Video Games

Video Games
Author :
Publisher : Transaction Publishers
Total Pages : 142
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0765801027
ISBN-13 : 9780765801029
Rating : 4/5 (029 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Video Games by : Arthur Asa Berger

Download or read book Video Games written by Arthur Asa Berger and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2002 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From their inception, video games quickly became a major new arena of popular entertainment. Beginning with very primitive games, they quickly evolved into interactive animated works, many of which now approach film in terms of their visual excitement. But there are important differences, as Arthur Asa Berger makes clear in this important new work. Films are purely to be viewed, but video involves the player, moving from empathy to immersion, from being spectators to being actively involved in texts. Berger, a renowned scholar of popular culture, explores the cultural significance of the expanding popularity and sophistication of video games and considers the biological and psychoanalytic aspects of this phenomenon. Berger begins by tracing the evolution of video games from simple games like Pong to new, powerfully involving and complex ones like Myst and Half-Life. He notes how this evolution has built the video industry, which includes the hardware (game-playing consoles) and the software (the games themselves), to revenues comparable to the American film industry. Building on this comparison, Berger focuses on action-adventure games which, like film and fiction, tell stories but which also involve culturally important departures in the conventions of narrative. After defining a set of bipolar oppositions between print and electronic narratives, Berger considers the question of whether video games are truly interactive or only superficially so, and whether they have the potential to replace print narratives in the culture at large. A unique dimension of the book is its bio-psycho-social analysis of the video game phenomenon. Berger considers the impact of these games on their players, from physical changes (everything from neurological problems to obesity) to psychological consequences, with reference to violence and sexual attitudes. He takes these questions further by examining three enormously popular games-Myst/Riven, Tomb Raider, and Half-Life-for their attitudes toward power, gender, violence, and guilt. In his conclusion, Berger concentrates on the role of violence in video games and whether they generate a sense of alienation in certain addicted players who become estranged from family and friends. Accessibly written and broad-ranging in approach, Video Games offers a way to interpret a major popular phenomenon. Arthur Asa Berger is professor of broadcast and electronic communication arts at San Francisco State University, where he has taught since 1965. He is the author of more than one hundred articles and forty books on media, popular culture, humor, and everyday life.


Video Games Related Books

Video Games
Language: en
Pages: 142
Authors: Arthur Asa Berger
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2002 - Publisher: Transaction Publishers

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From their inception, video games quickly became a major new arena of popular entertainment. Beginning with very primitive games, they quickly evolved into inte
The Effects of Video Games on Children
Language: en
Pages: 186
Authors: Barrie Gunter
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 1998-01-01 - Publisher: A&C Black

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The rapid growth in popularity of computer and video games, particularly among children and teenagers, has given rise to public concern about the effects they m
Encyclopedia of Video Games [3 volumes]
Language: en
Pages: 1365
Authors: Mark J. P. Wolf
Categories: Games & Activities
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-05-24 - Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Now in its second edition, the Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming is the definitive, go-to resource for anyone interested i
Video Games as Culture
Language: en
Pages: 198
Authors: Daniel Muriel
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-03-14 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Video games are becoming culturally dominant. But what does their popularity say about our contemporary society? This book explores video game culture, but in d
Video Games as Art
Language: en
Pages: 125
Authors: Frank G. Bosman
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2022-11-07 - Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Video games are a relative late arrival on the cultural stage. While the academic discipline of game studies has evolved quickly since the nineties of the last