Grand Theft Auto Is the Best Computer Game - Suggests New Study

The controversial computer game Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is the best action console computer game, according to a new collection of essays published by Blackwell Publishing.

[ClickPress, Wed Oct 04 2006] Edited by Queensland academic Alan McKee, Beautiful Things in Popular Culture is a collection of studies of “the best” popular culture – the best serial killer novel, pop princess, disco record, romance novelist, comic book writer and action console game, among others.

Beautiful Things pioneers a new approach in how we go about evaluating the various forms of popular culture. The authors set out to counteract the popular perception of the “clueless consumer” by focusing attention on the ways in which fans and consumers measure the different cultural icons of today.

According to the study, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is the best action console computer game because of the level of detail in the game-world, the freedom of the player to move through it, and the relationship between structured elements and free form game-play.

“This is the first book that studies popular culture in terms of quality – not just the effects of media violence or ideology’, says Associate Professor McKee. “Every businessperson knows that consumers aren’t mindless dupes who will accept just anything offered to them. You have to provide good quality in order to succeed. And that’s as true of action console games as it is of any other product”.

“It is time we recognized that, just like art, there is good and bad popular culture – and consumers know the difference!” added McKee. “There’s no reason why the best of popular culture should not be taught at university along with the best of high culture”.

The collection includes studies by an international panel of experts in popular culture, including Simon Frith, Henry Jenkins and John Hartley.

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The book will be officially launched on 31st October 2006 by Alan McKee and media personality Emma Tom, at The Colombian Hotel on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst, Sydney.
Alan McKee is available for media interviews – please contact Alina Boey, Public Relations at: alina.boey@asia.blackwellpublishing.com or call 03-83591046 if you’d like to speak with him.

The Table of Contents and additional information on the book is available at: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/140513190X

If you’d like a review copy of the book, information on the contributing authors or details on the launch party, please contact alina.boey@asia.blackwellpublishing.com.


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About Blackwell Publishing
Blackwell Publishing is the world’s leading society publisher, partnering with 665 academic and professional societies. Blackwell publishes over 800 journals and, to date has published close to 6,000 books, across a wide range of academic, medical, and professional subjects. For more information on Blackwell Publishing, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com or www.blackwell-synergy.com.


For all Blackwell Publishing press releases, go to http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/press/default.asp


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