Every Game is an Island

Riccardo Fassone is a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Torino, Italy, where he works on the history of the Italian video game industry. He is among the founders of GAME. The Italian Journal of Game Studies has published several articles and book chapters on the history and theory of video games, and their intersections with other media. He has a background in film and media studies and has worked as visiting researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology and as research fellow at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY.

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSINTRODUCTIONA BOOK ABOUT EXTREMITIESRyu’s closureEvery game is an island and no game is an islandAgainst currentness STRUCTURE OF THE BOOKThree levels and some wordplay 1. TWO NON-DEFINITIVE DEFINITIONSWHAT IS A VIDEO GAME?Doing away with definitionsVideo games change through timeWhat I mean by “video game”THE EXCEPTIONALITY OF VIDEO GAMESDigital exceptionalismThe inflexible code Authoritative video games COMPUTER-MEDIATED GAMESInteraction? State machines and cybertexts The cybernetic playerDESIGNED PROCEDURAL EXPERIENCESThe project of experienceDesignProceduresExperience2. GAME <> GAME CLOSURE The finite model of an infinite universeAn archaeology of digital closure Finishing the gameClosure in Super MetroidCAESURAContinue? Prescribed endingThe death and rebirth of game over Game over and over: A rhetoric of repetition Bodily pleasures: Game over as spectacular device in Dead Space 2 ENDLESSNESSPlaying indefinitelyA compact history of infinite games From arcade to casual The utopic castle: Battlezone OPENNESS Video games as toys Expressive players and simulation savvies Super Scribblenauts The winged guitarist 3. GAME <> METAGAME FRAGMENTATIONOverlooked and underrated Player-operated breaks: PAUSE Machine-operated breaks: LOADINGIs this life reality? Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s RequiemMETAGAMINGPlaying outside the game The legacy of dice Knights of Pen and Paper: role-playing revisited IMMERSION The utopia of total immersionImmersive fallacies Immersion, metacommunication, incorporation Through the eyes of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay HOLISM Flow: a scholarly tradition Designing for flow? Total interface: Uplink 4. GAME <> GAMES UNIQUENESS In search of the golden cartridgeCuriosity and A Slow Year Distancing strategiesA game I will never play Chain WorldEPHEMERALITYReconsidering OSGONS Catharsis and procedures Review your choices: One Single Life MODULARITY Opera aperta 2.0 Mods and modules: Game engines as branch systemsThe flex of the wrist: Garry’s Mod SERIALIZATION Playing nostalgia Xbox Live Arcade: series and/as archivesSub-series, meta-gamesOld new games: Final Fight Double Impact 5. CONCLUSIONS FROM THE OUTSIDE INMom’s heart Games are about endingMoving forward BIBLIOGRAPHY LUDOGRAPHY FILMOGRAPHY

…Every Game is an Island is an important work in formalist game studies, one which serves to situate the video game object in relation to wider discourses of textuality and the media object.