Computer Games

Video game

Video games are electronic games played on a video screen
(normally a television, or a built-in screen when played on a handheld machine).

There are many types, or genres, of these games: role-playing games; shooters, first-person shooters, side-scrollers, and platformers
are just a few.

Video games usually come on CDs or DVDs now, but many games used to come on cartridges. Some games can also be downloaded from the internet. The device used to play a video game is called a console. There have been many types of consoles used to play video games. Some of the first were the Atari 2600 and Nintendo Entertainment System in the 1980s. Newer video game consoles are the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. The best selling video game console of all time is the PlayStation 2, made by Sony.

People can also use computers to play games, which are sometimes called computer games or PC games. The older consoles do not have new games developed for them often, although console games are emulated (changed so they can be played on a computer) frequently. This means that computers can play many old console games along with games made just for computers. