Newsgames: Journalism at Play
"A new generation of news junkies has stopped reading the news and started playing it. Newsgames will be their rulebook." Fred Turner, Stanford University"Newsgames posits an essential upgrade to the historical relationship between games and news -- far beyond digitization of your morning crossword puzzle. This book is critical reading for those interested in emerging journalistic forms wherein the power of playful systems is harnessed to explicate the events of the day." Tracy Fullerton, Director, Game Innovation Lab, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Interactive Media Division"Newsgames pushes the profession to think differently about how current events can be turned into systems of scenarios and variables, instead of mere stories." Alyssa Abkowitz Columbia Journalism Review"In their well-researched and intriguing new book Newsgames: Journalism at Play, Ian Bogost, Simon Ferrari and Bobby Schweizer examine the practice of fusing gaming with journalism. It's not a new idea. From before personal computers, with games like 'Diplomacy' and 'Risk' to early computer games, such as 'Balance of Power' and 'Hidden Agenda,' front-page reality and game-room fantasy have meshed well. Newsgames suggests this link should get stronger by purposefully employing gaming to convey news of the day. And it sets down a challenge, not to gamers, but to journalists." Michael Humphrey Forbes.com Technology, "Techno-tainers" blog