Commence chin stroking: New book mixes Zelda and Philosophy
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Aug 14th 2008 at 10:11PM }
Zelda fan Luke Cuddy was so inspired by his favorite franchise that he went one step further than scribbling down some fan-fiction: he actually compiled a book on Zelda, tied it in with his knowledge of pop philosophy, and found a publisher for it.Okay, so it's probably not going to be Sartre or anything, but if you do purchase this when it releases on November 28th, you'll be able to ponder such musings as:
- How does the gamer experience the game?
- Does Link have a will, or do gamers project their wills onto him?
- How does time function?
- Can Hyrule be seen as an ideal society?
- Can the game be enjoyable without winning?
[Via Go Nintendo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Roto13 @ Aug 14th 2008 10:27PM
That doesn't sound very deep at all, actually. It's like if someone held a gun to my head and said "Come up with some random philosophy stupidity to associate with Zelda!" I'd say something like that.
Jhongerkong @ Aug 14th 2008 11:11PM
Another thing to ponder; will Link ever get his stuff?
Psy @ Aug 15th 2008 12:06AM
It's like Zelda Blog, with less insanity.
I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but I preordered it nonetheless.
hvnlysoldr @ Aug 15th 2008 1:07AM
What does it mean that Link is a one-man army filled to the gills, which he can also get, with weapons and reality bending gadgets? And when oh when is Link going to marry Zelda?
Chris Are @ Aug 15th 2008 1:47AM
Looking through that gallery reminded me of how amazing that game is. I'm letting a friend borrow it. I need to tell him to get it back to me- now I REALLY want to play it.
vidGuy @ Aug 15th 2008 2:00AM
Why did you have to tempt me with a Twilight Princess post? Now I want to play through it again, for the third time, instead of approaching the eight games that are sitting in my backlog.
The only philosophy book like this that I found worth a damn was the "Matrix and Philosophy", but that's a cheat since The Matrix is based on classic philosophical allegories to begin with.
Mrblonde @ Aug 15th 2008 3:13AM
The matrix is real!!
Manolo Sanchez @ Aug 15th 2008 6:37AM
Preordered it. I've been wanting to read something, but haven't seen something that catches my attention. I saw this, thought it was fake but then when it took me to Amazon I payed for it right away. Zelda is always a great topic to read on.
WillTheSecond @ Aug 15th 2008 7:58AM
I hope its not Sartre, Sartre is shit, a terrible read with very little focus, although the basic ideas are sound, but that's only because he took inspiration from Marx, Nietzsche and Kierkegaard and made them populist with his ideas on freedom and individualism that have serious in-built logical contradictions. *Ahem...*
This sounds more like videogame criticism than philosophy, which sounds quite interesting, unfortunately the way its phrased doesn't sound half as intelligent or lucid as Will Write's speeches.
Marcelo @ Aug 15th 2008 12:51PM
I think it's going to be pretty good. The "_____ and Philosophy" has tons of entries - Simpsons and philosophy, Seinfeld and philosophy, The Matrix and philosophy, and if this new one is anything like the others it's going to be a lot more than just the random blog-like musings of a fanboy - instead it'll be a bunch of very well-thought out academic papers on philosophical topics, using Zelda as an gateway to talk about deeper issues. People who are interested in philosophy will be very pleased, and people who like Zelda might find it a way to get into another subject.
Patrick @ Aug 17th 2008 3:41PM
I can agree that it's being represented as some philo-potpourri, but I know there's some good stuff there that runs from Philosophy 101 re-skinned to introspection on game design and maybe a more more interesting questions. I wrote one about the triforce and its relevance to the game's design, system dynamics and choice.