For two decades Rockstar Games have been making games that interrogate and represent the idea
of America past and present. Commercially successful fan-beloved and a frequent source of
media attention Rockstar's franchises are positioned as not only game-changing
ground-breaking interventions in the games industry but also as critical cultural histories
on America and its excesses. But what does Rockstar's version of American history
look like and how is it communicated through critically acclaimed titles like Red Dead
Redemption (2010) and L.A. Noire (2011)? By combining analysis of Rockstar's games and a
range of official communications and promotional materials this book offers critical
discussion of Rockstar as a company their video games and ultimately their attempts at
creating new narratives about U.S. history and culture. It explores the ways in which
Rockstar's brand identity and their titles coalesce to create a new kind of video game history
how promotional materials work to claim the "authenticity" of these products and assert the
authority of game developers to perform the role of historian. By working at the
intersection of historical game studies U.S. history and film and media studies this book
explores what happens when contemporary demands for historical authenticity are brought to bear
on the way we envisage the past - and whose past it is deemed to be. Ultimately this book
implores those who research historical video games to consider the oft-forgotten sources at the
margins of these games as importance spaces where historical meaning is made and negotiated.
Watch our book talk with the author Esther Wright here: https: youtu.be AaC_9XsX-CQ
