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Video Games and Interactive Media: A Glimpse at New Digital Entertainment book cover

1st Edition

Video Games and Interactive Media A Glimpse at New Digital Entertainment

By Stephane Natkin Copyright 2006
    125 Pages
    by A K Peters/CRC Press

    125 Pages
    by A K Peters/CRC Press

    This book explores the development of the video game as a new form of interactive media and a template for future modes of entertainment. While television programs and movies are predominantly passive enterprises, video games engage the audience and provide not only audio-visual stimulation but also an enriching interaction that creates a heightened sense of immersion. Through a detailed discussion of gameplay and game design principles, Natkin explores the nature of this interaction and its impact on the entertainment industry. He explains the developmental process behind game design and the new concepts of narration and entertainment it has introduced. He then considers the future of gameplay with its potential for developing new means of artistic expression and its liability to be abused as an outlet for propaganda and coercion.

    Preface 1 On the Nature of Video Games 1A Zoology of Gaming; An Uncultivated Field; A Short History of Video Games; The Process of Video-Game Production 2 The Cheater’s Novel, or How to Write a Video Game; Game Design: Conceiving a Universe; Level Design: The Technique of the Maze; Immersion Methods; Gameplay: A Gigantic Bluff; Conclusion: What Makes Video-Game Design Different 3 Online Games or the Return of the War of the Worlds Massively Multiplayer Games; Proactive, Mobile, Ubiquitous, Games Everywhere 4 Video-Game Technologies; Image Technology; Sound Technology; Artificial Intelligence; Game Engines; Technologies of Network Games; Technology for Proactive and Ubiquitous Games; Research; 5 Game In or Game Out; Needs and Pedagogy of Training for Games; Art and Games

    Biography

    Stephane Natkin received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers (CNAM), Paris in 1978 and 1980 respectively. He is a founder of the French National School on Games and Interactive Media, which was launched by the French Prime Minister in May 2003. Currently he is a professor in the department of Computer Science at CNAM, where he is Director of the Computer Research Laboratory CEDRIC, and heads a postgraduate game-design program.

    " "". . . highly informative and a great foundation for understanding video game genres and development."" -PJ Hruschak, CIN Weekly, August 2006
    ""A straightforward introduction to what video games and interactive media are, and the impact that their increasing popularity has had on modern culture... accessible to non-specialist general readers of all backgrounds, whether they are familiar with games or not... the perfect primer for any serious student, scholar, or parent needing the straight facts about interactive computer games."" -John Burroughs, Midwest Book Review, August 2006"
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