num_pages: 204
description: Tom Bissell is a prizewinning writer who published three widely acclaimed books before the age of thirty-four. He is also an obsessive gamer who has spent untold hours in front of his various video game consoles playing titles such as Far Cry 2 Left 4 Dead BioShock and Oblivion for literally days. If you are reading this flap copy the same thing can probably be said of you or of someone you know. Until recently Bissell was somewhat reluctant to admit to his passion for games. In this he is not alone. Millions of adults spend hours every week playing video games and the industry itself now reliably outearns Hollywood. But the wider culture seems to regard video games as at best well designed if mindless entertainment. Extra Lives is an impassioned defense of this assailed and misunderstood art form. Bissell argues that we are in a golden age of gamingbut he also believes games could be even better. He offers a fascinating and often hilarious critique of the ways video games dazzle and just as often frustrate. Along the way we get firsthand portraits of some of the best minds (Jonathan Blow Clint Hocking Cliff Bleszinski Peter Molyneux) at work in video game design today as well as a shattering and deeply moving final chapter that describes in searing detail Bissells descent into the world of Grand Theft Auto IV  a game whose themes mirror his own increasingly self-destructive compulsions. Blending memoir criticism and first-rate reportage Extra Lives is like no other book on the subject ever published. Whether you love video games loathe video games or are merely curious about why they are becoming the dominant popular art form of our time Extra Lives is required reading.
language: English
title: Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
publisher: Pantheon