MachineMachine /stream

Video games have come a very long way since the 1980s... As Tom Bissell, a journalist, former Salon writer and lifelong gamer, explains in his new book, "Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter," the graphics, storytelling and interactivity of gaming have all made tremendous leaps forward in recent years, allowing players to intermingle with nuanced, fleshed-out digital characters in near-photo-realistic environments. Among the most notable recent examples is Rockstar's "Red Dead Redemption," a game the New York Times hailed as a "tour de force" for its ability to submerge players in a complex and believable world. In his book, Bissell argues that it's finally time to take video games seriously as an art form, and give them the formal analysis they deserve. (He also describes what it's like to play "Grand Theft Auto 4" while high on a cocaine binge.) Salon spoke with Bissell about the video games that blew his mind, the industry's violence problem, and what Roger Ebert doesn't understand