Video Games: A Popular Culture Phenomenon
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.
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Video Games: A Popular Culture Phenomenon
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.
63.99 In Stock
Video Games: A Popular Culture Phenomenon

Video Games: A Popular Culture Phenomenon

by Arthur Asa Berger
Video Games: A Popular Culture Phenomenon

Video Games: A Popular Culture Phenomenon

by Arthur Asa Berger

Paperback(New Edition)

$63.99 
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Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780765809131
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication date: 09/30/2001
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 132
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Arthur Asa Berger is professor emeritus of broadcast and electronic communication arts at San Francisco State University. He is the author of numerous articles, book reviews, and books on media, popular culture, humor, and tourism, and he is the series editor of Transaction’s Communication and Mass Culture and Humor series.

Table of Contents

1: Theoretical Concerns; 1: Video Games: A Popular Culture Phenomenon; 2: Narratives in the Electronic Age; 3: Video Games as Cultural Indicators; 4: A Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective on Video Games; 2: Analyzing Representative Games; 5: Myst, Riven , and the Adventure Video Game; 6: Lara Croft and the Problem of Gender in Video Games; 7: Half-Life and the Problem of Monsters; 8: Conclusions
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