Minecraft

Video games are an ever-growing franchise that is constantly undergoing change. Ever since the dawn of video games, new consoles, games, developers, and teams have come together, fallen apart, triumphed, and failed. What is it that has allowed some to thrive where others failed? Several different factors have changed and influenced the world of gaming, including the history that is continuously being written, the people who have built the games behind the scenes, and, of course, the actual video games themselves. Numerous video games have been more successful than others, but identifying what components set the successful apart from the unsuccessful is something definitely worth observing.

Video games are a big part of life in modernized countries. It is one of the biggest entertainment money makers and of the things people enjoy doing. They are now mostly played inside the comfort of your home, with a console or computer. But things weren 't always like this. About 40 years ago you would most likely go to the arcade to play. The consoles they had out were either expensive or not good enough to compete with the arcade ones. Classic video games were made with 4-bit pixels and in very low resolution than modern day games. Over the decades, game machines continuously evolved and become more and more powerful, capable of stunning visuals and graphics. In the 21st century, social media, smart phone and tablet technology entered the gaming scene. Casual games become the norm attracting previously non-gamers into the market. However, if those low-quality games were never made, the games would not have evolved into the games they are today. In this article, I will cover main game a platform from the 1970’s to present day explaining what they are, their key development dates, features and limitations.

Our lives have become busier and therefore there is less time for complex gaming. Casual game use is on the rise as such games are simple and can be played quickly (“The Rise and Rise of Casual Gaming,” 2008). Jesse Schell (2010) observes games are becoming an extension of our real life, for example, fitness trackers and Wii fit, ‘brain exercising’ apps to ward off dementia, good driver apps that are provided by car insurance companies, point systems for shopping rewards and weight watchers. We can even compete with others in these games using leader boards. In the future there may be reward systems for brushing your teeth or using public transport (Schell,

You are running for your life past a vast landscape. You fly past forests, ravines, lakes, mountains, and pools of lava without stopping. You look back and see a horde of spiders, zombies, living skeletons, and armless green abominations that will blow up when they get close to you. You must survive until dawn, when those monsters will burn in daylight and you can gather resources to survive the next night. On the other hand, you could be a god, flying, spawning items without consequence, building whatever you like and impervious to attacks. These two scenarios occur often when you immerse yourself in Minecraft, but Minecraft is more than just a game. “Is Too Much Minecraft Mind-Numbing for Kids with ADHD?” by Randy Kulman, Ph. D. states

Minecraft is a game where the player uses their imagination to shape the world around them using the resources they find. In the world everything is shaped like a block or a cube, this includes the trees, the dirt, the water, the clouds, even the sun, everything. This simple game hasn’t even been released yet but has already sold over one million copies. Minecraft was created by one man, Markus “Notch” Persson, and this is his story.

Edmund was challenged with creating a game that was, well, challenging for fans. He decided to recreate his classic, Super Meat Boy, for mobile phones, which is an intensely challenging game. He found this solution by recreating a game that was challenging enough, but that also properly rewarded the players, unlike the majority of mobile games (Rose, 2012). As a gamer and a student of the gaming industry I feel blessed to have learned this lesson before working on my own games. I now know that you need to research what games exist in the area you are creating in, not only so another game isn’t copied, but to ensure that the game being created does justice to the people playing the games. I discovered through Edmund’s success that I don’t have to create a game that only exists to make money infinitely, but a onetime cost of a worthy game is just

Video games plays an important role in the cognition process in many of this generation children. This statement is the main point of this TedTalk arguement led by Gabe Zichermann in the presentation called “Video Games: How Games Make Kids Smarter”. Gabe Zichermann is the world’s leading expert in the topic of gamification; he is also a public speaker, author and entrepreneur, and the founder and editor-in-chief of a magazine called “Gamification.co”. Gabe Zichermann discusses that generation G (the current generation) obtain, learn and process information differently compared to any other generation. The term “gamification” is the application of gaming mechanisms in non-game circumstances and is the process of engaging the current generations

Everyday across the world, thousands of people log onto their computer to play games. For many, their game of choice is a simple one. If you enjoy shooting games, you may play Counter Strike. If you enjoy RPGs, you may play Major/Minor. If you enjoy strategy games, you may play Europa Universalis IV. However, fans of the sandbox genre may have difficulty choosing between Minecraft and Roblox when the choice is obvious. Roblox is a far superior game to Minecraft due to its gameplay, accessibility, and graphics.

Markus Persson said that “at first he didn’t want to create games for a living until he was 14 or 15.”(guru.bafta.org) Markus has made millions on his game and probably would have never thought to begin with that he could make money off of programming games and be so good at it. During this time their parents divorced and this hit the family very hard; his sister started using drugs and becoming depressed, so in order to ignore the problems in his family, he turned to his games for a moment of peace and solitude. (Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson, 33) Even after all this chaos, Markus changed the way the world looks at and make indie games.

I'm a huge fan of Lego. My son and I have spent hours building the model on the box and then taking it apart and making whatever else we wanted by rearranging the parts. Minecraft gives kids the same creative freedom, but it's easier on your bank account. Plus, you'll never step on a loose piece barefoot in the dark.

Technology has become second nature to our daily lives because we use it to think when we can’t, to help us from being bored, and to keep us in touch with the world. Hank Pellissier, in his article, “Your Child’s Brain on Technology: Video Games” quotes, “Take a deep breath. To relax, you scroll through Facebook and catch up on your email. Meekly, you join the other mesmerized zombies.” Clearly, we’re infected by these upcoming innovations and awaiting for fresh creativity. And speaking of zombies: my son plays Plants vs. Zombies, and as scary as that game may sound by its title, it distinctly lives up to its name. It is an entertaining strategic game that helps you think and act fast by using plants to destroy various skilled zombies. Video

Many video games use visuals to mentally immerse gamers into a virtual world filled with seemingly living, breathing people, animals, or cities. According to Michael Samyn and Auriea Harvey, game designers for Tale of Tales, video games increasingly develop into a true medium of artistic expression (Lamb). In just forty years, video games transformed from an abuse of the new computer for entertainment purposes into a sophisticated form of popular art. The development of video games recently produced results that arguably equal other similar, representational arts. Video games share many qualities with other forms of art, but they are also artistically significant in their own way. “This seems to be something

Video games in today’s society have become very popular. Every new game that comes out to be played and conquered by the average gamer has its own category. There are several other types of genres of games that people play but because of big hit titles and the new popular game systems like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, people become more interested in a game that is well known than a game they have never even heard of before. Every game has its own storyline and own way of how it unfolds and where the game ends according to game play. Some of the biggest reasons people sway to certain genres of games is because of the game titles released under them and the demand of people who want a good game under that category. The top three most

As advertised by the creators of the game, “The only limits are your imagination” (Jens, Minecraft). This game is a prime example on how video games can stimulate the mind with techniques such as problem solving, collaboration, memorization, and multi-tasking.

D'Angelo, W. (2013, May 2013). 2013 year on year sales and market share update to May 18th. Retrieved January 27, 2014, from VGChartz: www.vgcartz.com