Videogames as Remediated Memories

Commodified Nostalgia and Hyperreality in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Gone Home

Bibliographic Data

ID2409556
AuthorsRobin J S Sloan (0000-0002-8342-0785, Abertay University, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume10
Issue6
Pages525-550
Publication date2015-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGames and Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1555-4120 • E-ISSN: 1555-4139
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1555412014565641
OpenAlexW2320147584
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited20

In the last decade, the maturation of the first generation of gamers has underpinned growing discussion of nostalgia for and in videogames. This article considers how the search for a connection to our past can be satisfied through consumption of the richly remediated memories represented in nostalgic videogames. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Gone Home are analyzed framed by Baudrillard's theories of consumer objects and simulation. These videogames make extensive use of 1980s and 1990s cultural referents. In particular, they embed references to media (such as music, film, and television) that epitomize memories of these periods. The aim of the article is to discuss the ways in which the videogames commodify nostalgia to fulfill a consumer need for retrospection, and to examine the extent to which they provide a simulation of cultural memory that blurs historical reality with period modes of representation

Aesthetics · Art · Commodification · Consumption (sociology · Cultural memory · Period (music · Political science · Representation (politics · Sociology · Anthropology · Cinema and Media Studies · Digital Games and Media · Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior

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Open DOISci-HubOpen Access