Perspectives on the European Videogame / / ed. by Óliver Pérez-Latorre, Víctor Navarro-Remesal.

• MitwirkendeR: Blanchet, Alexis,; Fernández-Vara, Clara,; Garin, Manuel,; Gualeni, Stefano,; Karhulahti, Veli-Matti,; Mortensen, Torill Elvira,; Navarro-Remesal, Víctor,; Newman, James,; Oliva, Mercè,; Paasonen, Susanna,; Planells de la Maza, Antonio José,; Pérez-Latorre, Óliver,; Vella, Daniel,; Zagalo, Nelson,; Švelch, Jaroslav,
• HerausgeberIn: Navarro-Remesal, Víctor,; Pérez-Latorre, Óliver,
• Place / Publishing House: Amsterdam : : Amsterdam University Press, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Games and Play ; 6
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (236 p.)

The history of European videogames has so far been overshadowed by the global impact of the Japanese and North American industries. However, European game development studios have played a major role in videogame history, and many prominent videogames in popular culture, such as Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, Alone in the Dark, and The Witcher, were made in Europe. This book proposes an inquiry into European videogames, including both analyses of transnational aspects of European production and close readings of national specificities. It offers a kaleidoscope of European videogame culture, focusing on the analysis of European works and creators but also addressing contextual aspects and placing videogames within a wider sociocultural and philosophical ground. The aim of this collective work is to contribute to the creation of a, until now, almost non-existent yet necessary academic endeavour: a story and critical exploration of the works, authors, styles, and cultures of the European videogame.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Prologue -- Introduction -- Part I National Stories -- 1. National Games: Spanish Games of the 1980s -- 2. From Le Vampire Fou to Billy la Banlieue : Genre, Influences and Social Commentary in 1980s French Videogames -- 3. Finnish Fuck Games: A Lost Historical Footnote -- 4. Adopting an Orphaned Platform : The Second Life of the Sharp MZ-800 in Czechoslovakia -- 5. Cuthbert Goes Cloning : Ports, Platforms, and the Dragon 32 Microcomputer -- Part II Transnational Approaches -- 6. Masterpiece! Auteurism and European Videogames -- 7. Playing European Comic Books : The Videogame Adaptations of Astérix and Tintin, 1993–1997 -- 8. Existential Ludology and Peter Wessel Zapffe -- 9. Europe Simulates Europe : How European Analogue Games Frame their Own Identity -- 10. Naturalist Tendency in European Narrative Games -- Conclusions (for now) -- Index