Alexis Blanchet, Björn-Olav Dozo, Mathieu Triclot, Selim Ammouche
French research on video games has regularly used French specialized press as a source without ever being studied and questioned in its own right. This press, which developed from the 1980s to the 2000s, nevertheless enjoys significant readership, primarily among a young male audience. It introduced new technical and critical vocabulary into the French language, developed its own modes of discourse about an emerging form of entertainment, and ultimately contributed to the construction of a new gaming culture.
"Reading Video Game Magazines" offers two innovations for the study of video game journalism. The first lies in the examination of a French corpus, shedding new light on existing work on Anglo-Saxon gaming press and the formation of gaming cultures. The second lies in the multiplication of approaches to a press that has mainly been mobilized for the study of video games. This book offers a unique exploration of its content, from the perspective of game studies, as well as media studies, cultural and Japanese studies, digital humanities, critical writing, and philosophy of technology.
Playfully inspired by the sections of magazines from the golden era, from editorials to previews, tests, event coverage, and reader feedback, as well as the role of advertisements and the magazine's masthead, the content of this volume aims to reflect precisely this diversity of approaches and topics. It delves into the legitimacy of specialized press, analyzes the professional trajectories of journalists, examines how video games are covered by professional and gaming press, highlights the overemphasis on technological progress, explores the treatment of Japanese popular culture, evaluates games through testing, criteria grids, and ratings, analyzes the advertisements featured in magazine pages, explores reader mail, classified ads, piracy, and the treatment of crunch by the mainstream press.
While these sections often testify to the invention of a lexicon — preview, test, tips — they also indicate the birth of specific communities and audiences, made even more unique by the focus on French-language press. The magazine object, both in form and content, subjected to analysis here, ultimately reveals a fascinating discursive performativity: to present video games for reading.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
LANGUAGE | BINDING | EDITION | ISBN | YEAR | PAGES |
French | Paperback | 9782875623300 | 2022 | 204 |
OTHER NAMES
Lire les magazines de jeux vidéo: Couverture(s) de la presse spécialisée française
TAGS
Publishers: #PressesUniversitairesDeLiège (Presses universitaires de Liège, Liège University Press)
Languages: #French
Format: #Paperback
Accessibility: N/A
Year: #Year2022
Genres: #GameStudies #GlobalPerspective
Companies:
N/A
Public Figures:
N/A
Games:
N/A
Misc:
#JeuPlaySpiel (Jeu / Play / Spiel Collection)
#Magazines (Gaming Magazines)