by Rob Gallagher First published August 2020 Download full review PDF here. Darshana Jayemanne. Performativity in Art, Literature and Videogames. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 331 pp., ISBN NO.9783319853963. What is the object of analysis for videogame studies? Some scholars have treated games as multimodal ‘texts’, rule-bound ludic systems or digital simulations; others have dissected the embodied… Continue reading

by Emilie Reed First published August 2020 Download full review PDF here. Jesper Juul. 2019. Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2019, 328pp ISBN NO.9780262042796 How can we look at videogames art historically? The art historian has to balance the aesthetic qualities of objects, their social context, and… Continue reading

by Jacob S. Euteneuer First published November 2016. Download full review PDF here. Ian Bogost. How to Talk about Videogames. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2015, 208 pp., ISBN 9780816699117. In the nascent but rapidly growing field of games criticism, there are few names larger than that of Ian Bogost. Starting with 2006’s Unit… Continue reading

by Jennifer F. Wood First published January 2016. Download full review PDF here. Evan Skolnick. Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know About Narrative Techniques. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2014, 202 pp., ISBN NO. 9780385345828. Evan Skolnick is a well-established game writer and narrative designer. With a background in games, comics, and books, he places… Continue reading

by Chris J. Young First published August 2015. Download full review PDF here. Peter Zackariasson & Timothy L. Wilson (Eds.). The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future. New York: Routledge, 2012, 268 pp., ISBN NO.9780415896528 Published as part of Routledge Studies in Innovation, Organization and Technology (RIOT!), The Video Game Industry, edited by Peter Zackariasson and… Continue reading

by Pascaline Lorentz First published June 2014. Full article PDF here. Jesper Juul. The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2013, 157 pp., ISBN NO.9780262019057. Jesper Juul is a well-known and established game scholar recognized as one of the pioneers in game studies. His doctoral dissertation, which was… Continue reading

by Qihao Ji Published January 2014. Download full PDF here. Jane McGonigal. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York: Penguin Books, 2011, 416 pp., ISBN NO.9781594202858. Jane McGonigal, a digital game designer who earned her Ph.D. in performance from the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, has… Continue reading