Downright Bizarre Games pokes fun at the video game industry, an entertainment business that often takes itself much too seriously. This is a hilarious look at the odd side of the industry, from games outside of the norm to bad art and outlandish dialogue. Also featured are unfortunate headlines, marketing fiascos and publicity stunts gone awry. All these eccentric and strange events are documented within this book which gaming professionals wish had never seen print.
Downright Bizarre Games pokes fun at the video game industry, an entertainment business that often takes itself much too seriously. This is a hilarious look at the odd side of the industry, from games outside of the norm to bad art and outlandish dialogue. Also featured are unfortunate headlines, marketing fiascos and publicity stunts gone awry. All these eccentric and strange events are documented within this book which gaming professionals wish had never seen print.
Downright Bizarre Games: Video Games that Crossed the Line pokes fun at the video game industry, an entertainment business that often takes itself much too seriously. This is a hilarious look at the odd side of the industry, from games outside of the norm to bad art and outlandish dialogue. Also featured are unfortunate headlines, marketing fiascos and publicity stunts gone awry. All these eccentric and strange events are documented within this book which gaming professionals wish had never seen print.
A bumper collection of facts about video games from YouTuber extraordinaire, Larry Bundy Jr, this book will debunk myths and urban legends, delve into developers' biggest successes and failures, explore the odd characters behind the games and unearth the obscure, the forgotten, the cancelled and the abandoned aspects of the gaming world. For the past decade, Larry has painstakingly trawled through countless old magazines, routinely harassed developers, and blackmailed journalists to uncover these amazing tidbits and anecdotes that would have fallen by the wayside of history. Now he has compiled them into a fun, full-colour book with sections on botched game launches, pointless peripherals, unreleased video game movies, weird guest fighters and much, much more. Along the way, he has invited a few famous gaming guests, including Stuart Ashen and Did You Know Gaming?, to provide their favourite quips for your personal perusal. So whatever your level of knowledge about video games, you’re guaranteed to learn a ton of entertaining new information.
In Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of, Stuart Ashen has created a collection of hilarious and damning reviews of some of the most bizarre, frustrating, pointless and downright terrible video games ever made. And he would know. . . he's played them all. Dripping with wry humour and featuring the best, worst graphics from the games themselves, this book encapsulates the atrocities produced in the days of tight budgets and low quality controls. These are the most appalling games that ever leaked from the industry's tear ducts and have long since been (rightly) relegated to the dusty shelves of history. Welcome to a world of games you never knew existed. You will probably wish you still didn't.
Bugs, brains, and boiled sheep—a truly extreme dining guide for fans of Anthony Bourdain’s Extreme Cuisine Is comfort food getting a little too comfortable? Then grab a plate at the Fierce Foodbuffet, where the world’s most extraordinary foods are dished up for your pleasure. Start the meal with Mexican chapulines, or grasshoppers, and then move along to the Kazakhstan boiled sheep’s head, where the eyeball is reserved for the most honored guest. And if necessary, ease your queasy stomach with dried clay. An alphabetical survey of the world’s most amazing and unusual edibles, Fierce Fooddescribes what these foods are and where they’re from, and how they’re captured, foraged, or, even putrefied. Readers also learn how the foods are traditionally served and eaten-and best of all, what they taste like, because if you can’t actually bring yourself to eat Filipino embryonic duck eggs, reading about it is the next best thing. Fierce Foodis a fascinating exploration of global cultures that definitively proves the old adage, “one man’s meat is another man's poison.”
This volume examines fifty of the most important video games that have contributed significantly to the history, development, or culture of the medium, providing an overview of video games from their beginning to the present day. This volume covers a variety of historical periods and platforms, genres, commercial impact, artistic choices, contexts of play, typical and atypical representations, uses of games for specific purposes, uses of materials or techniques, specific subcultures, repurposing, transgressive aesthetics, interfaces, moral or ethical impact, and more. Key video games featured include Animal Crossing, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, PONG, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and World of Warcraft. Each game is closely analyzed in order to properly contextualize it, to emphasize its prominent features, to show how it creates a unique experience of gameplay, and to outline the ways it might speak about society and culture. The book also acts as a highly accessible showcase to a range of disciplinary perspectives that are found and practiced in the field of game studies. With each entry supplemented by references and suggestions for further reading, Fifty Key Video Games is an indispensable reference for anyone interested in video games.
In this unorthodox guide to the City by the Bay, an intrepid columnist gives his twisted take on the city--from the bank that was robbed by Patty Hearst to the Chinatown restaurant with the rudest waiters in the city. 2-color throughout.
From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe: everything you never knew you never knew about every country on Earth.A scientist by training and an explorer by passion, Dr. John Oldale has logged half a million miles visiting more than ninety nations. Now, he celebrates our weird and wonderful world in a cornucopia of fascinating facts brought vividly to life through the unexpected stories behind them. Touching on history, travel, politics, natural history and more, he paints a unique portrait of each country from the mightiest to the most miniscule. You won't find the following in your average travel guide: · Why is kissing on trains banned in France? · In what country are litigants expected to present their case at court in the form of a poem? · Which war did women win in 1929 just by sitting down? · If Panama hats aren’t from Panama, where are they from? · Who eat fresh camel dung as a cure for dysentery (and why does it work)? · Why were US disk jockeys once told they could play birthday requests on any day except the one requested? · Which modern dictator banned old age, libraries and gold teeth, and was later replaced by his dentist? · And 2,000 more funny, trivial, poignant, and telling facts A must for active and armchair globe-trotters alike, A World of Curiosities will engross anyone who is at all curious about the world beyond their door. Explore and enjoy.
This book is devoted to emotional and narrative immersion in the experience of gameplay. The focus of our research is the complex interplay between the story and mechanics in digital games. Our goal is to demonstrate how the narrative and the ludic elements together can form unique player experiences. The volume is a collection of case studies involving close reading of selected independent titles, with focus placed on the themes, motifs and experimental approaches to gameplay present therein.
