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Rockstar Games and American History : Promotional Materials and the Construction of Authenticity / Esther Wright.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Video Games and the Humanities ; 10Publisher: München ; Wien : De Gruyter Oldenbourg, [2022]Copyright date: ©2022Description: 1 online resource (IX, 269 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9783110716467
  • 9783110716696
  • 9783110716610
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 794.8
LOC classification:
  • GV1469.34.W47 W75 2022
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction: The American History of Rockstar Games -- Chapter 1 Rockstar’s West(s) -- Chapter 2 “The True West” and “Real Crime Stories”: Constructing a Discourse of Historical Authenticity -- Chapter 3 “Rockstar Recommends”: Constructing a Discourse of Cinematic Authenticity -- Chapter 4 Playing Outlaw, Playing Detective: The Limits of Historical Gameplay -- Chapter 5 Women in Rockstar’s American History -- Chapter 6 Other(ed) Histories -- Epilogue: “Rockstar Games Presents” . . . American History? -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary: For two decades, Rockstar Games have been making games that interrogate and represent the idea of America, past and present. Commercially successful, fan-beloved, and a frequent source of media attention, Rockstar’s franchises are positioned as not only game-changing, ground-breaking interventions in the games industry, but also as critical, cultural histories on America and its excesses. But what does Rockstar’s version of American history look like, and how is it communicated through critically acclaimed titles like Red Dead Redemption (2010) and L.A. Noire (2011)? By combining analysis of Rockstar’s games and a range of official communications and promotional materials, this book offers critical discussion of Rockstar as a company, their video games, and ultimately, their attempts at creating new narratives about U.S. history and culture. It explores the ways in which Rockstar’s brand identity and their titles coalesce to create a new kind of video game history, how promotional materials work to claim the "authenticity" of these products, and assert the authority of game developers to perform the role of historian. By working at the intersection of historical game studies, U.S. history, and film and media studies, this book explores what happens when contemporary demands for historical authenticity are brought to bear on the way we envisage the past – and whose past it is deemed to be. Ultimately, this book implores those who research historical video games to consider the oft-forgotten sources at the margins of these games as importance spaces where historical meaning is made and negotiated. Watch our talk with the author Esther Wright here: https://youtu.be/AaC_9XsX-CQ
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9783110716610

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction: The American History of Rockstar Games -- Chapter 1 Rockstar’s West(s) -- Chapter 2 “The True West” and “Real Crime Stories”: Constructing a Discourse of Historical Authenticity -- Chapter 3 “Rockstar Recommends”: Constructing a Discourse of Cinematic Authenticity -- Chapter 4 Playing Outlaw, Playing Detective: The Limits of Historical Gameplay -- Chapter 5 Women in Rockstar’s American History -- Chapter 6 Other(ed) Histories -- Epilogue: “Rockstar Games Presents” . . . American History? -- Bibliography -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

For two decades, Rockstar Games have been making games that interrogate and represent the idea of America, past and present. Commercially successful, fan-beloved, and a frequent source of media attention, Rockstar’s franchises are positioned as not only game-changing, ground-breaking interventions in the games industry, but also as critical, cultural histories on America and its excesses. But what does Rockstar’s version of American history look like, and how is it communicated through critically acclaimed titles like Red Dead Redemption (2010) and L.A. Noire (2011)? By combining analysis of Rockstar’s games and a range of official communications and promotional materials, this book offers critical discussion of Rockstar as a company, their video games, and ultimately, their attempts at creating new narratives about U.S. history and culture. It explores the ways in which Rockstar’s brand identity and their titles coalesce to create a new kind of video game history, how promotional materials work to claim the "authenticity" of these products, and assert the authority of game developers to perform the role of historian. By working at the intersection of historical game studies, U.S. history, and film and media studies, this book explores what happens when contemporary demands for historical authenticity are brought to bear on the way we envisage the past – and whose past it is deemed to be. Ultimately, this book implores those who research historical video games to consider the oft-forgotten sources at the margins of these games as importance spaces where historical meaning is made and negotiated. Watch our talk with the author Esther Wright here: https://youtu.be/AaC_9XsX-CQ

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Mai 2023)