04313nam 2200709Ia 450 991080763640332120200520144314.00-262-26152-90-262-25493-X(CKB)1000000000721253(EBL)3338983(SSID)ssj0000232066(PQKBManifestationID)11186602(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000232066(PQKBWorkID)10207839(PQKB)10230218(CaBNVSL)mat06267193(IDAMS)0b000064818b414f(IEEE)6267193(OCoLC)312933472(OCoLC)505030498(OCoLC)646793857(OCoLC)764509260(OCoLC)939263721(OCoLC)961491021(OCoLC)962571386(OCoLC)967760455(OCoLC)968299075(OCoLC)988508160(OCoLC)991982610(OCoLC)992059009(OCoLC)1037915419(OCoLC)1038666160(OCoLC)1045474410(OCoLC)1055394437(OCoLC)1059017329(OCoLC)1059035032(OCoLC)1066490163(OCoLC)1081235354(OCoLC-P)312933472(MaCbMITP)7588(Au-PeEL)EBL3338983(CaPaEBR)ebr10273929(OCoLC)939263721(MiAaPQ)EBC3338983(EXLCZ)99100000000072125320080701d2009 uy 0engur|n|---|||||txtccrRacing the beam the Atari Video computer system /Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost1st ed.Cambridge, Mass. MIT Pressc20091 online resource (193 p.)Platform studiesDescription based upon print version of record.0-262-01257-X Includes bibliographical references and index.Contents; Series Foreword; Acknowledgments; Timeline; 1 Stella; 2 Combat; 3 Adventure; 4 Pac-Man; 5 Yars' Revenge; 6 Pitfall!; 7 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back; 8 After the Crash; Afterword on Platform Studies; Notes; Bibliography; IndexThe Atari Video Computer System dominated the home video game market so completely that "Atari" became the generic term for a video game console. The Atari VCS was affordable and offered the flexibility of changeable cartridges. Nearly a thousand of these were created, the most significant of which established new techniques, mechanics, and even entire genres. This book offers a detailed and accessible study of this influential video game console from both computational and cultural perspectives. Studies of digital media have rarely investigated platforms--the systems underlying computing. This book (the first in a series of Platform Studies) does so, developing a critical approach that examines the relationship between platforms and creative expression. Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost discuss the Atari VCS itself and examine in detail six game cartridges: Combat, Adventure, Pac-Man, Yars' Revenge, Pitfall!, and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. They describe the technical constraints and affordances of the system and track developments in programming, gameplay, interface, and aesthetics. Adventure, for example, was the first game to represent a virtual space larger than the screen (anticipating the boundless virtual spaces of such later games as World of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto), by allowing the player to walk off one side into another space; and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was an early instance of interaction between media properties and video games. Montfort and Bogost show that the Atari VCS--often considered merely a retro fetish object--is an essential part of the history of video games.Platform studies.Atari 2600 (Video game console)Computer gamesProgrammingVideo gamesEquipment and suppliesVideo gamesUnited StatesHistoryAtari 2600 (Video game console)Computer gamesProgramming.Video gamesEquipment and supplies.Video gamesHistory.794.8Montfort Nick625122Bogost Ian625118MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910807636403321Racing the beam4055006UNINA