More Than a Game
The Computer Game as Fictional Form
Published on 8. May 2003
Book
Hardback
176 pages
978-0-7190-6364-0 (ISBN)
Description
The first academic work dedicated to the study of computer games in terms of the stories they tell and the manner of their telling. Applies practices of reading texts from literary and cultural studies to consider the computer game as an emerging mode of contemporary storytelling in an accessible, readable manner. Contains detailed discussion of narrative and realism in four of the most significant games of the last decade: 'Tomb Raider', 'Half-Life', 'Close Combat' and 'Sim City'. Recognises the excitement and pleasure that has made the computer game such a massive global phenomenon. -- .
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7190-6364-0 (9780719063640)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Barry Atkins is Lecturer in English and Senior Learning and Teaching Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University
Content
The computer game as fictional form: the postmodern temptation; reading game-fictions. Fantastically real - reading "Tomb Raider": Lara Croft - Action hero; "Tomb Raider" as quest narrative; beating the system. Gritty realism - reading "Half-Life": Welcome to Black Mesa; I am a camera. Replaying history - reading "Close Combat": history in real-time; counterfactual gameplay. Managing the real - reading "SimCity": The many worlds of "SimCity"; "SimCity" limits; more than a game?; realism is dead, long live realism; the shape of things to come; the computer game as fictional form revisited. Glossary of specific game terms.