Extra Lives
Why Video Games Matter
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Narrated by:
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Tom Bissell
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By:
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Tom Bissell
About this listen
Tom Bissell is a prizewinning writer who published three widely acclaimed books before the age of 34. He is also an obsessive gamer who has spent untold hours in front of his various video game consoles, playing titles such as Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, BioShock, and Oblivion for, literally, days. If you are reading this copy, the same thing can probably be said of you, or of someone you know.
Until recently, Bissell was somewhat reluctant to admit to his passion for games. In this, he is not alone. Millions of adults spend hours every week playing video games, and the industry itself now reliably outearns Hollywood. But the wider culture seems to regard video games as, at best, well-designed if mindless entertainment.
Extra Lives is an impassioned defense of this assailed and misunderstood art form. Bissell argues that we are in a golden age of gaming - but he also believes games could be even better. He offers a fascinating and often hilarious critique of the ways video games dazzle and, just as often, frustrate. Along the way, we get firsthand portraits of some of the best minds (Jonathan Blow, Clint Hocking, Cliff Bleszinski, Peter Molyneux) at work in video game design today, as well as a shattering and deeply moving final chapter that describes, in searing detail, Bissell’s descent into the world of Grand Theft Auto IV, a game whose themes mirror his own increasingly self-destructive compulsions.
Blending memoir, criticism, and first-rate reportage, Extra Lives is like no other work on the subject ever published. Whether you love video games, loathe video games, or are merely curious about why they are becoming the dominant popular art form of our time, Extra Lives is required listening.
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- By Shawn Inmon on 05-30-19
By: Brian Raftery
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- Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
- By: Robert McKee
- Narrated by: Robert McKee
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Abridged
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Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress, and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese, and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni. Writers, producers, development executives, and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience.
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Only 5 Chapters
- By Stephen Buck on 02-15-11
By: Robert McKee
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The Horror of It All
- One Moviegoer’s Love Affair with Masked Maniacs, Frightened Virgins, and the Living Dead…
- By: Adam Rockoff
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The Horror of It All is a memoir from the front lines of the industry that dissects (and occasionally defends) the hugely popular phenomenon of scary movies. Author Adam Rockoff traces the highs and lows of the horror genre through the lens of his own obsessive fandom, born in the aisles of his local video store and nurtured with a steady diet of cable trash.
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Great book, if you were a teen in the 80's
- By Lila Fowler on 10-02-15
By: Adam Rockoff
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Doctor Who
- A History
- By: Alan Kistler
- Narrated by: Alan Kistler
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Premiering the day after the JFK assassination, Doctor Who humbly launched one of the entertainment world's first super-brands. We begin with a look at TV programming of the day and the original pitch documents before delving into the Daleks, which almost didn't make the cut but inspired many monsters to follow. After three years, First Doctor William Hartnell left, prompting the BBC to recast their hit rather than end it, giving us the first "regeneration" and making TV history.
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Not a Good Reference, a Good Springboard
- By SAMA on 12-16-13
By: Alan Kistler
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The Stephen King Companion
- Four Decades of Fear from the Master of Horror
- By: George Beahm
- Narrated by: Fleet Cooper, Claire Christie
- Length: 24 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The Stephen King Companion is an authoritative look at horror author King's personal life and professional career, from Carrie to The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. King expert George Beahm, who has published extensively about Maine's main author, is your seasoned guide to the imaginative world of Stephen King, covering his varied and prodigious output: juvenalia, short fiction, limited edition books, best-selling novels, and film adaptations.
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A Kingopedia: Books, Movies, Bio and Art
- By tru britty on 02-28-16
By: George Beahm
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Age of Cage
- Four Decades of Hollywood Through One Singular Career
- By: Keith Phipps
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Nicolas Cage is many things, but love him, or laugh at him, there's no denying two things: You've seen one of his many films, and you certainly know his name. But who is he, really, and why has his career endured for over 40 years, with more than a hundred films, and birthed a million memes? Age of Cage is a smart, beguiling book about the films of Nicolas Cage and the actor himself, as well as a sharp-eyed examination of the changes that have taken place in Hollywood over the course of his career.
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Excellent filmography of a successful career
- By Pamela Plimpton on 04-04-22
By: Keith Phipps
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Space Odyssey
- Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece
- By: Michael Benson
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Regarded as a masterpiece today, 2001: A Space Odyssey received mixed reviews. Despite the success of Dr. Strangelove, director Stanley Kubrick wasn't yet recognized as a great filmmaker, and 2001 was radically innovative, with little dialogue and no strong central character. Author Michael Benson explains how 2001 was made, telling the story primarily through the two people most responsible for the film, Kubrick and science fiction legend Arthur C. Clarke. Benson interviewed Clarke many times, and has also spoken at length with Kubrick's widow, Christiane.
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A Book Wholly Equal to its Subject
- By Reggie on 04-17-19
By: Michael Benson
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Save the Cat!
- The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
- By: Blake Snyder
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Here's what started the phenomenon: This book has been a best seller for over 15 years and has been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny, and candid look inside the movie business. Save the Cat is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying.
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Don't waste your time
- By Amazon Customer on 02-05-20
By: Blake Snyder
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Rebel
- My Life Outside the Lines
- By: Nick Nolte
- Narrated by: Nick Nolte, Christian Baskous
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In a career spanning five decades, Nick Nolte has endured the rites of Hollywood celebrity. Rising from obscurity to leading roles and Oscar nominations, he has been both celebrated and vilified in the media; survived marriages, divorces, and a string of romances; was named the "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine; and suffered public humiliation over his drug and alcohol issues, including a drug-fueled trip down a "long road of nothingness" that ended in arrest.
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Great read! No fooling.
