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Print Material
Author Church, David, 1982- author.

Title Mortal kombat : games of death / David Church.

Publication Info. Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2022.

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Location Call No. OPAC Message Status
 Axe JSTOR Open Ebooks  Electronic Book    ---  Available
Description 1 online resource.
text txt rdacontent
computer c rdamedia
online resource cr rdacarrier
Series Landmark video games
Landmark video games.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary Upon its premiere in 1992, Midway's Mortal Kombat spawned an enormously influential series of fighting games, notorious for their violent "fatality" moves performed by photorealistically rendered characters. Targeted by lawmakers and moral reformers, the series directly inspired the creation of an industrywide rating system for video games and became a referendum on the wide popularity of 16-bit home consoles. Along the way, it became one of the world's most iconic fighting games, and a transmedia franchise that continues to this day. This book traces Mortal Kombat's history as an American product inspired by both Japanese video games and Chinese martial-arts cinema, its successes and struggles in adapting to new market trends, and the ongoing influence of its secret-strewn narrative world. After outlining the specific elements of gameplay that differentiated Mortal Kombat from its competitors in the coin-op market, David Church examines the various martial-arts films that inspired its Orientalist imagery, helping explain its stereotypical uses of race and gender. He also posits the games as a cultural landmark from a moment when public policy attempted to intervene in both the remediation of cinematic aesthetics within interactive digital games and in the transition of public gaming spaces into the domestic sphere. Finally, the book explores how the franchise attempted to conquer other forms of media in the 1990s, lost ground to a new generation of 3D games in the 2000s, and has successfully rebooted itself in the 2010s to reclaim its legacy.
Note Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Contents Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: ABACABB -- One. Ludic Precursors and Generic Innovations -- Two. Cinematic Influences and Cultural Politics -- Three. Mortal Kontroversy -- or, Dispatches from the Console Wars -- Four. Imitation, Derivation, and Reinvention -- Notes -- Glossary -- Mortal Kombat Ludography -- Bibliography -- Index
Subject Mortal Kombat (Game)
Video games -- Social aspects -- United States.
Video games -- United States -- History.
Jeux vidéo -- Aspect social -- États-Unis.
Jeux vidéo -- États-Unis -- Histoire.
SOCIAL SCIENCE / General
Mortal Kombat (Game)
Video games
Video games -- Social aspects
United States
Genre/Form Electronic books.
History
Added Author Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), publisher.
Other Form: Print version: Church, David, 1982- Mortal kombat Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2022 9780472075225 (DLC) 2021039328
ISBN 0472902628
9780472902620 (electronic bk.)
9780472075225 (hardcover)
9780472055227 (paperback)
Standard No. 10.3998/mpub.11477677 doi
AU@ 000070375577

 
    
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