Numéro spécial, avril 2016: Explorer les frontières du jeu numérique  Version PDF SÉBASTIEN GENVO & CARL THERRIEN Université de Lorraine / Université de Montréal Depuis le début des années 2000, l’étude des jeux numériques a pris une place considérable dans la littérature académique consacrée aux phénomènes ludiques, au point où de nombreux articles se proposant de faire un […]

Volume 5, Issue 1, December 2015 PDF Version Nakazawa Shin’ichi Translated by Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon and Tsugumi Okabe University of Alberta Translators’ Introduction Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon “The mystery deepens every time you play!! When will the entirety of Xevious be revealed?” (Xevious Promotional Poster, Namco 1983) In the 1980s, Japanese habits were being drastically transformed by the […]

Volume 5, Issue 1, December 2015 PDF Version Frédéric Clément Université de Montréal Coming from University of Minnesota Press, Anime’s Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan (2012) continues the publisher’s tradition of releasing academic books on anime and Japanese popular culture, such as the annual journal Mechademia (2006–today), Thomas Lamarre’s The Anime Machine: […]

Volume 5, numéro 1, décembre 2015 Version PDF                                                                                               […]

Volume 5, Issue 1, December 2015 PDF Version Stephen Mandiberg University of California, San Diego Abstract This article elaborates how residual traces of a video game’s national and cultural origins – overlooked or ignored due to limited funding – can be an ethically responsible part of game localization when the goal of localization is not simply immersion, […]

Volume 5, Issue 1, December 2015 PDF Version Geoffrey Rockwell & Keiji Amano University of Alberta / Seijoh University Introduction The sound is overwhelming. The balls fall vertically against the pins making a cascade of noise; the massed balls falling into the waiting tray create a cacophony. In this aural inferno sit long lines of […]

Volume 5, numéro 1, décembre 2015 Version PDF Yôhei Yamakami & Mathieu Barbosa Université des Arts de Tokyo Résumé Cet article tente d’analyser l’histoire et la diffusion de la « game ongaku » (ou musique vidéoludique) au Japon. Malgré leur rôle essentiel dans la formation de la culture musicale des jeux vidéo japonais, deux thèmes peu abordés […]

Volume 5, Issue 1, December 2015 PDF Version Andrew Campana Harvard University Abstract Nintendo’s Paper Mario franchise is aesthetically and mechanically centered around the interactions between the flat and the solid; at its core is a playfulness with dimensionality that consistently highlights not only the 2D or 3D, but the 2.5 dimensional. Through this lens, […]

Volume 5, Issue 1, December 2015 PDF Version Douglas Schules Rikkyo University Abstract Despite frequent reference in academic and fan work to the video game genre known as JRPG (Japanese role-playing game), little critical scholarship has been dedicated to understanding how to conceptualize the genre. Frequently, JRPGs are framed as a cultural curiosity, with the […]

Volume 5, Issue 1, December 2015 PDF Version Marc Steinberg Concordia University I would like to take the liberty of opening this article in this important journal special issue on the “Geemu et/and media mix” with a reflection on the title of my 2012 book, whose subject in many ways intersects with that of this […]

Devin Monnens, Martin Goldberg Abstract Although Spacewar! is credited with inspiring the arcade videogame industry, little is recorded about the game outside its origins. It has been assumed that Spacewar! spread rapidly between computer labs and across computer platforms, but no systematic survey of its actual distribution and use has ever been attempted. Based on […]

Thomas H. Rousse Abstract Warrior, a two-player fighting game released by Vectorbeam/Cinematronics in 1979, represents an early pinnacle of integration between analog and digital displays in the history of arcade gaming and a terminal point for vector monitor technology.  This article examines the business intrigue around Warrior, its adaptation of the “Pepper’s Ghost” optical illusion, […]

Alison Gazzard Abstract This article explores some of the histories of player creativity in the 1980s through the inclusion of early level editors in games. Drawing on Huhtamo’s (2011) media archaeological framework of tracing “alternative histories” the article will trace the histories of level editors in games created for the BBC Micro through the case […]

Jaakko Suominen, Markku Reunanen, Sami Remes Abstract This article deals with the emergence of the retrogaming phenomenon in Finland starting from the 1980s. On the one hand, retrogaming can be considered as the practice of playing and collecting aging hardware and games, and on the other hand, it refers to a wider cultural phenomenon comprising, for example, […]

Colin Sidre Abstract The birth of the French videogame industry, focused on microcomputers, is generally considered to have taken place in 1983, when France shifted from an import industry – importing mainly from the United States – to a creative industry. Distributors and particularly microcomputer retailers, as the first companies established in France, played a […]

Colin Sidre Résumé L’année 1983 est généralement considérée comme celle de la naissance de l’industrie vidéoludique française, autour de la micro-informatique. Elle sanctionne le passage d’une industrie d’importation, essentiellement depuis les États-Unis, à une industrie de création. Les distributeurs et surtout les boutiques de micro-informatique, en tant que premières structures implantées sur le territoire, sont […]

John Szczepaniak Abstract The history of Japanese video games is poorly documented outside of Japan. Writings in English often focus exclusively on console history, specifically with a preference for Nintendo. Despite the Japanese game culture being highly influential on games around the world (and vice versa), there is a scarcity of English-language interviews with Japanese […]

Tristan Donovan Abstract In this keynote address, I provide an overview of the thinking and methodology that underpinned my 2010 book Replay: The History of Video Games. I start by explaining the flaws that I felt existed in previous video game histories and how that informed the key goals I had in mind when researching […]