“Incremental Speed Increases Excitement”: Bodies,Space,Movement,and Televisual Change

Abstract

The authors argue that both Pong in the mid-1970s and the Wii today have transformed the television set in dramatic ways that have captured the popular imagination. Through a series of case studies, the authors pay close attention to the continuities and “incremental” changes in everyday televisual culture. Informed by phenomenological approaches, they present a comparison between Breakout and Wii Sports to suggest that the short history of videogame “plesiovision” should be rethought. The Wii’s genuine novelties are worthy of analysis in their own right but also highlight the significance of kinaesthesia in popular technoculture, suggest ways of theorising and studying proprioceptive bodies (both human and nonhuman), across videogame culture and televisual history.