Video game theory and history
This is part X of my article series on video game sound. If you haven’t already, I recommend you start with Part I: Video Game Audio 101. Fiction or Interface. An Introduction. In my last article, I examined the basis for video game theory as it has sprung from narratology and ludology. Narratology is the basis … Continue Reading
This is part IX of my article series on video game sound. If you haven’t already, I recommend you start with Part I: Video Game Audio 101. Fiction or Interface. An Introduction. Up until now, I’ve focused on the history of video game technology and sound. Now, I’ll focus on creating a theoretical framework and terminology … Continue Reading
This is part VIII of my article series on video game sound. If you haven’t already, I recommend you start with Part I: Video Game Audio 101. Fiction or Interface. An Introduction. As I wrote in my last article, the Commodore 64 home computer and the Nintendo NES/Famicon home gaming console have become massive hits worldwide. … Continue Reading
This is part VII of my article series on video game sound. If you haven’t already, I recommend you start with Part I: Video Game Audio 101. Fiction or Interface. An Introduction. As I wrote in my last article, the 1980s saw the rise of home computers – aka Personal Computers (PC) – simultaneously with the … Continue Reading
This is part VI of my article series on video game sound. If you haven’t already, I recommend you start with Part I: Video Game Audio 101. Fiction or Interface. An Introduction. The 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of 8-bit and 16-bit home computers and game consoles. Examples of popular 8-bit machines include the Commodore … Continue Reading
What is a bit anyway? And how does it relate to sound in these machines? A bit (short for binary digit) is the small unit of information a computer understands. A bit is often represented as either a 1 or 0, where one means “ON” and zero means “OFF.” When a manufacturer writes about bits … Continue Reading
A term commonly thrown around when talking about video games is gameplay. I’ve already done it multiple times myself on this site. But what exactly is the definition of gameplay? Gameplay in video games describes the interaction between the player and the game, how this interaction occurs, and the immersive sense of play the gamer … Continue Reading
This is part V of my article series on video game sound. If you haven’t already, I recommend you start with Part I: Video Game Audio 101. Fiction or Interface. An Introduction. In the last article, I covered how sound and melodies became important in arcade video games in the 1980s. In this article, I’ll cover … Continue Reading
This is part IV of my article series on video game sound. If you haven’t already, I recommend you start with Part I: Video Game Audio 101. Fiction or Interface. An Introduction. I briefly explained the first computer sound effects and melodies in part III of this series. Now we’ve reached the 1980s when video game … Continue Reading
This is part III of my article series on video game sound. If you haven’t already, I recommend you start with Part I: Video Game Audio 101. Fiction or Interface. An Introduction. Part II is found here. In 1952 computer scientist Alexander Shafto Douglas created a virtual tic-tac-toe game called OXO for demonstration purposes for … Continue Reading