Extra Lives

Tom Bissell is a prizewinning writer who published three widely acclaimed books before the age of thirty four He is also an obsessive gamer who has spent untold hours in front of his various video game consoles, playing titles such as Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, BioShock, andOblivion for, literally, days If you are reading this flap copy, the same thing can probably be said of you, or of someone you know Until recently, Bissell was somewhat reluctant to admit to his passion for games In this, he is not alone Millions of adults spend hours every week playing video games, and the industry itself now reliably outearns Hollywood But the wider culture seems to regard video games as, at best, well designed if mindless entertainment Extra Lives is an impassioned defense of this assailed and misunderstood art form Bissell argues that we are in a golden age of gaming but he also believes games could be even better He offers a fascinating and often hilarious critique of the ways video games dazzle and, just as often, frustrate Along the way, we get firsthand portraits of some of the best minds Jonathan Blow, Clint Hocking, Cliff Bleszinski, Peter Molyneux at work in video game design today, as well as a shattering and deeply moving final chapter that describes, in searing detail, Bissell s descent into the world of Grand Theft Auto IV, a game whose themes mirror his own increasingly self destructive compulsions Blending memoir, criticism, and first rate reportage, Extra Lives is like no other book on the subject ever published Whether you love video games, loathe video games, or are merely curious about why they are becoming the dominant popular art form of our time, Extra Lives is required reading. Free Download [ Extra Lives ] by [ Tom Bissell ] – kino-fada.fr The title of this book is Extra Lives Why Video Games Matter I normally wouldn t begin a review with such a mundane sentence, but it is vital to understanding my reaction to the book The eponymous question is never answered in this volume The question appears to be an excuse for publishing the most self indulgent essays I ve read since some of my reviews on this site At least, Bissell is honest about his bias against PC games I can understand that It s very clear from the games that he The title of this book is Extra Lives Why Video Games Matter I normally wouldn t begin a review with such a mundane sentence, but it is vital to understanding my reaction to the book The eponymous question is never answered in this volume The question appears to be an excuse for publishing the most self indulgent essays I ve read since s...I m a gamer, plain and simple And what I find funny and part of the reason why I wanted to read this book is that, unlike movies and books and music, I can very seldom find myself in a position to have a conversation about games without feeling like a child or just plain awkward For the life of me, I really don t know why I have played games which have entertained and moved me just as deeply as some movies, books, and music So why are Video games still the bastard child of entertainment Extr I m a gamer, plain and simple And what I find funny and part of the reason why I wanted to read this book is that, unlike movies and books and music, I can very seldom find myself in a position to have a conversation about games without feeling like a child or just plain awkward For the life of me, I really don t know why I have played games which have entertained and moved me just as deeply as some movies, books, and music So why are Video games still the bastard child of entertainment Extra Lives attempts to touch upon this question as well as analyze the media s strengths and weaknesses in character design, narrative, etc in comparison to the oth...Though I don t play as often as I used to, I consider myself a gamer I like the idea of someone unpacking the idea of why video games matter, and I think that topic would make for a good book Unfortunately, Extra Lives is not that book The problem is not that I necessarily disagree with Bissell s opinions on whether or not games matter the problem is that the book really isn t about that topic at all.The title isthan a little misleading While Bissell doesn t spend much if any time Though I don t play as often as I used to, I consider myself a gamer I like the idea of someone unpacking the idea of why video games matter, and I think that topic would make for a good book Unfortunately, Extra Lives is not that book The problem is not that I necessarily disagree with Bissell s opinions on whether or not games matter the problem is that the book really isn t about that topic at all.The title isthan a little misleading While Bissell doesn t spend much if any time discussing why video games matter, a significant amount of time is spent detailing the aspects of narrative based games that Bissell finds problematic More often than not, this hinges on the writing in the games the subtext of which seems to be that ...Now that I have a kid, I don t have time for anything but work and him, and, if I m lucky, a few hours with my wife after the kid goes to sleep Most nights, after putting him to bed and making dinner and cleaning up, there s an hour If I get up early enough, I have an hour to myself in the morning, which I usually use to exercise Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body I don t know. But I m hedging my bets All of this is to say that I don t play video games any The Now that I have a kid, I don t have time for anything but work and him, and, if I...I enjoyed reading this book despite the glaring literariness of the writing Oh right, and the fact that