Bugaboo: A Spanish case of circulation and co-production of video games.

Melanie Swalwell has discussed how 'locality has largely been left out of game history, at least until recently'. Moreover, much of the research and literature about the still young history of video games has been conducted following a cult of celebrity mostly concerned with highlighting American an...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Cogent Arts & Humanities Vol. 3; no. 1; pp. 1 - 20
Autores principales: Meda-Calvet, Ignasi, Wade, Alex
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Dec2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=121111372&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: hlh
    uiTerm: 121111372
    longDbName: Humanities International Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        23311983
        JX4L
      jtl: Cogent Arts & Humanities
      issn: 23311983
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Dec2016
      vid: 3
      iid: 1
      pid: 377
      pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd
    artinfo:
      ui:
        121111372
        10.1080/23311983.2016.1190440
      ppf: 1
      ppct: 19
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: Bugaboo: A Spanish case of circulation and co-production of video games.
      aug:
        au:
          Meda-Calvet, Ignasi
          Wade, Alex
        affil:
          Center for the History of Science (CEHIC), Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
          Reviewing Editor
          Birmingham City University, UK
      su:
        Coproduction (Motion pictures, television, etc.)
        Video games
        Video game industry
        Swalwell, Melanie
        Computer game programming
        Computer programmers
        Computer programming
      sug:
        subj:
          Coproduction (Motion pictures, television, etc.)
          Video games
          Video game industry
          Swalwell, Melanie
          Computer game programming
          Computer programmers
          Computer programming
      keyword:
        circulation
        co-production
        computerization
        game history
        microcomputers
        playfulness
        programming languages
        video games
        video games in the 1980s
      ab: Melanie Swalwell has discussed how 'locality has largely been left out of game history, at least until recently'. Moreover, much of the research and literature about the still young history of video games has been conducted following a cult of celebrity mostly concerned with highlighting American and Japanese perspectives. Swalwell, discusses 'the great historic diversity of contexts and games to play with', and considering that technological innovation is a multi-centred complex process-- not the linear progression depicted in many writings--this article focuses on the specific context of the early eighties in Spain, in a decisive moment wherein personal computers began to reach markets, even though information on how to program them was confusing and difficult to access. While both, programming and gameplay are sometimes described as solitary or antisocial activities, this paper explores the landscape of Spanish computer games in the early eighties through a case study of the Spanish computer game “Bugaboo (The Flea)” programmed by Francisco Portalo and Francisco Suárez, ironically, released before in the UK (in 1983) rather than Spain. By following the traces that this game was leaving behind (even before it was programmed), I will show the performative potential that this game had, first of all, as a way of tinkering and learning among enthusiasts and practitioners onto how to master micro computers and, afterwards, becoming a digital commodity as well as a bargaining chip in the negotiations to distribute Amstrad micro computers in Spain.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: Y
      dt:
        @attributes:
          year: 2016
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N