Video+Game+Invasion+2

//** While watching the documentary in class, you should have taken notes regarding the following questions: **// a. What social impacts //(economic, cultural, health, psychological, legal)// have video games had on the various stakeholders //(individual consumers/players, companies, society in general)// during the evolution of video gaming? b. What were some of the key technological advances that allowed video games to evolve into to what they are today?

Paste your summary of the documentary (based on the above questions) below. Put two spaces between yours and the previous persons summary. At the end of the summary, put 4 ~. This will create a digital signature for you. i.e. 1227601521

As the world continues to expand and grow, technology becomes even more of an important factor in the lives of everyday people. Even more important, although sometimes looked down upon, is the evolution of video games and their transition into the technological world. Games, such as Super Smash Brothers, or Halo, were not even dreamt of during the 1930’s. After the development of Pong, video games have been on a boom, for both the business world and the general public. Countless quarters were spent by both adolescents and adults, with time in the afternoon spent constantly in arcades or the local pizza parlor. Soon, video games became a large beneficial part in the income of many business companies. As more and more people became addicted to the new form of entertainment, the total revenue gained by companies grew exponentially. Pong was an important step in the creation of a new market. Nolan Bushnell, the found of Atari, employed thousands of workers for the development of new video games and technology. Soon, other companies, such as Sega or Nintendo, joined the market, producing new types of video games such as: Asteroids, Pac man, and Space Invaders. Not only did the video games help companies, but the characters as well. Characters, such as Pac man and Mario, became star figures that flooded the market. Television shows and other games revolved around the characters and their development in society. However, companies quickly learned that they could increase their revenue even further by introducing home entertainment systems, such as NES, Playstation, and Xbox, where videogames were bought home. Yet, with people now able to play in their homes, health became a major concern for many people. Teenagers and adults often stayed home to play video games, ignoring their duties and responsibilities outside their homes, such as school and jobs. In addition, the development of more violent and graphic games, such as Doom, worries parents. Concern about the negative impact on children’s mental and psychological health soon spread across parents and peers. Before long, the Entertainment Software Rating Board was introduced by law to place warnings on games with violent and/or graphic content. The world did not always run on video games. Before the introduction of the home entertainment system, games were restricted to restaurants or arcades due to their high price and low technological advancements. Typical arcade booths ran in the thousands, and not many individuals were willing and/or able to afford the costs. However, the improvement of technology soon affected the video game market. With the introduction of the television, games became more available to the general public. In addition, video games were developed into smaller and cheaper materials. The microchips held the video game software, and allowed the market to spread to even more individuals. Now, people are able to play video games everywhere instead of the confined space in arcade stores. Yet, television and smaller game cartridges weren’t the only advancements in technology that allowed video games to become what they are today. The invention of the home computer opened a new world for game developers and players to explore. With two more available places to play, and the continuous development of smaller, more efficient videogames, the world of gaming has now become what it is today. 1228272175

Darren Chen: The evolution of video games over the past decades has very significant impacts on society and its many stakeholders. As they became more popular after the introduction of the arcade game //Pong,// video games have slowly become an integral part of American culture. Adolescents and adults alike spent countless quarters on arcade machines in the year they were introduced, and continued to be loyal supporters of video games to this day. Video games have become either a very popular form of entertainment or even a means of income for society. With this, one can also see video games being a great economic benefit to companies. Essentially everyone wants to play video games, and spent large sums of money to do so, rolling in revenue by the millions every year for video game companies. Another economic impact of video games is with the dramatically increasing demand for //Pong// arcade machines when it was first introduced, Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari Inc., sought to employ thousands more workers to help keep up with the demand, thus creating many more job opportunities for society. Despite all the benefits video games have brought upon society, they have also brought negative impacts and issues. With the development of home entertainment systems (NES, Playstation, Xbox, etc.) where video games are being brought home instead of limited to arcades, gamers can now stay home and play instead of going outside. This could potentially become a health issue as adolescents gravitate to stay home instead of going outside. Also, since the development of more violent and graphic games such as //Wolfenstein 3-D// and //Doom//, parents are worrying if video games could have a negative impact on the child’s mental health and psychology. Campaigns were run against violence in video games. With this, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is introduced by law and puts a warning on games with violent and/or graphic content. Several key advancements in technology have helped hoist video games into the position they are in today. The introduction of television made it possible to bring video games home. Before, the only source of video games is arcade machines. Now, one can buy a video game system and connect it to one’s television at home and play. Also, the development of smaller microchips has allowed video game producers/developers to create games with better graphics and smaller size. Video games used to be large and bulky, as can be seen in the arcade machines. But with the introduction of smaller chips, video games have become smaller, of which examples include Nintendo’s Gameboy and all home video game systems. Perhaps even more important than the previous two, the invention of the home computer (Apple Mac, IBM PC) opened up a completely new frontier for video games. Now, instead of limited to arcade machines and television, one can also play video games on the computer. 1228272335

