Tagged: videogames

Pop Icons as a Text

by bmckernan While most of us have most likely had our fill of news stories related to the tragic death of pop icon Michael Jackson courtesy of the media’s seemingly daily obsession with the story, a recent blog post by games journalist Jeremy Parish at 1up.com provides some rather unique cultural insight into Michael Jackson reminiscent of Raymond William’s notion of a society or social group’s “structure of feeling.”

“Playing” a book or “reading” a game?

by bmckernan A recent NY Times article examines the blurring of literature and videogames by looking at efforts made by book publishers to promote their books with corresponding videogames. One such example, the popular series The Software, includes a videogame companion that forces players to read the corresponding books in order to find clues necessary to progress in the game. While some may criticize videogames as a shallow medium relative to literature, others suggest that videogames may actually help develop...