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The Book Lovers: "Well Played 1.0", 22 essays on Bioshock, Ico, Mario, Portal, Zelda

wellplayed10.jpgJust published by Carnegie Mellon University professor Drew Davidson, and perfect for a long-weekend read (while we all wait for the Infinite Summer to arrive): Well Played 1.0, a collection of 22 essays from developers, scholars, reviewers and bloggers that investigate both the experience of playing particular games, as well as how well the game itself is designed and developed.

The games included in the 1.0 version:

Advance Wars, Bioshock, Bully, Civilization 4, Europa Universalis, Guitar Hero, Half-Life 2, Ico, Kingdom of Loathing, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid 4, Mines of Minos, Parappa the Rappa, Passage, Phoenix Wright, Portal, Secret of Monkey Island, Shadow of the Colossus, Silent Hill 2, Super Mario Bros., Tempest, Ultima Underworld, World of Goo, and Zork

From the following contributors:

Kirk Battle (L.B. Jeffries), Mia Consalvo, Greg Costikyan, Patrick Curry, Drew Davidson, Corvus Elrod, Noah Falstein, Clara Fernandez-Vara, Mary Flanagan, Nick Fortugno, James Paul Gee, Charles Herold, Clint Hocking, Katherine Isbister, Nick Montfort, Doris Rusch, Jesse Schell, Brett Shelton, Mark Sivak, Seth Sivak, Kurt Squire, Jason Vandenberghe

The book is available for free as an HTML text dump via the book's official site or as a free PDF download from Lulu; a print version can be ordered via Lulu as well.

Well Played 1.0: Video Game, Value and Meaning [ETC-Press, thanks Drew!]

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27 Comments Add a comment

A New Challenger #1 12:43 PM Saturday, May 23, 2009 Reply

I read the Shadow of the Colossus, Super Mario Bros., and Phoenix Wright essays so far. The thesis in the Phoenix Wright one could have been just a little bit clearer, but all were thoughtful looks at what makes these particular games tick. The Super Mario Bros. study in particular did a good job of focusing my thoughts and observations about games and game design, as while I read I found myself thinking about various other games and how they compared (Pitfall naturally came to mind; as sort of a direct ancestor it's interesting to look at what makes it less compelling today while Super Mario Bros. for me is still quite a bit of fun.) It's a great deconstruction.

Anon #2 5:17 PM Sunday, May 24, 2009 Reply

Some great content in there, especially the rebuttal of Eco and Ebert in the Shadow of the Colossus paper. Couldn't they afford a copyeditor, though? Those typos were just plain embarrassing.

Anon #3 5:40 AM Monday, May 25, 2009 Reply

Good find, I look forward to taking some of these in.

Adil 123 #4 2:54 AM Wednesday, Oct 14, 2009 Reply

Hi,
Nice post! You have worked hard on jotting down the essential information. I read Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Keep sharing the good work in future too.

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vikojhons #5 10:36 PM Monday, Jan 11, 2010 Reply

I believe the information covered in the discussion is top notch. I've been doing a research on the subject and your blog just cleared up a lot of questions. I am working on a custom essays and dissertation writing for my English class and currently reading lots of blogs to study.

ParallaxUnleashed #6 12:12 AM Friday, Feb 19, 2010 Reply

This is a really great entry. I took the time off in order to buy essay just to read this.

ParallaxUnleashed #7 12:44 AM Friday, Feb 19, 2010 Reply

This is a great essay. Thanks for sharing this.

Tim Brooks #8 12:23 PM Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010 Reply

I want to say it is a great stuff for book review writing in college.

jamesbil #9 9:26 AM Tuesday, Apr 27, 2010 Reply

I read your book(all the 22 essays).
Congratulation! You have excellent writing skills!
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jamesbil #10 10:52 AM Monday, May 3, 2010 Reply

I have already referenced this book while preparing lectures and classes in the US, Germany, and others, and recommend it as an invaluable aid for anyone interested in game design. The Art of Game Design is a pitch-perfect blend of valuable knowledge and insights with an informal and compelling presentation

kiki #11 12:16 PM Wednesday, May 12, 2010 Reply

Mario is cool about ceramic watches and all!

pomned #12 5:51 PM Thursday, May 13, 2010 Reply

Cool thing. Personally, I love Zelda. I'm just a fan of this game. Regards crazy taxi today

jamesbil #13 2:16 AM Wednesday, May 26, 2010 Reply

Nice essays! I work with some of those for my animation production house

ren #14 12:59 AM Monday, May 31, 2010 Reply

I have special interest in books. When I was i college during my free time i used to read books. I usually borrow books from the library and friends.
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furia.internet@gmail.com #15 1:04 PM Wednesday, Jun 9, 2010 Reply

I havent read a book in a while i looked at a sudoku tips book for a bit, but reading is exciting and a good past time.

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molondon #16 5:45 AM Saturday, Jun 12, 2010 Reply

I will read that book very soon.... hope tp learn new things from it and develop my business news site

Chris Harris #17 10:45 AM Thursday, Jun 17, 2010 Reply

Hey there, thank you for being so informative with your work, I have been loving it, just keep updating. Pump in style advanced

casteliron #18 3:26 AM Wednesday, Jun 23, 2010 Reply

I can not find it anywhere... please give me a link to it.
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danicosmo #19 3:30 AM Sunday, Jul 11, 2010 Reply

it is a classic interpretation of the game version... anyway Mario was the pioneer for video games.
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Hilton Campbell #20 4:28 AM Monday, Jul 12, 2010 Reply

Interesting post you made here.The book is really a good one and very useful to the game designers.I'm interested in this kind of books and buy an essay of various interesting topics.

francois #21 12:48 AM Monday, Aug 2, 2010 Reply

Reading it now. It's pretty enjoyable, but I would love to see higher quality free essay academics applied to gaming. We have to wait for the gaming generation to get old and gray to see that, I guess.

fffiveee #22 4:19 AM Thursday, Aug 5, 2010 Reply

you have excellent writing skills. This is a really great entry.
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dankk #23 9:46 AM Saturday, Aug 7, 2010 Reply

it is an old game, but I love playing it.
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kent #24 12:05 AM Monday, Aug 9, 2010 Reply

i love this stories of personal experiences. i am compiling inspirational stories of champions. it includes success stories of anybody and also stories showing generosity examples. maybe one of the experiences in this book would also inspire other. so i highly recommend this book.

kent #25 12:06 AM Monday, Aug 9, 2010 Reply

i love this stories of personal experiences. i am compiling inspirational stories of champions. it includes success stories of anybody and also stories showing generosity examples. maybe one of the experiences in this book would also inspire other. so i highly recommend this book.

kirk #26 2:20 PM Thursday, Aug 19, 2010 Reply

where can i get a copy of this? i want to give a copy to my son as a gift.

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Anthony01 #27 9:00 PM Saturday, Aug 21, 2010 Reply

i used to read the Legend of Zelda. Looking forward to reading more of your blogs soon. I'm currently doing my freelance writing job right now and I'm looking for what would be the best topic.

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