Nintendo Entertainment System Research Articles

The Nintendo Entertainment System and the 10NES Chip: Carving the Video Game Industry in Silicon

This essay makes the argument that the numerous ‘‘networks’’ or ‘‘inter/intranetworks’’ that structure the video game industry have lived local effects for those involved in the production of video games. In particular, this is most visible in the realm of console video game development but is visible in many other contexts as well. It uses the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) as an index into this complex and highly structured world that frequently disappears from developers perception. The essay uses largely historical data drawn from patent filings, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, and court cases to analyze these networks. The essay argues that these inter/intranetworks, as constructed, have been instrumental in the way that the game industry now finds itself structured and that as the industry has ‘‘matured,’’ the networks have become less accessible and less interoperable.

Production Protection to Copy(right) Protection: From the 10NES to DVDs

Much of what modern digital rights management (DRM) systems attempt to accomplish was actually forcefully implemented on videogame consoles beginning with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and SEGA Genesis system in the early 1980s. Examining the links between modern DRM mechanisms and these early production and copy protection systems can help contextualize the future of media production and access.

Digital Gaming Upgrade and Recovery: Enrolling Memories and Technologies as a Strategy for the Future.

Digital Gaming Upgrade and Recovery: Enrolling Memories and Technologies as a Strategy for the Future.

In the Loop: Creativity and Constraint in 8-bit Video Game Audio

AbstractThis article explores the sound capabilities of video game consoles of the 8-bit era (c.1975–85) in order to discuss the impact that technological constraints had on shaping aesthetic decisions in the composition of music for the early generation of games. Comparing examples from the Commodore 64 (C64), the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the Atari VCS, and the arcade consoles, I examine various approaches and responses (in particular the use of looping) to similar technological problems, and illustrate how these responses are as much a decision made by the composer as a matter of technical necessity.

Video Game Internal Turfs and Turfs of Play

Video Game Internal Turfs and Turfs of Play

Controlling Gameplay

Controlling Gameplay