[game_preservation] History of Videogames in an hour?

[Devin Monnens]

Thanks Henry, I will check this out.

I like the idea of several thematic videos. I can see a history of games up
to the NES as probably being ok, but I think including the ESRB in there
might be good.

I think what might work is Ralph Baer/Brown Box, Arcades, Atari, Nintendo,
and hopefully ESRB. It looks like there are 20-minute episodes of Icons
about all of these, and there's a Ralph Baer documentary online. I can
entertain this as a possibility if there's no printed source. I figure cover
the history that is commonly cited, especially the bits from before the
students were born!

-Devin

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 3:55 PM, Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu> wrote:


> **

> Devin,

>

> I doubt that you will find an essay that covers this topic in 15-20 pages,

> unless you are receptive to a thematic treatment, as opposed to

> comprehensive coverage (basically impossible in that format).   I've tried

> to this (i.e., a thematic treatment) once:

>

> "A Brief Biography of Computer Games," in: Playing Computer Games: Motives,

> Responses, and Consequences, eds. Peter Vorderer and Jennings Bryant.

> (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006): 25-41.

>

> It's readable in an hour, and it might spur discussion, but it's anything

> but comprehensive or chronologically organized.

>

> As for video, I still think a thematic treatment would be best.  I'm not

> sure what the many video chronologies give you (other than screenshots and

> captures) that a timeline does not, and I'm not a huge fan of timelines

> either.   Jason Scott's "Get Lamp" would be excellent.  Longer than an hour,

> and not comprehensive (just about text adventures), however, I think it

> would get a lot of discussion going.

>

> Henry

>

>

> On 7/30/2011 3:33 PM, Devin Monnens wrote:

>

> Hi guys,

>

>  It's that time of year. Cleaning up my syllabus for the Fall 2011

> semester. I still have that same old problem of finding a good article or

> video that will cover the history of videogames pretty decently and in a

> relatively short span of time. So far, I've yet to find anything really

> condensed outside of Wikipedia, and I'd rather not use them.

>

>  I may direct my students back to Dot Eaters. It's pretty detailed, but

> doesn't cover as much history as I'd like. I'm staying away from timelines

> because they don't seem to communicate that much. However, Steve Kent has a

> 40-page timeline that seems pretty decent - just no images or illustrations.

>

>  I am also considering videos. There's some history of videogames videos

> on YouTube, but most of them contain lots of cursing (IrateGamer's seemed

> like a good start though).  This clip is a nice, short timeline, though it

> doesn't show a lot of the significance of the games and who made them.

>

>  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yn4JRsmyy4

>

>  Any thoughts on a good, short history?

>

>  -Devin

>

> --

> Devin Monnens

> www.deserthat.com

>

> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>

>

> _______________________________________________

> game_preservation mailing list

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>

>

> --

> Henry Lowood

> Curator, History of Science & Technology Collections;

>    Film & Media Collections

> HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.eduhttp://www.stanford.edu/~lowood

>

>



-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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