General information


Subject type: Basic

Coordinator: Adso Fernández Baena

Trimester: First term

Credits: 6

Teaching staff: 

A hard tackle from Víctor Manuel Navarro to Remesal

Teaching languages


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 ...).

Skills


Specific skills
  • E1. Demonstrate knowledge of the history of video games and analyze the reference video games with arguments based on evaluation criteria contextualized in the historical and cultural framework.

General competencies
  • G1. Demonstrate having and understanding advanced knowledge of their area of ​​study that includes the theoretical, practical and methodological aspects, with a level of depth that reaches the forefront of knowledge.

  • G3. Gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their area of ​​study) to make judgments that include reflection on relevant social, scientific, or ethical issues.

  • G4. Communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to a specialized and non-specialized audience.

Transversal competences
  • T1. Communicate in a third language, preferably English, with an appropriate level of oral and written communication and in accordance with the needs of graduates.

  • T2. Work as a member of an interdisciplinary team either as an additional member or performing management tasks in order to contribute to developing projects with pragmatism and a sense of responsibility, making commitments and taking into account available resources.

Description


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.

Learning outcomes


At the end of the course students must be able to:

  • E1.1: Describe the history of interactive products and video games, as well as their typology and aesthetics.
  • E1.2: Contextualize a game in the historical and cultural frame of reference.
  • E1.3: Differentiate the different genres, as well as the different generations of consoles.
  • E1.4: Get to know the main programmers and manufacturers in the history of interactive products from all over the world, Spain and Catalonia.
  • E1.5: Analyze the various profiles required by the video game industry.
  • E1.6: Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a video game in a reasoned and exemplified way.

Working methodology


The course uses the following working methodologies: lectures, presentations, video capsules, case studies, research and critical reading of articles.
The use of computers in the classroom will be subject to the teacher's instructions. The use of mobile phones in the classroom is prohibited.

Contents


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?

 

 

Learning activities


In order to gather evidence of the achievement of the expected learning outcomes, the following evaluative activities will be carried out:

A1. Group work: Video summary (Evidence of E1.2 and E1.6 learning outcomes) 

Make and present in teams a video about a historical game, franchise or creator. The video will summarize in a maximum of 10 minutes the basic contributions on the topic presented.

A2. Individual work: Reading articles and critical summary (Evidence of learning outcomes E1.2, E1.5, and E1.6) 

Reading about two articles / academic works that will be proposed in class and must be read in a schedule outside the classroom. After reading it, the student must submit a personal critique of each of the texts on the Tecnocampus Intranet. 

A3. Partial exam 1: Student continuous assessment exam (Evidence of all learning outcomes) 

A4. Partial exam 2: Student continuous assessment exam (Evidence of all learning outcomes) 

A5. Final exam: Final evaluation exam of the subject (Evidence of all learning outcomes) 

Passing the exam is mandatory to pass the course. Otherwise, the student will have a No Presented.

General criteria of the activities:

- The teacher will present a statement for each activity and the evaluation and / or rubric criteria.
- The teacher will inform of the dates and format of the delivery of the activity.

Evaluation system


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

A1. Group work: Video summary 30%

A2. Individual work: Reading articles and critical summary  20%

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

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

A5. Final exam: Final evaluation exam of the subject 30%

Final grade = A1 x 0,3 + A2 x 0,2 + A3 x 0,1 + A4 x 0,1 + A5 x 0,3

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.
- It is the student's responsibility to avoid plagiarism in all its forms. In the case of detecting plagiarism, regardless of its extent, in some activity it will correspond to having a grade of 0. In addition, the professor will communicate the situation to the Head of Studies so that applicable measures can be taken in terms of disciplinary regime . According to article 6A of the regulations of the UPF, serious plagiarism can lead to temporary expulsion from the University, and according to article 6B, less serious plagiarism can involve the loss of the right to be evaluated in the ordinary call for one or more subjects.
- 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 will be equivalent to the final grade

REFERENCES


Basic

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.

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

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.

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

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

ZAGALO, Nelson. "Video games in Portugal. History, technology and art". FCA Editora, 2013.

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

Complementary

ESTEVE, Jaume (ed.). "Obsequium: a cultural, technological and emotional account of The Abbey of Crime." Eight Carats, 2014.

JENKINS, Henry. "Fans, bloggers and video games: the culture of collaboration", 2009.

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.

JULY, Jesper. "The art of failure: An essay on the pain of playing video games". Mit Press, 2013.

RAVENTÓS, Cristian López. "The video game as a contemporary discursive practice. Pokemon and the naturalization of neoliberal social reality." Doctoral Thesis: Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​2013.

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.

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

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

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

NAVARRO REMESAL, Víctor. "Ludens Cinema. 50 Dialogues Between Game and Cinema." Editorial UOC, 2019.