The movie //Video Game Invasion// is about the development of the videogame from the arcade to the X-box. Key technological advances, which allowed video games to evolve into what they are today,are represented in the movie. During the film a lot of stakeholders are mentioned. The players are important stakeholders in the development of the video games. When a group of unique individuals, one of them, Villy Hickenbuffer, revolutionized entertainment, with their primitive version of tennis in 1958, and in 1960 Steve Rossel created a game called Spacewar, it was not possible for players to have this game at home, because of a huge cost. In the beginning the games were on arcade machines, which cost a lot, and a normal user couldn’t afford the cost of the machine. This impacted the player economically, because the players needed to go to a public area to play their games. This had cultural impacts on the players, which made people connected through competition in those games, and it was the beginning of the gaming culture. In 1966 almost every living room had a television, which gave Sanders associate, Ralph Baer the idea to create the game Ping Pong, which was available on the television. This made it possible for players to stay home and play the games in their living room. In 1971 another game console was created, autesie, which had a hardware master control and two control units. The fact that the games gradually were created in connection with a gaming console made it possible for people to stay home. This started to impact society and people’s health, as it sometimes does today, by having people staying inside, using too much time on their games, and thereby being antisocial and inactive. In 1972 when Nolan Bushnell worked for Atari he created a better version of the known Ping Pong, by adding increasing speed to the ball and sound, this gave a better experience for the player, which made games even more interesting. In the beginning it was mostly young and innovative people that created the games, and they had a laid back culture, but this changed during the development of the games when the economic interest impacted the production of the games, and games became a huge money business. This resulted in companies suing each other, and in the 70’s companies were in competition about finding the best game with more features. In the 1980’s the Japanese began to rule the gaming market with games such as Packman, Donkey Kong, which was one of the first game to have a story, and Super Mario. And the American company Atari got the 2600 Console into a lot of American homes, which was a revolution of the home gaming consoles. The following years Nintendo came with a game console (NES), which had better graphics and sound. In the early 80’s Steve Jobs and Steve Wosniak came out with the apple two computers, which took the gaming to a higher level, and in 1982 Trip Hawkins created games recorded on floppy disks. Their basic games at that time, as well as today, are games based on sports. Another important person was Reberta Burton, who created the Mystery House and later Kings Quest, which were games based on stories and a moving character. She was the person who added more colors and sound to the games. All those new feature influenced the players experiences with the games, and made a lot of people more absorbed in the games. Tetris was created 1984 by Alexey, which was later sold to Nintendo, who used it for their Gameboy, which was a new platform of gaming, which made it possible for people to be more flexible about their gaming time. The production of the Gameboy meant that they could carry their game everywhere – job, school etc. From 1993 more companies began to create games for the personal computer, such as MYST, which had better graphics, and Wolfenstein, which was one of the first games played with a first person perspective. Another thing that came into matter those years were Shareware, which allowed people to get games online, for example DOOM, which was one of the first games to have multiplayer capabilities. Later on more people could play over the Internet, which had a huge impact on the gaming culture. People could/can now get together and play, and clans and computer “parties” were created. But shareware also impacted the gaming producers, and made their profit from each game smaller, because people easily shared their games without cost. Another thing that impacted the gaming industry was the rating system they needed to introduce, which indicated the expected minimum age of the players, in order to be able to continue creating new games. Parents and lawmakers meant that violent games impacted their kid’s education – unfinished homework – and their social life – antisocial. This impacted the gaming industry, because they needed to follow the ranking system and economically, because loss of players. This was especially focused on after the columbine school shootings. Later on Sony came out with a new gaming console called Playstation and with the game Tomb Raider in 1996. And Microsoft did as well come out with a gaming console – X-box - in 2001. During those years there were added more and more computer games with different genre and new features, such as all the Sims games (virtual life), in 2000, and Everquest, which was a virtual world that you play online. 1228286992 `  The video game industry, which began merely with the bouncing back and forth of primitive shapes on a screen grew to an eventual 20 billion dollar industry. With local arcades as it’s jump-start, new frontiers were explored, and video games were destined to become the future of and revolutionize entertainment. The first (punch card) video game was designed by Willy Higinbotham one of the inventors of the nuclear bomb. The game consisted of two dots on a screen that moved back and forth. This discovery led to Steve ‘Slug’ Russell’s space war game in 1961. Even then, he found his own invented impractical and did not think to patent it. In 1966, the invention of the television became a business opportunity for the video game industry. “//Odyssey”// became the first personal game that used punch cards and costed $100 to purchase. In 1972, Nolan Bushnell founded ATARI, the first video game company, and began working //PONG//, a spin off of Odyssey, but with better speed and sounds. It quickly became a huge success, because it was both easy to play and difficult to master. After //PONG//’s success, Atari expanded and profited, quickly becoming known as the ‘party company,’ creating revolutionary video games while maintaining a relaxed, laid back culture to provide creative flow among it’s employees. Following ATARI’s instant success came it’s first lawsuit. Ralph Barrets claimed PONG to be a copy of his invention, //Odyssey.