Acknowledgements -- Introduction: to build a past that will "stand the test of time": discovering historical facts, assembling historical narratives / Andrew B.R. Elliott and Matthew Wilhelm Kapell -- Part I: history as a process. The same river twice: historical representation and the value of simulation in the total war, civilization, and Patrician franchises / Rolfe Daus Peterson, Andrew Justin Miller and Sean Joseph Fedorko -- What is "old" in video games? / Dan Reynolds -- Affording history: Civilization and the Ecological Approach to Historical / Adam Chapman -- Part II: history written by the West. Phantasms of Rome: video games and cultural identity / Emily Joy Bembeneck -- Modeling indigenous peoples: unpacking ideology in Sid Meier's Colonization / Rebecca Mir and Trevor Owens -- Dominance and the Aztec empire: representations in Age of Empires II and Medieval II: Total War / Joshua D. Holdenried with Nicolas Trépanier -- Historical novel revived: the heyday of Romance of the Three Kingdoms role-playing games / Hyuk-chan Kwon -- Falling in love with history: Japanese girls' Otome sexuality and queering historical imagination / Kazumi Hasegawa -- Part III: user-generated history. Selective authenticity and the playable past / Andrew J. Salvati and Jonathan M. Bullinger -- The strange attraction of simulation: realism, authenticity, virtuality / Josef Köstlbauer -- Modding the historians' code: historical verisimilitude and the counterfactual imagination / Tom Apperley -- Modding as digital reenactment: a case study of the Battlefield series / Gareth Crabtree -- Part IV. the politics of representation. Historical veneers: anachronism, simulation and art history in Assassin's Creed II / Douglas N. Dow -- "This game of sudden death": simulating air combat of the first World War/ Andrew Wackerfuss -- "The reality behind it all is very true": Call of Duty: Black Ops and the remembrance of the Cold War / Clemens Reisner -- Refighting the Cold War: video games and speculative history / Marcus Schulzke -- Part V. looking back on the end of the World. Strategic digital defense: video games and Reagan's 'Star Wars' program, 1980-1987 / William M. Knoblauch -- Fallout and the yesterday's impossible tomorrow / Joseph A. November -- Irony and American historical consciousness in Fallout 3 / Tom Cutterham -- The historical conception of Biohazard in Biohazard/Resident Evil / Robert Mejia and Ryuta Komaki -- The struggle with gnosis: ancient religion and future technology in the Xenosaga series / Erin Evans -- Conclusion(s): playing at true myths, engaging with authentic histories / Matthew Wilhelm Kapell and Andrew B.R. Elliott