Books
Perron, Bernard (ed.) [2009]. Horror Video Games: Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play, McFarland, Jefferson (N.C).
A theoretical analysis of the horror genre in video games. It includes 14 essays that explore the cultural underpinnings of horror's allure for gamers and the evolution of 'survival' themes. It individually examines the techniques and story effects of specific games such as Resident Evil, Call of Cthulhu, and Silent Hill.
Perron, Bernard and Mark J.P. Wolf (eds.) [2008]. The Video Game Theory Reader 2, Routledge, New York.
The Video Game Theory Reader 2 continues the exploration begun in the first Video Game Theory Reader (Routledge, 2003) with a group of leading scholars turning their attention to a wide variety of theoretical concerns and approaches, examining and raising new issues in the rapidly expanding field of video games studies. The editors’ Introduction picks up where the Introduction in the first Video Game Theory Reader left off, considering the growth of the field and setting challenges for the future. The volume concludes with an appendix presenting over 40 theories and disciplines that can be usefully and insightfully applied to the study of video games.
Perron, Bernard [2007].
Intermédialités (Montreal),
Jouer, (ed.), No. 9, spring. [
online]
Homo ludens. Johan Huizinga affirme que ce terme qui caractérise l’homme qui joue convient peut-être mieux à notre espèce que les noms de homo sapiens — l’homme qui raisonne — ou de homo fabien — l’homme qui fabrique. Bien qu’il faille, comme le rappelle Jacques Henriot, résister à l’idée que le jeu soit "un facteur fondamental de tout ce qui se produit au monde", l’importance des jeux vidéo, de nos jours, ne peut que souligner la conviction de Huizinga voulant que "la civilisation humaine s’annonce et se développe au sein du jeu, en tant que jeu".
Des arts médiatiques à la littérature, en passant par le jeu vidéo et le cinéma, ce numéro propose une réflexion sur la ludification de la culture et des médias. Les textes présentés, bien que différents par les thématiques abordées, peuvent être regroupés selon deux approches distinctes. Premièrement, plusieurs auteurs ont choisi de s’intéresser aux relations fiction/jeu ainsi qu’aux médiations qu’elles engendrent. Qu’il s’agisse de l’interaction entre réel, virtuel et fictionnel au sein des jeux vidéo, de l’espace conflictuel fiction-réel créé par le "cinéma d’exposition" ou d’une redéfinition de la notion de hors-jeu à partir de l’activité autoriale et/ou spectatorielle, tous soulignent le caractère éminemment ludique de la fiction. La deuxième voie empruntée interroge, quant à elle, deux théories fondamentales du jeu : l’une qui rapporte l’activité ludique à l’apprentissage et à une pratique interprétative et l’autre qui l’associe à une forme anti-esthétique menant à la destruction.
Perron, Bernard [2006]. Silent Hill : Il motore del terrore, Costa & Nolan, Milan.
Bernard Perron's investigation of
Konami's survival horror series goes beyond the usual
compare-and-contrast approaches with other similar texts, e.g. Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark. His transmedia analysis takes the reader for a literary, cinematic, and ludic journey they won't forget.
Perron, Bernard and Mark J.P. Wolf (eds.) [2003]. The
Video Game Theory Reader, Routledge, New York.
In the early days of PONG and Pac Man, video games appeared
to be little more than an idle pastime. Today, video games make up a $20 billion
dollar industry that rivals television and film, and their influence is felt
throughout all aspects of popular culture.
The Video Game Theory Reader brings together exciting new work on
video games as a unique medium and nascent field of study--one that is rapidly
developing new modes of understanding and analysis, like film studies in the
1960s and television studies in the 1980s. This pioneering collection addresses
the many ways video games are reshaping the face of entertainment and our
relationship with technology. In the volume, leading media studies scholars
develop new theoretical tools and concepts to study video games. Drawing upon
examples from widely popular games ranging from Space Invaders to Final
Fantasy and Combat Flight Simulator, the contributors discuss the
relationship between video games and other media; the shift from third- to
first-person games; gamers and the gaming community; and the important sociological,
cultural, industrial, and economic issues that surround gaming.
