FRAGMENTS AND MICROHISTORIES OF THE EUROPEAN VIDEO GAME
- Dean Guadagno
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Óliver Pérez Latorre, Víctor Navarro Remesañ, Clara Fernández Vara
The cultural industry of video games was born in the United States and matured in Japan, each developing highly recognizable styles. But what about Europe? Does a European video game tradition exist? And if so, what defines it? Since the medium’s beginnings, Europe has been both a consumer and creator of video games, yet it is rarely considered independently. The label “European video game” isn’t used the same way as “European cinema.” Games like Disco Elysium, Beyond Good & Evil, La abadía del crimen, or The Witcher seem very different at first glance, yet all emerge from interconnected material, historical, and social contexts that have not yet been deeply conceptualized.
This book explores that gap from a historical perspective. Using the concept of microhistory—which views history not as a single unified narrative but as a set of small-scale, often personal stories—it presents fragments that encourage readers to think of European video games in the plural. The chapters themselves sometimes include fragments embedded within the text or combined into larger structures, offering multiple entry points into the idea of the European video game while deliberately avoiding linearity and centralization.
Bringing together authors from several European countries, the book discusses topics such as the market of consoles and microcomputers in Europe, literary adaptations, the introduction of video games in former Soviet states, and nationally produced clones of popular titles. It offers a fragmented journey through Spain, Italy, Finland, Poland, Sweden, and Belgium, shining light on overlooked and forgotten aspects of our immediate cultural context.
Did Europe experience a console crash? How were women portrayed in Spanish games of the 1980s? How did Swiss television begin talking about video games? Through questions like these, Fragments and Microhistories of the European Video Game invites readers to understand the medium’s history as something multifaceted and fragmentary—and to discover “European video game” as a fertile, still-unexplored category.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
LANGUAGE | BINDING | EDITION | ISBN | YEAR | PAGES |
Spanish | Paperback | 9788412893526 | 2024 | 228 |
OTHER NAMES
Fragments and Microhistories of the European Video Game
Fragmentos y microhistorias del videojuego europeo
TAGS
Publishers: #Shangrila (Shangrila Ediciones)
Languages: #Spanish
Format: #Paperback
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Year: #Year2024
Genres: #GameStudies #GlobalPerspective
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