Minor Platforms in Videogame History (Games and Play) - Hardcover

Nicoll, Benjamin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9462988285 ISBN 13: 9789462988286

Publisher: Routledge, 2025

Synopsis

Videogame history is not just a history of one successful technology replacing the next. It is also a history of platforms and communities that never quite made it; that struggled to make their voices heard; that aggravated against the conventions of the day; and that never enjoyed the commercial success or recognition of their major counterparts. In Minor Platforms in Videogame History, Benjamin Nicoll argues that 'minor' videogame histories are anything but insignificant. Through an analysis of transitional, decolonial, imaginary, residual, and minor videogame platforms, Nicoll highlights moments of difference and discontinuity in videogame history. From the domestication of vector graphics in the early years of videogame consoles to the 'cloning' of Japanese computer games in South Korea in the 1980s, this book explores case studies that challenge taken-for-granted approaches to videogames, platforms, and their histories.

About this title

About the Author

Benjamin Nicoll is a Lecturer in Digital Media and Communication in the School of Communication and a member of the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

From the Back Cover

Videogame history is not just a history of one successful technology replacing the next. It is also a history of platforms and communities that never quite made it; that struggled to make their voices heard; that aggravated against the conventions of the day; and that never enjoyed the commercial success or recognition of their major counterparts. In *Minor Platforms in Videogame History*, Benjamin Nicoll argues that 'minor' videogame histories are anything but insignificant. Through an analysis of transitional, decolonial, imaginary, residual, and minor videogame platforms, Nicoll highlights moments of difference and discontinuity in videogame history. From the domestication of vector graphics in the early years of videogame consoles to the 'cloning' of Japanese computer games in South Korea in the 1980s, this book explores case studies that challenge taken-for-granted approaches to videogames, platforms, and their histories.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9462988285
• ISBN 13: 9789462988286
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 212