The Interface Envelope

This book offers a wealth of in-depth analysis, which delivers on the promise of taking games seriously. The broad and solid theory building that the book offers is sorely needed. ... [It] pushes our discussion and thought in a different and important direction. * Information, Communication & Society *
The book's readability is assisted by the format of eight relatively short chapters and a clear expository logic ... [and Ash] does an admirable job explaining computer games in ways that are accessible to nongamers. * Social & Cultural Geography *
[Raising] important questions about the commodification of perception ... The Interface Envelope is an interesting text that clearly articulates a vision for how video games localize folds of time-space to orient, and profit from, our perceptual and embodied capacities ... It serves as a platform for understanding the ontological links between-and beyond-gaming, technology, and power. * Society and Space *
Theoretically nuanced and empirically rich, this discussion of how big-budget computer games attempt to organise players' perceptions is a must-read for all those interested in how digital technologies are changing our forms of life. * Gillian Rose, Professor of Cultural Geography, The Open University, UK *
James Ash's critical study shows how interfaces create spatio-temporal traps in which we are enveloped in alternative worlds. Cognitive capitalism works through techniques that stimulate our perceptions and sense of difference. Ash's book is a strong take on the non-human aspects in contemporary media culture without forgetting issues of political economy either. It will definitely speak to readers in game, media and cultural studies. * Jussi Parikka, Professor of Technological Culture & Aesthetics, Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, UK, and author of Digital Contagions *
More and more aspects of everyday life are being mediated through digital interfaces. And yet, to date, critical thinking about interfaces has been quite limited. The Interface Envelope is a vital contribution to filling this lacuna, providing a compelling new approach to making sense of interfaces that draws on post-phenomenology and new materialist ideas. In so doing, James Ash provides a thoroughly interdisciplinary and provocative analysis of interfaces that takes seriously and weaves together notions of embodiment, affect, memory, materiality, objects, power, space and time, through a detailed analysis of gaming interfaces. If you are interested in understanding how and why interfaces matter read this book. * Rob Kitchin, Professor and ERC Advanced Investigator in the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Ireland *