Resources on electronic games

I encourage those of you interested in electronic fantasy games (console games, online multiplayer games, handheld games, etc.) to talk about them on this blog and to write about them in papers for this class, as long as the papers draw upon one or more critical works about electronic games and somehow address one or more texts on our syllabus as well. For example, The Library, the ultimate cult TV show depicted in Link's story "Magic for Beginners," would be very interesting to discuss in terms of Henry Jenkins' theories about fans as "poachers" -- though in the case of The Library, who is poaching whom?

Some resources:

Here's the website of Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game Research.

The Digiplay Initiative's online Games Research Bibliography includes 2,100 items so far. Click "Resources" in the toolbar at the top of the page, then "Quick Search," etc.

Henry Jenkins, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has written such books as From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games, Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture and Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. His blog is at www.henryjenkins.org. He summarizes the main themes of his work here. And here's an online article by Jenkins, "Transmedia Storytelling: Moving Characters from Books to Films to Video Games Can Make Them Stronger and More Compelling."

Gameology is another blog for people serious about game criticism and game theory.

The Serious Game Index includes links to games designed to help people think about social and scientific problems. For much more info on such things, visit the blogs of the Serious Games Initiative and of Games for Change.

These online syllabi for MIT courses on electronic games include links to a number of interesting online articles:

Game Design and Theory

Computer Games and Simulations for Investigation and Education

The new book Reading The Lord of the Rings: New Writings on Tolkien's Classic, edited by Robert Eaglestone, includes a chapter on LOTR games.

James Paul Gee's books include Why Video Games Are Good for Your Soul and What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.

Other books of interest include:

The Video Game Theory Reader, edited by Mark J. P. Wolf and Bernard Perron

The Medium of the Video Game, edited by Mark J. P. Wolf

ScreenPlay: Cinema/Videogames/Interfaces, by Tanya Krzywinska and Geoff King

And here's an article by Anne-Marie Schleiner with an irresistible title: Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons?

(For the links and suggestions, thanks to colleagues on the listserv of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts: Madeline Ashby, Gabe Chouinard, Jim Flannery, Stefan Hall, Kestrell, John Martin, Robin Reid, Don Riggs and Keli Rylance.)