The Medium of the Video Game
edited by Mark J. P. Wolf
review (part 2) by Zube (zube@stat.colostate.edu)
Created:  Jul 5, 2003
Updated:  Jul 14, 2003
http://www.stat.colostate.edu/~zube/movg2.txt

I like this book.  Or rather, I like several parts of this book.  If you
are looking for thoughtful, academic-class writings in the same vein as you
might find on www.gamestudies.org, _The Medium of the Video Game_ will serve
up a rather substantial meal.  Alas, not all the courses are equally 
enjoyable, which is why I advise going a la carte if you visit.

Skip the Ralph Baer Foreword.  If you are sensitive to personal ego-stroking
or the outright love of patents and money over all else, this appetizer
may make you physically sick.  [See 
http://www.stat.colostate.edu/~zube/movg1.txt for more comments about
the Forward.] 

Skip chapter 2, _Super Mario Nation_, a chapter written by Steven Kent.  It's
a 13-page, super-condensed version of the history of video games.  Go buy
his excellent The Ultimate History of Video Games instead.   You'll
enjoy it far, far more.

Drink deeply of the chapters written by Mark Wolf: _The Video Game as
a Medium_ and _{Space | Time | Narrative} in the Video Game_.  While there
are errors all over the book (see the errata), these chapters are by far
the most interesting and require several readings to digest.  I especially
like when Mr. Wolf compares and contrasts early video games to early films.
He could use the word diegetic less (it means "on-screen") and the writing
is sometimes a bit dry, but overall, it's very good.  One other
chapter written by him, _Genre and the Video Game_, is mostly an attempt
to classify games by interactivity.  It too is interesting, but serves
more as a reference chapter.

Sample both _Hot Circuits_ by Rochelle Slovin and _Archetypes on Acid_
by Rebecca R. Tews.  The former considers the 1989 Video Game Exhibition
of the American Museum of the Moving Image and contains some interesting
insights as well as some awful errors and a fair serving of hyperbole. 
The latter relates some theories of Carl Jung to videogames.  While I 
cannot judge whether "the maze [in Pac-Man] is an archetype of the quest 
to find meaning in life" is spot on, hogwash or somewhere in between, the 
chapter does prod me into considering a study of Jung's work.

The only other offering, _Play it Again, Pac-Man_ by Charles Bernstein, is 
a hash of thought-provoking ideas, forced analogies, complete rubbish and 
some sort of mind-altering drug.  Here, try some:

"Like sex, good play on an arcade video game not only earns extra plays
but also extends and expands the length of the current play, with
the ultimate lure of an unlimited stretch of time in which the bell never
tolls ...."

I'm not sure what to make of that, so I think I'll let it pass without 
comment.

_The Medium of the Video Game_ also has a very nice Appendix containing
many links, books and other resources for further study.  Double points
and a gold star for this.

If you like something a bit deeper than the usual dreck that is written
on the subject of video games and you can avoid the awful parts, it's 
worth the $13.97 (amazon) price.