Next week in my “Game Studies” seminar, we’ll be discussing Nick Montfort’s great article “Combat in Context” (from Game Studies 6.1, December 2006). As the proud owner of an Atari 2600 (wood-grain but 4-switch variant), and as a firm believer that the specific material implementation of a game makes a big difference in players’ experience of it, I thought I would bring my console and the game and give students the opportunity to try it out for themselves (which we’ll be doing in an extra session this Friday; and speaking of material implementation, it will be my first time hooking up a 2600 to a digital projector).
Above, for the benefit of those who can’t make it, a clip that gives an impression of the game’s scheme of audiovisual re/presentation, the basics of gameplay, and the many variations (or games) included in Atari’s classic “game program.”