My Books

Too Much Fun: The Five Lives of the Commodore 64 Computer

The forgotten history of the most popular home computer of the 1980s.

MIT Press 2024.

Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity

The history and meaning of independent video games.

MIT Press 2019.

The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games

Why do we play video games even though they make us unhappy?

MIT Press 2013.

A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players

On casual games, the Wii, and other games for "the rest of us".

MIT Press 2010.

Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds

A theory of video games.

MIT Press 2005.