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process for production itself (p. 251). Organizing, measuring, promoting and other ancillary
activities improve production, distribution and consumption, but, Comor notes, unwaged
concrete prosumer labor cannot itself produce surplus value (p. 258). Facebook, YouTube
and other aggregators of UGC gather, organize and sell audiences attracted to their content,
but the work formally exploited and the value directly produced is the result of a social
media company processing and packaging this content for its primary clients: advertisers
and marketers (p. 259). Comor argues that only by revising the labour theory of value can
we view digital prosumption as the basis of some kind of universal exploitation (p. 259).
Of course, it becomes increasingly difficult in a simulacrum world of spectacle to link capitalist production with the upside-down illusions they generate (p. 263), but here, Comor
models an exemplary insistence on historical materialist precision.
In his closing essay, Christian Fuchs still insists that the entire planet is today a capitalist factory (p. 276), which is one giant leap for humankinds confusion. It is empirically undeniable that much of the planet is part of the capitalist system, but to collapse
social classes, productive relations and all of the complex, diverse means of production
into one amorphous factory churning out private profit in every human action seems a
tad overstated. Even so, Fuchs polemical overview of contemporary debates clearly lays
out a theoretical terrain informed by Smythes work that might inform critical research
and political activity. Undoubtedly, competing theoretical positions have practical consequences for strategy and outcomes, but all readers should be inspired by Fuchs call for
Marxist scholars to research, publish, organize, debate, support and connect with struggles for socialism. Although some of the arguments presented in this collection may
politically misdirect, the projects commitment and final call cannot be disputed: all
times are the right times to fight for social justice. And now is that time.

Steven E Jones and George K Thiruvathukal, Codename Revolution: The Nintendo Wii Platform.
The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2012; x + 204 pp.: ISBN 9780262016803, $24.95 (hbk)
Reviewed by: Heath Row, Google Inc. and University of Southern California, USA

This is the second title in MIT Press Platform Studies series, which also includes books
on the Atari Video Computer System and Commodore Amiga. As such, Codename
Revolution focuses on the underlying computing systems and video game industry and
cultural impact of the Nintendo Wii. Introduced in 2006, the Wii was the first video
game console that used a mimetic motion-control interface. But several other innovations prove even more interesting over the course of the analysis written by Steve E.
Jones, professor of English, and George K. Thiruvathukal, professor of computer science
at Loyola University Chicago.
While the use of the Wii Remote (or Wiimote) changed the landscape in which
video games can be played the three spaces as discussed by Jesper Juul in his book A
Casual Revolution (reviewed by this writer in New Media & Society 2011, 13: 178)
another innovation, one of industrial and mechanical design, proves perhaps even more
effective in changing the design and use of video game consoles:

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Nintendos developers strategically sacrificed power, storage, and other features inside the box
to keep it small and cool running, and achieve the semiotic effect of simplicity for the sake of
marketing, not to mention to keep the price below US$250. (p. 28)

Those sacrifices resulted in the console having a smaller, sleeker form factor than the
competing PlayStation and Xbox and drawing less electricity in order to function, making
it more cost effective. That aspect made the console more attractive to parents and new
gamers, as well as the audience that is generally more immediately drawn to video games.
That design decision in tandem with the Wiimote affected the kinds of games that
would work well on the Wii (The Red Steel 2 case study in chapter 2 is particularly
insightful in this regard):
In order to achieve some degree of fidelity in motion mapping, graphic realism in general was
set aside on Nintendos games for the Wii, or it was at least relegated to a much lower priority
than it usually is on other game consoles. (p. 35)

