Although recent critical studies have begun to acknowledge the aesthetic connections that films and video games share, too often these studies neglect to extend an analysis to consumer culture. As video games now make up an important segment of the film industry’s market, this critical engagement is needed to extend the scholarship on video games. Specifically, this essay critically engages the concept of interactivity as an important theoretical construction in the study of video games. Through an analysis of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King video game, the authors discover that interactivity can be limited in a way that augments the synergistic connections between films and video games.
Ang, I. (1996). Living room wars: Rethinking media audiences for a postmodern world. New York: Routledge.
2.
Bryce, J., & Rutter, J. (2002). Spectacle of the deathmatch: Character and narrative in first-person shooters. In G. King & T. Krzywinska (Eds.), Screenplay: Cinema/video games/interfaces (pp. 66-80). London: Wallflower Press.
3.
Crawford, C. (2003). Interactive storytelling. In M. Wolf & B. Perron (Eds.), The videogame theory reader (pp. 259-273). New York: Routledge.
4.
EA reports record third quarter. (2004, January 27). Retrieved October 30, 2004, from http://investor.ea.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=88189&p=irol-newsArticle&t=Regular&id=488654&
5.
Filiciak, M. (2003). Hyperidentities: Postmodern identity patterns in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. In M. Wolf & B. Perron (Eds.), The videogame theory reader (pp. 87-102). New York: Routledge.
6.
Fiske, J. (1987). Television culture. New York: Routledge.
7.
Garite, M. (2003). The ideology of interactivity (or, videogames and the Taylorization of leisure). Paper presented at the Level Up Games Conference, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
8.
Grieb, M. (2002). Run Lara run. In G. King & T. Krzywinska (Eds.), Screenplay: Cinema/videogames/interfaces (pp. 157-170). London: Wallflower Press.
9.
Grossberg, L. (1995). Cultural studies vs. political economy: Is anybody else bored with this debate?Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 12, 72-81.
10.
Gunkel, D. (2001). Hacking cyberspace. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
11.
Gwinn, E. (2004, August 3). More videogames being made the Hollywood way. Chicago Tribune, Tempo Section, pp. 1-1, 4-4.
12.
Howells, S. (2002). Watching a game, playing a movie: When media collide. In G. King & T. Krzywinska (Eds.), Screenplay: Cinema/videogames/interfaces (pp. 110-121). London: Wallflower Press.
13.
Jackson, P. (Director). (2001a). Commentary 2. In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Extended edition [DVD]. Los Angeles: New Line Home Entertainment.
14.
Jackson, P. (Director). (2001b). Documentary 1. In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Extended edition [DVD]. Los Angeles: New Line Home Entertainment.
15.
Jenkins, D., & Carless, S. (2005, October 14). Electronic Arts partners with Spielberg. Gamasutra. Retrieved March 24, 2006, from http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=6840
16.
Jenkins, H. (1992). Textual poachers. New York: Routledge.
17.
Johnson, S. (2005). Everything bad is good for you. New York: Riverhead.
18.
Kent, S. (2001). The ultimate history of videogames. New York: Three Rivers Press.
Mactavish, A. (2002). Technological pleasure: The performance and narrative of technology in Half-Lifeand other high-tech computer games. In G. King & T. Krzywinska (Eds.), Screenplay: Cinema/videogames/interfaces (pp. 33-49). London: Wallflower Press.
21.
Marshall, P. D. (2002). The new intertextual commodity. In D. Harries (Ed.), The new media book (pp. 69-81). London: British Film Institute.
22.
Miller, T. (2006). Gaming for beginners. Games and Culture, 1, 5-12.
23.
Morley, D. (1980). The nationwide audience: Structure and decoding. London: British Film Institute.
24.
Ott, B., & Walter, C. (2000). Intertextuality: Interpretive practice and textual strategy. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 17, 429-446.
25.
Radner, H. (2005). In search of authenticity: The “global popular” and “quality” culture—The case of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Pavement. Portal Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 2(2). Retrieved February 10, 2006, from http://epress.lib.uts.edu.ac/journals/portal/include/gedoc.php?
26.
Rehak, B. (2003). Playing at being: Psychoanalysis and the avatar. In M. Wolf & B. Perron (Eds.), The video game theory reader (pp. 103-127). New York: Routledge.
27.
Rockstar in hot coffee over mod. (2005, September). Game Informer, p. 30-30.
28.
Sawyer, B., Berg, T., & Dunne, A. (1998). Game developers marketplace. Albany, NY: Coriolis Group Books.
29.
Tong, W. L., & Tan, M. C. C. (2002). Vision and virtuality: The construction of narrative space in film and computer games. In G. King & T. Krzywinska (Eds.), Screenplay: Cinema/videogames/interfaces (pp. 98-109). London: Wallflower Press.
30.
Wolf, M. (2003). Abstraction in videogames. In M. Wolf & B. Perron (Eds.), The video game theory reader (pp. 47-65). New York: Routledge.
31.
Zanker, R., & Lealand, G. (2003). New Zealand as Middle Earth: Local and global popular communication in a small nation. Popular Communication, 1, 65-72.
