How did games rise to become the central audiovisual form of expression and storytelling in digital culture? How did the practices of their artistic production come into being? How did the academic analysis of the new medium's social effects and cultural meaning develop?Addressing these fundamental questions and aspects of digital game culture in a holistic way for the first time, Gundolf S. Freyermuth's introduction outlines the media-historical development phases of analog and digital games, the history and artistic practices of game design, as well as the history, academic approaches, and most important research topics of game studies.With contributions by André Czauderna, Nathalie Pozzi and Eric Zimmerman.

I GAMES

1 What is a Game? Systematic and Historical Approaches

2 Games in the Modern Era. A Short Media History

3 Procedural Turn (since the 1950s)

4 Hyperepic Turn (since the 1970s)

5 Hyperrealistic Turn (since the 1990s)

6 The Double Alterity of Digital Games

7 A Look Ahead: Hyperimmersive Turn?

INTERMEZZO: GAME // FILM

1 Game and Film

2 Audiovisual Rivalries

3 Modes of Audiovisual Storytelling

II GAME DESIGN

1 Analog Design

2 Digital Design

3 A Short History of Game Design

4 Areas of Game Design

5 Practices of Game Design

III GAME STUDIES

1 Theories of Analog Games vs. Theories of Digital Games

2 The Schisms of Game Studies

3 Desideratum: Overcoming the Schisms

4 Perspectives of Research 1: Digital Games

5 Perspectives of Research 2: Serious Games

About the Author

Gundolf S Freyermuth, Ph.D. is a founding director of the Cologne Game Lab and Professor of Media and Game Studies. He also teaches Comparative Media Studies at the ifs international film school Cologne. His research interests include video games, audiovisuality, transmediality and network culture.