// This cost ATARI one million dollars, a small price to pay for their upcoming success. After the lawsuit,companies began creating more knock-off games, causing ATARI to begin putting in the wrong chips in games on purpose to minimize piracy. In 1974 the first home version of //PONG// came out, following many more big hits such as, //Breakout!// (same concept as //PONG,// but vertical). ATARIs first downfall was when they tried to bring video games to homes with the 2600, but it was impractical and did not sell well, resulting in Bushnel selling the company for $28 million. Several gaming companies followed in the bold footsteps of ATARI; in 1977, the Star Wars craze led to the game //Space Invaders//, which included recorded high scores. After one year ATARI came out with //Asteroids:// also a big success. In 1980, video games came out in colour, which inspired the Japanese company, Namco to come out with //PACMAN.// //Pacman// became the first video game character to become popular among consumers. //Pacman// had his own Tv series, picture on the front cover of TIIME magazine, etc. Shortly after Namco’s success, Nintendo became successful. Nintendo was a japanese company that originally sold playing cards. They wanted to join the gaming industry, but could not gain recognition in America. Finally a toy designer created first game with a story, //“Donky Kong.”// The creation of //Donky Kong// brought on the lovable brothers, Mario and Luigi in 1982. Meanwhile, back at ATARI the company was going under. The new management had no respect for the creative work done by game designers, “you are no more important to the game that the people in the assembly line making it,” they had said, causing many ATARI game designers to leave. While ATARI benefited temporarily from large hits such as //Kaboom//, and //Freeway//, other companies like Coleco and Nintendo were keeping steadily behind. Feeling the heat of the competition, Steve Ross brought in Stephen Speilburg to produce a sure to be hit E.T. game, but in turn, due to lack of depth and quality, the game would not sell, and ATARI forfeited. In 1982, Electronic Arts created floppy disk PC games, causing a huge uproar among consumers. Floppy disks followed through to CD-ROMs. Profitable breakthroughs were popping up left and right, such as //TETRIS// and //Sonic.// Soon companies began producing games with unlimited boundaries, causing them to be addictive and sometimes violent. They created a rating system to limit the amount of complaints coming from society; complaints about “unfinished homework, rising crime rates and delinquent behaviour.” Next came the Playstation, Xbox and Shareware, the partial access to video games online, allowing a player to play the game just long enough to get hooked, so that hey will have to eventually buy the product. Video games became a way to communicate, relax, and a revolutionary form of entertainment. QUESTIONS: (am i supposed to put these here? :S) **What social impacts do video games have on stakeholders (consumers, companies, society in general)?** **Economic:** When video games where impractical and primitive, it was unrealistic for companies to patent things if no one could afford them or thought they were worth buying. Breakthroughs in the gaming industry had to be both good quality for the consumer and benefit the companies producing them financially. Examples: 1. Space War game: ‘Slug’ never thought to patent his invention of space war game because it was expensive and impractical. 2. ATARI’s E.T. game showed the negative outcome of impractical/bad quality games and their financial impact: cost ATARI the company. **Cultural:** Positive impacts include the globalization and cultural awareness etc. through video games. Ex: Quake / Doom online players playing simultaneously in the same game. also, for companies, companies from all over he world are able to join and contribute ideas: America and Japan came together to create Nintendo, while America and Russia came together to produce Russian game of //TETRIS.// **Health:** Detrimental to health in some ways: carpel tunnel syndrome; repeated movement of the hands for an extended period of time. **Physiological:** parents complain that video games are detrimental on a psychological aspect - raising crime rate/delinquent or addictive behaviour etc. **Legal:** lawsuits: Universal Studios failed lawsuit of Donky Kong, and lawsuit of video game, PONG. Once people are profiting from video games, everyone wants a “piece of the pie.” **What were some of the key technological advances that allowed video games to evolve into what they are today?** Some key technological advances include personalized at home video gaming equipment: Xbox, Playstation etc. This could only have been created due to the invention of the television. Also, other large technological advances had an influence and inspire to gaming industry; including colour TV, internet, cellular phones and personalized computers (PC). Now, everyone has access to video and computer games due to everyday technology, even phones and iPods. COMPETITION between game companies is another key advance that allowed video games to evolve: EA, Nintendo, SEGA etc. While companies are constantly competing and trying to improve their products, making technological breakthroughs along the way, consumers and the rest of the world benefit.