- By Action Joe on 05-31-18
By: Nick Nolte
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Infinity Born
- By: Douglas E. Richards
- Narrated by: Corey Gagne
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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When DARPA's billion-dollar program to create artificial superintelligence is sabotaged, US operative Cameron Carr is tasked with finding the culprit. He's been on high-stakes missions before, but this time the stakes are nothing less than the future of humanity. Because the race to evolve a superintelligent computer is on, and power players around the world will stop at nothing to get there first.
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Excellent ScoFi Mystery Thriller...
- By shelley on 08-14-17
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Slayers & Vampires
- The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Buffy & Angel
- By: Mark A. Altman, Edward Gross
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin, Julie McKay
- Length: 18 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Two decades after its groundbreaking debut, millions of fans worldwide remain enthralled with the incredible exploits of Joss Whedon's Buffy Summers as well as Angel. Now, go behind the scenes of these legendary series that ushered in the new Golden Age of Television, with the candid recollections of writers, creators, executives, programmers, critics, and cast members. Together they unveil the oftentimes shocking true story of how a failed motion picture became an acclaimed cult television series.
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Too much Joss schmoozing, too little new info
- By Onalee on 02-05-21
By: Mark A. Altman, and others
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The Secret Life of the American Musical
- How Broadway Shows Are Built
- By: Jack Viertel
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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For almost a century, Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical. It often begins in actors and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love, marriage, and children, who will start the cycle all over again. Americans love musicals. Americans invented musicals. Americans perfected musicals. But what, exactly, is a musical?
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Great review lacked music
- By joseph f mcgovern on 10-14-18
By: Jack Viertel
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Orson Welles's Last Movie
- The Making of The Other Side of the Wind
- By: Josh Karp
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1970, legendary but self-destructive director Orson Welles returned to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe and decided it was time to make a comeback movie. It was about a legendary self-destructive director who returns to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe. Welles swore it wasn't autobiographical.
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Engaging and human portrait of Welles
- By TrevorTrujillo on 06-20-20
By: Josh Karp
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What listeners say about Extra Lives
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Scott
- 08-25-11
Video Gaming - Far more than just virtual bullets
This book is a refreshing look at game design from a player's perspective. The author rightly points out that gaming critique now is now solely limited to whether a new game is entertaining enough to be worth spending some money. If you've enjoyed any PC or console game for dozens of hours you've wondered why is this particular form of game play so uniquely fun? The author explores the answers using many major titles (but will invariably miss some of your personal favorites). He confesses a bias for console games (a controller over a keyboard) as an avid PC gamer I found the distinction not pertinent to book's themes. He poses many excellent questions: What is the nature of storytelling in a video game? How much and what impact do good writers have on a story? Should the game's story drive the player or should the game design allow the player to drive the story? What are the possibilities of open-ended story telling? (as opposed to cut scenes/cinematics) which the author and game designers view as limiting at best. He describes major titles, so one can understand the features that were overlooked by above mentioned limited critical perspective. This includes a notorious car jacking series (which I've smugly avoided as trashy) describing the many details of the extraordinarily rich virtual world it creates. Another recent gaming flop, the latest in the an FPS series set in landlocked Africa, instead of its previous tropical setting, (the latest panned by many as poor) is described for its completely unscripted physics and unique character/NPC interaction. He covers the skills to needed to complete the now outdated 2D scrolling games (i.e. why they were so fun in their day) but mainly describes role playing & shooter games as well as few obscure but completely unique and award winning games. If you haven't explored every single last major video game franchise at the very least you'll learn of new unique gaming experiences to be had.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Jeremy
- 12-28-14
Personal and Critical look at Video Games
Excellently written. Passionately read by the author. An intellectual look at video games. personal stories of both gaming and drug addiction. Gives me a greater appreciation of some older games. Gifted a copies two family members. Personally listen to it from beginning to end more times than I can count.
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- chris
- 07-13-15
Perspective and pessimism
Absolutely fantastic perspective on what games have been and will become, if not at times pessimistic, I appreciated most of this read.
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- bren
- 02-23-16
Great piece of writing.
Cocaine and video games. What more could you want. Great book. Entertaining and interesting. Loved it.
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- Sean A. Conley
- 03-13-18
different
what can I say, he talks about why games matter to him (the author).
that's about it
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- Jason
- 02-26-13
A great look at modern gaming
Would you listen to Extra Lives again? Why?
Yes because the personal side to this book made me think of my own past inner turmoils of being a gamer.
What about Tom Bissell’s performance did you like?
It sounded genuine instead of someone over pronouncing every word like in other audio books I've listen to.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The part about GTA & the comparison to his own life.
Any additional comments?
I hope he writes another gaming book because I enjoyed this one.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-01-19
Nostalgia for Gamers
I really loved how his words related to my experience in playing the featured games.
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- Taneli
- 01-17-17
This book is well done
This book took me by the guts, it delved deep into something big. From "artsy-fartsy" to real talk about addictions, this book had good, real POV:s
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- Harald
- 09-29-15
Insightful and at times intensely personal
For anyone interested in videogames, this is a must listen. The author shares his considerable insight into what makes a game good, while spicing his narrative with personal details. This is a naked look at what makes a game both good and bad. I also found the author's knack for images to be particularly enjoyable.
This audiobook is narrated by the author himself, something I feel gave it extra depth and pathos.
Like games? Get this.
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- SAMA
- 07-21-10
Preaching to the Converted
Tom Bissell's many hours on Grand Theft Auto, as well as hanging out with various game celebrities, shows a lot of passion in this production.
I was able to easily grasp at what he's saying, since I'm a gamer. However, I think from the perspective of a non-gaming reader, there is a lot that is lost in translation.
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1 person found this helpful