Accompanied by an extensive listing of all gaming consoles developed over
thirty years since the birth of the video game in 1972, The Video Game
Theory Reader is essential reading for scholars, gaming enthusiasts, and
anyone interested in understanding the ever-changing world of digital entertainment.
Book chapters and papers
Perron, Bernard [publication pending in 2010]. «Le lecteur de théorie du jeu vidéo», Questions de communication. Le jeu vidéo, au croisement du social, de l'art et de la culture.
Arsenault, Dominic [2009]. "Video Game Genre, Evolution and Innovation", Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture, Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 149-176. [online]
This paper provides a critical overview of the notion of genre in game studies and in the video game industry. Using the concept of genre requires one to acknowledge the recent developments of genre theory in other fields of research; one such development is the contestation of the idea of generic evolution. After a comparative analysis, video game genres are found to differ from literary and film genres precisely on the basis of evolution. The technological imperatives that characterize video game production are also pinpointed as relevant to the establishment and development of video game genres. Evolution is linked to the processes of innovation, and so a model of innovation is laid out from a compare-and-contrast approach to literary and film genre innovation. This model is tested through the history and analysis of the First-Person Shooter genre. This results in new insights for the question of genre in video games, as it is established that genre is rooted not in game mechanics, but in game aesthetics; that is, play-experiences that share a phenomenological and pragmatic quality, regardless of their technical implementation.
Therrien, Carl [publication pending in 2009]. "Video Games Caught Up In History. Accessibility, Teleological Distortion and Other Methodological Issues", Before the Crash: Early Video Game History (M. J. P. Wolf, ed.), Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
Therrien, Carl [2008]. "Reception Studies", The Video Game Theory Reader 2 (B. Perron & M. J.P. Wolf, eds.), Routledge, New York, p. 380-381.
Arsenault, Dominic and Bernard Perron [2008]. "In the Frame of the Magic Cycle: The Circle(s) of Gameplay", The Video Game Theory Reader 2 (B. Perron and M. J.P. Wolf, eds.), Routledge, New York, p. 109-131.
Arsenault, Dominic [2008]. "Narratology", The Video Game Theory Reader 2 (B. Perron & M. J.P. Wolf, eds.), Routledge, New York, p. 369-370.
Arsenault, Dominic [2008]. "Guitar Hero: Not Like Playing Guitar At All?", Loading... Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association, Simon Fraser University, Vol. 1, No. 2. [online]
This paper examines the Guitar Hero franchise's ‘simulational’ fidelity in respect to actual guitar-playing. This relationship is often overlooked by many who claim that the game is “not like playing guitar at all”. While there are some significant differences between Guitar Hero and guitar playing, the author takes an in-depth look at the game's controller and interface to argue that these differences are not as important as they may first seem. This paper will argue that game does not perfectly simulate any one dimension of music and guitar playing because it takes another approach toward simulation, favoring breadth over depth. This investigation herein results in a distinction being made between two simulation models for games.
Arsenault, Dominic [2008]. "Paysages 8-bit. Musicalité et spatialité dans le jeu vidéo des années 1985-1990", Inter, art actuel (Quebec city), Espaces sonores, No. 98, winter, p. 9-12.
Arsenault, Dominic et Martin Picard [2008]. "Le jeu vidéo entre dépendance et plaisir immersif: les trois formes d'immersion vidéoludique". Actes de colloque. HomoLudens. Le jeu vidéo: un phénomène social massivement pratiqué. Congrès de l'ACFAS. [en ligne] [PDF]
Arsenault, Dominic [2008]. 1) "Company Profile :
Nintendo" ; 2) "System Profile : The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)" ; 3)
"System Profile : Sony PlayStation" ; 4) "The Video Game as an Object
of Controversy", The Video Game Explosion: A History from Pong to PlayStation and Beyond, Mark J.P. Wolf (ed.), Greenwood Press, Wesport, Conn. [pre-publication PDF: Nintendo (p. 113-114) / NES (p. 109-114) / PlayStation (p. 177-182) / Controversy (p. 277-281)]
Therrien, Carl [2008]. "Graphics in Video Games", The Video Game Explosion: A History from Pong to PlayStation and Beyond, Mark J.P. Wolf (ed.), Greenwood Press, Wesport, Conn, p. 239-250. [pre-publication PDF]
Perron, Bernard [2007]. "Introduction", Intermédialités (Montreal), Jouer, Bernard Perron (ed.), No. 9, spring, p. 9-13.