1228379228 In the Video Game Invasion documentary, a history of video game was presented. It all started with the simple Magnavox Odyssey system, which plays a very weak and early version of //Pong//. It was a great hit because people liked the idea of interaction with digital media. Then the company ATARI was created, their first product was the real //Pong// we know today, upgraded with sounds, speed modifier, and most importantly, the score recording system (which was amazing at the time). This is the first legal issue that aroused in the world of video games. The creator of Odyssey sued ATARI because he patented the idea of “Moving object in a screen bouncing between two pixilated panels”. ATARI, being smart, solved the problem by buying down the idea. Now that ATARI has //Pong//, it went on to enhancing it, which created games like //Breakout//, which is a vertical version of //Pong//. This allowed ATARI to make loads of money through video games, since at that time they are the only creator of video games. The consumers are happy that more of these games are being released, because they are becoming a world-wide phenomenon. Later in the documentary there was a case where Nintendo’s //Donkey Kong// was presumed a copy of Universal studios’ //King Kong//, though Nintendo got past by finding that in the copyright Universal studios did state that the idea is not copy righted and it’s open for use. In the late 1980s, the change is the separation of the game from the actual consol. Right after the idea of outsourcing games, the next biggest change in video game technology is probably the change from cartridges to CDs, which populated more game programming companies. At the same time, DOOM programmers released the first game mod system, allowing players to mod games to their desire, leading to the currently popular game modding culture. DOOM also promoted multiplayer, which eventually spread to a series of other games and become a common option. As micro processors and other minimized components start to appear in the 1990s, new systems such as the Playstation are produced. With technology enhancing so quickly, the first virtual reality game – MYST, appeared, which inspired quite a lot of game companies to produce games that incorporate graphical polygons. Though all the developments are good, the parents of the consumers are not quite happy. People sued companies that created games such as GTA because they think it pollutes the children’s minds full of gore and violence. Essentially video game became the blame for things such as school shooting, drastic car accidents and even murders. The latest achievement of the video game world (As of 2004) is the ability to use servers to host a virtual reality where multiple players are able to interact with each other. This is the invention of Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, the examples given in the documentary include Everquest, one of the most popular online games today. Unfortunately it was also called Ever”Crack”, because of the player’s addiction to it. This also lead to the biggest issue of game addiction which is still ongoing today. 1228395891

