If he were alive today, what might Heidegger say about Halo, the popular video game franchise? What would Augustine think about Assassin s Creed ? What could Maimonides teach us about Nintendo s eponymous hero, Mario? While some critics might dismiss such inquiries outright, protesting that these great thinkers would never concern themselves with a medium so crude and mindless as video games, it is important to recognize that games like these are, in fact, becoming the defining medium of our time. We spend more time and money on video games than on books, television, or film,...