A study of the relationship between platform and creative expression in the Atari VCS.
The Atari Video Computer System dominated the home video game market so completely that “Atari” became the generic term for a video game console. The Atari VCS was affordable and offered the flexibility of changeable cartridges. Nearly a thousand of these were created, the most significant of which established new techniques, mechanics, and even entire genres. This book offers a detailed and accessible study of this influential video game console from both computational and cultural perspectives. 
Studies of digital media have rarely investigated platforms―the systems underlying computing. This book (the first in a series of Platform Studies) does so, developing a critical approach that examines the relationship between platforms and creative expression. Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost discuss the Atari VCS itself and examine in detail six game cartridges: Combat, Adventure, Pac-Man, Yars' Revenge, Pitfall!, and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. They describe the technical constraints and affordances of the system and track developments in programming, gameplay, interface, and aesthetics. Adventure, for example, was the first game to represent a virtual space larger than the screen (anticipating the boundless virtual spaces of such later games as World of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto), by allowing the player to walk off one side into another space; and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was an early instance of interaction between media properties and video games. Montfort and Bogost show that the Atari VCS―often considered merely a retro fetish object―is an essential part of the history of video games.

Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System (Platform Studies)

Computers & Technology

Nick Montfort

Ian Bogost

Games & Strategy Guides

Mit Pr

The Atari Video Computer System dominated the home video game market so completely that "Atari" became the generic term for a video game console. The Atari VCS was affordable and offered the flexibility of changeable cartridges. Nearly a thousand of these were created, the most significant of which established new techniques, mechanics, and even entire genres. This book offers a detailed and accessible study of this influential video game console from both computational and cultural perspectives. 
Studies of digital media have rarely investigated platforms--the systems underlying computing. This book (the first in a series of Platform Studies) does so, developing a critical approach that examines the relationship between platforms and creative expression. Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost discuss the Atari VCS itself and examine in detail six game cartridges: Combat, Adventure, Pac-Man, Yars' Revenge, Pitfall!, and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. They describe the technical constraints and affordances of the system and track developments in programming, gameplay, interface, and aesthetics. Adventure, for example, was the first game to represent a virtual space larger than the screen (anticipating the boundless virtual spaces of such later games as World of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto), by allowing the player to walk off one side into another space; and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was an early instance of interaction between media properties and video games. Montfort and Bogost show that the Atari VCS--often considered merely a retro fetish object--is an essential part of the history of video games.

The MIT Press

This curiously beautiful volume, designed by Ingrid Ankerson and illustrated by Shelley Jackson, is the definitive edition of 2002: a Palindrome Story.

2002: A Palindrome Story in 2002 Words

William Gillespie

Spineless Books

Riddle & Bind is a book of poems to solve. The first section, "Riddle," consists of poems written as riddles the reader is invited to solve by guessing the subject of the poem. The third section, "Bind," is a selection of constrained poetry written using traditional and nontraditional poetic forms. The second section, "&," combines both approaches in a sequence of poems inviting the reader to guess how they were constructed.

Riddle & Bind

Humor & Entertainment

Puzzles & Games

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Nick Montfort. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Nick Montfort

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Nick Montfort. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System (Platform Studies)

Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System (Platform Studies)

2002: A Palindrome Story in 2002 Words

Riddle & Bind