BIBLIOGRAPHY — CHICAGO STYLE
Donovan, Tristan. Replay: The History of Video Games. East Sussex: Yellow Ant, 2010.
Harris, Blake J. Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation. New York: HarperCollins, 2014.
Kent, Steven L. The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon and Beyond. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001.
Kohler, Chris. Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life. Indianapolis: Brady Games, 2004.
Pursell, Carroll. From Playgrounds to PlayStation: The Interaction of Technology and Play. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015.
Nintendo of America. "SNES Developer Manual." Internal Technical Documentation. 1993.
Sony Computer Entertainment. "PlayStation Technical Reference Manual." Internal Technical Documentation. 1997.
Nintendo Power, vol. 100. Nintendo of America, September 1997.
U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Governmental Affairs: Hearing on Video Game Violence. 103rd Congress, 1st Session. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, December 9, 1993.
Sega of America. "Genesis Does What Nintendon't." Television Advertisement. 1990. [Primary Source — original broadcast marketing material from the era]
ABOUT THE CURATOR
This exhibit was researched, written, and produced by James Michael Ashley for Middle Georgia State University in partial fulfillment of coursework in Public History and Museum Studies. It is designed to be housed within a science and technology or popular culture museum — modeled after institutions such as the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York — and is presented here through the Michael Ashley Retro Gaming Museum's online division. The exhibit is targeted at adult visitors — particularly those who came of age during the 1980s and 1990s — with the interpretive goal of contextualizing personal gaming memories within broader technological and cultural history.
INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORK
This exhibit follows a technological change framework, drawing on Carroll Pursell's argument that play and technology are deeply intertwined in American life. Key interpretive challenges include resisting nostalgia-driven bias, ensuring that commercial failures and industry controversies receive appropriate attention alongside celebrated titles, and representing the full diversity of players the era both served and overlooked.