 --
 * Video Game Invasion 2**, a documentary on the history of video gaming, details its evolution from amateur 1960s origins, ‘Space War’, to its modern development into a billion dollar industry. It also focuses on its integration into society; how it was initially a form of entertainment aimed at tech-savvy “computer geeks”, but eventually reached all parts of the population.

The evolution of video gaming has had various social impacts on society. Firstly, its emergence as a new form of entertainment has expanded the economic market, creating a brand new industry of digital video gaming. This was pioneered by //Atari//’s ‘Pong’ (1972), whose incredible popularity and success led to the arrival of competing video gaming companies, such as Namco and Midway, looking to cash in on the expanding consumer population behind the video gaming business. These economic successes have also led to several noteworthy lawsuits, including //Magnox// vs. //Atari// against ‘Pong’, and //Universal Studio//’s ‘King Kong’ vs. //Nintendo//’s ‘Donkey Kong’. More recently, the emergence of the internet has further stretched business horizons for video gaming companies, with the growing popularity of online Role-Playing Games, such as ‘World of Warcraft’. Secondly, the widespread of video and computer gaming have made their mark on history and popular culture, affecting society through icon and symbol usage, as well as the way people communicate with each other. For example, chatspeak that originated in Role-Playing Games, such as ‘QQ’ and ‘n00b’ have penetrated real-life conversations. Characters such as Mario and Pacman have become popular icons, so that merchandizing companies have bought their patents. Thirdly, the immense popularity and appeal of video gaming has lead to fanaticism and addiction. Video gaming addiction was first noticed by the appearance of the game ‘Tetris’ in the 1980s, first in Russia and then to the United States. According to this video, office workers were kept busy for hours, and literally had to “cover their screens with their hands” when their bosses walked by. Currently, gaming addiction is a particular problem arising in Asian countries, where individuals are psychologically dependent on playing online Role-Playing Games. Health concerns and fatality cases with gaming addiction have propped up, causing stir among politics and law. Also, particularly violent video games such as ‘Doom’, or ‘Grand Theft Auto’, have influenced legal debates about the psychological impact such games have upon people, and whether they factor in increasing crime rates, leading to the formation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (1994).

