The Nintendo Entertainment System and the 10NES Chip: Carving the Video Game Industry in Silicon
Abstract
This essay makes the argument that the numerous ‘‘networks’’ or ‘‘inter/intranetworks’’ that structure the video game industry have lived local effects for those involved in the production of video games. In particular, this is most visible in the realm of console video game development but is visible in many other contexts as well. It uses the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) as an index into this complex and highly structured world that frequently disappears from developers perception. The essay uses largely historical data drawn from patent filings, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, and court cases to analyze these networks. The essay argues that these inter/intranetworks, as constructed, have been instrumental in the way that the game industry now finds itself structured and that as the industry has ‘‘matured,’’ the networks have become less accessible and less interoperable.
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Algorithmic content filtering can create echo chambers that trap users by only exposing them to opinions and beliefs they are already in agreement with.
“This is compounded by the rise of algorithmic content filtering, such as that populating Facebook users' feeds or seen in the news dissemination system 'WhatsUp' [6], that can create echo chambers which trap users by only exposing them to opinions and beliefs they are already in agreement with [19,23].”
From Falling for Fake News: Investigating the Consumption of News via Social Media (2018) · cites this paper as [23]
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- Authors
- O'Donnell, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Georgia,
- Venue
- Games and Culture
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2010-08-11
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 83-100
- ISSN
- 1555-4120 (ISSN-L)
- 1555-4139
- OpenAlex
- W2102739482
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 5.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Games and Culture (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Digital Platforms and Economics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › History of Computing Technologies
- Keywords
- Nintendo Entertainment System, video game industry, industry networks, industry structure, patent applications, SEC filings, court cases, interoperability, industry maturity, Silicon Valley
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