Originally founded in 1889 as a manufacturer of playing cards, this book examines the history and political economic status of the multinational consumer electronics and video game giant Nintendo. This book offers a deeper examination into Nintendo as a global media giant, with some of the industry’s best-selling consoles and most recognizable intellectual property including Mario, Pokémon, and Zelda. Drawing upon the theory of the political economy of communication, which seeks to understand how communication and media serve as key mechanisms of economic and political power, Randy Nichols examines how Nintendo has maintained its dominance in the global video game industry and how it has used its position to shape that industry. This book argues that while the company’s key figures and main franchises are important, Nintendo’s impact as a company – and what we can learn from its evolution – is instructive beyond the video game industry. This book is perfect for students and scholars of media and cultural industries, critical political economy of media, production studies, and games studies.

The federal government wastes your tax dollars worse than a drunken sailor on shore leave. The 1984 Grace Commission uncovered that the Department of Defense spent $640 for a toilet seat and $436 for a hammer. Twenty years later things weren't much better. In 2004, Congress spent a record-breaking $22.9 billion dollars of your money on 10,656 of their pork-barrel projects. The war on terror has a lot to do with the record $413 billion in deficit spending, but it's also the result of pork over the last 18 years the likes of: - $50 million for an indoor rain forest in Iowa - $102 million to study screwworms which were long ago eradicated from American soil - $273,000 to combat goth culture in Missouri - $2.2 million to renovate the North Pole (Lucky for Santa!) - $50,000 for a tattoo removal program in California - $1 million for ornamental fish research Funny in some instances and jaw-droppingly stupid and wasteful in others, The Pig Book proves one thing about Capitol Hill: pork is king!

Surveys the online social habits of American teens and analyzes the role technology and social media plays in their lives, examining common misconceptions about such topics as identity, privacy, danger, and bullying.

When the woman he loved was diagnosed with a metastatic cancer, science writer George Johnson embarked on a journey to learn everything he could about the disease and the people who dedicate their lives to understanding and combating it. What he discovered is a revolution under way—an explosion of new ideas about what cancer really is and where it comes from. In a provocative and intellectually vibrant exploration, he takes us on an adventure through the history and recent advances of cancer research that will challenge everything you thought you knew about the disease. Deftly excavating and illuminating decades of investigation and analysis, he reveals what we know and don’t know about cancer, showing why a cure remains such a slippery concept. We follow him as he combs through the realms of epidemiology, clinical trials, laboratory experiments, and scientific hypotheses—rooted in every discipline from evolutionary biology to game theory and physics. Cogently extracting fact from a towering canon of myth and hype, he describes tumors that evolve like alien creatures inside the body, paleo-oncologists who uncover petrified tumors clinging to the skeletons of dinosaurs and ancient human ancestors, and the surprising reversals in science’s comprehension of the causes of cancer, with the foods we eat and environmental toxins playing a lesser role. Perhaps most fascinating of all is how cancer borrows natural processes involved in the healing of a wound or the unfolding of a human embryo and turns them, jujitsu-like, against the body. Throughout his pursuit, Johnson clarifies the human experience of cancer with elegiac grace, bearing witness to the punishing gauntlet of consultations, surgeries, targeted therapies, and other treatments. He finds compassion, solace, and community among a vast network of patients and professionals committed to the fight and wrestles to comprehend the cruel randomness cancer metes out in his own family. For anyone whose life has been affected by cancer and has found themselves asking why?, this book provides a new understanding. In good company with the works of Atul Gawande, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Abraham Verghese, The Cancer Chronicles is endlessly surprising and as radiant in its prose as it is authoritative in its eye-opening science.

Amsterdamse Bos, Bois de Boulognes, Epping Forest, Hong Kong’s country parks, Stanley Park: throughout history cities across the world have developed close relationships with nearby woodland areas. In some cases, cities have even developed – and in some cases are promoting – a distinct ‘forest identity’. This book introduces the rich heritage of these city forests as cultural landscapes, and shows that cities and forests can be mutually beneficial. Essential reading for students and researchers interested in urban sustainability and urban forestry, this book also has much wider appeal. For with city forests playing an increasingly important role in local government sustainability programs, it provides an important reference for those involved in urban planning and decision making, public affairs and administration, and even public health. From providers of livelihoods to healthy recreational environments, and from places of inspiration and learning to a source of conflict, the book presents examples of city forests from around the world. These cases clearly illustrate how the social and cultural development of towns and forests has often gone hand in hand. They also reveal how better understanding of city forests as distinct cultural and social phenomena can help to strengthen synergies both between cities and forests, and between urban society and nature.

Intergenerational Locative Play: Augmenting Family examines the social, spatial and physical impact of the hybrid reality game (HRG) Pokémon Go on the relationship between parents and their children.

The Video Games Textbook takes the history of video games to the next level. Coverage includes every major video game console, handheld system, and game-changing personal computer, as well as a look at the business, technology, and people behind the games. Chapters feature objectives and key terms, illustrative timelines, color images, and graphs in addition to the technical specifications and key titles for each platform. Every chapter is a journey into a different segment of gaming, where readers emerge with a clear picture of how video games evolved, why the platforms succeeded or failed, and the impact they had on the industry and culture. Written to capture the attention and interest of students from around the world, this newly revised Second Edition also serves as a go-to handbook for any video game enthusiast. This edition features new content in every chapter, including color timelines, sections on color theory and lighting, the NEC PC-98 series, MSX series, Amstrad CPC, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Milton Bradley Microvision, Nintendo Game & Watch, gender issues, PEGI and CERO rating systems, and new Pro Files and quiz questions, plus expanded coverage on PC and mobile gaming, virtual reality, Valve Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. Key Features Explores the history, business, and technology of video games, including social, political, and economic motivations Facilitates learning with clear objectives, key terms, illustrative timelines, color images, tables, and graphs Highlights the technical specifications and key titles of all major game consoles, handhelds, personal computers, and mobile platforms Reinforces material with market summaries and reviews of breakthroughs and trends, as well as end-of-chapter activities and quizzes

Anime’s influence can be found in every corner of American media, from film and television to games and graphic arts. And Fred Patten is largely responsible. He was reading manga and watching anime before most of the current generation of fans was born. In fact, it was his active participation in fan clubs and his prolific magazine writing that helped create a market and build American anime fandom into the vibrant community it is today. Watching Anime, Reading Manga gathers together a quarter-century of Patten’s lucid observations on the business of anime, fandom, artists, Japanese society and the most influential titles. Illustrated with original fanzine covers and archival photos. Foreword by Carl Macek (Robotech). Fred Patten lives in Los Angeles. "Watching Anime, Reading Manga is a worthwhile addition to your library; it makes good bathroom browsing, cover-to-cover reading, and a worthwhile reference for writing or researching anime and manga, not to mention a window into the history of fandom in the United States." -- SF Site