Creating Game History: Intertextuality and the Formation of a Collective Memory of Games

Some video games have had a lasting impact on games that followed, either through their gameplay, graphics, or world-creation processes or through the sociocultural structures they helped to establish. If game makers incorporate these games within other games, their importance and legacy are emphasized. This appreciation, which is frequently presented in a very nostalgic way, has the effect of creating a collective memory of games, inscribing them in game history. This essay analyzes various modes of intertextual links between games and their impact on the creation of a collective memory of games in the context of the arcade game culture, the Game Boy as an icon of gaming detached from a predefined space, and self-references by game makers to their own games.