{"title":"Game Histories Ser","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"building-simcity-book-chaim-gingold-9780262547482","title":"Building SimCity","description":"\u003cb\u003eA deep dive into the trailblazing simulation game \u003ci\u003eSimCity\u003c\/i\u003e, situating it in the history of games, simulation, and computing.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eBuilding SimCity\u003c\/i\u003e explores the history of computer simulation by chronicling one of the most influential simulation games ever made- \u003ci\u003eSimCity\u003c\/i\u003e. As author Chaim Gingold explains, Will Wright, the visionary designer behind the urban planning game, created \u003ci\u003eSimCity\u003c\/i\u003e in part to learn about cities, appropriating ideas from traditions in which computers are used as tools for modeling and thinking about the world as a complex system. As such, \u003ci\u003eSimCity\u003c\/i\u003e is a microcosm of the histories and cultures of computer simulation that engages with questions, themes, and representational techniques that reach back to the earliest computer simulations.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Gingold uses \u003ci\u003eSimCity\u003c\/i\u003e to explore a web of interrelated topics in the history of technology, software, and simulation, taking us far and wide-from the dawn of programmable computers to miniature cities made of construction paper and role-play. An unprecedented history of Maxis, the company founded to bring \u003ci\u003eSimCity\u003c\/i\u003e to market, the book reveals Maxis's complex relations with venture capitalists, Nintendo, and the Santa Fe Institute, which shaped the evolution of Will Wright's career; Maxis's failure to back \u003ci\u003eThe Sims\u003c\/i\u003e to completion; and the company's sale to Electronic Arts.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e A lavishly visual book, \u003ci\u003eBuilding SimCity\u003c\/i\u003e boasts a treasure trove of visual matter to help bring its wide-ranging subjects to life, including painstakingly crafted diagrams that explain \u003ci\u003eSimCity\u003c\/i\u003e's operation, the Kodachrome photographs taken by Charles Eames of schoolchildren making model cities, and Nintendo's manga-style \"Dr. Wright\" character design, just to name a few.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49869728088337,"sku":"NGR9780262547482","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50261530870033,"sku":"CIN0262547481VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50437766775057,"sku":"GOR013951067","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53339802337553,"sku":"GOR014859739","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262547481.jpg?v=1750843846"},{"product_id":"bounce-book-carlin-wing-9780262553216","title":"Bounce","description":"\u003cb\u003eA lively and insightful account that follows the bouncing ball through the history of nonelectronic and electronic games.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eBounce\u003c\/i\u003e follows an array of bouncing balls through the histories of nonelectronic and electronic games, across the spectrum of play, game, and sport, and into the domains of physics, material science, animation, and computing. The book's focus on bounce sidesteps the focus on play found in much of the game studies literature and broadens the scope of game history by spotlighting an interaction that is central to thousands of physical and digital games and sports.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The book is divided into three sections that introduce different kinds of bounce to address the matter of the ball, the virtuality of bounce, and bounded spectacle- Ricochet in ancient tennis is set against modern tennis's true bounce; squash and stretch in animation serves as a mirror of the pings and pongs of computer bounce; and the bounce feel in Electronic Art's \u003ci\u003eFIFA\u003c\/i\u003e video game series and pok ta pok of the Mesoamerican game ulama elaborate the contrasting positions of these two mythological games.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52153753436433,"sku":"NGR9780262553216","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780262553216.jpg?v=1769681179"},{"product_id":"king-pong-book-raiford-guins-9780262051330","title":"King PONG","description":"Why and how Atari s first video game Pong established an industry that shapes consumers  relationships to technology to this day. Pong is one of the longest, most consistently circulating video games. Released in 1972, it remains at our fingertips as an app from Google Play or Apple App Store, hosted at freepong.org and the Internet Archive, and even released as A Tiny Game of Pong for the Apple Watch. Despite its simplicity and ubiquity, Atari s Pong encapsulates far more than the history of a video game and iconic game company. King Pong is the first book dedicated to an unassuming game that changed the world. Through the prisms of product positioning, market development, and category creation, Raiford Guins answers the question of why Atari s inaugural product succeeded and why it endures. Author of Game After and Atari Design, and an excavator of the 'Atari landfill' in New Mexico, Guins brings us a unique history that reconsiders the launch of Atari s Pong from the perspective of the company s business practices. He follows the young West Coast startup from its early days first positioning its new product within the existing coin-op amusement industry in Silicon Valley to its later years establishing a consumer industry for home video games a story of remarkable market development innovation. Written with a passion for video games and a historian s insight, the book animates the business exploits of one of the fastest growing and most influential companies ever.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52356349526289,"sku":"NGR9780262051330","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53078760718609,"sku":"NIN9780262051330","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53543650001169,"sku":"GOR014957087","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780262051330.jpg?v=1769681111"},{"product_id":"soviet-blocks-book-julien-mailland-9780262054584","title":"Soviet Blocks","description":"\u003cb\u003eA geopolitical and legal history of the bestselling videogame Tetris--the stunningly successful game that began in a Soviet research lab monitored by the KGB.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Tetris--the game that would take the world by storm--was formally introduced to the West in 1987, at a time when Soviet technology exports were minimal and the Berlin Wall was still standing strong. Far from being a capitalist cultural product, the game had actually been designed in a Soviet computer lab tightly monitored by the KGB, at a time when Ronald Reagan referred to the USSR as the \"evil empire.\" \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e So, how did Tetris jump the wall to become such a blockbuster? And why does a US company, The Tetris Company (TTC), now own the game, when it was the property of Mother Russia? Why has TTC been able to monopolize both the shape of the pieces which predated Tetris and the very concept of an electronic puzzle game with falling pieces, which flies in the face of traditional copyright law? Why and how have Soviet socialists morphed into hardcore capitalists? In \u003ci\u003eSoviet Blocks\u003c\/i\u003e, Julien Mailland answers these questions and more, explaining the fascinating history of \u003ci\u003eTetris\u003c\/i\u003e' commercial success as a story of two systems radically opposed in histories, cultures, economics, and politics.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":53506166882577,"sku":"NGR9780262054584","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780262054584.jpg?v=1778107384"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/game-histories-ser-book-series.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}