{"title":"Game Histories","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the captivating Game Histories series, exploring the rich and often surprising stories behind your favourite video games. Perfect for gamers and history buffs alike, uncover the evolution of play.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"arcade-britannia-book-alan-meades-9780262544702","title":"Arcade Britannia","description":"\u003cb\u003eDiscover the rich, little-known history of the British amusement arcade from the 1800s to the present-with insights from industry professionals, plus rare archival photos!\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Amusement arcades are an important part of British culture, yet discussions of them tend to be based on American models. Alan Meades, who spent his childhood happily playing in British seaside arcades, presents the history of the arcade from its origins in traveling fairs of the 1800s to the present. Drawing on firsthand accounts of industry members and archival sources, including rare photographs and trade publications, he tells the story of the first arcades, the people who made the machines, the rise of video games, and the legislative and economic challenges spurred by public fears of moral decline.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eArcade Britannia\u003c\/i\u003e highlights the differences between British and North American arcades, especially in terms of the complex relationship between gambling and amusements. He also underlines Britain's role in introducing coin-operated technologies into Europe, as well as the industry's close links to America and, especially, Japan. He shows how the British arcade is a product of centuries of public play, gambling, entrepreneurship, and mechanization. Examining the arcade's history through technological, social, cultural, biographic, and legislative perspectives, he describes a pendulum shift between control and liberalization, as well as the continued efforts of concerned moralists to limit and regulate public play. Finally, he recounts the impact on the industry of legislative challenges that included vicious taxation, questions of whether copyright law applied to video-game code, and the peculiar moment when every arcade game in Britain was considered a cinema.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49667920855313,"sku":"GOR013767396","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49745124294929,"sku":"NGR9780262544702","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50332337111313,"sku":"GOR012741573","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52701474390289,"sku":"GOR014585850","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52829786734865,"sku":"GOR014633023","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262544709.jpg?v=1750843840"},{"product_id":"homebrew-gaming-and-the-beginnings-of-vernacular-digitality-book-melanie-swalwell-9780262044776","title":"Homebrew Gaming and the Beginnings of Vernacular Digitality","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe overlooked history of an early appropriation of digital technology: the creation of games though coding and hardware hacking by microcomputer users.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, low-end microcomputers offered many users their first taste of computing. A major use of these inexpensive 8-bit machines--including the TRS System 80s and the Sinclair, Atari, Microbee, and Commodore ranges--was the development of homebrew games. Users with often self-taught programming skills devised the graphics, sound, and coding for their self-created games. In this book, Melanie Swalwell offers a history of this era of homebrew game development, arguing that it constitutes a significant instance of the early appropriation of digital computing technology. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Drawing on interviews and extensive archival research on homebrew creators in 1980s Australia and New Zealand, Swalwell explores the creation of games on microcomputers as a particular mode of everyday engagement with new technology. She discusses the public discourses surrounding microcomputers and programming by home coders; user practices; the development of game creators' ideas, with the game Donut Dilemma as a case study; the widely practiced art of hardware hacking; and the influence of 8-bit aesthetics and gameplay on the contemporary game industry. With Homebrew Gaming and the Beginnings of Vernacular Digitality, Swalwell reclaims a lost chapter in video game history, connecting it to the rich cultural and media theory around everyday life and to critical perspectives on user-generated content.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49740434899217,"sku":"NGR9780262044776","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53254635684113,"sku":"GOR012008594","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262044773.jpg?v=1751324111"},{"product_id":"game-wizards-book-jon-peterson-9780262542951","title":"Game Wizards","description":"Discover the colorful history of the table-top RPG phenomenon, Dungeons \u0026amp; Dragons, as a D\u0026amp;D expert examines its surprising successes, setbacks, and controversies.  “The battle over Dungeons \u0026amp; Dragons was the ultimate geek war.” —Wired  When Dungeons \u0026amp; Dragons was first released to a small hobby community, it hardly seemed destined for mainstream success—and yet this arcane tabletop role-playing game became an unlikely pop culture phenomenon. In Game Wizards, Jon Peterson chronicles the rise of Dungeons \u0026amp; Dragons from hobbyist pastime to mass market sensation, from the initial collaboration to the later feud of its creators, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Inside you’ll learn about:  • Gygax and Arneson’s first meeting and their work toward the 1974 release • The founding of TSR and its growth as a company • Arneson’s acrimonious departure and subsequent challenges to TSR • \"Satanic Panic\" accusations that plagued D\u0026amp;D—and boosted its popularity • TSR’s reckless expansion and near-fatal corporate infighting • And much more!  With Game Wizards, Peterson restores historical particulars long obscured by competing narratives spun by the one-time partners. That record amply demonstrates how the turbulent experience of creating something as momentous as Dungeons \u0026amp; Dragons can make people remember things a bit differently from the way they actually happened.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49777962909969,"sku":"NGR9780262542951","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50095663972625,"sku":"CIN0262542951G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50201786319121,"sku":"CIN0262542951VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50406512296209,"sku":"GOR013935999","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50916167713041,"sku":"GOR014121485","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50918498959633,"sku":"GOR012358087","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51000596922641,"sku":"NIN9780262542951","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262542951.jpg?v=1751421846"},{"product_id":"debugging-game-history-book-raiford-guins-9780262034197","title":"Debugging Game History","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEssays discuss the terminology, etymology, and history of key terms, offering a foundation for critical historical studies of games.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEven as the field of game studies has flourished, critical historical studies of games have lagged behind other areas of research. Histories have generally been fact-by-fact chronicles; fundamental terms of game design and development, technology, and play have rarely been examined in the context of their historical, etymological, and conceptual underpinnings. This volume attempts to debug the flawed historiography of video games. It offers original essays on key concepts in game studies, arranged as in a lexicon--from Amusement Arcade to Embodiment and Game Art to Simulation and World Building. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten by scholars and practitioners from a variety of disciplines, including game development, curatorship, media archaeology, cultural studies, and technology studies, the essays offer a series of distinctive critical takes on historical topics. 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This volume fills that gap, providing a diverse set of perspectives on wargaming's past, present, and future. In \u003ci\u003eZones of Control\u003c\/i\u003e, contributors consider wargames played for entertainment, education, and military planning, in terms of design, critical analysis, and historical contexts. They consider both digital and especially tabletop games, most of which cover specific historical conflicts or are grounded in recognizable real-world geopolitics. Game designers and players will find the historical and critical contexts often missing from design and hobby literature; military analysts will find connections to game design and the humanities; and academics will find documentation and critique of a sophisticated body of cultural work in which the complexity of military conflict is represented in ludic systems and procedures.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach section begins with a long anchoring chapter by an established authority, which is followed by a variety of shorter pieces both analytic and anecdotal. Topics include the history of playing at war; operations research and systems design; wargaming and military history; wargaming's ethics and politics; gaming irregular and non-kinetic warfare; and wargames as artistic practice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eContributors\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eJeremy Antley, Richard Barbrook, Elizabeth M. 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