Book ID: CBB684533069

I am Error: The Nintendo Family Computer/Entertainment System Platform (2015)

unapi

Altice, Nathan (Author)


The MIT Press


Publication Date: 2015
Physical Details: 426
Language: English

In the 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System videogame Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, a character famously declared: I am error. Puzzled players assumed that this cryptic message was a programming flaw, but it was actually a clumsy Japanese-English translation of "My Name is Error," a benign programmer's joke. In I am error, Nathan Altice explores the complex material histories of the Nintendo Entertainment System (and its Japanese predecessor, the Family Computer), offering a detailed analysis of its programming and engineering, its expressive affordances, and its cultural significance. Nintendo games were rife with mistranslated texts, but, as Altice explains, Nintendo's translation challenges were not just linguistic but also material, with consequences beyond simple misinterpretation. Emphasizing the technical and material evolution of Nintendo's first cartridge-based platform, Altice describes the development of the Family Computer (or Famicom) and its computational architecture; the "translation" problems faced while adapting the Famicom for the U.S. videogame market as the redesigned Entertainment System; Nintendo's breakthrough console title Super Mario Bros. and its remarkable software innovations; the introduction of Nintendo's short-lived proprietary disk format and the design repercussions on The Legend of Zelda; Nintendo's efforts to extend their console's lifespan through cartridge augmentations; the Famicom's Audio Processing Unit (APU) and its importance for the chiptunes genre; and the emergence of software emulators and the new kinds of play they enabled. (Worldcat)

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Reviewed By

Review Casey O'Donnell (January 2020) Review of "I am Error: The Nintendo Family Computer/Entertainment System Platform". Technology and Culture (pp. 378-380). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB684533069/

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Authors & Contributors
Petrocelli, Carla
Denise Tsang
James Stewart
Larry Busbea
Berlin, Leslie
Loring Robbins
Concepts
Computers and computing
Technology and society
Design
Video games
Business history
Computer Programming
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
19th century
Places
Japan
United States
Russia
Israel
Great Britain
Institutions
Atari
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