Arsenault, Dominic [2006]. "En eaux troubles : lumière sur l'immersion", dire. La recherche à votre portée, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Vol. 16, No. 1, autumn 2006, p. 46-49. [PDF]
Arsenault, Dominic and Bernard Perron [2006]. "L'empire vidéoludique : comment les jeux vidéo ont conquis l'univers de Star Wars", Décadrages 8-9. Dossier : Le monde de Star Wars, Alain Boillat (ed.), Lausanne, Autumn 2006, p. 98-105. [PDF]
Perron, Bernard [2006]. "The Heuristic Circle of Gameplay : the Case of Survival Horror", Medi@terra 2006 Conference Proceedings, Athens, p. 62-71. [PDF]
Based on a previous analysis of the
cognitive interactivity of movie viewing, this paper examines the
circularity at the core of the gameplay experience. Taking the survival
horror genre, and more particularly the game Cold Fear, as a case
study, it describes the activity as a heuristic circle. If playing a
videogame is stepping into a magic circle as Huizinga phrased it, it is
also engaging in a magic cycle of questions and answers, of analysis
and implementation, of input and output.
Perron, Bernard [2006]. "Jeu vidéo et émotions", Le game design de jeux vidéo. Approches de l'expression vidéoludique, Sébastien Genvo (ed.), Éditions L'Harmattan, Paris, p. 347-366. [PDF]
Therrien, Carl [2006]. "L'appel de la simulation. Deux approches de la conception vidéoludique", Le game design de jeux vidéo. Approches de l'expression vidéoludique, Sébastien Genvo (ed.), Éditions L'Harmattan, Paris, p. 175-194. [PDF]
Arsenault, Dominic [2005]. "Abstract of Dynamic Range : When Game Design and Narratives Unite", DIGRA 2005 International Conference, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. [online] [PDF]
As the clash between Game and
Narrative rages on, many attempts to unite the two make their way. As
heir of this tradition of reconciliation, the Dynamic Range is a tool
brought forth to examine how different game systems can give freedom to
the players. In its present state, I am going to use it as a compass to
pinpoint the close relationship between game design and narratives, and
perhaps understand how such a union can be successful.
Arsenault, Dominic [2005]. "Dark Waters : Spotlight on Immersion", Game On North America 2005 International Conference Proceedings, Eurosis-ETI, Ghent, p. 50-52. [PDF]
This paper combines several
empirical studies and some theoretical research to shed some light on
the dark, undefined waters in which we plunge when we are "immersed".
Immersion, across all media, comes in three different types and in
three different degrees, and can be hindered by barriers, such as
inaccessibility, or favored by fuel, such as using one's imagination.
The resulting model of immersion can be applied to experiences formed
by any type of media object, but is particularly relevant to video
games.
Arsenault, Dominic [2005]. "Dynamic Range : measuring player
freedom and its narrative possibilities in resource-driven games", 5th Symposium on Art and Multimedia : Metanarrative(s)?, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona. [online] [PDF]
This paper proposes a tool and
methodology for measuring the degree of freedom given to a player in
any resource-driven game (that is, any game in which managing resources
is an integral part of the gameplay). This concept, which I call the
Dynamic Range, can be used namely to evaluate a given game system's
potential for developing emergent narratives, as defined by Henry
Jenkins in his publication Game Design as Narrative Architecture. While
Jenkins places at the heart of the creation of narratives the concept
of spatiality, I will argue that narratives can be triggered just as
well by a game's very system - the rules that govern that which Janet
Murray calls the participatory.
PERRON, Bernard [2005]. "A Cognitive Psychological Approach to Gameplay Emotions", DIGRA 2005 International Conference, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. [online] [PDF]
Although emotions elicited by the
fictional world or the artefact play a part in story-driven video
games, they are certainly not the focus of the experience. From a
cognitive psychological perspective, this paper studies the appraisal
and action dimensions of emotions arising from gameplay. As it relies
on cognitive film theories about popular narrative movies, it also
revisits their conceptual sources in order to better reflect on the
specificity of those gameplay emotions.
