Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Electronic games have established a huge international market, significantly outselling non-digital games; people spend more money on The Sims than on 'Monopoly' or even on 'Magic: the Gathering'.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Dedication and Acknowledgments (p. x)
• Introduction (p. xi)
• Contributors (p. xiii)
• I Cyberdrama (p. 1)
• II Ludology (p. 35)
• III Critical Simulation (p. 71)
• IV Game Theories (p. 117)
• V Hypertexts & Interactives (p. 165)
• VI The Pixel/The Line (p. 207)
• VII Beyond Chat (p. 237)
• VIII New Readings (p. 289)
• Permissions (p. 319)
• Index (p. 321)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

A fairly new area of academic study, "new media" is just beginning to find its structure and place both historically and academically. Offering a volume that begins to question the boundaries that define literature, Wardrip-Fruin and Harrigan have collected essays that look at the relationships between new media and storytelling, between game and performance. The volume's contributors--who include theorists and practitioners, both major and less-known players in the field--take on such subjects as "cyberdrama," "ludology," critical simulation, game theories, "hypertext and interactives," to cite just a few of the essay subjects. Created in conjunction with the online journal Electronic Book Review, the book promises a Web site to further the interesting discussion offered here. However, the choice of black and white for illustrations gives the book a dated air and seems odd in this discussion of the newest form of media. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. J. V. Trieschman formerly, Marian College