women only enter this book as prostitutes also whores as in, Las Vegas was the world s whore, and whores do not change Whores collapse and irritated girlfriends Indeed, when it appears that women might actually participate in some way in the gaming world, Bissell cannot comprehend I noted the number of attractive young women wandering about the premises of Ubisoft and began I enjoyed reading this book despite the glaring literariness of the writing Oh right, and the fact that women only enter t...This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers To view it, click here The thing is, if you re going to write a nonfiction book and include some autobiographical elements, like your own experiences playing video games, you ve got to face the fact that it can either enrich your narrative, adding a personal voice to the information you re presenting, or it can drive your reader absolutely ballistic because you re being kind of annoying.Unfortunately, Tom Bissell s Most Favoritest Moments in Video Games falls under the latter category Rather than answering the questi The thing is, if you re going to write a nonfiction book and include some autobiographical elements, like ...One of the most consistent criticisms I see in other negative reviews of this book is that Tom Bissell s tone is puzzlingly ambivalent I have to unfortunately agree with this criticism, as after I finished the book the only take away I had from his argument was that games have apparently a myriad of structural problems that seem to him almost impossible to surmount I find this really strange, as although I tend to favour arguments that don t neglect the weakspots blindspots of their subjec One of the most consistent criticisms I see in other negative reviews of this book is that Tom Bissell s tone is puzzlingly ambivalent I have to unfortunately agree with this criticism, as after I finished the book the only take away I had from h...An attempt at serious critique of video games The author looks at a handful of the bigger titles, some industry personalities, and gets some things off his chest I take exception to the method in approaching critique of video games herein The author treats video games as a genre vs a medium and then breaking out into genres Result is trying to get hardcore games to speak for the whole Better would have been to discuss the medium then focus on genre and explain why these are important are An attempt at serious critique of video games The author looks at a handful of the bigger titles, some industry personalities, and gets some things off his chest I take exception to the method in approaching critique of video ga...It s a tough sell The author has to make his book accessible enough for non gamers, but still interesting enough for gamers of all levels As a result, this book veers erratically between a genuinely entertaining experiential account of the author s video gaming habits, and a boring, dime a dozen primer on video games For example, the blow by blow recounting of the opening minutes of Resident Evil might be interesting to someone who has never played the game before, but as someone who has pl It s a tough sell The author has to make his book accessible enough for non gamers, but still interesting enough for gamers of all levels As a result, this book veers erratically between a genuinely entertaining experiential account of the author s video gaming habits, and a boring, dime a dozen primer on video games For example, the blow by blow recounting of the opening minutes of Resident Evil might be interesting to someone who has never played the game before, but as someone who has played that game and especially that section of that gametimes than he cares to admit, I found that there were very few actual insights in this chapter.I recently listened to an interview with the author on the Brainy Gamer podcast The pre defined audience of this podcast allowed him to go into a lot of detail regarding his thoughts on the relationship between cocaine and GTA IV, and I was left wondering why he couldn t have included these thoughts ...I think I come to this book from a much different direction than a lot of people I m not a gamer Or rather, not anyMy days of gaming ended when I got married and had babies and I never ever got back into that scene in the same way, probably because I just didn t have time, and I enjoyed the human interactive element of computers too much, chat rooms and discussion boards and the like Also there s the whole book reading obsession I was never going to find the kind of time for games tha I think I come to this book from a much different direction than a lot of people I m not a gamer Or rather, not anyMy days of gaming ended when I got married and had babies and I never ever got back into that scene in the same way, probably because I just didn t have time, and I enjoyed the human interactive element of computers too much, chat rooms and discussion boards and the like Also there s the whole book reading obsession I was never going to find the kind of time for games that I have for books.So there s this whole evolution of gaming that sort of passed me by, and curiosity about what exactly was going on in those games kind of drew me to this book and I wasn t disappointed The author talks about all the different console games he has obsessed over and spent huge chunks of his life on, and in doing so brings about a very fascinating discussion of the elements of those games and what works and doesn t work I really enjoyed the whole analysis of story and why it is so difficult ...

• English
• 26 January 2018
Tom Bissell
• Paperback
• 204 pages
• 0307378705
• Tom Bissell
• Extra Lives