Playback - A Genealogy of 1980s British Videogames

An interdisciplinary approach to the history of British video games of the 1980s, examining not only their industrial and social contexts, but other interrelated cultural issues, such as 'bedroom coding', arcades, and the economic conditions shaping the zeitgeist. Sure to be of interest not only to Media Studies scholars, but to students of British culture in general. * Mark J. P. Wolf, Communication Department Chair, Concordia University Wisconsin, USA *
A complete picture [of the] bedroom gaming culture in the UK. * PS Nation *
Playback reads like a labour of love and seriously theoretical tour de force. Working in the boundaries between genealogy, habitus and subculture, but always resisting the easy option of one categorisation, Wade puts Foucault and Bourdieu to work on 80s games as archaeology in the specific context of post-industrial social dynamics. Understood this way, games demand transdisciplinary energy - as the author has it, "the time for academic investigation is now." I learned a lot. * Julian McDougall, Professor at the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice, Bournemouth University, UK *
With so much work on videogame history reproducing discourses of technological progression, Wade's focus on the cultures and practices of arcade gaming, bedroom coding and copying provides an important corrective to the linear timelines of platform 'generations'. This detailed and carefully-theorised book is essential reading for anybody interested in understanding the social, cultural, political and economic contexts of 1980s videogame development and consumption in the UK - and how these factors shape the contemporary landscape of gaming. * James Newman, Professor of Digital Media, College of Liberal Arts, Bath Spa University, UK *