More Than a Game: The Computer Game as Fictional Form - Softcover

Atkins, Barry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0719063655 ISBN 13: 9780719063657

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2003

Synopsis

.

About this title

Synopsis:

Whether you love them or loathe them, look back with wistful nostalgia to the days of Pong and Space Invaders, or regard the whole phenomenon with blank incomprehension, there is no doubt that computer and video games now occupy a significant place in contemporary popular culture. The economics alone are staggering, with unit sales counted in the millions. The frequency of assertions in the popular press about the dangerous influence of their violent subject matter and "immersive" potential imply a startling level of influence. To disregard the computer game is to refuse to engage fully with contemporary popular culture. This text is dedicated to the study of computer games in terms of the stories they tell and the manner of their telling. Taking its cue from practices of reading texts in literary and cultural studies, it considers the computer game as an emerging mode of contemporary storytelling in a fashion that is accessible and readable, recognizing the excitement and pleasure that has made the computer game such a massive global phenomenon.

Barry Atkins discusses in detail questions of narrative and realism in four of the most significant games of the last decade: "Tomb Raider", "Half-Life", "Close Combat" and "SimCity". This is a work for both the student of contemporary culture and those game-players who are interested in how computer games tell their stories.

About the Author:

Barry Atkins is Lecturer in English and Senior Learning and Teaching Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University -- .

About this edition

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0719063655
• ISBN 13: 9780719063657
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176