275 Ers of First-Party Sega Console Games

Book Reviews 275 ers of first-party Sega console games to book spends more time chronicling the provide a cogent overview of how Sega of development of these games than analyz- America organized its product develop- ing their significance, The Sega Arcade ment and how its many partner studios Revolution should be required reading for brought numerous beloved games to life. any scholar aiming to contextualize Sega’s The result is a monograph as comprehen- vast influence on the development of the sive as it is enlightening. coin-operated video game. In The Sega Arcade Revolution, how- ever, the author largely recounts the his- —Alexander Smith, Six Mile Regional tory of games developed in Japan, and here Library, Granite City, IL the language barrier often betrays him. He focuses on sixty-two games ranging from Sega’s first video game, Pong Tron (1973), to Planet Harriers (2000), but a lack of English-language sources leads to uneven A Play of Bodies: How We coverage. Entries on seminal games like Perceive Videogames Turbo (1981) and Zaxxon (1982) feature Brendan Keogh relatively little information about their Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, development, while Horowitz explores 2018. Introduction, notes, references lesser, though still noteworthy, games (bibliography and ludography), and like Flicky (1984) and Columns (1990) in index. 225 pp. $39.95. Cloth. ISBN: greater depth merely because interviews 9781138189485 with their creators have been conducted in or translated into English. His analysis Brendan Keogh’s A Play of Bodies: How We of the impact of these games in the mar- Perceive Videogames is an interesting read, ketplace is also occasionally problematic, particularly for its minute observations of because he often relies on Sega’s own, how digital play actually happens, drawn inherently biased proclamations in trade from a massive knowledge of games. It is magazines like Replay and Play Meter somewhat limited in references to game without appearing to subject them to criti- ethnography and play experience beyond cal scrutiny. the United States and Australia, but nev- Despite these concerns, Horowitz is ertheless, the connections Keogh makes to be commended for creating the most between embodied play and contempo- comprehensive examination of Sega’s rary game culture are strong and original arcade output yet attempted. By draw- contributions to the literature. ing on virtually every English-language One of the consistent dreams of video source pertaining to Sega arcade game games has been—at least since Janet Mur- development and conducting fresh inter- ray’s Hamlet on the Holodeck (1997)—the views of his own where practicable, the total integration of player and game to the author has melded piecemeal revelations point that the player lives the story in full about seminal arcade games into detailed body immersion. This is the topic Brendan and informative write-ups. Although the Keogh tackles head on in this interesting 276 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PLAY • WINTER 2019 and challenging work. porate game interfaces, input devices, Excluding the introduction and con- sounds, and images into the way we feel clusion, the book has six named chap- and act. From detailed descriptions of the ters concerned with video game worlds, difficulties with sharing and even recog- interfaces, hand-game interaction, sensory nizing the tricks needed to manipulate the input, play processes, and player identi- controller correctly in a particular game ties. Keogh’s primary sources are games, to in-depth discussions of timing and which he lists at in a dense ludography (pp. rhythm as embodied experiences, Keogh 219–23). The usefulness of setting game continuously returns to how the technol- references apart from other references can ogy of digital games depends on the skill be debated, but in this case, it showcases of our bodies. To demonstrate this, he Keogh’s comprehensive knowledge of the draws on a rich variety of game examples, topic at hand, and the book reflects this as well as an enlightening history of input intimate knowledge of the field. devices for computers and games, from Central to Keogh’s introduction is the the QWERTY keyboard to current con- sense of being part of the game, and in sole controllers. his case, it is a very physical presence— Although Brendan Keogh engages a situated and sensorial experience. This with the same set of scholars we expect does not mean a blurring of boundar- to see in an analysis of game structures— ies between fantasy and reality. Instead, namely Espen Aarseth, Jesper Juul, Ian he carefully presents the points of Bogost, and Graeme Kirkpatrick—he does intersection between the body and the move somewhat outside of this narrow game. His language is evocative, but pre- focus by looking at methods and studies cise, as he describes how the games use the of digital ethnography, represented mainly limited options for input and information by Larissa Hjort, and nonhegemonic per- about the player to make him feel as if he is ceptions of the body through mentions of tearing into the game universes. For exam- the works of Adrienne Shaw and T. L. Tay- ple, Keogh discusses how the movements lor. Considering the book’s focus on lived of his thumbs merge with the actions on experience and player practice, it is sur- the screen until the figure performing prising that the ethnographic approach to on the screen feels like an extension of game studies, a rich field of study focused himself. This extension of the self makes on how games are integrated in the lives Keogh, as player, feel as if he is fighting of players, is not a larger part of the book. to win or lose when there are only pixels This becomes particularly obvious in being manipulated. chapter 6, “From Hackers to Cyborgs,” Throughout the first chapter, Keogh in which he discusses Donna Harraway’s continuously returns to Katherine Hayles’ Cyborg Manifesto (1985) and strives to find How We Became Posthuman (1999) and meaning in games beyond game play. her concept of contemporary humanity as This is perhaps the most original and so closely integrated with technology that insightful part of Keogh’s book. Where the we are cyborgs. In chapters 2 through 5, previous chapters have been filled with Keogh describes in detail how we incor- minute and, at times, somewhat repetitive Book Reviews 277 observations of how digital play is embod- dominance, as Keogh puts it. This chapter ied, Keogh’s sixth chapter tells us why this explains the importance of the previous is important. By criticizing two main par- chapters with their careful mapping of adigms of game culture, the hacker and how the game technology demands a mas- the cyborg, Keogh proposes a frame for tery that turns the different input devices understanding how games are integrated and interfaces into extensions of the body. in and understood as a part of a larger Here Keogh brings the whole cyborg ver- technicity. In this context, the hacker rep- sus hacker discourse into the field of game resents the mastery over the (computer) culture and positions it on the brink of a system, an empowered position of domi- deeply insightful, critical reading. nance. Opposing this is the cyborg, the human integration with the machines, an —Torill Elvira Mortensen. IT University of embrace that destabilizes the hegemonic Copenhagen, Denmark.

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