Print Screen: Building a Library for the Holidays
11/25/2008 7:37 PM | 1 Comments | Page 1 of 3
'Tis the season for gift guides, that annual ritual in which a bunch of writers you barely know suggest what to buy for people that they have never met. It's that uncomfortable holiday mixture of misplaced entitlement, random guessing and Oprah's "favorite things." But if high school taught me anything, it's that following the crowd is usually the safest course of action.
Besides, this has been a very good year for both gaming books and movies -- a good few years, in fact. The growing body of literature, analysis and film treatments probably means that the industry has reached the point at which we can stop making excuses for it because it is so "young." That means that interested gamers can start building libraries about their hobby. This guide to items from the last 12 months will help you or a friend get started.
Books
Nintendo's Wii will be a hot item again this Christmas, but your aging parents or grandparents might still be a little puzzled by what's in front of them. So why not toss in Kyle Orland's "
Wii for Dummies"? Orland goes through everything the new Wii owner needs to know, from basic bowling posture to Mii-making. In the fine tradition of the Dummies series, he never talks down to his audience but isn't afraid to state the overly obvious. Even the simplest of today's consoles assume knowledge of the hobby that certain generations just never picked up. "Wii for Dummies" will get the clueless up to speed with efficiency and good humor.
Jim Rossignol's "
This Gaming Life" is the year's most interesting game-themed book. It's perfect for nomads of any type, since his travels to London, Seoul and Reykjavik illuminate not simply differences between gaming cultures, but between modern societies as well. Non-gamers will find something to enjoy in here, but it's especially attractive to writers who sometimes have trouble understanding their subject. Even as the Internet and gaming make the world smaller, Rossignol is able to distinguish those things that make a city like Seoul foreign. The more I go back to "This Gaming Life," the more I see it as a writer's narrative -- about Rossignol coming to grips with his career -- rather than purely a gamer's story. Rossignol has always brought a unique voice to his game journalism, and he uses it to great effect here, emphasizing the diversity and richness of gaming.
If there is a gamer in your life that could use a good smack, why not give them "
Men to Boys: The Making of Modern Immaturity"? Gary Cross' book isn't entirely about videogames, but the hobby's transition from the purview of children to something that grown men will do for hours on end is cited as a symptom of a devolved society that allows men to embrace their juvenile side with little consideration of the larger impact on their world. Cross makes some odd generalizations about maturity, and the book is sometimes more a list of pathologies than an in-depth analysis of the evolution of leisure. But "Men to Boys" is sure to provoke conversation about games, action movies and how fathers should interact with sons so that they don't grow up to be like me.
