Foreword / Toru Iwatani -- Introduction / Mark J.P. Wolf -- Africa / Wesley Kirinya -- Arab World / Radwan Kasmiya -- Argentina / Graciela Alicia Esnaola Horacek, Alejandro Iparraguirre, Guillermo Averbuj, and María Luján Oulton -- Australia / Thomas H. Apperley and Daniel Golding -- Austria / Konstantin Mitgutsch and Herbert Rosenstingl -- Brazil / Lynn Rosalina Gama Alves -- Canada / Dominic Arsenault and Louis-Martin Guay -- China / Anthony Y.H. Fung and Sara Xueting Liao -- Colombia / Luis Parra and Global Game Designers Guild (GGDG) -- Czech Republic / Patrik Vacek -- Finland / Frans Mäyrä -- France / Alexis Blanchet -- Germany / Andreas Lange and Michael Liebe -- Hong Kong / Benjamin Wai-ming Ng -- Hungary / Tamás Beregi -- India / Souvik Mukherjee -- Indonesia / Inaya Rakhmani and Hikmat Darmawan -- Iran / Ahmad Ahmadi -- Ireland / Deborah Mellamphy -- Italy / Enrico Gandolfi -- Japan / Jennifer deWinter -- Mexico / Humberto Cervera and Jacinto Quesnel -- The Netherlands / Christel van Grinsven and Joost Raessens -- New Zealand / Melanie Swalwell -- Peru / Arturo Nakasone -- Poland / P. Konrad Budziszewski -- Portugal / Nelson Zagalo -- Russia / Alexander Fedorov -- Scandinavia / Lars Konzack -- Singapore / Peichi Chung -- South Korea / Peichi Chung -- Spain / Manuel Garin and Víctor Manuel Martínez -- Switzerland / Matthieu Pellet and David Javet -- Thailand / Songsri Soranastaporn -- Turkey / Cetin Tuker, Erdal Yılmaz, and Kursat Cagiltay -- United Kingdom / Tristan Donovan -- United States of America / Mark J.P. Wolf -- Uruguay / Gonzalo Frasca -- Venezuela / Thomas H. Apperley.
Summary:
Video games have become a global industry, and their history spans dozens of national industries where foreign imports compete with domestic productions, legitimate industry contends with piracy, and national identity faces the global marketplace. This volume describes video game history and culture across every continent, with essays covering areas as disparate and far-flung as Argentina and Thailand, Hungary and Indonesia, Iran and Ireland. Most of the essays are written by natives of the countries they discuss, many of them game designers and founders of game companies, offering distinctively firsthand perspectives. Some of these national histories appear for the first time in English, and some for the first time in any language. Readers will learn, for example, about the rapid growth of mobile games in Africa; how a meat-packing company held the rights to import the Atari VCS 2600 into Mexico; and how the Indonesian MMORPG Nusantara Online reflects that country's cultural history and folklore. Every country or region's unique conditions provide the context that shapes its national industry; for example, the long history of computer science in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, the problems of piracy in China, the PC Bangs of South Korea, or the Dutch industry's emphasis on serious games. As these essays demonstrate, local innovation and diversification thrive alongside productions and corporations with global aspirations.--Publisher website.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.