{"product_id":"mortal-kombat-david-church-9780472055227","title":"Mortal Kombat: Games of Death","description":"Upon its premiere in 1992, Midway's \u003ci\u003eMortal Kombat\u003c\/i\u003e spawned an enormously influential series of fighting games, notorious for their violent \"fatality\" moves performed by photorealistic characters. Targeted by lawmakers and moral reformers, the series directly inspired the creation of an industrywide rating system for video games and became a referendum on the wide popularity of 16-bit home consoles. Along the way, it became one of the world's most iconic fighting games, and formed a transmedia franchise that continues to this day. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This book traces \u003ci\u003eMortal Kombat\u003c\/i\u003e's history as an American product inspired by both Japanese video games and Chinese martial-arts cinema, its successes and struggles in adapting to new market trends, and the ongoing influence of its secret-strewn narrative world. After outlining the specific elements of gameplay that differentiated \u003ci\u003eMortal Kombat\u003c\/i\u003e from its competitors in the coin-op market, David Church examines the various martial-arts films that inspired its Orientalist imagery, helping explain its stereotypical uses of race and gender. He also posits the games as a cultural landmark from a moment when public policy attempted to intervene in both the remediation of cinematic aesthetics within interactive digital games and in the transition of public gaming spaces into the domestic sphere. Finally, the book explores how the franchise attempted to conquer other forms of media in the 1990s, lost ground to a new generation of 3D games in the 2000s, and has successfully rebooted itself in the 2010s to reclaim its legacy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e David Church\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0472055224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780472055227\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Michigan Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/17\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 170\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.50d","brand":"David Church","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44048689823999,"sku":"9780472055227","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_f8edb619-9d87-40cd-a26c-6038ae9f0c92.jpg?v=1684997250","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/mortal-kombat-david-church-9780472055227","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}