The History Of Video Gaming

Video games are a fast growing form of technology. This issue has to be discussed because of the two confronting sides that embark it. Because of the issue video games have to either continue growing as they are or they have to be stopped completely or a settlement between the two parties has to be

Video games have become as pervasive an aspect of our society as television, with many people spending more time playing video games than watching television. There are many perspectives with which to gauge videos games’ effect on society, from a functionalist, conflict or interactionist perspective. (Schaefer, 2011) Each of these sociological theories can provide a different view of video games, how they affect society and the subcultures that develop around them.

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.

Around the middle of the 20th Century man cultures started to grow beyond what they previously were thanks to different mediums (such as television and music) helping to push boundaries; with this came the birth of pop culture. Considering pop culture is a shortened version of popular culture it’s clear that many of the things in pop culture would be short lived. The short lived trends and happenings are labeled as “fads”. Strangely enough, some fads progress beyond their short lifespan and actually become a mainstay in the varying international cultures. One such example might be familiar as it is common in today’s society. This example is, indeed, video games.

Though gaming has its drawbacks, it also has many benefits to cover them. If controlled, gaming is extremely useful and with the amount of gamers in the world today, it proves that it is not just for children or for teenagers. There are millions of adult gamers that understand the importance of gaming in the under the existing circumstances of the world. Individuals that have studied gamers believe that gaming in today’s

So, I’m going to change things a bit. Instead of just talking about dates and numbers, which can be boring; I’m going to give this a little casual twist. So, in order to start the history let’s get a few facts out of the way. Let’s talk about gamers, mainly because I’ll be using the term a lot; gamers are people who spent a lot of time playing videogames. The Average gamer playing video games has spent twelve years playing them. Adult gamers have an average of fourteen years of playing videogames, guys have an average of sixteen years, and girls have an average twelve years. Speaking of girls did you know that 47% of gamers are girls? I would have never guessed that, but it’s a fact. So, as of 2013 49% of all people who live in The United States owns a console. All of them that own a console have at least two of them. Me, I own eleven… I think I may have a problem. Anyway, now that some of the facts are out of the way let’s start, THE HISTORY OF VIDEOGAMES! Now before I start I want to talk about all the most important events in the history of videogames, as I call them eras. Each era is very important because they shaped the videogames we know and love today.

As soon as the video game world pressed the start button on their business, they never stopped playing. Like any video game, they hit major checkpoints and beat levels. From Pac-Man with joysticks to Angry Birds on iPads, the video game industry has a consistent history of success. Today, everyone knows someone who plays or has played a video game. New games and gaming consoles are constantly being advertised and released. They are even an entertaining method of keeping people up with the growth of technology. According to Melissa Terlecki, a psychology professor, “Involvement and experience with current computerized technologies…is important to provide both men and women…Because computer video games are a seamless lead-in to the

Video games are a great pass time and relaxing getaway from everyday life, but how have the systems that play the wide verity of video games change over the years? The first video game console was called “The Brown Box”, created by Ralph H. Baer in 1962. The Brown Box was designed as a “Rectangular Brown Wooden Box with two attached controllers”. Ralph Baer was then nicknamed “The Father of Video Games”, the console only had 6 games, most notably was “Ping-Pong” also known as “Pong”.

In particular the video game industry has been commanded by a mostly male eccentric community, but in the past two decades, women have been encroaching on the alleged “private” life of the male video gamer’s community and they are petrified they are going to lose a unique time to get away from their lives and women in general. “It’s a $27.5 billion industry, but the modern video game industry had a humble beginning.”(CNBC, 1). The video game industry was thought up by an engineer named Ralph Baer in 1966. Moving forward over the years video gaming was established from the ground up by male computer scientist and engineers. The first video game released publicly was set loose upon the public at Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale, California. The game was made by two men, one of the men was Nolan

In society’s current era of technological advancement, video games have gone a long way since they were first created. Video games in the twenty-first century are no longer just toys or junk in the lifestyles of the youth. They have become innovative inventions that not only entertain its users, but also help aid the people in both the academic field and in jobs. The influences that video games bring about in the culture of the youth today are, in fact, not the negative influences that most people think. Video games are actually this generation’s new medium for educating the youth. The information they learn are also mostly positive and useful things that they may apply in their future lives (Prensky 4). In a generation that

Herman et all (2002) points out that history of video games begins from 1971 year, when Nutting association released 1500 machines with Spacewar video game. At the beginning it was too difficult to control the game process and playing machines had huge dimensions. But by the time with new technologies they become more compact and easier to play. According to the information given by Herman et all (2002), the period between the years of 1978-1981 is called ‘golden age’ of video game industry. In this period the arcade games ‘Football’ and ‘Space Invaders’ were released. All previously known sale records were broken by these two games with nearly equal wages. In this time interval great breakthroughs in the field of graphics were achieved,

Video games on a global scale have become one of the most lucrative of what is considered “new media” in today’s society. They came from humble beginnings in the form of games such as Pong and Pacman, games that consisted of limited color and moving dots. Now the gaming industry is worth billions of dollars. In a recent study conducted by Forbes magazine in 2012, figures showed that the video game industry was worth an estimated 67 billion dollars and in 2017 it will be worth an estimated 82 billion dollars (Gaudiosi, 2012). With its rise in popularity as a result of its technological advancements, video games are one of the top choices among many adolescents as well as young adults as a form of entertainment.

Video games are an important element for today’s students’ identity, character, culture. Even adults play video games. A survey conducted by Pew research shows the percentage of American adults aged between 18 and 29 who have ever played video games on computer, TV, or other electronic devices such as cell

Wolf describes the first mainstream videogame in his timeline as “Nolan Bushnell's PONG appears in the arcade becoming the first hit game” (Wolf XVII). “Beginning with PONG in 1972, video games found success,” with Pong’s massive foray into America’s homes, the video game industry sprung up almost overnight to fulfill the pioneer gamer’s needs.