Videogames and Virtual Realities in East Asia

Videogames are extremely popular in East Asia. This book examines the phenomenon, showing how the structure of the games business, and therefore the engagement between consumers and games, varies considerably between different parts of East Asia, with game consoles dominating in Japan and on-line gaming prevailing in Korea. It relates video gaming to other forms of popular culture, such as manga, animation and film, and discusses a wide range of issues including production, consumption and markets, social aspects of games and other virtual realms, including the motivation of participants the ways in which they engage and issues related to the content of games, including the graphic, aural and narrative aspects of games and how these are constructed.