Not every gamer spends all his or her free-time playing games. Many of the future programmers and designers are busy studying up on their video-game history and video-game ideals between level 1 and level 50 of the latest Call of Duty game.
Below are the Top books on both Video-Game History and Video Games as they apply to the social world around them. Lucky for you almost all of them are on sale.
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The Video Game Theory Reader 2 $36.00 Kindle (Paperback $45.00)
- The Video Game Theory Reader 2 picks up where the first Video Game Theory Reader (Routledge, 2003) left off, with a group of leading scholars turning their attention to next-generation platforms-the Nintendo Wii, the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360-and to new issues in the rapidly expanding field of video games studies. The contributors are some of the most renowned scholars working on video games today including Henry Jenkins, Jesper Juul, Eric Zimmerman, and Mia Consalvo. While the first volume had a strong focus on early video games, this volume also addresses more contemporary issues such as convergence and MMORPGs. The volume concludes with an appendix of nearly 40 ideas and concepts from a variety of theories and disciplines that have been usefully and insightfully applied to the study of video games.
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Unplugged: My Journey into the Dark World of Video Game Addiction $9.96 Kindle (Paperback $10.16)
- Van Cleave is out to settle old scores, set the record straight, and share highlights from an 80-hour-a-week addiction to the massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft. With confidence verging at times on arrogance (“If you figure out how to make a girl or two howl — I mean, like biblical noise — word gets around”), Van Cleave shares the highlights of his early life. Despite an already-formed addiction, he was a “gifted classical guitar major” in college, and wrote a fantasy novel that could have, he has no doubt, been huge. Top-notch agents were calling, but a computer meltdown left everyone empty handed. “Like the… novel that Ernest Hemingway left in a suitcase that was stolen from his wife in Paris in 1922, my epic fantasy would never know an audience.” Van Cleave returns often to two main themes: his adoption as a child (which still causes him great pain) and the failure of the world to embrace unique individuals like him. He finds fault with everyone, including himself, but stops short of real insight, and his interviews with other addicts likely won’t satisfy readers seeking actual support.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Paid to Play: An Insider’s Guide to Video Game Careers (Paperback $17.99)
- *Unique – Currently there are NO OTHER video game career guides with over 100 interviews from current, working game professionals. They are fully candid and give readers an unvarnished look inside the industry. The biggest secret? It’s actually work.
*Written by Insiders – The authors are a professional, registered Career Counselor and two game writers who have worked on over 1000 game reviews, 70 strategy guides, and scripted storylines for over five different video games.
*Total Coverage – The authors will be interviewing over 100 professionals, all of them in different jobs within the video game industry. This will give readers a complete overview of what jobs there are in the industry and which ones may be suited to their talents. Rather than a vague list or a focus on programming and development, Paid to Play will blanket the various fields that are utilized in the world of video games.
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Changing the Game, How Video Games Are Transforming the Future of Business: $9.99 Kindle (Paperback $21.89)
- Companies of all shapes and sizes have begun to use games to revolutionize the way they interact with customers and employees, becoming more competitive and more profitable as a result. Microsoft has used games to painlessly and cost-effectively quadruple voluntary employee participation in important tasks. Medical schools have used game-like simulators to train surgeons, reducing their error rate in practice by a factor of six. A recruiting game developed by the U.S. Army, for just 0.25% of the Army’s total advertising budget, has had more impact on new recruits than all other forms of Army advertising combined. And Google is using video games to turn its visitors into a giant, voluntary labor force-encouraging them to manually label the millions of images found on the Web that Google’s computers cannot identify on their own.
- Changing the Game reveals how leading-edge organizations are using video games to reach new customers more cost-effectively; to build brands; to recruit, develop, and retain great employees; to drive more effective experimentation and innovation; to supercharge productivity…in short, to make it fun to do business. This book is packed with case studies, best practices, and pitfalls to avoid. It is essential reading for any forward-thinking executive, marketer, strategist, and entrepreneur, as well as anyone interested in video games in general.
