Key Changes in the Video Game Industry The first wave of home video games was launched nearly 30 years ago. By the early 1980s, this electronic entertainment medium had emerged as a cultural phenomenon, thanks to classics such as Asteroids, Centipede, Donkey Kong, and Pac-Man. The world of video games has, of course, changed drastically since then. For starters, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are now the key players in the console industry, having replaced Atari, Coleco, and Mattel for those top spots. Advances in technology are making game worlds more realistic and interactive than ever before. The result is a new breed of fresh and exciting game genres that people in the early 1980s could only dream about. Video games is a huge industry and it is estimated that 70% of U.S homes will own a Video game system by the year 2005 (Cassandra, 2002). The idea of making a video game first appeared in 1949 when a young engineer named Ralph Baer was given an assignment to build the absolute, best of all televisions. He wanted to go beyond his original assignment and incorporate some kind of game into the set but it would take another 20 years for his idea to become a reality. Video games were first introduced in the 1970s, first by Willy Higinbotham, who designed an interactive tennis game played on an oscilloscope, and Steve Russell, who programmed a rudimentary space game on a DEC PDP-1 mainframe computer. By the end of the decade, they had become a preferred childhood leisure activity. The first computer games experienced by the public world have been in Arcades. These are rooms filled with bright lights and strange noises that emanat... ... middle of paper ... ...ers responding to the demand from the older market. That is not to say that games for children are no longer produced, more that game producers recognise that there is more than one market to produce for. Bibliography Berger, Arthur Asa, 2002, Video games: a popular culture phenomenon, New Brunswick, Transaction Publishers Communication Research, The use and experience of the new video media among children and young adolescents. 17(1): 107-130. EJ 406 646 Jenkins, Henry, and Cassell, Justine (eds.), 1999, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: gender and computer games, Cambridge, The MIT Press. Gunter, Barrie, The effects of video games on children :the myth unmasked, 1998 Hayes, Michael, Games war :video games - a business review, 1995. King, Lucien, Game on :the history and culture of videogames, 2002
During the 1990’s the video games were constantly changing.this decade saw tons of innovations in the gaming industry. The creation of 32-bit games and 3D games dominated the virtual world: Contra, Battletoads, Mortal Kombat, etc. Video game genres developed and branched out, creating some of the popular genres in video games today, such Role-playing games(RPGs),
An examination of videogames in popular culture is a complicated one. There is a large debate as to what is the very first video game. The supposed earliest known video game was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann on a cathode ray tube in 1947. The game was a missile simulator similar to radar displays from World War II, and overlaid sheets of paper were used for targets since graphics were unknown at this time. On May 5, 1951, the NIMROD computer was presented in Britain. It used a panel of lights for its display and was used to play a game called “NIM”. Later, in 1952, Alexander S. Douglas made the first compu...
Video games started as arcade machines with simple graphics and even simpler stories, soon evolving into home gaming with The Magnavox Odyssey, the world’s first home-gaming console. It invaded living rooms in 1972, selling 300,000 units. Since then there has been many consoles and games released, some have been huge commercial successes which
“Since female video gamers are so rare, playing shooter games allows girls to be freed from feminine stereotypes and increases their confidence.” (83) The author illustrates how society thinks that women should not play video games by claiming that most girls are disgusted by violent first-person shooter games and tend to gravitate toward softer more ladylike activities. By playing these violent games, Tieu believes that girls will be able to step out of their socialized gender roles. She elaborates on how women can be made more confident in other aspects of life by playing violent video games, by giving the example that she has excelled in mathematics and science which are mostly dominated by males. “Another reason for girls to play FPS games is that it gives us a different way of bonding with
“Most reported effects of videogames – particularly in the popular press – appear to centre upon the alleged negative consequences… Research has consistently shown that playing computer games (irrespective of genre) produces reductions in reaction times, improved hand-eye co-ordination and raises players’ self-esteem,” (Griffiths p. 47), states Mark Griffiths in his article, “The educational benefits of videogames”. When people think of video games, they often tend to think about the negative side effects that video games can have on a person. Will Wright in his article, “Dream Machines” also defends video games by providing positive effects that video games have on those who play them. Wright presents
The Rebirth of a Game Basketball in my home state goes way back, straight to the beginning. The University of Kansas (KU) hired James Naismith, the inventor of the game, as its first basketball coach in 1898. The fledgling sport has caught on, and has gained force ever since. KU was also the scene of the emergence of Wilt Chamberlain, who dominated the game like none other. At the same time that “Wilt the Stilt” was breaking out, Kansas State University (KSU) had a basketball coach by the name of Tex Winter.
