New Book: Understanding Computer Game Culture: the Cultural Shaping of a New Medium

Understanding Computer Game Culture: the Cultural Shaping of a New Medium
Jan Van Looy
978-3838332130 | £58.65 LAP Lambert Academic Publishing

In the past few decades, video games have developed from a marginal
technological experiment into a mainstream medium. During this period
they have gone through several transformations, from  arcade machines
offering a few minutes of solitary fun for a quarter to monthly
subscription-based online MMOs in which thousands of players spend
hundreds or even thousands of hours and lead a significant part of their
social life as a fantasy character. But what is it that has driven video
games development? Is it technology? Indeed, with every new generation
of hardware, game designers were given a broader set of tools for
evoking exhilarating experiences. But is not culture at least as
important? What would games look like if Tolkien never had written Lord
of the Rings, or if Nintendo had not brought Japanese manga drawing
styles to the new medium? This book looks at the theoretical challenges
and foundations on which to base a cultural shaping approach towards the
evolution of video games and proposes a set of concepts for analyzing
and describing this process.

For more information, see:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/UNDERSTANDING-COMPUTER-GAME-CULTURE-CULTURAL/dp/383833213X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265963868&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/UNDERSTANDING-COMPUTER-GAME-CULTURE-CULTURAL/dp/383833213X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267453811&sr=1-1