The International Journal of Computer Game Research

Our Mission - To explore the rich cultural genre of games; to give scholars a peer-reviewed forum for their ideas and theories; to provide an academic channel for the ongoing discussions on games and gaming.

Game Studies is a non-profit, open-access, crossdisciplinary journal dedicated to games research, web-published several times a year at www.gamestudies.org.

Our primary focus is aesthetic, cultural and communicative aspects of computer games, but any previously unpublished article focused on games and gaming is welcome. Proposed articles should be jargon-free, and should attempt to shed new light on games, rather than simply use games as metaphor or illustration of some other theory or phenomenon.



Game Studies is published with the support of:

The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet)

The Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences

Blekinge Institute of Technology

IT University of Copenhagen

Lund University

If you would like to make a donation to the Game Studies Foundation, which is a non-profit foundation established for the purpose of ensuring continuous publication of Game Studies, please contact the Editor-in-Chief or send an email to: foundation at gamestudies dot org

The Battle for Open Access Publishing - And how it affects YOU

by Espen Aarseth

There is an ongoing battle for the heart and soul of open-access publishing. And it is not going well.[more]
Game Sound in the Mechanical Arcades: An Audio Archaeology

by Karen Collins

This paper explores the use and production of sound in the electro-mechanical arcade machines from approximately 1890 to 1940s. It explores the functions and reasons for the introduction of sound, and draws parallels to today’s use of sound in games. [more]
Is Every Indie Game Independent? Towards the Concept of Independent Game

by Maria B. Garda, Paweł Grabarczyk

We argue that “indie game” is a distinct narrow notion within a wider concept of “independent game”. The latter can be explained as a disjunction of three types of independence (financial, creative and publishing) and it is associated, in a given historical period, with different contingent properties determined by the game culture of the era. [more]
Regional Game Studies

by Bjarke Liboriussen, Paul Martin

Game studies is undergoing a regional turn marked by an increase in research conducted in and focussed on areas outside of Western Europe and North America. The development of “regional game studies” will extend the field’s ability to engage with important global issues and enrich game studies with new perspectives and concepts. [more]
The Vitruvian Thumb: Embodied Branding and Lateral Thinking with the Nintendo Game Boy

by Daniel Reynolds

Describes a confluence of forces that shaped the development of the Nintendo Game Boy. Argues that the Game Boy exemplifies a relationship between technologists, media technology, and users. Encourages theorists to consider the bodily and other material constraints that inform the development of media platforms. [more]

Book Reviews

Book Review: John Sharp's Works of Game

by Veli-Matti Karhulahti

Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Game and Art (2015) by John Sharp. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262029070. 146 pp. [more]

 

©2001 - 2016 Game Studies Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the journal, except for the right to republish in printed paper publications, which belongs to the authors, but with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings.