Video Games: A History and Background

Video Games Icons are the ones that you know about no matter what; people that don't skateboard still know the name Tony Hawk. He is the world's biggest name when it comes to skateboarding. People who hate rock music still know Elvis Presley, and know that he is the king. Icons, that's what they all are. Masters of the field that they almost single handily invented.

Video games is a field that people know about, yet don't know about. If there was one name that people would know when it came to video games, it would be Mario.

The NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) was one of the first major consoles that really put video games in to pop culture. NES came out in 1988. There were many more that came before it. The first video game actually played was in 1961 over 45 years ago (A timeline of video games). The game was called Space War. It was just a little experiment but like so many other accidents this one was destined to become a way to escape life and have some fun. In later years, video games became a scapegoat for when things got bad.

In the year 1961it was a different time, gas was ten cents and a candy was a penny. It was then, in a local research lab, where people who became bored of watching the same ten channels, and wanted to do something different. So they did.

Space Wars was a simple yet entertaining game that consisted of low sound quality including beeps and bleeps. The look of the game was nothing more than a black background and a small dot as the player's ship. Small squares that were just simple lines were the opposing enemy that threatened to eliminate the player. The goal was to shoot the squares as they came closer to you.

As simple as the game sounds it was actually the basic structure of most video games of the early and late 70's. The 1980's showed a new design and system of play. New classics were starting to show a new way to play games. Games like: Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Pac-man, and others were showing that video games were not just a passing fad (A timeline of video games).

Now here we are in 2006 were the games not only have better sounds but the way of play has changed in many ways. When video games first hit, the only buttons you had was one big orange square, and a stiff joystick for movement (Those were the days). This controller was made for the Atari Entertainment System, one of the first in its industry. This one controller showed just how versatile a video game could be, sure it only had one button and the joy stick was stiff but it showed a lot of potential.

(picture 1, those were the days)

That was in the late 70's, and a lot has changed. Since then when thinking of a video game you might think about guns and blood and sexual themes. That is not how it always was. In the early days the thought was how we can make something that can be fun, now the appeal for video games is sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. (Like all pop culture)
When super Mario brothers came out it was a gem, one of the first games to use midi files for sound and it opened the doors for big time video game maker Nintendo. It did not use drugs, did not show nudity, and no vulgar language was used. Now a days the games you must play are the Grand Theft Auto series, where the basic game play is shooting up cops, robbing old ladies, and using drugs.

That is where the dark side of video gaming comes in to play, video games are fun but like anything to much of a good thing can be bad. One thing that is part of this dark side is addiction (Jenkins Henry, reality Bytes), playing games changes what is going on in the world, when addicted to playing video games you stop being who you are. You now can fly, you now can stop time. You stop being you. The feeling received in this is much of any thing else that feels good and if it make you happy, just do it.

Like any other addiction this one is also bad. When addicted to a video game it can alter the perception of the individuals views of life or how the world is. In video games you don't die, you may lose a life but you still come back. If things are getting too rough you can always just hit the reset button, and if you don't like someone then just shoot him, steal a car, rob a store, and blow up some cop cars. Sure it all sounds fun but in real life none of that can happen. (picture2, Steven Hogg)

Video games are not cheap that is one more way that addiction can hit hard. It can hit in the pockets. With games that can cost fifty dollars and consoles costing up to six hundred dollars, this can become an expensive habit.
The other dark side is where the person becomes so addicted that they do nothing but play games and I mean nothing. (Picture 3, mindel) This side is called the no social life side (Jenkins Henry reality Bytes). It happens to the best of us and it happens every day. If they are in the middle of a long level or so close to beat the game that they don't do anything but play the game. They lose there life to that game almost become dependant on the game.
It is not so easy to tell when one is addicted to a game, sure the eyes may become blood shot and the palm sweaty, and the fact that they have not eaten, slept, or took a shower (What's that smell) for a few days, weeks, or even months.

They grow to be so a lone that only the characters seem real and all else is nothing but a lie. Everyone knows one of these kids they are the ones who sit in a corner and do nothing during lunch but play pokemon or some other card game. This side is the lonely side and the younger the player begins the faster they may become a gamer.
The lonely side of gaming gave birth to one of the most talked about controversies that involves video games. Are video games the cause for school shootings? Why not video games are violent and video games involve guns, killing people. So why not, when video games were created, two things happened. One a great way to have some fun in spare time, and two a scapegoat was made as soon as things start going bad. Well what are we going to blame, how about video games.

