Official Final Fantasy VII Strategy Guide


Book Description

With this guide, gamers can save the world from an evil corporation which is siphoning off energy from the planet. Complete walkthroughs and all the maps help players navigate the game. Character descriptions, and complete lists of items, monsters and magic are included.




Playing with Videogames


Book Description

Playing with Videogames documents the richly productive, playful and social cultures of videogaming that support, surround and sustain this most important of digital media forms and yet which remain largely invisible within existing studies. James Newman details the rich array of activities that surround game-playing, charting the vibrant and productive practices of the vast number of videogame players and the extensive 'shadow' economy of walkthroughs, FAQs, art, narratives, online discussion boards and fan games, as well as the cultures of cheating, copying and piracy that have emerged. Playing with Videogames offers the reader a comprehensive understanding of the meanings of videogames and videogaming within the contemporary media environment.




Games and Rules


Book Description

Why do we play games and why do we play them on computers? The contributors of »Games and Rules« take a closer look at the core of each game and the motivational system that is the game mechanics. Games are control circuits that organize the game world with their (joint) players and establish motivations in a dedicated space, a »Magic Circle«, whereas game mechanics are constructs of rules designed for interactions that provide gameplay. Those rules form the base for all the excitement and frustration we experience in games. This anthology contains individual essays by experts and authors with backgrounds in Game Design and Game Studies, who lead the discourse to get to the bottom of game mechanics in video games and the real world - among them Miguel Sicart and Carlo Fabricatore.




Silent Hill


Book Description

The second entry in the Landmark Video Games series




The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto


Book Description

The immensely popular Grand Theft Auto game series has inspired a range of reactions among players and commentators, and a hot debate in the popular media. These essays from diverse theoretical perspectives expand the discussion by focusing scholarly analysis on the games, particularly Grand Theft Auto III (GTA3), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (GTA:VC), and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA:SA). Part One of the book discusses the fears, lawsuits, legislative proposals, and other public reactions to Grand Theft Auto, detailing the conflict between the developers of adult oriented games and various new forms of censorship. Depictions of race and violence, the pleasure of the carnivalistic gameplay, and the significance of sociopolitical satire in the series are all important elements in this controversy. It is argued that the general perception of digital changed fundamentally following the release of Grand Theft Auto III. The second section of the book approaches the games as they might be studied absent of the controversy. These essays study why and how players meaningfully play Grand Theft Auto games, reflecting on the elements of daily life that are represented in the games. They discuss the connection between game space and real space and the many ways that players mediate the symbols in a game with their minds, computers, and controllers.




Gaming Rhythms


Book Description

"Global gaming networks are heterogenous collectives of localized practices, not unified commercial products. Shifting the analysis of digital games to local specificities that build and perform the global and general, Gaming Rhythms employs ethnographic work conducted in Venezuela and Australia to account for the material experiences of actual game players. This book explores the materiality of digital play across diverse locations and argues that the dynamic relation between the everyday life of the player and the experience of digital game play can only be understood by examining play-practices in their specific situations." -- Website.




Media Piracy in Emerging Economies


Book Description

Media Piracy in Emerging Economies is the first independent, large-scale study of music, film and software piracy in emerging economies, with a focus on Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa, Mexico and Bolivia. Based on three years of work by some thirty five researchers, Media Piracy in Emerging Economies tells two overarching stories: one tracing the explosive growth of piracy as digital technologies became cheap and ubiquitous around the world, and another following the growth of industry lobbies that have reshaped laws and law enforcement around copyright protection. The report argues that these efforts have largely failed, and that the problem of piracy is better conceived as a failure of affordable access to media in legal markets.




Grand Theft Auto III


Book Description

BradyGames Grand Theft Auto 3 Official Strategy Guide provides detailed strategies for the gangland missions and side missions in the game. Comprehensive walkthrough including in-depth coverage of weapons, character moves, vehicles, and bosses. Secrets and cheats revealed to uncover mysteries and multi-layered missions interspersed in the game story.




Best Before


Book Description

Best Before examines how the videogames industry's retail, publishing, technology design, advertising and marketing practices actively produce obsolescence, wearing out and retiring old games to make way for the always new, just out of reach, 'coming soon' title and 'next generation' platform.




World of Warcraft


Book Description

Let BradyGames Guide You Through this Huge MMORPG Adventure! BradyGames¿World of Warcraft Official Strategy Guidefeatures maps of each city and region, with call outs for characters, quest locations, dungeons, and more. Essential stats and strategies for each of the 8 races and 9 classes for both the Horde and Alliance factions. Must-have quest data--contacts, quest type, item rewards and more. Profession sections provide data on products, requirements and item components. Weapon, armor and item tables, ability and spell lists, and bestiary. BradyGames is Official and Exclusive on this title. Platform: PC World of WarCraftis an online role-playing game experience set in the award-winning Warcraft universe. Players assume the roles of Warcraft heroes as they explore, adventure, and quest across a vast world. Being "Massively Multiplayer",World of Warcraftallows thousands of players to interact within the same world. Whether adventuring together or fighting against each other in epic battles, players will form friendships, forge alliances, and compete with enemies for power and glory. In addition, a dedicated live team will create a constant stream of new adventures to undertake, lands to explore, and monsters to vanquish. This content ensures that the game will never be the same from month to month, and will continue to offer new challenges and adventures for years to come.Not Final Cover. Blizzard Entertainment(www.blizzard.com), best known for their series Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo®, is a division of Vivendi Universal Games), a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry¿s most critically acclaimed games. The company¿s free Internet gaming service Battle.net® provides a forum in which owners of Blizzard¿s games can play in a multiplayer mode remotely across the Internet and against other gamers from around the world.