Videogames / James Newman.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Why study videogames? -- Taking games seriously -- Why study videogames? -- Why have academics ignored computer games? -- 2. What is a videogame? : rules, puzzles and simulations : defining the object of study -- Super Mario, Tamagotchi, Furby and AIBO -- Classifying videogames -- Ludic context : coin-op vs home system -- What a videogame isn't -- Why do players play? -- Rules, winning and losing : videogames as games -- Paidea and ludus in videogames -- Types of game -- Videogames and interactivity -- So, what exactly is a videogame? -- 3. Manufacturing fun : platforms, development, publishing and creativity -- Videogames in transition -- Videogames and technology -- Scrolling, exploration and memory : producing and storing videogame spaces -- Complexity and diversity -- The modern development studio -- Division and roles -- Management and design -- Quality assurance -- Videogame platforms -- Finance, publishing and risk -- 4. Videogame players : who plays, for how long and what it's doing to them -- The continuing myth of the videogame audience -- Generation PSX, mainstream and hardcore : targeting the audience -- Boys only? : audience demographics -- Just five more minutes ... measuring audience behaviour -- Game panics : 'effects' research and the inscribed audience -- Assess the research --

5. Videogame structure : levels, breaks and intermissions -- Non-interactivity in the interactive videogame -- Level differentiation -- Between levels -- Save-die-restart : maintaining challenge in multi-session games -- The durability of inter-level breaks -- 6. Narrative and play, audiences and players : approaches to the study of videogames -- Ludology and narratology -- PlayStation, CD-ROM and the cut-scene -- The trouble with cut-scenes : 'active' and 'passive,' 'stories' and 'instructions' -- The (inter)active audience -- The function of cut-scenes -- Narrative and new media -- Game time -- 7. Videogames, space and cyberspace : exploration, navigation and mastery -- Adventures in space -- Videogames and cyberspace -- Spaces to play in and with -- Videogames as spatial stories -- Spatial typologies -- Navigating cyberspaces -- Space and gameplay -- 8. Videogame players and characters : narrative functions and feeling cyborgs -- The videogame character as cultural icon -- The lives of Mario -- Developing characters -- Player preferences -- Experiencing at fist hand : being and watching the hero -- Behind the visual -- 9. Social gaming and the culture of videogames : competition and collaboration on and off screen -- The myth of the solitary gamer -- The videogame as social space -- Videogame culture -- Sharing strategy -- Fans as media producers -- 10. Future gaming : online/mobile/retro -- From Pong to PlayStation -- Have we played the future? : retrogaming and emulation -- Continuity -- Where next?

Machine converted from AACR2 source record.