The evolution of video gaming could not be achieved with key technological advances. One example is the evolution of hardware itself, where better hardware could store more information, work faster and more efficiently, sell cheaply, and thus reach wider audiences. The popularity of video gaming can be partially due to the invention of the microchip, which led to evolution of the enormous, highly expensive Arcade machines, to home televisions, personal computers, and cell phones and iPods. Another example is Doom’s Mod-making, where normal users could design their own games. This has lead to a new field of profession, game design. With more creativity entering the market for gaming entertainment, the world is sure to see better games in the future! As the movie says, “This is only the beginning.” 1228400750 -- The Video Game Invasion documentary gave the viewers insight as to the history and evolution of video games and the video game industry. The first commercially sold video game was a simple version of table tennis, and was released for the Odysee console. Later, a man named Noland Bushnell would start his own game company called Atari, who also created a version of the game later known as Pong. However, Atari’s version included acceleration of the ball, sound, and score-keeping. The product became an immediate hit and was mass produced and sold. The game was immediately appealing because it was easy to play but difficult to master. Soon however, more new and original games began to appear. Midway’s Space Invaders had a High Score feature, making it more addictive to play. Along with 5-bit color, the game Defender by company Williams included a radar of the player’s environment. Finally, Namco’s Pac Man became the first game to feature a character as the star of a video game, which allowed for more marketing opportunities. The first game with a story emerged from Japanese card company Nintendo, who hired Shigeru Miyamoto to create for them a video game that could contend well in the American market. Thus, Donkey Kong was born: it centered on the story of a carpenter whose girlfriend was kidnapped by a gorilla, and his attempts to rescue her from its clutches. Soon the carpenter featured in his own title, and eventually evolved into the almost universally recognized red and blue plumber Mario. With the departure of Noland Bushnell came a new head of Atari, who was described as having little respect for game design. Because of this, Atari’s top programmers left and started Activision, still a prominent game company today. They were the first to manufacture their own parts, as opposed to having to order them from hardware suppliers. Without these innovative designers, Atari began to fail. In an attempt to save the company’s success, the rights to the movie E.T. were purchased for 25 million dollars and a game was ordered to be created in under 9 months, in time for the Christmas season. This proved to be a mistake, however: most games require at least twice that time to develop, and E.T. proved to be a complete disaster. Whatever cartridges managed to sell were promptly returned, and the excess mass of video games were buried in a landfill in New Mexico. Atari wasn’t the only one to go under though: other companies began to fail as well, which lead to a decline in the video game market. However, in 1985 Shigeru Miyamoto, now head of Nintendo, released the NES system which proved to be a salvation for the industry. The console rethought everything about the design of game systems, such as the controls and the graphics. Another contender was on the rise as well, in the form of the personal computer. Because of their increased capabilities, game designers could create more interesting games for the PC.The introduction of sound cards for the computer also introduced new aspects of video game design, such as the inclusion of voice-acting and sound tracks. Soon 3D graphic rendering was introduced alloiwng for realistic visuals. Eventually the game industry took advantage of the invention of the Internet, through both share-ware (distributing samples of the games to players online) and the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, which allow characters to interact with other real people in a world that changed even when they were not playing. With the development of video games came several social impacts. For one, some games, particularly the MMORPGs mentioned above, became very addictive for players. They would shirk their responsibilities and become anti-social with others as they grow more and more attached to the virtual world. Another social impact is that of violence. Many people believe that the inclusion of gory and violent elements in a video game - such as John Carmack's DOOM, can cause people to become increasingly aggressive, even spurring them into attacking others. The Columbine shootings, for example, where pinned on the influence of violent video games.

From a simple 3 dots on a TV screen, to adventuring online with friends in a fantasy world, video games have gone a long way to become the art form and entertainment they are today. However, that's not to say that they don't come with their fair share of issues and effects.

1228410521

The first game was created on a $12,000 dollar computer, space wars, in MIT. But the “average joe” would not pay that much just to play space wars. Atari began the arcade business. They got the general audience by sound. Their games had to be “easy to play, and difficult to master”. The video game wars begun between Atari and other arcade game designers ever since the emergence of “pong”. Colour was incorporated into the games, thus increasing satisfaction for the consumers. Soon technology allowed for arcade games to be miniaturized and made into table top games. Emergence of Tetris. A few years later the game boy was created, cartridge games. The development of the CD-ROM and firms used it to store their games and sell them. Myst begun a new age of games on the computer. FPS (first person shooters) Doom came out. This lead to multi-player death match. People soon begun to blame video games for making children who play it violent, which lead to a global rating system. Sony came up with the play station, it was against the dream cast but the dream cast lost to the Sony Play-Station since the PS could handle better games and had better graphics. From there Microsoft had to have a share of the market so they created the XBOX and with it Halo. Gamers shifted concentration from wanting “addictiveness” from games to having good graphics. 1228732230

