From Sun Tzu to Xbox

{{Short description|Book by Ed Halter}}

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| name = From Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games

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| author = Ed Halter

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| pub_date = 31 May 2006

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| isbn = 978-1560256816

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From Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games is a book of video game history written by the journalist and film critic Ed Halter, published in 2006.

Description

The book describes the evolution of video games from military-related technologies and contemporary video game related projects by the American military such as America's Army and Full Spectrum Warrior. The book also relates pre-video game relationship between war and games, such as the evolution of chess into kriegspiel.

Reviews

David Fear of the magazine Time Out found that Ed Halter provided a thorough analysis of the topic, but also attached some personal point of views to the story, which sometimes makes it off-topic.{{cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/books/from-sun-tzu-to-xbox-war-and-video-games|title=From Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games|website=Timeout.com|date=6 July 2006|author=David Fear|access-date=26 August 2019|archive-date=26 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190826171727/https://www.timeout.com/newyork/books/from-sun-tzu-to-xbox-war-and-video-games|url-status=dead}}

Quotes

The technologies that shape our culture have always been pushed forward by war.{{cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2013/09/19/shall_we_play_a_game_the_rise_of_the_military_entertainment_complex/|title=Shall we play a game?: The rise of the military-entertainment complex|website=Salon.com|date=19 September 2013|author=Corey Mead}}

Video games were not created directly for military purposes, [they] arose out of an intellectual environment whose existence was entirely predicated on defense research.

A more realistic form of America's Army, for example, would be one in which your soldier might lose a limb or get brain-damaged in combat, then come home to a Sims-style scenario in which you have to manage the rest of your life that way. Or maybe a game where you don't get into combat at all–you just camp out in the desert, running exercises.{{cite web|url=https://www.engadget.com/2006/06/06/from-sun-tzu-to-xbox-a-new-book-on-war-and-videogames/|title=From Sun Tzu to Xbox; a new book on war and videogames|website=Engadget.com|date=6 June 2006|author=Christopher Grant}}

See also

References