How do I hold this thing? Controlling reconstructed Q*berts. (October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hodges, James A
• Other Names: Parisi David guest-editor.; Paterson Mark guest-editor.; Archer Jason Edward guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: New media & society. Volume 19:Number 10(2017)
• Page Start: 1581
• Page End: 1598
• Publication Date: 2017-10
• Subjects: Epitext -- game history -- game preservation -- haptic media -- paratext; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mass media and culture -- Periodicals; Information technology -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Internet -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1177/1461444817717511
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-4448

Abstract

Preserving a historically significant video game frequently requires either preserving or adapting a touchable interface for contemporary use. While control techniques are often evaluated in terms of fidelity between in- and out-of-game actions, this essay emphasizes several ways that fidelity must be actively constructed. Bringing a haptic perspective on video gaming into conversation with game history and preservation, this essay examines ways that textual materials surrounding and supplementing a work can be used to construct haptic fidelity. The video game Q*bert is selected as a case study both because of its historical and cultural significance and because it makes idiosyncratic use of controller and force-feedback technologies. The essay concludes that playing Q*bert in a preservation setting requires several unique accommodations at the level of touchable interface, and each accommodation illustrates another way that supplementary texts help construct historical haptic fidelity.