Publisher Description

Playing the Past brings together an eclectic group of young scholars to examine the complementary notions of history and nostalgia as they are expressed through video games and in gaming culture. By focusing on specific games (e.g., Ms. Pac-Man and JFK: Reloaded), historical periods and media ecologies, these essays collectively take an in depth look at the related topics of nostalgia for classic gaming, gaming and histories of other media, and representations of real history in video games.

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An eclectic group of scholars examines the complementary notions of history and nostalgia as they are expressed through video games and in gaming culture.

Author Biography

Laurie N. Taylor, PhD, researches video games and digital media at the University of Florida. Her articles have appeared in Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game Research, Media/Culture, Computers and Composition Online and Works & Days. Zach Whalen, a PhD Fellow at the University of Florida, edits the game studies blog Gameology.org and is Production Editor for ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies.

Table of Contents

Contents 1. Playing the Past, an Introduction Laurie N. Taylor and Zach Whalen 2. Why Old School is 'Cool': A Brief Analysis of Classic Video Game Nostalgia Sean Fenty 3. Homesick for Silent Hill: Fans' Negotiation of Textual Identity in Responses to Silent Hill 4: The Room Natasha Whiteman 4. Playing the Deja-New: 'Plug it in and Play TV Games' and the Cultural Politics of Classic Gaming Matthew Thomas Payne 5. Hacks, Mods, Easter Eggs, and Fossils: Intentionality and Digitalism in the Video Game Wm. Ruffin Bailey 6. Screw the Grue: Mediality, Metalepsis, Recapture Terry Harpold 7. Unlimited Minutes: Playing Games in the Palm of Your Hand Sheila C. Murphy 8. Visions and Revisions of the Hollywood Golden Age and America in the Thirties and Forties: Prince of Persia and Crimson Skies Andrew E. Jankowich 9. Toward a New Sound for Games Thomas E. Gersic 10. Remembrance of Things Fast: Understanding Nostalgia and Affect in the Battlestar Galactica Digital Game Anna Reading and Colin Harvey 11. Just Less Than 'Total War:' Simulating World War II as Ludic Nostalgia James Campbell 12. Performing the (Virtual) Past: Online Character Interpretation as Living History at Old Sturbridge Village Scott Magelssen 13. 'Documentary' Games: Putting the Player in the Path of History Tracy Fullerton 14. Of Puppets, Automatons, and Avatars: Automating the Reader-Player in Electronic Literature and Computer Games Robert P. Fletcher

Review

Essential
--Choice

Review Quote

Essential. --"Choice"

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