Videogames

## Definition

Video games are electronic, interactive games known for their vibrant colors, sound effects, and complex graphics.

## History

The **history of video games** goes as far back as the early 1950s, when academic computer scientists began designing simple games and simulations as part of their research. Video gaming did not reach mainstream popularity until the 1970s and 1980s, when video arcade games and gaming consoles using joysticks, buttons, and other controllers, along with graphics on computer screens and home computer games were introduced to the general public. Since the 1980s, video gaming has become a popular form of entertainment and a part of modern popular culture in most parts of the world.

## Description

First mass-marketed in the 1970s, video games are played by installing cartridges into a game box connected by wire to a television set. The child then manipulates a joystick or controller to control the actions of a character or series of characters as the characters face obstacles displayed on the screen. Video games, designed chiefly to appeal to children and adolescents, can also be played in arcades, on computers, and on small, hand-held screens.

## 15 Facts About Videogames

**1.** Mario was actually named after the landlord of Nintendo’s first warehouse Mr. Mario Segale. The original name of Mario was actually Mr. Video Game which ended up becoming Mr. Segale’s nickname speaking of Mario he is actually appearing in over a hundred and twenty video games.

**2.** Pac-Man was invented by the designer Toru Iwatani while he was eating pizza.

**3.** The PlayStation was originally designed as a Nintendo Console with Sony to make the inside components when Nintendo console changed their minds about making the console Sony decided to go ahead make the PlayStation.

**4.** The video game industry is valued at 70 Billion Dollars worldwide.

**5.** Two-thirds of American households play games 60% are male, 40% are female.

**6.** In 1990 game, Golden Axe from SEGA was voiced entirely by prisoners on death row.

**7.** Due to the popularity of the Nintendo game Mario Brothers in 1983, there was an explosion of name Mario given to children around that time.

**8.** In the original Legend of Zelda game, why you could only hold 255 Rupees (gold coins)? Because the maximum value of an unsigned 8bit integer and to hold more would have required more memory which wasn’t just doable for the technology at that time.

**9.** The most famous G code for video games of all time **up up down down left right left right B A** this was made popular by the game Contra which gives the player a full set of power-ups and it’s called Konami code or Gamers code.

**10.** The first gaming console to ever ship with an internal memory was the SEGA Saturn and it shipped with about one megabyte of memory.

**11.** In the original arcade version of Donkey Kong, Mario was called jump man and he was a carpenter, not a plumber.

**12.** MegaMan is known as RockMan in Japan the name was changed from RockMan to MegaMan when he came to America.

**13.** The best-selling consoles of all time are the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS both tied with an about 155 million units sold.

**14.** The highest grossing game of all time is actually World of WarCraft bringing in whopping ten billion dollars over its lifetime.

**15.** Atari is a Japanese word that actually means success.

### References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video\_game

http://www.pamf.org/parenting-teens/general/media-web/videogames.html

http://infinigeek.com/50-epic-video-game-history-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-from-did-you-know-gaming/