http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaPONUm9K14&hd=1

This clip, from the highly popular Assassin’s Creed series, combines a lot of the aspects of videogames Bogost describes in the introductory chapters of his book.  The protagonist, Ezio, stands atop one of Rome’s most famous buildings, the Casetl Sant’Angelo, looking out over an artistic computer-generated rendering of Renaissance Rome.  The city glows with light despite the dark night sky and subtle, but emotional music plays in the background.  This is art, in the sense that art attempts to capture aesthetic beauty.

Reverence also plays a major role in this scene, as it does throughout the entire series.  Ubisoft, the game’s developer, has put a lot of effort in creating believable open-world models of famous cities, including Jerusalem, Venice, Florence, Istanbul, and Rome.  This process of rebuilding a period-accurate and fully explorable representation of cities and their major landmarks has been a trademark feature of the Assassin’s Creed games since the beginning.  It is this feature that gives the player a chance to become intricately familiar with many of the world’s most famous landmarks.

Lastly, there is even an achievement for parachuting off the top of the Castel Sant’Angelo, something that is likely only possible in a videogame.   The name of the achievement is a reference to a song by the Steve Miller Band, “Fly Like an Eagle,” a sort of easter egg prank much like those Bogost describes.