In this book, Catherine Kellner, a researcher in communication sciences, analyses and criticizes the so-called "edutainment" products. Through real-world examples, she highlights the common flaws of these products (storytelling elements used instead of play attributes, games using texts for kids who don't know how to read yet, boring games sequences, etc.). She also offers many ways to improves them (using the discovery space embedded in every game, learning by trial-and-error, etc.).
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Keywords : edutainment, research, analysis, critic
This tiny 88 pages book attempts to provide a introduction to the world of video games to people who doesn't know anything about them. It begins with a quick summary of the history of video games, followed by a detailed presentation of the main games genres. It then presents the main steps of the creation process of a video games, and ends with leads for their future. The book is written in a way that makes each topic covered over two pages only: video games from the 70's, the 80's, the 90's, ac
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Keywords : video games, introduction, history, genres, design
A scientific book that gathers contributions from 18 researchers who are studying different sides of videogames (design, use, interactivity, storytelling, emotions, gender, etc.).
Keywords : science, humanities
A small book (150 pages) laying down a general introduction to the universe of videogames. The author details the history of videogames (with the contribution of the Le Diberder brothers and their "cycles theory" on this topic), the various jobs of the videogames industry and the process of game design, and in a last chapter try to analyze the future of videogames as a communicational tool. It's the English translation of a french book published in 2004 under the title "Jeux
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Keywords : introduction, jobs, history, schools
With nearly 1000 pages, this heavy book was baked for you by two of best videogames researchers. I gathers many articles that anyone serious about the study of games must (or at least should) have read. The articles gathers are quite different, ranging from scientific essays about the definition of videogames (Huinzingua, Caillois, Suits, etc.) to players gaming diaries and professional game developers postmortems (Valve Software on how they created Half-Life, Lucasart on their pioneering MMO &q
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Keywords : research, game studies, history, definition
A great videogame analysis book written by one of the founders of the scientific study of games: the ludology. In this book, Jesper Juul explores the connections between videogames and fictional worlds, and he highlights the special features of videogames when it comes to "tell stories." The first part of the book features an essay about the definitions of "games" and "video games" which were heavily quoted (both endorsed or criticized) by most of the following scie
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Keywords : ludology, game studies, fiction, definition
A small book (150 pages) laying down a general introduction to the universe of videogames. The author details the history of videogames (with the contribution of the Le Diberder brothers and their "cycles theory" on this topic), the various jobs of the videogames industry and the process of game design, and in a last chapter try to analyze the future of videogames as a communicational tool. An English translation of this book was published in 2006 under the title "Video Games And
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Keywords : introduction, jobs, history, schools
This book presents a historical, economic and artistic analysis of Japanese video games, hoping to explain why they are so successful all around the world. The author, who is an expert of this topic, offers us a combination of detailed history (the birth of Japanese video game industry), personal analysis of games series (Mario, Final Fantasy, etc.), and interviews with legendary game designers such as Shigeru Miyamoto and Fumito Ueda. The author then explores some "japanese-specific"
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Keywords : japan, analyse, shigeru miyamoto, fumito ueda, jrpg, akihabara, pokémon, music games
A scientific book gathering 12 chapters written by different authors who are studying videogames through the lens of sociology.
Keywords : sociology
This tiny 80 pages book tackles the question of the artistic and cultural potential of video games. The first part of the book quickly reviews the history and classification of video games, using elements from the classical book written by Le Diberder Brothers. In the second part, the author deals with how players regard games. He then draws elements from his personal experience in a "gamer's club" running monthly Lan Parties (networked computer game sessions). Thanks to the interview
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Keywords : video game, art, culture, introduction