Before the enormously successful NES console changed the video game landscape in the 1980s, Nintendo became famous for producing legendary arcade machines like Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. Drawing on original interviews, news reports and other documents, this book traces Nintendo's rise from a small business that made playing cards to the top name in the arcade industry. Twenty-eight game titles are examined in-depth, along with the people and events that defined the company for more than four decades.

The complex material histories of the Nintendo Entertainment System platform, from code to silicon, focusing on its technical constraints and its expressive affordances. In the 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System videogame Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, a character famously declared: I AM ERROR. Puzzled players assumed that this cryptic mesage was a programming flaw, but it was actually a clumsy Japanese-English translation of “My Name is Error,” a benign programmer's joke. In I AM ERROR Nathan Altice explores the complex material histories of the Nintendo Entertainment System (and its Japanese predecessor, the Family Computer), offering a detailed analysis of its programming and engineering, its expressive affordances, and its cultural significance. Nintendo games were rife with mistranslated texts, but, as Altice explains, Nintendo's translation challenges were not just linguistic but also material, with consequences beyond simple misinterpretation. Emphasizing the technical and material evolution of Nintendo's first cartridge-based platform, Altice describes the development of the Family Computer (or Famicom) and its computational architecture; the “translation” problems faced while adapting the Famicom for the U.S. videogame market as the redesigned Entertainment System; Nintendo's breakthrough console title Super Mario Bros. and its remarkable software innovations; the introduction of Nintendo's short-lived proprietary disk format and the design repercussions on The Legend of Zelda; Nintendo's efforts to extend their console's lifespan through cartridge augmentations; the Famicom's Audio Processing Unit (APU) and its importance for the chiptunes genre; and the emergence of software emulators and the new kinds of play they enabled.

Take a trip back in time in 30 nostalgic chronicles that involve video games, video stores, friends, family, messes, confusions, discoveries, adventures, challenges, learning and all the nostalgia that surround the lives of those who grew in the 80s, 90s and 2000s, added to a personal message of life, courage and hope for video game players, as well as an article in which the — often delicate — relationship between games, art and the Christian faith is analyzed . Smile, have fun, identify yourself, go back to your own childhood and adolescence!

This volume examines fifty of the most important video games that have contributed significantly to the history, development, or culture of the medium, providing an overview of video games from their beginning to the present day. This volume covers a variety of historical periods and platforms, genres, commercial impact, artistic choices, contexts of play, typical and atypical representations, uses of games for specific purposes, uses of materials or techniques, specific subcultures, repurposing, transgressive aesthetics, interfaces, moral or ethical impact, and more. Key video games featured include Animal Crossing, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, PONG, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and World of Warcraft. Each game is closely analyzed in order to properly contextualize it, to emphasize its prominent features, to show how it creates a unique experience of gameplay, and to outline the ways it might speak about society and culture. The book also acts as a highly accessible showcase to a range of disciplinary perspectives that are found and practiced in the field of game studies. With each entry supplemented by references and suggestions for further reading, Fifty Key Video Games is an indispensable reference for anyone interested in video games.

Ever wonder what really goes on behind the scenes of the Oscars? Want to know which actors are funny and which ones are just plain boring? What is it like to interview Madonna, Robin Williams, and Pierce Brosnan? All of these questions (and many more) are answered by veteran entertainment journalist Francine Brokaw. With a delightful mixture of wit and honesty, Francine gives readers an uncensored view of life as an entertainment journalist. In addition to her own perspective, Francine’s colleagues across the country weigh in on questions like . . . • What is the best swag you’ve ever received? • What is the most memorable interview you’ve ever conducted? • Have you ever had to interview someone rude? Perfect for a weekend read or as a companion text to an introductory course in mass media, Beyond the Red Carpet is an informative and entertaining book that covers every aspect of the business of entertainment journalism. Francine Brokaw has been a professional writer for over twenty years, focusing on entertainment and political journalism. Her work has appeared in numerous national and international magazines. She frequently interviews A-list celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Blake Lively, Julie Andrews, and Johnny Depp, but her favorite time period to write about is the studio days of Old Hollywood.

