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Research Page - Final Project

Video games have evolved significantly since their inception in the late 1950s. What began as simple games like Tennis for Two played on computers grew to include home and handheld consoles. Early popular games included Pong in the 1970s and Donkey Kong in 1981. Modern games feature highly advanced graphics and save players' progress. They also tell interactive stories and build relationships, with four out of five US households now owning a device to play video games. The average gamer is 35 years old, and both males and females enjoy gaming across all ages.

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113 views4 pages

Research Page - Final Project

Video games have evolved significantly since their inception in the late 1950s. What began as simple games like Tennis for Two played on computers grew to include home and handheld consoles. Early popular games included Pong in the 1970s and Donkey Kong in 1981. Modern games feature highly advanced graphics and save players' progress. They also tell interactive stories and build relationships, with four out of five US households now owning a device to play video games. The average gamer is 35 years old, and both males and females enjoy gaming across all ages.

Uploaded by

api-297913667
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Video Game Research

What is a video game?


Most people only consider video games as the discs you put into your
gaming console such as your Wii, X-box, PlayStation, etc.
Video games are defined as a game played by electronically
manipulating images produced by a computer program on a television
screen or other display screen.
This includes computer games, iPhone games, console games,
handheld games (ex: Nintendo DS), arcade games, or any other type of
technological games you can think of.
Most popular type of video games are ones played on home consoles
History

It is not really known who came up with the first video game or what it
was, many different people have different opinions, but.
The first video game came out in October 1958, William Higinbotham
created what is thought to be the first video game ever created in
history (Tennis for Two)
Spacewar is invented in 1962 and is the first popular video game
widely available and influential (Computer game)
In the 1960s video games were still not very popular, but started to
grow and more video games were created
In 1972 the first ever home video game console was released, the
Magnavox Odyssey
During the 1970s many games such as Star Trek and Pong were
released, this is the time where video games really started to grow and
started to become popular
1981, Nintendos Donkey Kong was released and fans absolutely loved
it, it featured one of the biggest characters in history (Jumpman, later
named Mario)
In 1985, the Nintendo Entertainment System comes out
In 1988 John Madden Football is released, at the time the most
realistic video games (Was a best-seller)
Nintendo invents the Game Boy in 1989, not the first ever hand-held
gaming console, but the first very popular one
Through the 1990s first games were already huge, lots of creators got
into the business and invented many new, popular games (Solitaire
computer game, Sonic, Zelda, etc)

In 1995, Sony releases the Play Station and in 1996 the Nintendo 64 is
released (two very popular gaming consoles)
Gaming absolutely blows up in popularity in the 2000s with many new
consoles and video games invented. Online gaming starts to become
popular as well.
Microsoft enters the gaming world with the release of the X-box in 2001
Nintendo maintains its dominance in handheld gaming systems with
the release of the Nintendo DS, a two screen hand-held system that
a variety of different games could be played on
Two very advanced gaming consoles are released. The X-box 360 in
2005 and the Nintendo Wii in 2006 which both include sensors that
detect your movement
Rock band comes out in 2007
Computer gamers are advanced with the invention of Minecraft and
Farmville in 2009 and 2010
Smart phone games become popular, Angry Bird is a huge hit (2009)
The game Skylander allows you to place plastic figures onto a
platform that zaps the characters into the game (2011)
In 2013, the newest gaming consoles are released (X-box 1 and the
Play Station 4)
Evolution of Video Games
Obviously video games are a lot more advanced than what they were
back in the day, they have evolved so much over the past 50 years.
Just by looking at these 2 pictures you can see the difference (picture
on left: 1958, picture on right: 2016)

They look so much realer, feel so much realer, and have so many new
features compared to when video games were first invented.
Memory is also a huge component that separates todays video games
from the video games in the 1950s. The first ever video game

controller (PDP-1) could only hold 9 kilobytes, the Nintendo Wii


memory card hold 512 megabytes (57000 times more information)
First- generation video games wouldnt save your progress; you would
have to start back from the beginning every time you turned it off and
back on again. Now days all your video games save automatically.

Video Games linked to the Real World

Some people think video games are just pointless games that dont
have an effect on the real world, which is false
Video games obviously supply entertainment, but they also build
relationships, help with certain skills, and let you use your imagination
to determine the outcome of the situation! They are amazing!
One reason why video games are so much more popular today than
they were a long time ago is because they have meaning. There arent
just random things happening for no reason, they happen for a reason,
and they tell a story in a way (Super Mario Bros is trying to save the
princess from Bowser and all of his evil friends, Mario doesnt just run
around for no reason)
Video games are almost like movies because they tell a story, except
with video games you get to tell the story by the actions that you
choose to take.
There are also games that dont always tell a story (ex: Sporting
games) but they still relate to the real world.
Who Plays Video Games?
Video games are for everyone no matter your age, gender, size, etc.
155 million Americans play video games
Four out of five U.S. households own a device used to play video
games
42% of Americans play video games regularly (3 or more hours per
week)
The average gamer is 35 years old
56% of people who play video games are male, 44% are females
29% of the most frequent video game players currently pay to play
online
These stats show that video games are very popular and that video
games are for everyone

There are many different varieties of video games out there. Whether
youre into action, mystery, problem solving, etc. Im sure there is a
video game out there that will be right for you and you will enjoy!

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