{"59326":{"#nid":"59326","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Bogost\\\u0027s  \\\u0022Racing the Beam\\\u0022 Breaks New Ground","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn his new book, \u0022Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System\u0022 (MIT Press) Literature, Communication, and Culture Associate Professor Ian Bogost examines how the first dominant video computer game system shaped the fledgling gaming industry.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECo-authored with Nick Montfort, \u003Cem\u003ERacing the Beam \u003C\/em\u003Ebegins a new Platform Series offering a detailed and accessible study of the rarely explored territory of the systems underlying computers.  In \u003Cem\u003EBeam\u003C\/em\u003E, Bogost and Montfort develop a critical approach examining the relationship between platforms and creative expression.  Their lenses are six game cartridges that were developed in the late 1970s for the Atari VCS: \u003Cem\u003ECombat, Adventure, Pac-Man, Yars\u0027 Revenge, Pitfall! and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back\u003C\/em\u003E.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAtari so dominated home video games that the name became the generic term for videogame console. Bogost contends, \u0022It\u0027s an extremely important piece of video game history, yet no one has written seriously about it in video game research\u0022\u0022or really even in popular culture... It\u0027s worth doing this not just to geek out on retro chic, hipster stuff. Rather, we ought to take the history of video games as seriously as we would take the history of any cultural object. The influence of the Atari VCS and its games on later titles\u0022\u0022including today\u0027s games\u0022\u0022is significant, extremely significant in our opinion and not obvious.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIan Bogost will lecture and sign copies of \u003Cem\u003ERacing the Beam: the Atari Video Computer System \u003C\/em\u003Eon April 2, 12 noon at the GT Barnes \u0026amp; Noble bookstore.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Racing the Beam, The Atari Video Computer System"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"In his new book, \u0022Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System\u0022 (MIT Press) Literature, Communication, and Culture Associate Professor Ian Bogost examines how the first dominant video computer game system shaped the fledgling gaming industry.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Atari Was Foundation for Many of Today\u0027s Video Games"}],"uid":"27167","created_gmt":"2009-03-05 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:05:41","author":"Rebecca Keane","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2009-03-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2009-03-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"59327":{"id":"59327","type":"image","title":"Ian Bogost","body":null,"created":"1449176227","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:57:07","changed":"1502475481","gmt_changed":"2017-08-11 18:18:01","alt":"Ian Bogost","file":{"fid":"226505","name":"bogost-color.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bogost-color_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bogost-color_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":6216793,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bogost-color_0.png?itok=4-Bj4z9J"}}},"media_ids":["59327"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.digitallounge.gatech.edu\/gaming\/index.html?id=2567","title":"Read interview with Bogost about his book"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"839","name":"atari"},{"id":"315","name":"bogost"},{"id":"1204","name":"Racing the Beam"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ERebecca Keane\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=rkeane3\u0022\u003EContact Rebecca Keane\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-1720\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}