Our official songbook for the third installment of this wildly popular video game features notes & guitar tab for 36 hits: Barracuda * Black Magic Woman * The Devil Went Down to Georgia * Even Flow * La Grange * Mississippi Queen * Paint It Black * Pride and Joy * Rock You like a Hurricane * School's Out * Talk Dirty to Me * Welcome to the Jungle * When You Were Young * and more.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computers and Games, CG 2006, co-located with the 14th World Computer-Chess Championship and the 11th Computer Olympiad. The 24 revised papers cover all aspects of artificial intelligence in computer-game playing. Topics addressed are evaluation and learning, search, combinatorial games and theory opening and endgame databases, single-agent search and planning, and computer Go.

To the casual observer, similarities between fan communities and religious believers are difficult to find. Religion is traditional, institutional, and serious; whereas fandom is contemporary, individualistic, and fun. Can the robes of nuns and priests be compared to cosplay outfits of Jedi Knights and anime characters? Can travelling to fan conventions be understood as pilgrimages to the shrines of saints? In this book, essayists investigate fan activities connected to books, film, and online games, such as Harry Potter-themed weddings, using The Hobbit as a sacred text, and taking on heroic roles in World of Warcraft. Young Muslim women cosplayers are brought into conversation with Chaos magicians who use pop culture tropes and characters. A range of canonical `texts'- including Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Sherlock-are examined in terms of the pleasure and enchantment of repeated viewing. Popular culture is revealed to be a fertile source of religious and spiritual creativity in the contemporary world.

Around the world, millions of people hijack cars in Grand Theft Auto, role play fantastical heroes in World of WarCraft, and crush candy on phones as small as wallets yet nearly as powerful as desktop computers. But long before video games became a multi-billion-dollar industry, two hackers invented the Apple II, a PC that contained less memory than the average Microsoft Word document and bowled over consumers by displaying four colors at once. Some users tapped its resources to design productivity software. Others devised some of the most influential games of all time. From the perils along the Oregon Trail and the exploits of Carmen Sandiego to the shadowy dungeons of Wizardry and Prince of Persia's trap-filled labyrinth, Break Out recounts the making of some of the Apple II's most iconic games, illustrates how they informed the games we play today, and tells the stories of the pioneers who made them.

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, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. 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. 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.

* Adapted for C# by key Microsoft Insiders from a previous bestseller--Lead author is the .NET Game evangelist at Microsoft! * An easy-to-read, soup-to-nuts guide that helps you start programming games fast * Packed with code examples that are complete games, Beginning .NET Game Programming in C# includes an introduction to Managed DirectX 9 and is also an introduction to exciting advanced features of .NET, including the Speech API to generate voices, synchronizing mouth animations with generated sounds, the .NET Compact Framework, data access with ADO.NET, collision detection, and artificial intelligence. * Includes complete code listings and applications for all games included in the book: .Nettrix (a Tetris clone), .Netterpillars (a Snakes clone), River Pla.Net (River Raid clone), Magic KindergarteN., D-iNfEcT, and Nettrix II (for the Pocket PC) as well as a version of the classic game Spacewars and a "Twisty Cube" game that did not appear in the VB .NET version.

Perhaps the fastest growing facet of American popular culture, the video game industry is Hollywood's premier rival in the entertainment business. But stacks of new releases for gaming enthusiasts mean more than just boom season for a burgeoning industry. Since tabletop fantasy role-playing games emerged in the 1970s, fantasy gaming has made a unique contribution to popular culture and perceptions of social realities in America. This book presents the most current research in fantasy games and examines the cultural and constructionist dimensions of fantasy gaming as a leisure activity. Each chapter investigates some social or behavioural aspect of fantasy gaming and provides insight into the cultural, linguistic, sociological, and psychological impact of games on both the individual and society. Section I discusses the intersection of fantasy and real-world scenarios and how the construction of a fantasy world is dialectically related to the construction of a gamer's social reality. Because the basic premise of fantasy gaming is the assumption of virtual identities, Section II looks at the relationship between gaming and various aspects of identity. The third and final section examines what the personal experiences of gamers can tell us about how humans experience reality. These concluding studies assess the pedagogical value of fantasy games in terms of both formal education and social morality.

