Philips Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy - Manual (Page 107)

Trigger Happy
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up, or amorphous blobs of energy floating in the air to
be driven or flown through.
Power-ups in general enhance the abilities of the
player’s character in the game: aside from restoring
health or granting an extra life, they may also increase
speed, envelop the player’s ship in a temporary shield
(which mysteriously stops bullets from entering, but
allows the player to shoot outward) or furnish the
player with one of an arsenal of extra-destructive
weapons with which to meet the next enemy onslaught.
In their instantaneous and nakedly magical effect,
power-ups partake of a totally different ontology from
anything else on the screen. Their mode and effect is
purely relational, redefining the logic of how the
player’s character and the enemies interact.
Out of control
What’s the most glaringly unreal aspect of
videogames? It’s a cybernetic thing. Cybernetics is the
study of control systems (from the Greek kubernt s,
meaning “steersman”). And videogame control systems
are for the most part radically removed, in structural
terms, from what happens on the screen. I have so far
been talking about how videogames manipulate the
imaginative involvement of the player,