Perron, Bernard [2005]. "Coming to Play at Frightening Yourself : Welcome to the World of Horror Games", Aesthetics of Play. A Conference on Computer Game Aesthetics, University of Bergen, Bergen. [online] [PDF]
From Haunted House (Atari, 1981) to Alone in the Dark (I-Motion Inc. & Infogrames/Interplay, 1992) , and from Phantasmagoria (Sierra, 1995) to Resident Evil 4
(Capcom, 2005), this paper will study how horror video games scare or
rather, how it prompts us the frighten ourselves. Inevitably, it will
be impossible to ignore the remediation of the cinematic aesthetic and
tricks. While those links are important, it is what the interactivity
brings to the genre that will be examined. Because a dark alley, a door
slightly opened, a freaky noise in the distance or the actual
one-to-one confrontation with a monster are not only fictional horror
signs, they are above all cues to act, to gain or lose control. For
instance, the flickering lights and thunderclaps of Haunted House or the flashlight device in Silent Hill
(Konami, 1990) not only create a spooky atmosphere, it precisely
constraints the field of vision of the gamer in order to give him even
more a sense of insecurity. The same thing can be said about the
framing in Resident Evil . As the startle effect is as
effective in games than in movies, it is trigged by the movement of the
gamer in the former. The active coping potentials of the gamer is
therefore at the core of the horror or terror experience. Not to
mention the forewarning system that I have studied before (COSIGN
2004), i t is then relevant to examine devices such as the Panic Meter
of Clock Tower 3 (Capcom, 2003) that sees the avatar act
increasingly erratically as it rises, to the point where she is not
responding to commands anymore, or the Sanity Meter of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
(Silicon Knights/Nintendo, 2002) which, once it falls very low, makes
weird things happened to your avatars, game-world, and television set
and console.
Perron, Bernard [2004]. "Sign of a Threat : The Effects of Warning Systems
in Survival Horror Games", COSIGN 2004 Proceedings, Art Academy,
University of Split, p. 132-141. [online] [PDF]
This paper studies the way survival horror games are designed to frighten
and scare the gamer. Comparing video games and movies, the experiential state
of the gamer and that of the spectator, as well as the shock of surprise and
tension of suspense, it focuses on the effects of forewarning on the emotional
responses to survival horror games.
Perron, Bernard and Mark J.P. Wolf [2003]. "Introduction", The
Video Game Theory Reader, B. Perron and Mark J.P.
Wolf (eds.), Routledge, New York, 2003, p. 1-24. [PDF]
Perron, Bernard [2002]. "Un
regard ludique sur
la ville. Se perdre
dans le Los Angeles
futuriste du jeu vidéo
Blade Runner", Cahiers
du Gerse,
Du cinéma et
des restes urbains
prise 3, No 4, winter,
p. 39-52. [online] [PDF]
Blade Runner (1982) est devenu un film-culte à cause de sa
représentation futuriste de Los Angeles en 2019. Cela fait évidemment
de l'oeuvre de Ridley Scott un paradigme idéal pour réfléchir
sur les rapports entre la ville et le cinéma. Mais Blade Runner
nous permet peut-être de se pencher davantage sur ces restes urbains
qui ont fait l'objet du Colloque de Montréal sur le nouvel art de voir
la ville et de faire le cinéma. Car si Los Angeles est devenue la matière
même du film, le film est devenu à son tour la texture d'un jeu
vidéo en 3D (Studios Westwood, 1997). À travers des notions
telles que l'hyperréalité, l'espace virtuel, la navigation,
l'immersion et l'interactivité, l'étude comparée du film
et du jeu vidéo montre comment l'écran de ce dernier transforme
le regard que nous avons sur la ville.
Therrien, Carl [2002]. "La liberté en trop - jeu vidéo et narration", Artifice, Dossier : L'esthétique de la dépression en art contemporain.[online]
Therrien, Carl [2002]. "Présence, reconnaissance et immersion interactive
dans la fiction", Artifice,
Dossier : Cinéma, jeu, jeux vidéo : contaminations. [online]
Therrien, Carl [2001]. "Polémique déguisée #1 : le
jeu vidéo tuera-t-il le cinéma?", Artifice.
[online]