The Computers and Games (CG) series began in 1998 with the objective of showcasing new developments in arti?cial intelligence (AI) research that used games as the experimental test-bed. The ?rst two CG conferences were held at Hamamatsu, Japan(1998,2000).ComputersandGames2002(CG2002)wasthe third event in this biennial series. The conference was held at the University of Alberta(Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), July25 27,2002.Theprogramconsisted of the main conference featuring refereed papers and keynote speakers, as well as several side events including the Games Informatics Workshop, the Agents in Computer Games Workshop, the Trading Agents Competition, and the North American Computer Go Championship. CG 2002 attracted 110 participants from over a dozen countries. Part of the successoftheconferencewasthatitwasco-locatedwiththeNationalConference of the American Association for Arti?cial Intelligence (AAAI), which began in Edmonton just as CG 2002 ended. The CG 2002 program had 27 refereed paper presentations. The papers ranged over a wide variety of AI-related topics including search, knowledge, learning, planning, and combinatorial game theory. Research test-beds included one-player games (blackjack, sliding-tile puzzles, Sokoban), two-player games (Amazons, awari, chess, Chinese chess, clobber, Go, Hex, Lines of Action, O- ello, shogi), multi-player games (Chinese checkers, cribbage, Diplomacy, hearts, spades), commercial games (role-playing games, real-time strategy games), and novel applications (Post s Correspondence Problem)."

Scholars and professionals from all over the world, across experience levels and the gender and sexuality spectrum, share experiences and analysis of romance and sexuality in video games. Whether discussing casual sex in the Star Wars universe; analyzing various Otome games; examining "the gaze" in various games; player romance behavior in games; or exploring the ethical ramifications of sexuality in virtual reality and other emerging technologies, this book discusses what players want in video game romance, and how developers can best deliver it. Key Features: Examines the past, present, and future of romance in single-player, role-playing games Discusses common presentations of romance in single-player, role-playing games- both in the category and game mechanics that drive romance Discusses research on how players define a satisfying game romance and what specific steps narrative designers can take to design satisfying games Explains the notion of the empathic game and explores its importance in relation to romance in game design

Containing interviews with the developers of 36 of the coolest games in video game history from Deus Ex and Night Trap to Mortal Kombat, Wasteland and NBA Jam, The Minds Behind the Games gives you an inside look at how some of the most influential, iconic, infamous and forgotten games of all-time were created. From the painstaking hours at the computer developing to problems with mega publishers and with the media after release, The Minds Behind the Games gives you unparalleled access to the minds behind some of your favorite games. It will even introduce you to games that you never knew existed, but should.

Java 2 ME (Micro Edition) is the client-side Java development platform for building wireless Java-based cell phone and PDA applications. This book addresses the fun challenge of building game applications for these kinds of portable devices. Author Carol Hamer shows you how to use J2ME for developing, using the latest MIDP 2.0 specification.

If you are new to developing with J2ME, we recommend you first read Jonathan Knudsens "Wireless Java: Developing with J2ME, Second Edition." We suggest that you read this book second, then complete the "series" with David Crofts "Advanced Java Game Programming," for a comprehensive Apress experience of game developing with Java. Table of Contents Getting Started Using MIDlets Using the MIDP 2.0 Games API Using Threads and Tones Storing and Retrieving Data Communicating over a Network Securing Your Applications

"Introduction to 3D Game Engine Design Using DirectX 9 and C#" illustrates the process of creating a simple 3D game engine. During this process, author Lynn Harrison demonstrates many facets of the DirectX 9 software through clear-cut explanations and examples.

