From Sun Tzu to Xbox

Last updated
From Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games
From Sun Tzu to Xbox.jpg
Author Ed Halter
LanguageEnglish
PublisherPublicAffairs
Publication date
31 May 2006
ISBN 978-1560256816
Website www.fromsuntzutoxbox.com

From Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games is a book of video game history written by the journalist and film critic Ed Halter, published in 2006.

Contents

Description

The book describes the evolution of video games from military-related technologies and contemporary video game related projects by the American military such as America's Army and Full Spectrum Warrior . The book also relates pre-video game relationship between war and games, such as the evolution of chess into kriegspiel.

Reviews

David Fear of the magazine Time Out found that Ed Halter provided a thorough analysis of the topic, but also attached some personal point of views to the story, which sometimes makes it off-topic. [1]

Quotes

The technologies that shape our culture have always been pushed forward by war. [2]

Video games were not created directly for military purposes, [they] arose out of an intellectual environment whose existence was entirely predicated on defense research. [2]

A more realistic form of America's Army, for example, would be one in which your soldier might lose a limb or get brain-damaged in combat, then come home to a Sims-style scenario in which you have to manage the rest of your life that way. Or maybe a game where you don't get into combat at all–you just camp out in the desert, running exercises. [3]

See also

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References

  1. David Fear (6 July 2006). "From Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games". Timeout.com. Archived from the original on 26 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  2. 1 2 Corey Mead (19 September 2013). "Shall we play a game?: The rise of the military-entertainment complex". Salon.com.
  3. Christopher Grant (6 June 2006). "From Sun Tzu to Xbox; a new book on war and videogames". Engadget.com.