| Video games have become a billion dollar industry. | | | | play consisted of simple back-and-forth table tennis like |
| They represent both a pastime and a hobby for both | | | | movements. |
| adults and children. Retailers have exploited the | | | | Pac Man is probably the most widely known and |
| popularity of video games and now clubs, magazines, | | | | popular video game of all time. Japanese designed in |
| conventions and other social events are all offered | | | | 1980 in an attempt at a game that would interest girls. |
| with a video game theme. T-shirts, backpacks, | | | | Evidently they decided that eating was something girls |
| lunchboxes, and sweatshirts all come printed with | | | | enjoyed because they designed a character that |
| video game logos. These are mostly unnecessary, | | | | looked like a circle with a chomping, wedge-shaped |
| since video game players have uncanny, radar like | | | | mouth. Pac man was simply a hungry yellow creature |
| ability to find each other at parties and turn the | | | | who lived in a maze that it proceeded to eat its way |
| conversation into a discussion of video game | | | | through. However, foes 4 colorful globby ghosts lived in |
| techniques, graphics, and sound effects. | | | | this maze as well who existed solely to end Pac Mans |
| But it's good to know origins just as a film devotee | | | | career as an eating machine. |
| needs to understand what made Citizen Kane so | | | | Doom came along in 1994 and engaged the game |
| special, avid video game players may want to know | | | | player in an ultra-violent, blood-soaked battle against |
| what games were popular in the past. | | | | the forces of Hell. The game has a sort of amorphic |
| Many video game authorities (dont you wonder what | | | | quality since it did nothing to define or represent a hero. |
| theyre like?) cite Spaceman as being the first video | | | | The player takes the active role and he is thrown into |
| game. It appeared in 1964 and was developed by a | | | | the middle of the action, with a health indicator at the |
| lone student programmer. Spaceman was a | | | | screen bottom to indicate the games progression. |
| comparatively simple game that pitted two players | | | | Since then, many video games have been developed |
| against each other and armed them with a pair of | | | | to follow this course of blood spilling games with |
| classic sci-fi rocket ships complete with tiny missiles. | | | | increasing levels of violence. But in 2000, video games |
| The computer mouse controls were limited to thrust, | | | | turn a surprise u-turn when The Sims came out. Here |
| rotate right and rotate left. The game featured an | | | | the game consisted of a sort of Lego virtual reality |
| unpredictable hyperspace panic button for emergency | | | | where the player could build and furnish his or her |
| situations, but the use of this panic button could have all | | | | home. It appealed to the nesting instinct and players |
| sorts of effects, some desirable and some not. All | | | | created ongoing sagas that revolved around |
| action took place on a single screen that featured a | | | | decorating their virtual homes and raising children. The |
| sun that exerted a powerful gravitation pull on the | | | | Sims is a wish fulfillment vehicle where the player can |
| combatants. Most players steered clear of this but | | | | create an ideal life and forget his own. It is rumoured |
| some intrepid players were able to use the sun's | | | | that a second version of the game is planned wherein |
| attraction as an asset. | | | | the Sims and their neighborhood cope with falling real |
| Although it came along in 1972, most people believe | | | | estate values when the characters from Desperate |
| that Pong was the first video game developed. Pong' | | | | Housewives move in. |
| was composed of simple black-and-white visuals, and | | | | |