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Book Cover
E-book
Author Jones, Steven E. (Steven Edward)

Title Codename revolution : the Nintendo WII platform / Steven E. Jones and George K. Thiruvathukal
Published Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, ©2012

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Description 1 online resource (x, 204 pages) : illustrations
Series Platform studies
Platform studies.
Contents Series Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1. Introduction: Starting with Revolution: The Wii as a Platform -- Our Approach -- Cross-Platform Mario -- The Book's Plan -- Chapter 2. "Power Isn't Everything": The Wii Console -- Form Factor and Technical Architecture -- Power (Constraints) -- Red Steel 2 -- Power (Efficiencies) -- Chapter 3. Core Controller: The Wii Remote -- Form Factor and Technology -- The MotionPlus Attachment -- Wii Sports Resort -- WarioWare: Smooth Moves -- The Wii Remote as Magic Crayon -- The Wii Remote as Mouse -- Chapter 4. Active at the Periphery: The Wii Balance Board -- Form Factor and Technology -- Wii Balance Board as a Game Controller -- Wii Vitality Sensor: Capturing the Player's Internal State -- Wii Fit Plus ("Measuring") -- Player Space ("Adequate Space Required") -- The Magic Circle and Miniature Garden -- The Living Room as Player Space (Wii no Ma) -- Chapter 5. Channeling the System: Access, Distribution, and Transmission -- The Television Metaphor (a Menu of Channels) -- Channeling the System -- Distribution: The Virtual Console -- Distribution: WiiWare -- World of Goo (via WiiWare) -- WarioWare D.I.Y. (for DS and WiiWare) -- Internet Channel -- Homebrew Channel: The Platform's Edge -- Chapter 6. "Wii Is for Everyone": A Social Platform -- Degrees of Openness -- Some Wii Mods and Hacks -- Wii Social Games -- The Wii as a Social Platform -- Chapter 7. After the Revolution -- Turning the Blue Ocean Red -- A Software Phase -- Emerging and Converging Technologies -- The Absence of an Object? -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary The Nintendo Wii, introduced in 2006, helped usher in a moment of retro-reinvention in video game play. This hugely popular console system, codenamed Revolution during development, signaled a turn away from fully immersive, time-consuming MMORPGs or forty-hour FPS games and back toward family fun in the living room. Players using the wireless motion-sensitive controller (the Wii Remote, or "Wiimote") play with their whole bodies, waving, swinging, swaying. The mimetic interface shifts attention from what's on the screen to what's happening in physical space. This book describes the Wii's impact in technological, social, and cultural terms, examining the Wii as a system of interrelated hardware and software that was consciously designed to promote social play in physical space. Each chapter of Codename Revolution focuses on a major component of the Wii as a platform: the console itself, designed to be low-powered and nimble; the iconic Wii Remote; Wii Fit Plus, and its controller, the Wii Balance Board; the Wii Channels interface and Nintendo's distribution system; and the Wii as a social platform that not only affords multiplayer options but also encourages social interaction in shared physical space. Finally, the authors connect the Wii's revolution in mimetic interface gaming--which eventually led to the release of Sony's Move and Microsoft's Kinect--to some of the economic and technological conditions that influence the possibility of making something new in this arena of computing and culture
Analysis GAME STUDIES/General
CULTURAL STUDIES/Popular Culture
SOCIAL SCIENCES/Media Studies
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Video games -- Social aspects
Nintendo Wii video games.
GAMES -- Video & Electronic.
Nintendo Wii video games
Video games -- Social aspects
Genre/Form Nintendo Wii video games.
Form Electronic book
Author Thiruvathukal, George K. (George Kuriakose)
ISBN 9780262301312
0262301318
6613594555
9786613594556