The Book Lovers: "Well Played 1.0", 22 essays on Bioshock, Ico, Mario, Portal, Zelda
Just 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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A New Challenger
#1 – 12:43 PM May 23, 2009
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.
Anonymous Anonymous
#2 – 5:17 PM May 24, 2009
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.
Anonymous Anonymous
#3 – 5:40 AM May 25, 2009
Good find, I look forward to taking some of these in.
Adil 123
#4 – 2:54 AM October 14, 2009
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 January 11, 2010
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.