Throughout the course of the book, you'll develop an off-road driving game that brings such features as management of large scenes, environmental effects, and physics into play. To write the game, you'll use cutting-edge technologiesC# and DirectX, and the .NET Frameworkand you'll go beyond simple graphics to explore audio, user input, artificial intelligence, and multiplayer design. Table of Contents Overview User Interface Hanging Ten: A Ride Through the Rendering Pipeline Basic 3D Objects Complex 3D Objects Camera: The Player's View of the World Adding Some Atmosphere: Lighting and Fog Artificial Intelligence: Adding the Competition Game Audio: Let's Make Some Noise Game Physics: Keeping It Real Tools of the Trade

The success of Angry Birds, Peggle, and Fruit Ninja has proven that fun and immersive game experiences can be created in two dimensions. Furthermore, 2D graphics enable developers to quickly prototype ideas and mechanics using fewer resources than 3D. 2D Graphics Programming for Games provides an in-depth single source on creating 2D graphics that can be easily applied to many game platforms, including iOS, Android, Xbox 360, and the PlayStation Suite. The author presents examples not only from video games but also from art and animated film. The book helps new programmers learn the concepts and techniques used to produce appealing 2D graphics. It starts with the basics and then covers topics pertaining to motion and depth, such as cel animation, tiling, and layering. The text also describes advanced graphics, including the use of particle systems, shaders, and splines. Code samples in the text and online allow readers to see a particular line of code in action or as it relates to the code around it. In addition, challenges and suggested projects encourage readers to work through problems, experiment with solutions, and tinker with code. Full of practical tools and tricks, this color book gives novices in-depth guidance on making professional, high-quality graphics for games. It also improves the relationship between programmers and artists by explaining how certain art and design challenges can be solved with a programmatic solution.

Video games represent a unique blend of programming, art, music, and unbridled creativity. To the general public, they are perhaps the most exciting computer applications ever undertaken. In the field of computer science, they have been the impetus for a continuous stream of innovations designed to provide gaming enthusiasts with the most realistic and enjoyable gaming experience possible. Algorithmic and Architectural Gaming Design: Implementation and Development discusses the most recent advances in the field of video game design, with particular emphasis on practical examples of game development, including design and implementation. The target audience of this book includes educators, students, practitioners, professionals, and researchers working in the area of video game design and development. Anyone actively developing video games will benefit from the practical application of fundamental computer science concepts demonstrated in this book.

This book is a way of sharing insights empirically gathered, over decades of interactive media development, by the author and other children's designers. Included is as much emerging theory as possible in order to provide background for practical and technical aspects of design while still keeping the information accessible. The author's intent for this book is not to create an academic treatise but to furnish an insightful and practical manual for the next generation of children's interactive media and game designers. Key Features Provides practical detailing of how children's developmental needs and capabilities translate to specific design elements of a piece of media Serves as an invaluable reference for anyone who is designing interactive games for children (or adults) Detailed discussions of how children learn and how they play Provides lots of examples and design tips on how to design content that will be appealing and effective for various age ranges Accessible approach, based on years of successful creative business experience, covers basics across the gamut from developmental needs and learning theories to formats, colors, and sounds

Launched in January 2018, the Overwatch League (OWL) is the first large-scale concerted effort to build a competitive, global framework for an eSport that can rival the largest pro sports leagues. $3.5 million in prize money, a broadcasting deal with ESPN, and the purchase of OWL teams by celebrity owners including Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, and Stan Kroenke, owner of the Los Angeles Rams, set the stakes for the launch. The first season ended in a tense round of playoffs that climaxed in a suspenseful championship series in a sold-out Barclay's Center. Austin Moorhead, a gamer who found himself fascinated by the emerging world of pro players, embedded himself during OWL's debut season with multiple teams, including the London Spitfire, which would go on to become Overwatch's first world champion. In Young Guns, he takes readers behind the scenes of the wild first season of a competition that just might become as ingrained in our culture as Sunday football, revealing a high-stakes, pressure-cooker world of profane teenagers who earn six-figure salaries, TV executives and traditional sports owners struggling to understand and conquer youth culture, and a game whose innovation progresses so fast that fans watch their favourite gamers practice for hours just to keep up with it. Told with perspective on the subculture and unrivalled access into how both the OWL and the teams that compose it have built themselves to succeed, Young Guns is a fascinating look at the ascendance of competitive gaming and the future of sports.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed postproceedings of the Second International Conference on Computers and Games, CG 2001, held in Hamamatsu, Japan in October 2000. The 23 revised full papers presented together with two invited contributions and five reviews were carefully refereed and selected during two rounds of reviewing and improvement. The papers are organized in topical sections on search and strategies, learning and pattern acquisition, theory and complexity issues, and further experiments on game; the reviews presented are on computer language games, computer Go, intelligent agents for computer games, RoboCup, and computer Shogi.

