Playing with Videogames documents the richly productive, playful and social cultures of videogaming that support, surround and sustain this most important of digital media forms and yet which remain largely invisible within existing studies.

James Newman details the rich array of activities that surround game-playing, charting the vibrant and productive practices of the vast number of videogame players and the extensive 'shadow' economy of walkthroughs, FAQs, art, narratives, online discussion boards and fan games, as well as the cultures of cheating, copying and piracy that have...

Despite record sales and an ever-growing global industry, the simple fact is that videogames are disappearing. Best Before examines the ways in which the obsessions with technological obsolescence and supersession and an industry defined by continual innovation have effectively closed down the possibility of valuing old videogames in any way other than curiosities or waypoints along the teleological journey to the next generation of hardware and software. James Newman presents videogames as new media in need of preservation and discusses the practical and conceptual challenges faced by the...

'Best Before' examines how the videogames industry's retail, publishing, technology design, advertising and marketing practices actively produce obsolescence, wearing out and retiring old games to make way for the always new, just out of reach, 'coming soon' title and 'next generation' platform.

James Newman's lucid, engaging introduction guides readers through the world of videogaming, providing a history of the videogame from its origins in the computer lab to its contemporary status as a global entertainment industry.