The two Columbine shooters, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, played video games religiously (Sean Swint) Altering a game called doom so that the enemies in the game would not be monsters but humans, and to add to that the enemies did not have a weapon to defend them selves. But are these games actually part of the problem, or just an easy target?

Look at that last line. It said they made the game themselves. A company didn't made it to sell they didn't make that game, the kids did. Why was the game never found out, the mother never once said. "I sure wonder what that smell is, and I wonder what my son has been up to on that computer".

Now lets say that video games were not to blame, now what do we have. That is the real reason that is the only one that makes since to blame because of the violence. Wait what about T.V. that is chalk full of sex, drugs, and killing. What about music, what about books, why not just get rid of anything that has a violence in it at all. We could all sit in a room with.... I don't know a desk maybe, but I guess you could pick up the desk and throw it, and that desk could kill someone. How about a padded room, yea nothing bad can happen.

In 1994 the playstation came to America, also in 1994 the crime rate dropped. (CAUTION: Children at Play)
(Picture 4, no name, caution)

Then in 1999 another system came out the playstation 2 came out and still the crime rate fell. So if video games are the reason for all the crime what is going on? In 2000 a game called Grand Theft Auto 3 came out from day one it had controversies about it for its amount of killing, drug use, and sex. But still in the year 2000 after this game came out the crime rate dropped, and is still dropping.

Please understand that I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I don't think that there are any aliens at Area 51. I believe that men really landed on the moon, and I am 100% certain that Sasquatch shot JFK with the help of the Loch Ness monster. But what is this. The media just can't go around making this stuff up, right? (CAUTION: Children at Play) Watching anything on T.V. will show that video games, as fun as they are, lead to violent behavior. Yet this graph is from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics. This graph says that violence has dropped and showed one major game that is usually blamed for this violence, but showed after it was released that violence still is dropping.

Well if games a violent then that can only mean one thing, Gamers are just boys, which is another myth, but like most myths this one is wrong. Some of the most skilled gamers are girls, as hard as that is to believe, it is true.
The facts are that there are about 70% boys, so that means that 30% are girls. (Jenkins, reality bytes) In Idaho only three years ago the top Halo player was a girl. That is a hard game, let me tell you.

The fact that girls game so much should not be a surprise there are a lot of games aimed for just girls. Super Princess Peach, is one of the games of that sort. The game is a Mario game only this time Mario is the one who needs the help. The (picture 5, Jake) game uses a system of play on the Nintendo DS( dual screen) where you touch different moods; anger, sad, happy, and gloom, which all do something different if you hit anger her body becomes fire and to hit the sad icon then you start to cry. The game is cute and pink it was definitely made for girls.
This is not the only game out for girls, there are a lot more. One game you take care of dogs or cats. The industry has to understand that girls do play to, that is why games like this are made. These girly games are not the only games that girls will play. They too will play Grand Theft Auto and Gears of War. (A bloody and gruesome, game)
The Nintendo DS is the number one handheld game system in the world (Hilary, DS Trampling PSP in Japan). To make the appeal for everyone they came out with a new color for the handheld system, can you guess what color it was, yes that is right the color was PINK.

So the argument has been made games are not just for boys, they are not always the reason for shootings, addiction can come of it, and It can lead to a social life that falls apart. With that stated video games have been around for a long time, and it does not seem that it will be going away any time soon, also girls game to.

So what is left to talk about, EDUCATION. That is right games don't just pose as a way to waste time. They can also be used for a learning experience. Sure games like Blood Ryan (vampire game) don't teach much, but others do. A game for the Nintendo DS called Brain Age is a game where the player will perform task in math, reading, memory, and more to find out ones brain age. With the best brain age being twenty years old and the worst being eighty years old.

Sure the Playstation, Xbox, and Gamecube don't have a lot of educational software but, there are consoles that are meant just for learning and teaching. Video games that use popular kid's charters like Spiderman and others, in where it will put them in a game where they have to find out how much 2+2 is before they can get to the end of the level. So that means they are having fun and learning at the same time. Is that really such a bad thing?

Video game can be just like T.V. it can help or it can be bad. It all depends what you watch and how it is taken. So before some one says that video games are just a waste of time, hand them a controller and ask them to "Press Start".