Handbook Of Digital Games And Entertainment Technologies

The topics treated in this handbook cover all areas of games and entertainment technologies, such as digital entertainment; technology, design/art, and sociology. The handbook consists of contributions from top class scholars and researchers from the interdisciplinary topic areas. The aim of this handbook is to serving as a key reference work in the field and provides readers with a holistic picture of this interdisciplinary field covering technical issues, aesthetic/design issues, and sociological issues. At present, there is no reference work in the field that provides such a broad and complete picture of the field. Engineers and researchers who want to learn about this emerging area will be able to find adequate answers regarding technology issues on digital entertainment. Designers and artists can learn how their skills and expertise can contribute to this emerging area. Also researchers working in the field of sociology and psychology will find how their experience and knowledge are connected to other areas such as technology and art/design. Although topics are written by foremost experts from the field, the description for each topic has been intended to be easily understandable but yet comprehensive enough so that it caters not only for the experts but also beginners and students in the field.

This book covers the state-of-the-art in digital games research and development for anyone working with or studying digital games and those who are considering entering into this rapidly growing industry. Many books have been published that sufficiently describe popular topics in digital games; however, until now there has not been a comprehensive book that draws the traditional and emerging facets of gaming together across multiple disciplines within a single volume.

The advances in computer entertainment, multi-player and online games, technology-enabled art, culture and performance have created a new form of entertainment and art. The success of this new field has influenced the development of the digital entertainment industry and related products/services, which has impacted every aspect of our lives. Handbook of Multimedia for Digital Entertainment and Arts is an edited volume contributed by worldwide experts in the field of the new digital and interactive media, and their applications in entertainment and arts. This handbook covers leading edge media technologies, and the latest research applied to digital entertainment and arts. The main focus of Handbook of Multimedia for Digital Entertainment and Arts targets interactive and online games, edutainment, e-performance, personal broadcasting, innovative technologies for digital arts, digital visual and auditory media, augmented reality, moving media, and other advanced topics. The final chapters of this book present future trends and developments within this explosive field. Handbook of Multimedia for Digital Entertainment and Arts serves as a primary reference for advanced-level students, researchers and professors studying computer science and electrical engineering. With the dramatic growth of interactive digital entertainment and art applications, this handbook is also suitable as a reference for practitioners, programmers, and engineers working in this field.

"This book presents a framework for understanding games for educational purposes while providing a broader sense of current related research. This creative and advanced title is a must-have for those interested in expanding their knowledge of this exciting field of electronic gaming"--Provided by publisher.

The proliferation of new digital technologies has given rise to an entirely changed media landscape and revolutionized how we seek entertainment. Older entertainment media like novels, radio, and film have been joined by a host of digital media that smartphones allow us to carry almost anywhere and at all times, from video games and social media to video on demand services. This unprecedented ubiquity of entertainment media calls for new and more sophisticated theories that help us understand the fascination that different entertainment media exert on us and how they change the human experience. The Oxford Handbook of Entertainment Theory surveys and furthers the most influential psychology-driven research on media entertainment to illuminate how people are drawn into media experiences. The 41 chapters in this Handbook not only offer fresh perspectives on established theories but also introduce emerging models and highlight the importance of considering the diverse backgrounds of media users when conducting research. They also cover the motivations and reactions of media users in relationship to different types of media, the trend towards interactive media such as video games and virtual reality, and particularly popular media contents like sexuality, violence, sports, and the news. As the most comprehensive overview of psychology-based research on media entertainment available, this Handbook is an invaluable resource for seasoned researchers and those beginning to learn about the field alike.

The evolution of story-telling is as old as the human race; from the beginning, when our ancestors first gathered around a campfire to share wondrous tales through oral traditions, to today, with information and stories being shared through waves and filling screens with words and images. Stories have always surrounded us, and united us in ways other disciplines can't. Storytelling for Interactive Digital Media and Video Games lays out the construct of the story, and how it can be manipulated by the storyteller through sound, video, lighting, graphics, and color. This book is the perfect guide to aspiring storytellers as it illustrates the different manner of how and why stories are told, and how to make them "interactive." Storytelling features heavy game development as a method of storytelling and delivery, and how to develop compelling plots, characters, settings, and actions inside a game. The concept of digital storytelling will be explored, and how this differs from previous incarnations of mediums for stories Key Features: Explores the necessary elements of a story (setting, character, events, sequence, and perspective) and how they affect the viewer of the story Discusses media and its role in storytelling, including images, art, sound, video, and animation Explores the effect of interactivity on the story, such as contest TV, web-based storytelling, kiosks, and games Shows the different types of story themes in gaming and how they are interwoven Describes how to make games engaging and rewarding intrinsically and extrinsically

The Digital Gaming Handbook covers the state-of-the-art in video and digital game research and development, from traditional to emerging elements of gaming across multiple disciplines. Chapters are presented with applicability across all gaming platforms over a broad range of topics, from game content creation through gameplay at a level accessible for the professional game developer while being deep enough to provide a valuable reference of the state-of-the-art research in this field. Key Features: International experts share their research and experience in game development and design Provides readers with inside perspectives on the cross-disciplinary aspects of the industry Includes retrospective and forward-looking examinations of gaming Editor: Dr. Roberto Dillon is a leading game studies educator with more than 15 years of experience in the field of game design and development.

Digital gaming is today a significant economic phenomenon as well as being an intrinsic part of a convergent media culture in postmodern societies. Its ubiquity, as well as the sheer volume of hours young people spend gaming, should make it ripe for urgent academic enquiry, yet the subject was a research backwater until the turn of the millennium. Even today, as tens of millions of young people spend their waking hours manipulating avatars and gaming characters on computer screens, the subject is still treated with scepticism in some academic circles. This handbook aims to reflect the relevance and value of studying digital games, now the subject of a growing number of studies, surveys, conferences and publications. As an overview of the current state of research into digital gaming, the 42 papers included in this handbook focus on the social and cultural relevance of gaming. In doing so, they provide an alternative perspective to one-dimensional studies of gaming, whose agendas do not include cultural factors. The contributions, which range from theoretical approaches to empirical studies, cover various topics including analyses of games themselves, the player-game interaction, and the social context of gaming. In addition, the educational aspects of games and gaming are treated in a discrete section. With material on non-commercial gaming trends such as ‘modding’, and a multinational group of authors from eleven nations, the handbook is a vital publication demonstrating that new media cultures are far more complex and diverse than commonly assumed in a debate dominated by concerns over violent content.