The first game was Magnavox   Odyssey system, which had a game called Pong, which was nothing much other then two lines and a dot moving left to right. Many people started improving on this and soon it became one of the most played things today. A company called Atari was created, they used the game Pong and improved it make it more enjoyable, they added sound, speed and eventually high scores in the later version. Atari made way for many more companies, who eventually took over Atari title as the best games company. In the 70s when sound was added into games, the craze of games began and so did the piracy of games. Games in arcades had been pirated for some years but now it started to happen for home games. With people still going to arcades to play games then buying home games, game creators started to come up with games to challenge the arcades. Pacman was one the first games to cause people to addicted to playing it so they could get the high scores, kids would spend their allowance playing until they could get the high scores or until they had no more money. By 80’s games had moved from home to handheld and the amount of people playing games had increased. In the mid 80s computers had started come out and games started been put on them. During the mid 90s online gaming became the craze people were addicted to games like Doom which was one of the first games to have a first person shooter. Soon Sony came into the gaming industry with their console Playstation was a big hit and since then Mircosoft and Nintendo have joined in too. Gaming addiction has increased a lot during the course of its developed, due to games being easier to access and cheaper to get, almost anyone can buy games. 1228919970

Video games started off from people who came together with “ideas”, revolutionizing entertainment. The television was seen as a great device to bring entertainment. The first interactive video game with a game consol was the Odyssee which consisted of 3 dots. Atari was the game company to create Pong. The more that Pong became known in society the more that the people wanted the play the game. This gave Atari a better business because they needed to create more Pong units. Nintendo created an interactive game with the first “storyline” where a monkey captures a carpenter’s girlfriend and the carpenter is trying to get her back. We now call it Donkey Kong. In addition the carpenter was seen as the main character, and his role was bigger than what the Donkey Kong game gave him. And so, they created an individual game starring the carpenter now known as Mario. In 1979 featured the creation of text based games with images (Adventure games). This also starred the creation of spin-off games. When the CD was made developers began to use it as a storage device to store their games instead of using cartridges. This started the age of where games could be played on the computer. And where higher quality games could be played. This also developed onto multiplayer games. 1231162439

As technology becomes an ever more important factor to the people in the world today., the gaming industry has grown from a simple game such as //Pong// into games such as Halo. They have developed greatly over the past few decades and are improving all the time and at rapid rates. The games of today though, were just dreams back when games were first developed. One of the first companies to ever produce games was Atari, founded by Nolan Bushnell. Atari produced one of the first games ever, //Pong//. As demands for this increased he needed to produce games faster and thus randomly began to hire people off the streets, before later cutting down on them. Eventually he outlasted his “usefulness” to the company, and he split off on his own. Atari went on for awhile leading the gaming market as others popped up, many of which had people that split off from Atari to make their own companies, due to the new management. Eventually Atari attempted to release a couple of games which led to their downfall. During this period, Nintendo stepped in and started dominating the market. Led off with the game Donkey Kong, whose name originated from a translation of Stubborn Gorilla, Nintendo barged in and took over. Later on out came the plumber Mario, who became the basis and basically the “mascot” of Nintendo. As Nintendo began to dominate the market, out came Sega who also wanted to shine in the light. When Nintendo came out with their first system, the NES, it was welcomed in open arms by the public, and seeing its success, Sega came out with their own console. Sadly, it was not as good as the NES, but the tried. Later on when CD’s became the new thing, Sega sent out the Genesis. Slightly afraid, Nintendo teamed up with Sony for the Playstation, but then didn’t trust Sony and broke off afterwards. The Playstation literally destroyed the Genesis, and so they later attempted to come out with the Sega Dreamcast, but failed once again. After this Sega gave up and stuck to game development. Aside from the big companies, there were small groups of people who developed their own games for the PC, once floppydisks and later CD Roms, began to be used. The first few games were text-based and with pictures to develop the scenes. Eventually video games began to become closer and closer to what they are today.1231169452