The 21st Century in 100 Games is an interactive public history of the contemporary world. It creates a ludological retelling of the 21st century through 100 games that were announced, launched, and played from the turn of the century. The book analyzes them and then uses the games as a means of entry to examine both key events in the 21st century and the evolution of the gaming industry. Adopting a tri-pronged perspective -- the reviewer, the academic, and an industry observer -- it studies games as ludo-narratological artefacts and resituates games in a societal context by examining how they affect and are engaged with by players, reviewers, the gaming community, and the larger gaming industry. This book will be a must read for readers interested in video games, new media, digital culture (s), culture studies, and history.

The 21st Century in 100 Games is an interactive public history of the contemporary world. It creates a ludological retelling of the 21st century through 100 games that were announced, launched, and played from the turn of the century. The book analyzes them and then uses the games as a means of entry to examine both key events in the 21st century and the evolution of the gaming industry. Adopting a tri-pronged perspective — the reviewer, the academic, and an industry observer — it studies games as ludo-narratological artefacts and resituates games in a societal context by examining how they affect and are engaged with by players, reviewers, the gaming community, and the larger gaming industry. This book will be a must read for readers interested in video games, new media, digital culture (s), culture studies, and history.

Principles of interface design; game world abstraction; avatar abstraction; game structures; genres; and the evolution of games. Annotation 2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

The authors argue that women gamers, too often ignored as gamers, are in many respects leading the way in this trend towards design, cultural production, new learning communities, and the combination of technical proficiency with emotional and social intelligence.

Long-time readers of Ragnar Benson know that he has made a life's work of observing and writing about survival in numerous countries and societies around the world, up close and dirty. He has covered everything from mud-hut survival in Kenya, Somalia, and Burma to gritty urban survival in Beirut, Havana, and Cairo. Ragnar has also lived as a survivor for more than 50 years at his rural U.S. home. In his first survival book in more than a decade, Ragnar Assesses the current economic situation in the United States Compares it to what is currently happening in Greece, Spain, and other distressed European nations Analyzes what has and hasn't worked in past and current ­economic meltdowns Outlines what has and hasn't changed this time around so you can combine classic survival wisdom with specific strategies for today's realities Offers solid indicators to predict not only what lies ahead but also when they will occur According to Ragnar, the chief difference between the looming economic crisis and those of the past is its duration. Whereas in the past, emergency preparations were often for weeks or months, today's preppers must make plans for years—anywhere from four to six years, Ragnar estimates. That involves a lot of food, water, energy, cash, security measures, and other survival necessities, at a time when normal resupply sources are uncertain at best or cut off ­entirely in the worst-case scenario. How do you revamp your survival end game from weeks or months to years? Ragnar offers 21st-century solutions so survivors can begin their efforts now while there is still time.

This book is an overview of the ongoing revolution in tabletop gaming design and culture, which exploded to unprecedented levels of vitality in the 21st century, leading to new ways of creating, marketing, and experiencing a game. Designers have become superstars, publishers have improved quality control, and the community of players is expanding. Most importantly, new and old players have started engaging with the games in a more meaningful way. The book explores the reasons for these changes. It describes how games have begun to keep players engaged until the end. It analyzes the ways in which traditional mechanics have been reimagined to give them more variety and complexity, and reviews the unprecedented mechanics found and perfected. Very interesting is the exploration of how games have performed novel tasks such as reducing conflict, fostering cooperation, creating aesthetic experiences, and telling stories. The book is aimed at scholars, dedicated and aspiring fans, and game designers who want to expand their toolbox with the most up-to-date innovations in the profession.

Emerging technologies are becoming more prevalent in global classrooms. Traditional literacy pedagogies are shifting toward game-based pedagogy, addressing 21st century learners. Therefore, within this context there remains a need to study strategies to engage learners in meaning-making with some element of virtual design. Technology supports the universal design learning framework because it can increase the access to meaningful engagement in learning and reduce barriers. The Handbook of Research on Acquiring 21st Century Literacy Skills Through Game-Based Learning provides theoretical frameworks and empirical research findings in digital technology and multimodal ways of acquiring literacy skills in the 21st century. This book gains a better understanding of how technology can support leaner frameworks and highlights research on discovering new pedagogical boundaries by focusing on ways that the youth learn from digital sources such as video games. Covering topics such as elementary literacy learning, indigenous games, and student-worker training, this book is an essential resource for educators in K-12 and higher education, school administrators, academicians, pre-service teachers, game developers, researchers, and libraries.