The Media Snatcher: PC/CORE/TURBO/ENGINE/GRAFX/16/CDROM2/SUPER/DUO/ARCADE/RX

by Carl Therrien

Overview

An in-depth exploration of a neglected video game platform of the 1990s and a reflection on the way we construct the cultural history of video games.

In The Media Snatcher, Carl Therrien offers an in-depth exploration of NEC's PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, a little-studied video game platform released in the late 1980s. The PC Engine was designed to bring technological expandability to the world of game consoles; The Media Snatcher's subtitle evokes some of the expansions and the numerous rebranded versions of the system released by NEC, including the first CD-ROM add-on in video game history. The platform makers hoped that expandability would allow its console to remain at the cutting edge and even catch up with such perceptually rich media as cinema and anime. More than a simple shape-shifter, the PC Engine became a media snatcher.

Therrien examines the multidirectional interactions of video game technologies, commercial structures, and cultural dynamics. He considers, among other things, hyperbolic marketing and its impact on how we construct video game history; glitches, technological obsolescence, and the difficulty of conducting media archaeology of the recent past; the emergence of male-centered power fantasies through audiovisual rewards; the rise of original genres such as visual novels; and the sustained efforts to integrate PC Engine software in the sprawling media landscape of Japan (where the PC Engine found much of its success). Avoiding the usual techno-industrial glorification, Therrien recounts the bold technological aspirations of the platform makers and the struggles to make the actual technology realize its potential.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262354875
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	10/08/2019
Series:	Platform Studies
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Carl Therrien is Associate Professor in the Department of Art History and Film Studies at the University of Montreal.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: Is There a Platform in This Book? 1

Cutting Edges 3

Expanding the Platform 4

A Method (Hardly) 6

Kusoge Love 14

Grounding History 16

1 The Bit Wars 19

The Fog of War 22

Stories They Made Up? 24

Signature Visuals 28

On the Edge of Fury 33

The Next Generation 35

2 Enter the Glitch 43

What's Wrong with This Picture? 45

Mountains beyond Mountains 47

Electric Blue 52

Gameworld on a Wire 54

Picture Perfect 58

Black Sox Obsessions 61

3 Anatomy of a Cutscene 65

Tragically Comic 69

Do It Hardcore 73

Love in the Age of Corporeal Disintegration 78

Loaded Guns 83

Growing Pains 86

4 The Media Snatcher 91

CD-ROM Antics 93

A Doll of Plastic and Sound 96

The Case of the FMV's Curse 100

Land Slides 104

Death of the Gamer 109

Monster Mashup 113

5 Intromission 117

The Straight Storyworld 119

Bigger in Japan 125

Any Which Way You Can 130

Add It Up 135

Catch On Everywhere 137

Discerning Animals 139

Conclusion: PC Effects 147

Bring It Home, One More Time 148

All Your B**** Are Belong to Us 151

CD-ROMatics Attack 156

Spin Me Right Wrong 160

Shiny Silver Discs 166

Notes 169

References 179

Index 189

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Delightfully rich in technical and historical detail, The Media Snatcher illuminates a pivotal and previously underexamined platform. Therrien navigates the impact of CD-ROM technology on the distinct aesthetics of early digital games as they gained the technical capacity to reference a wider audio visual aesthetic. Significantly, this important work highlights how the new audiovisual elements of games often explicitly addressed a specifically heteronormative male audience.”

—Tom Apperley, Senior Research Fellow, Tampere University, Finland

“Therrien leaves no stone unturned in piecing together the complex history of Hudson Soft and NEC's TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine system. Often overlooked by researchers and players in favor of consoles from Sega and Nintendo, the TurboGrafx is revealed to be an ambitious and innovative design that sought to combine the flexibility of the PC with the simplicity of the console. It is clear that the TurboGrafx-16 is a must-play platform just as this is a must-read book!”

—James Newman, Professor of Digital Media, Bath Spa University, UK