Steve Rabin's Game AI Pro 360: Guide to Architecture gathers all the cutting-edge information from his previous three Game AI Pro volumes into a convenient single source anthology covering game AI architecture. This volume is complete with articles by leading game AI programmers that further explore modern architecture such as behavior trees and share architectures used in top games such as Final Fantasy XV, the Call of Duty series and the Guild War series. Key Features Provides real-life case studies of game AI in published commercial games Material by top developers and researchers in Game AI Downloadable demos and/or source code available online

This book is the fourth offical archival publication devoted to RoboCup and documents the achievements presented at the Fourth Robot World Cup Soccer Games and Conferences, RoboCup 2000, held in Melbourne, Australia, in August/September 2000. The book presents the following parts: introductory overview and survey, championship papers by the winners of the competitions, finalist papers for the RoboCup challenge awards, papers and posters presented at the workshop, team description of a large number of participating teams. This book is mandatory reading for the rapidly growing RoboCup community as well as a valuable source of reference and inspiration for R & D professionals interested in multi-agent systems, distributed artificial intelligence, and intelligent robotics.

The success of storytelling in games depends on the entire development team-game designers, artists, writers, programmers and musicians, etc.-working harmoniously together towards a singular artistic vision. Interactive Stories and Video Game Art is first to define a common design language for understanding and orchestrating interactive masterpieces using techniques inherited from the rich history of art and craftsmanship that games build upon. Case studies of hit games like The Last of Us, Journey, and Minecraft illustrate the vital components needed to create emotionally-complex stories that are mindful of gaming's principal relationship between player actions and video game aesthetics. This book is for developers of video games and virtual reality, filmmakers, gamification and transmedia experts, and everybody else interested in experiencing resonant and meaningful interactive stories. Key Features: The first book to define a common visual and interactive language for understanding and orchestrating sophisticated stories in video games Accessible to industry professionals as well as non-developers Featured concepts apply to all media with an interactive component including: transmedia, gamification and interactive art The definitive framework for designing interactive stories

The behind-the-scenes story of the world's most notorious and controversial video games company - Rockstar Games. Jacked is the incredible story behind the phenomenon that changed video games for ever - Grand Theft Auto. Powerful politicians tried to stop it, parents and activists vigorously campaigned against it, but they couldn't stop GTA breaking records. GTA IV became the biggest entertainment product launch of all time, eclipsing all other books, films and music, and went on to become the most controversial video game in history. Now, after 10 years of research, David Kushner reveals how Sam Houser's company, Rockstar Games, made it all possible. He lifts the veil of secrecy around the team to show how a blend of creative genius, daring PR campaigns, big egos and an obsessive work ethic all came together to create a monster with a tendency to spiral out of control. Including the full story behind 'Hot Coffee' - the hidden sex minigame that nearly killed the game and the company - Jacked gets right to the heart of what it takes to make a classic computer game...

Video games have captivated us for over 50 years, giving us entire worlds to explore, new ways to connect with friends, thought-provoking stories, or just a fun way to pass the time. Creating games is a dream for many, but making great games is challenging. The Game Designer's Playbook is about meeting that challenge. More specifically, it's a book about game interaction design; in other words, shaping what players can do and how they do it to make a game satisfying and memorable. Our time with a game is built on interaction, from basic things like pushing buttons on a controller, to making complicated strategic decisions and engaging with the narrative. If you've ever felt the adrenaline rush from beating a perfectly tuned boss fight or been delighted by the fanfare of picking up that last collectible, you've experienced good interaction design firsthand. The Game Designer's Playbook is about learning what makes for great (or terrible!) interaction design in games, exploring things like controls, feedback, story, and tutorial design by analyzing existing games. It also looks at how newer and still-developing tech like VR and streaming are changing the ways we play, and how you can bring great interaction design to your own games.

