[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-141177-105":59,"doc-detail-141177-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":124,"head_meta":126,"extra_data":128,"updated_unix":130},105,"en","rise-of-the-faux-pixels-erasures-and-extensions-of-the-pixel-concept-in-video-game-history","Rise of the faux pixels - Erasures and extensions of the pixel concept in video game history","","Many display technologies have shaped videogame visuals, yet the “pixel” idea has kept multiplying in retro-inspired games and beyond. This article describes the proliferation of faux pixels: screen elements detached from original material constraints, ranging from 2D/3D block forms to emulated analog effects. Origins of pixel styles are linked to nostalgia and debates over historical authenticity. Analog aesthetics are analyzed alongside similar developments in other visual media, highlighting a wider cultural shift in how pixels function.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/rise-of-the-faux-pixels-erasures-and-extensions-of-the-pixel-concept-in-video-game-history/141177/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/rise-of-the-faux-pixels-erasures-and-extensions-of-the-pixel-concept-in-video-game-history/141177.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Ethan Miller","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-08","2026-08-25",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",12,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What does the article mean by “faux pixels”?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"“Faux pixels” are visual elements identified as pixels in videogames that are disconnected from the original material constraints of the earliest pixel technologies.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"How does nostalgia influence the evolution of pixel styles in games?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"The article links the emergence of various pixel styles to the rise of nostalgia in gaming communities, including concerns about whether such retro aesthetics remain historically authentic.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"Why does the article discuss a paradox involving erasure and oversized pixels?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"Even as modern hardware enables fully erasing picture components, oversized “pixels” and related technological artifacts continue to proliferate on high-resolution displays.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},141177,1790536068,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":145,"read_time":146,"preview_page_count":4},687207017582,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","Rise of the faux pixels Erasures and extensions of the  \npixel concept in video game history  \nCarl Therrien  \nUniversité de Montréal  \ncarl.therrien@umontreal.ca  \nABSTRACT  \nMany different display technologies have been used throughout the history of videogames, each providing specific visual qualities. This article presents the proliferation of visual elements identified as “pixels” in retro-inspired video games and beyond. These visual blocks are defined as faux pixels, since they are disconnected from the original material constraints and extend into many visual directions, from 2D and 3D blocks to the emulation of analog display technologies. The origins of various pixel styles are presented in relation with the rise of nostalgia in the community and concerns about historical authenticity. The resurgence of analog aesthetics is discussed in light of similar phenomena occurring in other visual media.  \nKeywords  \npixel concept, pixel art, nostalgia, retrogaming, video game history, analog game studies  \nINTRODUCTION  \nOn July 17, 1995, Alvy Ray Smith presented a famous technical demo at Microsoft. The title of this presentation repeated a central point three times: “A Pixel is Not a Little Square!”; “we cannot think of a pixel as a square—or anything other than a point. There are cases where the contributions to a pixel can be modeled, in a loworder way, by a little square, but not ever the pixel itself” (Smith, 1995; original emphasis) . More recently, Smith contributed to this edification of the pixel as a major character in contemporary culture: A Biography of the Pixel (2021) presentsan overview of this core component in the creation of “Digital Light,” from its mathematical inception to its industrial takeover of the animation sector. The Pixar cofounder insists: the conflation of pixels with little squares “is perhaps the most widespread misunderstanding of the nascent digital age. The word pixelation has even institutionalized the misconception”(2021, p. 51, original emphasis) .  \nIn Super Life of Pixel (Super Icon Limited, 2018), a video game that proposes to take us on a historical journey of the medium, players are invited to embody the famous character, defined visually across video game platforms and technologies as a little square. In 2024, Billy Basso released Animal Well, a retro-inspired, low color / low resolution metroidvania full of wonderful pixelated creatures (see Figure 1) . In this  \nProceedings of DiGRA 2026  \n© 2026 Carl Therrien & Digital Games Research Association DiGRA. Personal and educational classroom use of this paper is allowed, commercial use requires specific permission from the author.  \nwell, square pixel points are smoothed through shaders that evoke the analog aesthetic effects of an older imaging technology: cathode ray tubes. These emulated analog pixels are used to build the ultimate natural shrine housing all the amazing virtual animals created by Basso.  \nFigure 1: Animal Well (Shared Memory / Billy Basso, 2024) .  \nSource: [animalwell.net](animalwell.net)  \nIn this article, we will document the evolving portrait of this fundamental picture element and emphasize how it morphed into a polysemic visual concept, spreading wildly in video game culture and beyond. We will explore a technical paradox that becomes even more apparent as our monitors, TV sets and projector screens grow ever wider and “high resolution”: even though we now have access to hardware that make it possible to erase picture components completely, oversized “pixels” and other technological artefacts understood through the same concept continue to proliferate on these screens. After a frantic race towards the remediation of movie images in video games of the 1990s, followed by the development of photorealistic computer-generated visual simulations now reaching its apex, the attraction of this pixelated retro remediation attests to the importance of nostalgia in contemporary video game culture. At the same time, a","cbCaiiblLUWkeacW","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiblLUWkeacW","pdf",4431943,26,"English","# Introduction\n## Pixel as a technical and cultural concept\n## Nostalgia and historical authenticity\n# Academic context\n## Nostalgia theory and game studies","[{\"question\":\"What does the article mean by “faux pixels”?\",\"answer\":\"“Faux pixels” are visual elements identified as pixels in videogames that are disconnected from the original material constraints of the earliest pixel technologies.\"},{\"question\":\"How does nostalgia influence the evolution of pixel styles in games?\",\"answer\":\"The article links the emergence of various pixel styles to the rise of nostalgia in gaming communities, including concerns about whether such retro aesthetics remain historically authentic.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the article discuss a paradox involving erasure and oversized pixels?\",\"answer\":\"Even as modern hardware enables fully erasing picture components, oversized “pixels” and related technological artifacts continue to proliferate on high-resolution displays.\"}]","Rise of the faux pixels - Erasures and extensions of the pixel concept in video game history | PDF",1787650287,66]