Rewriting History

Keynote address to the 2014 Game History Annual Symposium, Montreal

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 and writing the book. I then outline, with examples, the research methodology I used to try and examine trends in the medium’s history. Finally, I conclude with several lessons for game historians that came out of researching and writing Replay.