Girls and women as game players and game designers in the new digital landscape of massively multiplayer online games, “second lives,” “modding,” serious games, and casual games. Ten years after the groundbreaking From Barbie to Mortal Kombat highlighted the ways gender stereotyping and related social and economic issues permeate digital game play, the number of women and girl gamers has risen considerably. Despite this, gender disparities remain in gaming. Women may be warriors in World of Warcraft, but they are also scantily clad “booth babes” whose sex appeal is used to promote games at trade shows. Player-generated content has revolutionized gaming, but few games marketed to girls allow “modding” (game modifications made by players). Gender equity, the contributors to Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat argue, requires more than increasing the overall numbers of female players. Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat brings together new media theorists, game designers, educators, psychologists, and industry professionals, including some of the contributors to the earlier volume, to look at how gender intersects with the broader contexts of digital games today: gaming, game industry and design, and serious games. The contributors discuss the rise of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) and the experience of girl and women players in gaming communities; the still male-dominated gaming industry and the need for different perspectives in game design; and gender concerns related to emerging serious games (games meant not only to entertain but also to educate, persuade, or change behavior). In today's game-packed digital landscape, there is an even greater need for games that offer motivating, challenging, and enriching contexts for play to a more diverse population of players. Contributors Cornelia Brunner, Shannon Campe, Justine Cassell, Mia Consalvo, Jill Denner, Mary Flanagan, Janine Fron, Tracy Fullerton, Elisabeth Hayes, Carrie Heeter, Kristin Hughes, Mimi Ito, Henry Jenkins III, Yasmin B. Kafai, Caitlin Kelleher, Brenda Laurel, Nicole Lazzaro, Holin Lin, Jacki Morie, Helen Nissenbaum, Celia Pearce, Caroline Pelletier, Jennifer Y. Sun, T. L. Taylor, Brian Winn, Nick YeeInterviews with Nichol Bradford, Brenda Braithwaite, Megan Gaiser, Sheri Graner Ray, Morgan Romine

A player's guide to "Donkey Kong Country Returns" for the Nintendo Wii, featuring a detailed walkthrough with maps, hints, and tips to unlock and complete all eight worlds within the game, and covering basic and advanced moves, collectibles, enemies, and more.

Beyond the veil lies a world of magic, mystery, and adventure! From author Nicole R. Taylor comes four full length novels, each a first in a series. From a vampire searching for a purpose to his immortality, a witch with a lost legacy, demon hunters trying to save the world from ultimate darkness, and a druid with a mysterious fae heritage, this collection will be sure to enchant from the first page! Featuring FOUR full length novels: Crescent Calling Arcane Rising Dark Descent The Witch Hunter

Dear audience, welcome to a danse bizarre in four acts between fictional fantastic worlds. Fans of wacky horror stories will get their money's worth in the first, 'wicked' act. In addition, there are recipes from the realm of fantasy for all gourmets - we recommend 'unicorn stew' here. In the second act we delight our audience with bizarre crime stories and tales from our 'weird world'. The whole thing is garnished with really wacky advertisements for totally smart people or masochists. Cool articles are included for free. In the third act we look beyond reality and delight the inclined audience with all kinds of fantasy stories. In addition, there are all sorts of fantastic odds and ends, including the religious outpourings of our atheistic druid. In the last act, shadows from time and a surreal game with timelines await us.

Essays that explore new ways of living with technological change Every year since 1964, the Socialist Register has offered a fascinating survey of movements and ideas from the independent new left. This year's edition asks readers to explore just how we need to live with new technologies. Essays in this 57th Socialist Register reveal the contradictions and dislocations of technological change in the twenty-first century. And they explore alternative ways of living: from artificial intelligence (AI) to the arts, from transportation to fashion, from environmental science to economic planning. Greg Albo - Post-capitalism: Alternatives or detours? Nicole Aschoff and Pankaj Mahta - AI-deology: Science, capitalism and the dream of a ‘people’s AI’ Hugo Radice - There is nothing artificial about AI: Labour, class, utopia, socialism Larry Lohman - Interpretation machines: Contradictions of digital mechanization in twenty-first century capitalism Robin Hahnel - Democratic socialist planning: Against, with and beyond the new technologies Tanner Mirrlees - Platform socialists in the age of digital capitalism Derek Hrynyshyn – Imagining information socialism Bryan Palmer - Capitalism and the clock: Time’s meaning in the struggle for socialism Sean Sweeney and John Treat - Shifting gears: Labour strategies for low-carbon public transit mobility Adam Greenfield - Smart cities, technological traps, democratic possibilities Christoph Hermann - The consequences of commodification: Contours of a post-capitalist society Joan Sangster – The surveillance of service labour: Conditions and possibilities of resistance Jeronimo Montero Bressan - Beyond neoliberal fashion: Imagining clothing production as a human need Massimiliano Mollona - Art/Commons: Art collectives and the post-capitalist imagination Ingar Solty – The world of tomorrow: Scenarios for our future between demise and hope