This presentation will brush in broad strokes the history of the main video game genres, on both consoles and computers. We will mainly cover the period from the beginnings to the late 1990s. Shooters, fighting games, strategy, adventure games, RPGs, and their brethren all make an appearance. Come to learn the important historical milestones, aesthetic innovations, technical prowess and crushing business strategies that have shaped the industry’s output; or come to get a glimpse of some old games that are too tedious to go through and feature funny graphics.
Dominic Arsenault is a Ph.D. candidate at the Université de Montreal’s department of Film studies and Art history, and holds a scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Before entering the academic world, he was employed as a game writer for a start-up studio named Evillusion. Since then he has presented, written and lectured on narration in the video game, fictional and systemic immersion, video game history and aesthetics, game design and player experience issues, with a hint of thoughts on music for added flavor. He is currently working on the notions of genre, continuity and innovation, and the gaming experience for his thesis, and experimenting with developing a live multiplayer game/music show/art performance prototype based on his 8-Bit Metal musical project(www.myspace.com/8bitmetal). He enjoys some limited internet presence on his website (www.le-ludophile.com).
LOCATING TAG
TAG is based in Hexagram at Concordia University in Montreal.
The TAG lab is located in Room EV- 11.425, tel: 514 848 2424 ext 5669
Bart Simon is the TAG Director: simonbATalcor.concordia.ca
Morgan Kennedy is Research Coordinator: tag.coordinatorATlive.com