This journal article is entirely credible and written by two women who know what they’re talking about. This article discusses how video games form stereotypes about both genders and that they impact both gamers and non-gamers. Men are portrayed as aggressive and women are unsurprisingly portrayed as sex objects. A main issue with this is that video games are mostly played by the younger generation meaning these are the ideas being imbedded into the youth of the world. The...
Video Games have been around for over thirty years now. A lot have changed in the way programs work. When they first came out Video Games weren't that powerful because the hardware couldn't support it. Now the possibilities are almost endless. Games have changed so much. From Games like Asteroids that was made in 1979. With Asteroids being only a small program with some computations going on.
Video games have come a long way. They have evolved from the simple game of Pong into a complex, multi-platform, multi-genre, multi-billion dollar industry.
From this, it concludes that the media and online gaming can create and reinforce gendered behaviors. These video games affect the child's identity and their perception of others. In conclusion, the video games that contain sexual themes become more graphically portrayed. And the video games that use Damsel and Distress plots reduce women to a state of victimhood. The way female characters’ dress in the videogame reinforced gender-role stereotypes.
3. “Video Games” by Chris Jozefowics. Published by Gareth Stevens Publishing 2010. Pleasantville, NY 10570-70000 USA. Produced by Editorials Directions Inc.
Social scientists have been examining the effect that video games have on behavior. From the introduction of video games in the 1980s, there have been numerous research studies to this effect (Andersen & Taylor, 2008). The issue has become even more significant in the modern context because these video games have become bloodier and more realistic than ever before. Even though boys play these games more than girls in America, the consumption of video games has generally been high. Carey (2013) indicates that 32% of these gamers are below the age of 18. Therefore, it would be crucial to evaluate the effects that these video games have on the behavior of such children.
Video games first appeared in the early 1970's. It all started with a simple white ball bouncing back and fourth on the screen. In 1986, Nintendo introduced its first line of home video game consoles. With the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) on the market, the home video gaming industry surged and immediately became popular among children. Since then, not only have video games increased in popularity, but there have been vast improvements in graphics, game play, and forms of gaming. Today, video games have become the preferred choice of entertainment among children and teenagers. Research done in 1998 has shown that kids who own video games spend an average of 90 minutes a day playing them. Clearly the video gaming industry is a profitable one. With the increasing competition between gaming companies, the advancement of technology and content of games began to change. One of the most significant and concerning changes in gaming is graphics. With the improvements in graphics the content of the game became more and more detailed and realistic. Visually violent actions can now be displayed on the screen. Images of blood, flying body parts, and gore have been integrated into every aspect of today's video games. Violence has always been a common factor in many games, but with the improvements in graphics and capabilities of gaming consoles, a growing number of people are becoming concerned about the effects on our children and society.
Many people believe that video games change people and mislead them to do bad things, such as drugs and alcohol, but it is the opposite. Gaming prevents people from such acts and actually helps to keep them away from the substances. Lots of people, mainly parents, believe that video games harm people so they try to keep their children away from them. In reality, video games make your life better. Video games can provide many benefits to your lifestyle as “numerous academic studies indicate that playing video games has many psychological and even physical benefits” (Guarini). Gaming helps stimulate the brain and advances your problem solving abilities. There are disadvantages to gaming, which is true, but the amount of benefits outweigh them by far.
As a result, the main question of the research is how video games can influence children and many minor questions come to mind about video games: Do video games influence a child’s psychological development and make them more aggressive and violent? Do video games affect a child’s grades? What are the influences of video games on children? Many people don’t have much information about video games and how video games may affect people’s behavior, health and mind. This report offers information on the influence of video games on children and how it will affect their behavior and mental health.