About this Event
The Commodore 64 (C64) is officially the best-selling desktop computer model of all time, according to The Guinness Book of World Records. It was also, from 1985 to 1993, the platform for which most video games were made. Yet it is strangely forgotten in many game and computer histories. In his new book (MIT Press), Jesper Juul argues that the C64 was so popular because it was so versatile, a machine developers and users would reinvent again and again over the course of 40 years.
In conversation with NYU Game Center faculty, Jesper Juul will tell a new history of video games, integrating North American and European video game games and showing the C64's varied history from serious computer for BASIC programming, to game computer, to demoscene computer, to now a comforting retro device. He will show the C64's influence on game history (action-adventure games from Monty on the Run to Turrican, open-world games like Elite, Sims, SimCity, and Grand Theft Auto), and tell personal stories of piracy and the demoscene in German magazines and Northern Europe.
There will also be an opportunity to try C64 software, new and old, and signed copies of Too Much Fun will be available.
Too Much Fun was selected by Polygon among “The 6 best video game books of 2024”.
Bio:
Jesper Juul is a video game theorist and occasional developer. He works at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen, but has previously taught at MIT and New York University. He coedits the MIT Press Playful Thinking series. His previous books include Half-Real, The Art of Failure, and Handmade Pixels. His first computer was a Commodore 64, on which he wrote games and demos.
www.jesperjuul.net
A physical form of ID is required for entry to 370 Jay Street.
The venue is wheelchair accessible, and this is a seated event.
NYU Tisch School of the Arts provides reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. Requests for accommodations should be made at least two weeks before the date of the event when possible. You can request accommodations here:
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
NYU Game Center, 370 Jay Street, Brooklyn, United States
USD 0.00