Music Video Games

Music Video Gamestakes a look (and listen) at the popular genre of music games - video games in which music is at the forefront of player interaction and gameplay. With chapters on a wide variety of music games, ranging from well-known console games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band to new, emerging games for smartphones and tablets, scholars from diverse disciplines and backgrounds discuss the history, development, and cultural impact of music games.
Each chapter investigates important themes surrounding the ways in which we play music and play with music in video games. Starting with the precursors to music games - including Simon, the hand-held electronic music game from the 1980s, Michael Austin's collection goes on to discuss issues in musicianship and performance, authenticity and "selling out," and composing, creating, and learning music with video games. Including a glossary and detailed indices, Austin and his team shine a much needed light on the often overlooked subject of music video games.

Michael Austin is Assistant Professor of Media, Journalism and Film and Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program in the School of Communications at Howard University, USA. He teaches courses in audio production, radio, and sound design for film.

Introduction - Taking Note of Music Games (Michael Austin, Howard University, USA) Part One: Preludes & Overtures Chapter 1 - Simon: The Prelude to Modern Music Video Games (William M. Knoblauch, Finlandia University, USA) Chapter 1 - Mario Paint Composer and Musical (Re)Play on YouTube (Dana M. Plank, The Ohio State University, USA) Chapter 3 - Active Interfaces and Thematic Events in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (1998) (Stephanie Lind, Queen's University, Canada) Chapter 4 - Sample, Cycle, Sync: The Music Sequencer and its Influence on Music Video Games (Michael Austin, Howard University, USA) Part Two: Virtuosi, Virtues, & the Virtual Chapter 5 - Consumerism Hero: The "Selling Out" of Guitar Hero and Rock Band (Mario A. Dozal, University of New Mexico, USA) Chapter 6 - Beat It! Playing the "King of Pop" in Video Games (Melanie Fritsch, University of Bayreuth, Germany) Chapter 7 - Virtual Jam: A Critical Analysis of Virtual Music Game Environments (David Arditi, University of Texas at Arlington, USA) Part Three: Concerts, Collaboration, & Creativity Chapter 8 - Guitar Heroes in the Classroom: The Creative Potential of Music-Games (David Roesner, University of Kent, UK, Anna Paisley, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK, and Gianna Cassidy, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK) Chapter 9 - Rocksmith and the Shaping of Player Experience (Daniel O'Meara, Princeton University, USA Chapter 10 - Rhythm Sense: Modality and Enactive Perception in Rhythm Heaven (Peter Schultz, University of Chicago, USA) Chapter 11 - Pitching the Rhythm: Music Games for iPad (Nathan Fleshner, Stephen F. Austin State University, USA) Afterword - Toadofsky's Music Lessons (William Cheng, Dartmouth College, USA) Glossary of Gaming and Musical Terms About the Contributors Index of Games General Index