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Edition: U.S. Article Comments (2) Save Email Print Reprints Most Popular Most Shared Democrats' tax bill moves toward vote in US Senate 14 Jun 2010 Petraeus collapses, doubts grow over Afghan war effort | Video 3:21pm EDT Magnitude 5.7 quake strikes southern California 9:35am EDT Obama to address energy in high-stakes spill speech | Video 4:45pm EDT Cheap blood drug "could save 100,000 lives a year" 14 Jun 2010 Armed man halted at U.S. base was AWOL: military 12:31pm EDT Wall Street jumps as S&P 500 breaches key level 4:42pm EDT There's more water on the moon than anyone thought 7:27am EDT FBI files reveal Ted Kennedy death threats 8:17am EDT Lawmakers blast oil firms' drilling plans | Video 4:39pm EDT Democrats' tax bill moves toward vote in US Senate 14 Jun 2010 German student attacks Hell's Angels with puppy 10:55am EDT Those who eat brown rice may have less diabetes 14 Jun 2010 Common blood pressure drugs may raise cancer risk 13 Jun 2010 Obama to address energy in high-stakes spill speech | Video 4:45pm EDT IBM to buy web analytics firm Coremetrics 11:58am EDT Cheap blood drug "could save 100,000 lives a year" 14 Jun 2010 Magnitude 5.7 quake strikes southern California 9:35am EDT There's more water on the moon than anyone thought 7:27am EDT US commercial real estate gains strength 14 Jun 2010 Pictures Best of E3 Highlights from the annual video game expo. Slideshow Book asks why do video games matter? Mark Egan NEW YORK Tue Jun 15, 2010 1:47pm EDT Related News Videogame business poised for rebound 3:29am EDT Game makers gear up for splashiest E3 yet Wed, Jun 9 2010 Game makers gear up for splashiest E3 yet Wed, Jun 9 2010 UPDATE 1-PREVIEW-Game makers gear up for splashiest E3 yet Wed, Jun 9 2010 After memoir, Hitchens to tangle once more with God Tue, Jun 8 2010 An advertisement for the ''Grand Theft Auto 4'' video game sits on display at a store in New York in this April 28, 2008 file photo. Credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton NEW YORK (Reuters) - Video games almost took over Tom Bissell's life, thrusting him into an intoxicating months-long, cocaine-fueled binge playing Grand Theft Auto. Technology | Lifestyle | Media But like any good writer, he got a book out of it -- and possibly a new career direction. Bissell's book, "Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter," was published this month by Random House's Pantheon imprint and is part criticism of video games as an art form, part social commentary and part memoir. His research took him so deep into the world of video games -- from playing them to talking to the world's leading game developers -- that his next job is writing a video game. "I am going to start writing at least one game," Bissell, 36, said. "I am beginning to understand why so many video games are so badly written, because writing for them is really hard and really weird." Bissell, known for his high-brow, offbeat travel books, expects more literary writers to follow suit. "Literary writers used to go to Hollywood to make money," Bissell said. "People my age and younger are going to go into video games." Bissell's resume to date gave few hints that he might have a future in video games. He has written a short story collection, "God Lives in St. Petersburg," a travelogue about the Vietnam War and his father, "The Father of All Things," and a book about Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan called "Chasing the Sea." But he fell in love with video games and decided to write about why they should be considered as meaningful as other forms of pop culture like novels and movies. EXPLOITING ANXIETY "Video games have an immediacy other storytelling forms don't have," he said. "Unlike other forms of media, video games are experiential, putting you inside a fictional story that you can ... change to create your own story that feels alive." What video games do better than other forms of storytelling, he said, is exploiting human anxiety, tension and emotions to ignite an intense experience in players. "Pretty soon we are going to have a form of storytelling that will be able to do things that no other medium can do," he said, predicting the next decade will bring huge advances in how sophisticated video games become. When video games began, they were simple diversions -- 1958's Tennis for Two simulated a game of tennis or ping-pong. By the 1980s games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong were goal-oriented with vague stories. By the 1990s, games such as Half Life and Resident Evil went beyond simple goals to add stories and narrative. The 2000s brought games such as Bioshock and Grand Theft Auto, both from Take-Two Interactive Software, that added voice acting, cinematography and better animation. Those improvements made games appear more like movies and let players choose their own narrative and experience. Now the business is worth billions of dollars and top games often make as much money as hit Hollywood movies. "The next big challenge is now to get anxiety and emotional reactions (from players) without revolving around violence and physical confrontation," Bissell said. Bissell writes that one evening when he was about to play Grand Theft Auto IV, a friend gave him some cocaine, helping him play the game for 30 hours straight. This sparked a months-long cocaine and game-playing binge. Having now kicked cocaine, Bissell plans to get back to travel writing. As well as working on his video game, he said he is trying to complete a book he has been researching for nearly six years -- a travel book on the supposed final resting places of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ. (Reporting by Mark Egan, editing by Michelle Nichols and Bill Trott) Technology Lifestyle Media Comments See All Comments (2) | Post Comment Jun 15, 2010 2:56pm EDT Hi Bill, in matter of fact such kind of games which explorer goals and emotions were already done about 14-15 years ago… you can check a game named The Quest or Quest were several volumes which the person or kid interacts with a system of questions and answers… the player in that game can only arrive in 1 solution maybe games in future… the player can arrive in several “different ends’ depending on which paths or choices he assumes among the game. regards. JoseCanova Report As Abusive Jun 15, 2010 3:06pm EDT Clearly an outsider’s perspective. Writing in video games may be lagging behind the other advances in the industry, but people who have never worked on a game before do not have the understanding needed to fix the problem. The idea isn’t to remove confrontation. Confrontation is competition, and these are still games, so that’s a necessary component. You have to find ways to tell the story through the confrontation, not around it. Make the game and the narrative work together. There are some games that already do this brilliantly. The rest of the industry will eventually follow suit, with or without the influence of Mr. Bissell. TrueIronPatriot Report As Abusive See All Comments (2) Add a Comment *We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam and review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. © Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters Editorial Editions: Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom United States Reuters Contact Us Advertise With Us Help Journalism Handbook Archive Site Index Video Index Reader Feedback Analyst Research Mobile Newsletters RSS Podcasts Widgets Your View Labs Thomson Reuters Copyright Disclaimer Privacy Professional Products Professional Products Support Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Careers Online Products Acquisitions Monthly Buyouts Venture Capital Journal International Financing Review Project Finance International PEhub.com PE Week FindLaw Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

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