106111 - HISTORY AND INDUSTRY OF VIDEO GAMES

Subject type: Basic

Coordinator: Juan José Pons López

Trimester: First term

Credits: 6

• Catalan

Els materials podran proporcionar-se tant en català com en castellà o anglès. In addition, there may be recommended readings in other European languages ​​(French, Italian ...).

The subject of History and Industry of Video Games (6 ECTS) is a first approach to the multidisciplinary, cultural and historical aspects of video games, within the framework of the subject of Game Design and Creation. It works from the historical perspective of the video game, the players / users, the companies and the social and cultural contexts where they are broadcast. The course consists of theoretical sessions, video viewing and co-production of knowledge from the constant interaction between teacher and students. To achieve the knowledge, the subject evaluates on the one hand the theoretical knowledge and the attitude and participation of individual way and, on the other, the capacity to work in group.

Topic 1. Introduction. What is a game and what is play?

Play the game

The game, society, culture.

Historiographic methodologies and criteria

Item 2. Preservation

Strategies and criteria

Agents. Museums and heritage

Local stories, minor platforms, ignored story. The Femicom case.

Failures and rarities

Item 3. Ancestors of the video game

Board games, popular and analog

Mechanical and electromechanical games

Visual toys

Computer experiments

Topic 4. Beginnings of the video game. 70s. Atari.

Before Pong

The Golden Age of Arcade

First systems

 The American crash. Atari Shock.

Topic 5. The 8 bits. Nintendo. Microcomputers and PCs.

Japan: Sega, Nintendo and others

Microcomputers

The video game on PC. The graphic adventure

Topic 6. The 90s. The 16 bits.

Japan: Sega, Nintendo and others

First 3D

Topic 7. Sony. Arrival of 3D, CD and online

The arrival of PlayStation

CD, FMV

The online jump

Topic 8. The casual revolution and the indie revolution

The accidental revolution

The indie revolution

Item 9. History of the video game in Spain

Beginnings

Relevant games and figures

Myths of the Golden Age

Distribution in Spain

Co-productions and international presence

Item 10. History of VR

First concepts and experiments

The 90s. Ambitions and failures

Implementation. A new screen?

The grade of each student will be calculated following the following percentages:

A1. Group work: Gameplay commented (video) 30%

A2. Group work: Reading articles and presentation 10%

A3. Partial exam 1: Student continuous assessment exam 10%

A4. Partial exam 2: Student continuous assessment exam 10%

A5. Partial exam 3: Student continuous assessment exam 10%

A6. Final exam: Final evaluation exam of the subject 30%

Final grade = A1 x 0,3 + A2 x 0,1 + A3 x 0,10 + A4 x 0,10 + A5 x 0,10 + A6 x 0,30

Considerations:
- It is necessary to obtain a mark superior to 5 in the final exam to pass the asignatura.
- An activity not delivered or delivered late and without justification (court summons or medical matter) counts as a 0.
- In the case of detecting plagiarism, copying or fraud in any evaluable activity or test, this will automatically obtain a final grade of 0. Additionally, in cases of copying or fraud, both the person who copies and the person who allows copying are responsible for the conduct, and the consequences of the conduct affect all students involved in the irregular action. Regardless of the suspension caused by plagiarism, copying or fraud, the professor will communicate the situation to the Department Management so that the applicable measures are taken in terms of disciplinary regime and the initiation of the relevant disciplinary file.
- Spelling errors, writing errors and formal and technical problems specific to the subject will be penalized with 0,10 points, up to a maximum of 2 points, in all assessable activities and tests.
- You must take the final exam. Otherwise, the student will have a NP for the subject and will not be able to present for recovery.
- Three of the five activities with NP imply that the subject has not been followed and involve a NP.

Recovery:

• It is necessary to obtain a mark superior to 5 in the final exam of recovery to pass the asignatura.
• The grade of the make-up exam replaces the grade of the final exam

DONOVAN, Tristan; GARRIOTT, Richard. "Replay: The history of video games". Lewes: Yellow Ant, 2010.

WILLIAMS, Andrew. "History of Digital Games: Developments in Art, Design and Interaction". Routledge, 2017.

SWALWELL, Melanie (Ed.). (2021). Game history and the local. Springer Nature.

ESTEVE, Jaume. "Eight Carats. A History of the Golden Age of Spanish Software (I)", 2012.

ESTEVE, Jaume. "Eight Carats. A History of the Golden Age of Spanish Software (II)", 2012.

KENT, Steven. "The Great History of Video Games." Nova, 2016.

WRIGHT, Will; BOGOST, Ian. "Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames". Mit Press, 2007.

LATORRE, Oliver Pérez. "The video game language: analysis of the meaning of the video game". Ed. Laertes, 2012.

NEWMAN, James. "Videogames". Routledge, 2012.

MOTT, Tony. "1001 Video Games to Play Before You Die." Barcelona: Grijalbo, 2011.

REMESAL, Víctor Navarro. "Directed Freedom: A Grammar of Video Game Analysis and Design." Shangrila Texts Apart, 2016.

PLANELLS, Antonio José. "Video Games and Fiction Worlds." Chair Editions, 2015.

MURIEL, Daniel; CRAWFORD, Garry. "Video games as culture: considering the role and importance of video games in contemporary society". Routledge, 2018.

PURSELL, Carroll. "From Playgrounds to PlayStation: The Interaction of Technology and Play". JHU Press, 2015.

Juul, J. (2010). A casual revolution: Reinventing video games and their players. MIT press.

HICKS, Marie. "Programmed inequality: How Britain discarded women technologists and lost its edge in computing". MIT Press, 2017.

KOCUREK, Carly A. "Coin-operated Americans: Rebooting boyhood at the video game arcade." University of Minnesota Press, 2015.

GUINS, Raiford. "Game after: A cultural study of video game afterlife". MIT Press, 2014.

HUIZINGA, Johan. "Homo Ludens" Ils 86. Routledge, 2014.

GORGES, Florent. "The History of Nintendo: 1983-2016. Famicom or Nintendo Entertainment System." Paper Heroes, 2019.

DONOVAN, Tristan. "It's All a Game: A Short History of Board Games." Thomas Dunne Books, 2017.

WOLF, Mark P. "Video Games Around the World." MIT Press, 2015.

Nicoll, B. (2019). Minor platforms in videogame history. Amsterdam University Press.

Pelletier-Gagnon, J. (2024). Space and Play in Japanese Videogame Arcades. Taylor & Francis.

Zagal, JP, & Edwards, B. (2024). Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy. MIT Press.

Swalwell, Melanie, Ndalianis, Angela, and Stuckey, Helen. "Fans and Videogames: Histories, Fandom, Archives." Routledge, 2017.