ABSTRACT

During the last few decades, video games have risen to become one of the most consequential phenomena in contemporary media which has garnered interest and scrutiny from several fields of academic study, while also allowing for the rise of game studies. From an Inter-American perspective, the phenomenon of video games in the continent has been framed since its inception by a logic of center-periphery, with the center being North America, particularly the United States. As one of the three Meccas of videogame production (the other two being Japan and Northern Europe) and having by far the largest consumer base in the continent, the U.S. is firmly entrenched at the cultural and economic center of the videogame industry (→ Cultural Industries, III/2). Among the most important aspects of the cultural phenomenon of videogames in the continent are those enunciated within the context of an asymmetrical dialog between this powerful center and its multiple continental peripheries.