Power Up - A great read on the influence of Japanese games

[Oobgarm]

http://www.bradygames.com/title/0744004241

I just picked this book up yesterday, at Gamestop of all places. I haven't gotten the opportunity to sit down and really dig into it yet, but from the numerous parts of it I have read, it's very insightful, interesting, and very entertaining. I hope to sit down and read a good portion(if not all of it) this evening.

Power Up discusses the influence of Japanese gaming, and how they revived the gaming scene in the US.

It kinda feels like a really big research paper--it's got a bibliography in the back. And I saw that the author referenced Leonard Herman's Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of Videogames and even TheRedEye's Lost Levels site.

Sincere apologies if this was posted before, I couldn't find anything on it.

[GrayFox]

I just took a gander at the link you provided, and well, I can honestly say I wouldn't mind reading this book. It's just that, with this hard as nails Japanese course I'm already taking, reading in a recreational matter is hard to do now.

Shucks.


*That's pretty awesome how he reference RedEye's site though. Good stuff

[Daniel Thomas]

Longtime Digital Press junkies will recognize the author of this book. It's none other than Chris Kohler, who was a zine editor a decade ago. No wonder he used Leonard Herman's book as a reference; we were all the first ones to get copies when it was first published.

So when will Chris' book feature a quote from Russ Perry, Jr? Or is that something for book #2?

[TheRedEye]

http://www.bradygames.com/title/0744004241

I just picked this book up yesterday, at Gamestop of all places. I haven't gotten the opportunity to sit down and really dig into it yet, but from the numerous parts of it I have read, it's very insightful, interesting, and very entertaining. I hope to sit down and read a good portion(if not all of it) this evening.

Power Up discusses the influence of Japanese gaming, and how they revived the gaming scene in the US.

It kinda feels like a really big research paper--it's got a bibliography in the back. And I saw that the author referenced Leonard Herman's Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of Videogames and even TheRedEye's Lost Levels site.

Sincere apologies if this was posted before, I couldn't find anything on it.

I haven't read it yet, but Chris sent me a great sample chapter ages ago, so I can vouch for the book's awesomeness.

[Oobgarm]

If it means anything to anyone, he does acknowledge Jess Ragan.

[Spartacus]

You might prefer to find it here...
http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2....ORD=0744004241

or here...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

What can I say?..... I'm cheap.
I'm giving this a read because I've personaly never believed Japan 'revived' gaming. I do think Japan was in the right place at the right time to capitalize on an inevitable industry though. But hey, that's just my, albeit uneducated, personal opinion. I genuinely welcome the opportunity for this author to convince me otherwise. No matter how I feel about it after reading this book, I know Japan's grip on what games will or will not be published, here or there, is severly diminished. And I, for one, am very glad for it!

[kobunheatforum]

Hi guys! Sorry it took me so long to respond! Thanks so much for buying or planning to buy or just talking about Power-Up... I personally haven't even seen it in stores yet, but I know it's out there.

I know it's about twenty times more expensive than a copy of Video Zone, but I hope former faneds find it and enjoy it. And funny that you mention it, I finally did meet - and drink a beer with* - Russ.

*Anyone who remembers his fanzine will understand the significance.

[slapdash]

Heh...

Total aside, but I have SO MUCH beer in my fridge right now... And the cupboard next to the fridge since it didn't all fit. Man, I'm stocked.

[Aussie2B]

Interesting. o_O My interest in gaming lies mostly with Japanese games, and I'm a sucker for Japanese gaming history and industry information (I'm like a living trivia book of it). I'll keep an eye out for it.

[lendelin]

I completely overlooked this thread. Thank godness I made a search before starting a new one.

I stumbled upon this book last week in a Gamestop looking for cheap strategy guides. I didn't know that it is fresh from the binder.

I highly recommend this book. It is one of the best explorations about videogame design I read in some time.

Let me first say that I disagree with the main thesis. I'm not convinced that there is something inherent in Japanese culture which made storytelling ideal for games. After all, storytelling is in every culture important; moreover, since Jung we know that the same basic stories are told in every culture from a tribe in the Amazon jungle to a village in the German Black Forest. The presentations and styles are certainly different, but the content, and the need of storytelling is there in every culture.

The success and dominance of Japanese videogames which Kohler correctly explains with the importance of stories in games, is for me rather a timely coincidence based on economic performance: As soon as characters in games could be identified and opened up stotytelling, the American game indiustry was at the bottom, while the Famicom took Japan and then the US by storm.

Why do I nevertheless like, even praise, this book so much? Because it asks a very important question. It is a thoughtful, well informed, in some sections even brilliant, and more importantly thought-provocative analysis of the biggest issue for game designers today: how to incorporate storytelling into gameplay.

From Donkey Kong to Ico, the book is an exploration about storytelling in games. 1) I completely agree with the importance of stories in videogames. They are THE most important tools of game designers to achieve the identification of the gamer with the game. This goes from a racer to a RPG. 2) The book is convincing and compelling about a notion I preach for some time: stories are gameplay, and gameplay is stories. We make the mistake to separate the two, even overlook that there are no big separation lines between sound, graphics, and stories to achieve one magical aspect of games: identification with the game through gameplay. Sound, graphics, and most importantly stories ARE gameplay, they create the atmosphere which makes identification through gameplay possible.