ThisbookcontainsthepaperspresentedattheFirstInternationalConferenceon Computers and Games (CG'98) held at the Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL), in Tsukuba, Japan, on November 11-12, 1998. TheCG'98focusesonallaspectsofresearchrelatedtocomputersandgames. Relevanttopics include, but arenotlimited to,the currentstate ofgame-playing programs. The book contains new theoretical developments in game-related - search, general scienti c contributions produced by the study of games, social aspects of computer games, mathematical games, cognitive research of how - mans play games, and so on. As this volume shows, CG'98 is an international conference, with participants from many di erent countries who have di erent backgrounds and hence exhibit di erent views on computers and games. The Conference was the rst one in a series of conferences on this topic. It was a direct follow-up of many successful computer-games-relatedevents held in Japan, such as the series of four Game Programming Workshops (GPW'94 to GPW'97) and the IJCAI-97 Workshop on Computer Games. The technical program consisted of a keynote lecture, titled: Predictions (by H.J. van den Herik), and 21 presentations of accepted papers. The conference was preceded by an informal Workshop on November 10, 1998. The Program Committee (PC) received 35 submissions. Eachpaper was sent to three referees, who were selected on the basis of their expert knowledge. Twelve papers were acceptedimmediately,12paperswerenotaccepted,and11paperswerereturned to the authors with the request to improve them, and with the statement that they would be refereed again. Finally, with the help of many referees (see the endofthis preface),the PCaccepted21papers forpresentationandpublication.

This book is made from the connections that the author saw when he compared his experience inside a video game with what he learned through a formal study of economic theory. Set in the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) of Eternal Lands, it follows the true story of Mr. Mind, a gamer who builds a business inside the game world that he calls RICH. This business grows from a small start-up to an unregulated natural monopoly that abuses its market power by intentionally losing money to drive competitors out of business. RICH becomes so influential that it breaks the market process with a unique case of regulatory capture. Through this story, the book demonstrates how economic thinking is absorbed by experimenting inside an online video game. The Economics of Online Gaming covers basic economic concepts, unique economic issues, and general economic themes. Each of these topics begins with the context of a story and continues with an explanation of the economic theory behind it, finishing with a relevant real-world connection. It supports economic theory in an emotional way that cannot be shared through math or charts or graphs. Appendix B provides a comprehensive outline of ideas for teaching and discussion in each chapter.

Take a journey through the history of Japanese role-playing games-from the creators who built it, the games that defined it, and the stories that transformed pop culture and continue to capture the imaginations of millions of fans to this day.The Japanese roleplaying game (JRPG) genre is one that is known for bold, unforgettable characters; rich stories, and some of the most iconic and beloved games in the industry. Inspired by early western RPGs and introducing technology and artistic styles that pushed the boundaries of what video games could be, this genre is responsible for creating some of the most complex, bold, and beloved games in history-and it has the fanbase to prove it. In Fight, Magic, Items, Aidan Moher guides readers through the fascinating history of JRPGs, exploring the technical challenges, distinct narrative and artistic visions, and creative rivalries that fueled the creation of countless iconic games and their quest to become the best, not only in Japan, but in North America, too. Moher starts with the origin stories of two classic Nintendo titles, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and immerses readers in the world of JRPGs, following the interconnected history from through the lens of their creators and their stories full of hope, risk, and pixels, from the tiny teams and almost impossible schedules that built the foundations of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises; Reiko Kodama pushing the narrative and genre boundaries with Phantasy Star; the unexpected team up between Horii and Sakaguchi to create Chrono Trigger; or the unique mashup of classic Disney with Final Fantasy coolness in Kingdom Hearts. Filled with firsthand interviews and behind-the-scenes looks into the development, reception, and influence of JRPGs, Fight, Magic, Items captures the evolution of the genre and why it continues to grab us, decades after those first iconic pixelated games released.