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The Civic Potential of Video Games $9.99 Kindle (Paperback $14.99)
- This report focuses on the civic aspects of video game play among youth. According to a 2006 survey, 58 percent of young people aged 15 to 25 were civically “disengaged,” meaning that they participated in fewer than two types of either electoral activities (defined as voting, campaigning, etc.) or civic activities (for example, volunteering). Kahne and his coauthors are interested in what role video games may or may not play in this disengagement.Until now, most research in the field has considered how video games relate to children’s aggression and to academic learning. Digital media scholars suggest, however, that other social outcomes also deserve attention. For example, as games become more social, some scholars argue that they can be important spheres in which to foster civic development. Others disagree, suggesting that games, along with other forms of Internet involvement, may in fact take time away from civic and political engagement.Drawing on data from the 2006 survey, the authors examine the relationship between video game play and civic development. They call for further research on teen gaming experiences so that we can understand and promote civic engagement through video games.
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The Ultimate History of Video Games: $9.99 Kindle (Paperback $13.57)
- In this rollicking, mammoth history of video games from pinball to Pong to Playstation II Kent, a technology journalist and self-professed video game addict, covers almost every conceivable aspect of the industry, from the technological leaps that made the games possible to the corporate power struggles that won (and lost) billions of dollars.
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Extra Lives Why Video Games Matter: $13.77 Kindle (Paperback $10.17)
- Starred Review. Grand Theft Auto IV is both a waste of time and the most colossal creative achievement of the last 25 years, according to this scintillating meditation on the promise and discontents of video games. Journalist Bissell (Chasing the Sea) should know; the ultraviolent car-chase-and-hookers game was his constant pastime during a months-long intercontinental cocaine binge.
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Replay, The History of Video Games $9.99 Kindle (Paperback $17.99)
- A riveting account of the birth and remarkable evolution of the most important development in entertainment since television, Replay: The History of Video Games is the ultimate history of video games. From its origins in the research labs of the 1940s to the groundbreaking success of the Wii, Replay sheds new light on gaming’s past. Along the way it takes in the spectacular rise and fall of Atari, the crazed cottage industry spawned by the computers of Sir Clive Sinclair, Japan’s rapid ascent to the top of the gaming tree and the seismic impact of Doom.
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Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design $26.62 Kindle (Paperback $29.58)
- If you want to design and build cutting-edge video games but aren’t sure where to start, then this is the book for you. Written by leading video game expert Scott Rogers, who has designed the hits Pac Man World, Maxim vs. Army of Zin, and SpongeBob Squarepants, this book is full of Rogers’s wit and imaginative style that demonstrates everything you need to know about designing great video games.
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Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time: $17.14 Kindle (Paperback $19.04)
- Vintage Games explores the most influential videogames of all time, including Super Mario Bros., Grand Theft Auto III, Doom, The Sims and many more. Drawing on interviews as well as the authors’ own lifelong experience with videogames, the book discusses each game’s development, predecessors, critical reception, and influence on the industry. It also features hundreds of full-color screenshots and images, including rare photos of game boxes and other materials. Vintage Games is the ideal book for game enthusiasts and professionals who desire a broader understanding of the history of videogames and their evolution from a niche to a global market.
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Classic Home Video Games, 1985-1988, A Complete Reference Guide: $19.24 Kindle (Hardcover $44.00)
- A follow up to 2007′s Classic Home Video Games, 1972-1984, this reference work provides detailed descriptions and reviews of every U.S.-released game for the Nintendo NES, the Atari 7800, and the Sega Master System, all of which are considered among the most popular video game systems ever produced. Organized alphabetically by console brand, each chapter includes a description of the game system followed by substantive entries for every game released for that console. Video game entries include publisher/developer data, release year, gameplay information, and, typically, the author’s critique. A glossary provides a helpful guide to the classic video game genres and terms referenced throughout the work, and a preface provides a comparison between the modern gaming industry and the industry of the late 1980s.
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From Sun Tzu to Xbox, War and Video Games: $9.99 Kindle (Paperback $39.63)
- Part of an industry that now earns more yearly than the Hollywood box office, video games have entered the forefront of the militarization of popular culture. How did this once-innocent pastime become a key player in America’s entry into global warfare? And is this blurring of reality changing the way we think about war?
- Stretching from 3000 BC to today, this book investigates how military cultures and the evolution of games have been closely linked, from video gaming’s ancestors like chess and go, to the popularization of the 19th century Kriegspiel, to the development of computers for use during World War II and the invention of video games by Defense Department-funded scientists. Readers will discover how war fantasies played out from the early arcade years to the rise of online gaming, how the military began working with companies like Nintendo, Atari and Microsoft to produce training devices, and how today’s generals hope to sell recruitment to a new generation of joystick warriors. -This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction $19.25 Kindle (Paperback $34.67)
- Today millions of people around the world are playing video games at any given time. From Pong to Playstation 2 and beyond, Understanding Video Games is the first general introduction to the burgeoning field of video game studies-it traces the history of the medium, introduces the major theories developed to analyze video games, examines the core elements of game design, and addresses the major debates surrounding the medium.
