Guns, Grenades, and Grunts - First-Person Shooter Games

Known for their visibility and tendency to generate controversy, first-person shooter (FPS) games are cultural icons and powder-kegs in American society. Contributors will examine a range of FPS games such as the Doom, Half-Life, System Shock, Deus Ex, Halo, Medal of Honor and Call of Duty franchises. By applying and enriching a broad range of perspectives, this volume will address the cultural relevance and place of the genre in game studies, game theory and the cultures of game players. Guns, Grenades, and Grunts gathers scholars from all disciplines to bring the weight of contemporary social theory and media criticism to bear on the public controversy and intellectual investigation of first-person shooter games. As a genre, FPS games have helped shepherd the game industry from the early days of shareware distribution and underground gaming clans to contemporary multimillion dollar production budgets, Hollywood-style launches, downloadable content and worldwide professional gaming leagues. The FPS has been and will continue to be a staple of the game market.

About the author

Gerald Voorhees is an Associate Professor of Communication Arts at the University of Waterloo. He is President of the Canadian Game Studies Association (term ending July 2023) and a former member of the Digital Games Research Association executive board.Josh Call is Professor of English at Grand View University, USA. He is a former area chair of the Game Studies Area of the National Popular Culture Association and Managing Editor of the Approaches to Digital Game Studies series for Bloomsbury Press.Katie Whitlock, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at California State University, Chico.

Product details

• Authors: Joshua Call, Joshua Whitlock Call, Gerald A Voorhees, Gerald A. (EDT)/ Call Voorhees, Gerald A. Call Voorhees, Katie Whitlock
• Assisted by: Joshua Call (Editor), Gerald A. Voorhees (Editor), Katie Whitlock (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 11.10.2012
• EAN: 9781441142245
• ISBN: 978-1-4411-4224-5
• No. of pages: 448
• Series: Approaches to Digital Game Studies; Approaches to Digital Game Stu; Approaches to Digital Game Stu; Approaches to Digital Game Studies
• Subjects: Guides > Hobby, home > Games, quizzes; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > General, dictionaries