The Meaning of Video Games: Gaming and Textual Strategies

The Meaning of Video Games takes a textual studies approach to an increasingly important form of expression in today s culture. Citing specific examples such as Myst and Lost , Katamari Damacy , Halo , Façade , Nintendo s Wii , and Will Wright s Spore , the book explores the ways in which textual studies concepts authorial intention, textual variability and performance, the paratext, publishing history and the social text can shed light on video games as more than formal systems. It treats video games as cultural forms of expression that are received as they are played, out in the world, where their meanings get made.