- Authored by members of the Center for Computer Games Research, described by The New York Times as the “hub” of game studies research, this book is essential reading for scholars, gaming enthusiasts, aspiring game designers, and anyone interested in understanding the ways video games are reshaping popular culture and entertainment.
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The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design $9.99 Kindle (Paperback $13.52)
- There are other books about creating video games out there. Sure, they cover the basics. But The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design goes way beyond the basics. The authors, top game designers, focus on creating games that are an involving, emotional experience for the gamer. Topics include integrating story into the game, writing the game script, putting together the game bible, creating the design document, and working on original intellectual property versus working with licenses.
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1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die (Hardcover Only $24.39)
- For devoted gamers as well as those interested in groundbreaking graphic design, this is the first, most comprehensive, and only critical guide ever published to video games. The video game has arrived as entertainment and as an art form. This is the first serious critical evaluation ever published of the best video games and is a testament to the medium’s innovativeness and increasing emphasis on aesthetics. Organized chronologically and for all platforms (PC, Xbox, PlayStation, etc.) and covering all genres from the bold (Grand Theft Auto and Halo) and dark (Resident Evil and Silent Hill) to the spiritual (Final Fantasy) and whimsical (Legend of Zelda), the book traces the video game from the rough early days of Pong to the latest visual fantasia.
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What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Second Edition: Revised and Updated Edition (Paperback $12.24)
- James Paul Gee begins his classic book with “I want to talk about video games-yes, even violent video games-and say some positive things about them.” With this simple but explosive statement, one of America’s most well-respected educators looks seriously at the good that can come from playing video games. In this revised edition, new games like World of WarCraft and Half Life 2 are evaluated and theories of cognitive development are expanded. Gee looks at major cognitive activities including how individuals develop a sense of identity, how we grasp meaning, how we evaluate and follow a command, pick a role model, and perceive the world.
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Arcade Mania: The Turbo-charged World of Japan’s Game Centers (Paperback $13.57)
- Home of Sega, Nintendo, and Sony, Japan has a unique and powerful presence in the world of video games. Another thing that makes Japan unique in the gaming world is the prevalence of game arcades. While the game arcade scene has died in the U.S., there are 9,500 “game centers” in Japan with more than 445,000 game machines.
Arcade Mania introduces overseas readers to the fascinating world of the Japanese gemu senta. Organized as a guided tour of a typical game center, the book is divided into nine chapters, each of which deals with a different kind of game, starting with the UFO catchers and print club machines at the entrance and continuing through rhythm games, fighting games, shooting games, retro games, gambling games, card-based games, and only-in-Japan games.
Covering classic games from Space Invaders to Street Fighter, games that are familiar to Americans in their home console versions (Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Dance, Dance Revolution), as well as the unique, quirky games found only in Japan, Arcade Mania is crammed full of interviews with game makers and star players, and packed with facts about the history, background and characteristics of each game, all lavishly illustrated with photographs and game graphics. This book is a must-have for gamers everywhere.
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A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players (Paperback $16.47)
- The enormous popularity of the Nintendo Wii, Guitar Hero, and smaller games like Bejeweled or Zuma has turned the stereotype of the obsessed young male gamer on its head. Players of these casual games are not required to possess an intimate knowledge of video game history or to devote weeks or months to play. At the same time, many players of casual games show a dedication and skill that is anything but casual. In A Casual Revolution, Jesper Juul describes this as a reinvention of video games, and of our image of video game players, and explores what this tells us about the players, the games, and their interaction.With this reinvention of video games, the game industry reconnects with a general audience. Many of today’s casual game players once enjoyed Pac-Man, Tetris, and other early games, only to drop out when video games became more time consuming and complex. For a long time, video games asked players to structure their lives to fit the demands of a game; with casual games, it is the game that is designed to fit into the lives of players. These flexible games make it possible for everyone to be a video game player.Juul shows that it is only by understanding what a game requires of players, what players bring to a game, how the game industry works, and how video games have developed historically that we can understand what makes video games fun and why we choose to play (or not to play) them.
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