Nestled in the shadow of a crumbling highway overpass in the harsh post-nuclear landscape of Fallout 3's Capital Wasteland is the tiny settlement of Girdershade. Keywords: soda machines, archaeogaming, presence, capitalism, consumerism IntroductionĮven in today's crazy world, Nuka-Cola is still the number one choice of refreshment among Armageddon's survivors. The paper draws on data from The Video Game Soda Machine Project, a website cataloging more than 3,000 soda machines across every major platform and genre. It goes on to argue that soda machines serve a crucial purpose in grounding video games in a world we recognize as like our own, while simultaneously reinforcing the consumerist values of modern capitalism. Why do soda machines appear so frequently in video games? What purposes do they serve? What values do they represent? This article identifies depictions of soda vending machines in games and analyzes the roles - commercial, aesthetic, ludic and narrative - played by these machines. Whether it's a Nuka-Cola machine in the Fallout games, a Grog machine in the Monkey Island series, or any number of other examples, soda machines are surprisingly ubiquitous throughout the medium. I'd Like to Buy the World a Nuka-Cola: The Purposes and Meanings of Video Game Soda Machines by Jess Morrissette AbstractĪnyone who has spent significant time playing video games has likely encountered a virtual soda machine.
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