The author explores this notion in different variatons over time, and makes compelling arguments for this notion. While the answers to very important questions are not polished, this is a great advantage: it sparks interest. It sparks interest for further research so much that I don't have a bad conscience to produce a post which is way too long.

When I was a young TA an experienced reasearcher gave me a great advice which I never forgot: never pose a Q in an article which you can't answer. Always phrase a Q in a way so you can actually give a satisfying answer. It was good advice, but I always felt uncomfortable with it. Isn't that cheating? What about the big Qs? Why should I grab a little pebble when a big rock blocks my way?

Today I know that the biggest progress in every research field was accomplished by a new angle of big Qs given without giving perfect answers. This is exactly what Kohler does. The analysis sparks interest, it always comes back to the imporatnt Q about storytelling in games.

Profiles of important game designers are given, important path-breaking games are analysed and put into historical and cultural context. It is always an entertaining, very informative, clearly spelled-out, and thoughtful read. In every page comes through what makes this book first-rate: the analysis and the enthusiasm about the big Q asked.

Puzzling Qs remain. Let me address just two: what made Japanese games universally acceptable while other art forms don't seem to overcome cultural obstacles? Even music, using the most universal language of them all, is to a lesser degree a two-way street between Asian and Western culture; movies and literature aren't, however, paintings are.

Why was Final Fantasy VII such a success in the Western world, but the first FF and Dragon Warrior despite similar marketing efforts weren't? Why did it happen in 1997 but not in 1990? Has it something to do with just getting used to RPGs? Has it something to do with the graphical presentation or story told? If there are changes in style and story, was it driven by economics because Japanese developers took a lucrative Western market more into consideration than before?

In the last issue of DP about "Robots" I tried to make a point that the Mega Man X series is still alive primarily becasue of a refreshed sci-fi story toid. Without changing the basic gameplay in sixteen years, I can't imagine that Mega Man with his cute image from 1987 and a very innocent and optimistic story would still be alive today. Some might think this is an overinterpratation and stories are merely backdrops for games. They aren't.

At a time when pixels couldn't deliver identifiable characters, stories were made up for games. Stories in games are a necessity becasue we long for them and want to imagine an artificial world - a basic need and motivation to play games in the first place. 'Pong' and its various 'Table Tennis' clones were given these titles in order to put the gamer in a situation where he could imagine an artificial world. They weren't generically called 'two paddles'-games. The same goes for Space War and Space Invaders. If the story couldn't be told in a game, the story was painted on the side of an arcade cabinet or described on a game box. Sometimes far-fetched, sometimes ridiculous, sometimes plain weird, but it was the functional eqivalent of the story told in a game and it shows that we don't like to play games without a story. (btw, it would make a great article to analyse paintings on early arcade cabinets and stories told on early game boxes)

As some panel discussions at the recent CGE demonstrated, the sometimes ridiculous stories were not taken seriously by early American game programmers. After all, they were foremost programmers, not designers, as Kohler points out. Kohler makes clear that it was a lucky coincidence that the most ingenious Japanese videogame maker, Miyamoto, was NOT a programmer, but a designer; a designer who understood to create the illusion (!) for the gamer to play his own story.

Kohler describes also a surprising and great observation while interviewing Miyamoto: interface, 'mere' control mechanics, gameplay itself in its most basic interactive meaning, is the most important element of storytelling for Miyamoto.

I also believe and pointed out already, that Miyamoto was the first game developer who understood to take the psychological effects of gameplay on the gamer fully into account. Pacing and timing in a game are crucial. Other game designers learned, but still the majority get all too easily lost in polished graphics, sound, story, and mere gameplay mechanics without considering the combined effect of all these elements on the psyche of a gamer for identification with the game.

This post is way too long, but it proves how thought-provocative Kohlers book is. It sparks interest. It is a great analysis of game design. It is very good, plain and simple.

This young fellow produced something first-rate. I'm sure it is not the last time we'll hear from him.

Buy this book, or read it in a library near you. It is an important contribution to the history of videogames and game design.

[SoulBlazer]

I'm more interested in learning about American gaming history and design. Any books or articles out there about that? Or about the European computer game pioneers of the 1970's and 80's?

[Neonsolid]

Gone.

[lendelin]

I'm more interested in learning about American gaming history and design. Any books or articles out there about that? Or about the European computer game pioneers of the 1970's and 80's?

Can't deliver a bibliography about these topics, but maybe others can? It would be great to have a nice book list.

BTW, I bought a couple of months ago also "Videogames" by James Newman (Routledge 2004); unless you are interested in great and first-rate bibliographies about very important topics,(why study videogames; why we play; effect of games on behaviour, etc.) it is not worth a buy. I don't expect to be 'entertained" by a book, and I have certainly nothing against academics; but this book is by and large too general, a review essay about the literature which falls short to be critical at times, and certainly does not point out enough shortcomings of research.

It is is a good reference book with great literature lists, but beyond that not a lot more. Certainly not worth the price.