Mortal Kombat
Upon its premiere in 1992, Midway’s Mortal Kombat spawned an enormously influential series of fighting games, notorious for their violent “fatality” moves performed by photorealistic characters. Targeted by lawmakers and moral reformers, the series directly inspired the creation of an industrywide r...
Gardado en:
| Autor Principal: | |
|---|---|
| Formato: | Online |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| Publicado: |
University of Michigan Press
2023
|
| Subjects: | |
| Acceso en liña: | OCN: 1268276251 |
| Tags: |
Sen Etiquetas, Sexa o primeiro en etiquetar este rexistro!
|
| _version_ | 1869518464157220864 |
|---|---|
| author | Church, David |
| author_browse | Church, David |
| author_facet | Church, David |
| author_sort | Church, David |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Upon its premiere in 1992, Midway’s Mortal Kombat spawned an enormously influential series of fighting games, notorious for their violent “fatality” moves performed by photorealistic characters. Targeted by lawmakers and moral reformers, the series directly inspired the creation of an industrywide rating system for video games and became a referendum on the wide popularity of 16-bit home consoles. Along the way, it became one of the world’s most iconic fighting games, and formed a transmedia franchise that continues to this day.
This book traces Mortal Kombat’s history as an American product inspired by both Japanese video games and Chinese martial-arts cinema, its successes and struggles in adapting to new market trends, and the ongoing influence of its secret-strewn narrative world. After outlining the specific elements of gameplay that differentiated Mortal Kombat from its competitors in the coin-op market, David Church examines the various martial-arts films that inspired its Orientalist imagery, helping explain its stereotypical uses of race and gender. He also posits the games as a cultural landmark from a moment when public policy attempted to intervene in both the remediation of cinematic aesthetics within interactive digital games and in the transition of public gaming spaces into the domestic sphere. Finally, the book explores how the franchise attempted to conquer other forms of media in the 1990s, lost ground to a new generation of 3D games in the 2000s, and has successfully rebooted itself in the 2010s to reclaim its legacy. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-97679 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | University of Michigan Press |
| publisherStr | University of Michigan Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-976792025-07-17T12:15:52Z Mortal Kombat Church, David Mortal Kombat, video game, fighting game, martial arts, fatality, violence, ratings, controversy, Easter eggs, Chinese cinema, wuxia, Orientalism, Midway, Netherrealm, transmedia, 16-bit, Street Fighter, Sega, Nintendo, kung fu, home console, adaptation, media effects, reception, ESRB, motion capture, pixilation, Ed Boon, John Tobias, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Tsui Hark, Bruce Lee, Shaolin Temple, arcades, death, Hong Kong, Joseph Lieberman, Herbert Kohl, Night Trap, Lethal Enforcers, Capcom thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides Upon its premiere in 1992, Midway’s Mortal Kombat spawned an enormously influential series of fighting games, notorious for their violent “fatality” moves performed by photorealistic characters. Targeted by lawmakers and moral reformers, the series directly inspired the creation of an industrywide rating system for video games and became a referendum on the wide popularity of 16-bit home consoles. Along the way, it became one of the world’s most iconic fighting games, and formed a transmedia franchise that continues to this day. This book traces Mortal Kombat’s history as an American product inspired by both Japanese video games and Chinese martial-arts cinema, its successes and struggles in adapting to new market trends, and the ongoing influence of its secret-strewn narrative world. After outlining the specific elements of gameplay that differentiated Mortal Kombat from its competitors in the coin-op market, David Church examines the various martial-arts films that inspired its Orientalist imagery, helping explain its stereotypical uses of race and gender. He also posits the games as a cultural landmark from a moment when public policy attempted to intervene in both the remediation of cinematic aesthetics within interactive digital games and in the transition of public gaming spaces into the domestic sphere. Finally, the book explores how the franchise attempted to conquer other forms of media in the 1990s, lost ground to a new generation of 3D games in the 2000s, and has successfully rebooted itself in the 2010s to reclaim its legacy. 2023-03-03T04:24:53Z 2023-03-03T04:24:53Z 2023-02-17T15:31:39Z 2022 book OCN: 1268276251 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/61378 9780472075225 9780472055227 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/97679 eng Landmark Video Games open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/61378/1/9780472902620.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/61378/1/9780472902620.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/61378/1/9780472902620.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/61378/1/9780472902620.pdf University of Michigan Press 10.3998/mpub.11477677 10.3998/mpub.11477677 b7359529-e5f7-4510-a59f-d7dafa1d4d17 9780472075225 9780472055227 170 open access |
| spellingShingle | Mortal Kombat, video game, fighting game, martial arts, fatality, violence, ratings, controversy, Easter eggs, Chinese cinema, wuxia, Orientalism, Midway, Netherrealm, transmedia, 16-bit, Street Fighter, Sega, Nintendo, kung fu, home console, adaptation, media effects, reception, ESRB, motion capture, pixilation, Ed Boon, John Tobias, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Tsui Hark, Bruce Lee, Shaolin Temple, arcades, death, Hong Kong, Joseph Lieberman, Herbert Kohl, Night Trap, Lethal Enforcers, Capcom thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides Church, David Mortal Kombat |
| title | Mortal Kombat |
| title_full | Mortal Kombat |
| title_fullStr | Mortal Kombat |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mortal Kombat |
| title_short | Mortal Kombat |
| title_sort | mortal kombat |
| topic | Mortal Kombat, video game, fighting game, martial arts, fatality, violence, ratings, controversy, Easter eggs, Chinese cinema, wuxia, Orientalism, Midway, Netherrealm, transmedia, 16-bit, Street Fighter, Sega, Nintendo, kung fu, home console, adaptation, media effects, reception, ESRB, motion capture, pixilation, Ed Boon, John Tobias, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Tsui Hark, Bruce Lee, Shaolin Temple, arcades, death, Hong Kong, Joseph Lieberman, Herbert Kohl, Night Trap, Lethal Enforcers, Capcom thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides |
| topic_facet | Mortal Kombat, video game, fighting game, martial arts, fatality, violence, ratings, controversy, Easter eggs, Chinese cinema, wuxia, Orientalism, Midway, Netherrealm, transmedia, 16-bit, Street Fighter, Sega, Nintendo, kung fu, home console, adaptation, media effects, reception, ESRB, motion capture, pixilation, Ed Boon, John Tobias, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Tsui Hark, Bruce Lee, Shaolin Temple, arcades, death, Hong Kong, Joseph Lieberman, Herbert Kohl, Night Trap, Lethal Enforcers, Capcom thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides |
| url | OCN: 1268276251 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT churchdavid mortalkombat |