The best examples of that simplified graphic and character design include Nintendos
Kokeshi doll-like Mii avatars, which can serve as player characters in some games, and
the companys most popular character, Mario, of Super Mario Bros. fame.
The second innovation highlighted in the book is the Wii Channels. Positioning the
Wii as a home-entertainment hub that includes a video game component rather than a
traditional single-purpose video game console, the Channels interface represents real
channels of access, distribution, and transmission for the platform (p. 99). Drawing on
the television metaphor that also informed the design of the Wiimote, the Channels offer
weather, news and photo sharing as well as access to the Wii Shop and Virtual Console,
which allow people to download games from earlier systems including the Nintendo
64, Commodore 64, Sega Genesis and others to play on the Wii via emulation. That
access to 20years of Nintendo content, as well as WiiWare a distribution channel for
original games went far to combat perceptions of a game library limited by the Wiis
design constraints.
In fact, on the Wii, the video games are just one aspect of what you can do with the
device:
Fixed in place at the top-left corner of the Wii Menu, [the Disc Channel] is the only one you
cant grab and drag to reposition a sign that games loaded from optical discs still have a
certain assumed priority in the Wiis conceptual architecture

the authors write. On the other hand the Disc Channel icon is exactly the same size
and appearance as the other Channels, suggesting that playing games is the first among
equal options (p. 103).
That levelling moves beyond the positioning of games, however. WiiWares independent games, as well as player-made games created using WarioWare D.I.Y. which
features an editor that can be used to make your own microgames and the complementary WarioWare D.I.Y. Showcase distribution channel bring us to the third innovation: the
social nature of the Wii. By allowing homemade games, game sharing and by striving to
make the Wii more of a home-entertainment hub than a video game console, Nintendo

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aimed to attract a more diverse audience of gamers and non-gamers and to bring video
games off the screen and into the living room. While not all games are well suited for
multiplayer play Its hard to avoid getting in each others way and impeding rather
than advancing game progress (p. 133) most games are intended to be played while in
the room with other people. The Wii is just the latest attempt by Nintendo to bring a
version of this kind of social gaming into the living room, closer to arcade parties and
karaoke than to, say, bouts of online multiplayer military simulations (p. 142).
Jones and Thiruvathukals book is as much a users manual for the potential of the
Nintendo Wii as it is an academic and technical deconstruction of the console as a computing platform. Their joint approach to considering the topic works well, but it isnt
until the very end of the book that Jones cultural contextual approach really shines. In
the final six pages of the sixth chapter (pp. 143148), the authors consider the paratext of
the Wii, as well as the diegetic and nondiegetic elements of video games and the various layers of the platform and the games, interactions and activities it supports. This
social layer of a video game platform is an essential part of what the system means,
because its the environment in which the platform gets used (p. 148).
Much of the existing literature on Nintendo such as Osamu Inoues (2010) Nintendo
Magic: Winning the Videogame Wars and Jeff Ryans (2011) Super Mario: How Nintendo
Conquered America concentrates on the companys success as a business. The more
technical literature to date focuses on the use of the Wii Balance Board, another controller for the platform, in healthcare and therapeutic settings. This text sits comfortably in
the middle, Wiimote and Nunchuk controllers in hand, making a valuable contribution to
the study of the Nintendo Wii and how technology and culture work together.
References
Inoue O (2010) Nintendo Magic: Winning the Videogame Wars. New York: Vertical.
Ryan J (2011) Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America. New York: Portfolio/Penguin.

danah boyd, Its Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. Yale University Press: New
Haven, CT, 2014; xi + 281 pp.: ISBN 9780300166316, $25.00 (hbk)
Reviewed by: Lois Ann Scheidt, Indiana University, USA

In her book Its Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, danah boyd attempts
to describe and explain the networked lives of teens to the people who worry about them
(p. x). This book draws upon 7years (20052012) of discussions with teens across the
United States and 166 semi-structured interviews conducted between 2007 and 2010 and
includes research found in boyds dissertation. Additionally, boyd held informal discussions with parents, teachers, librarians, youth ministers (p. x) and others who work with
teens. The work is targeted at educating a non-academic audience including parents,
teachers and policymakers.
The volumes title mirrors the most common response given by a researcher working
with this population. Often yes/no questions are posited by parents, teachers and so on,

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