you didn't come into it with these interests, though.(less)
Loading...
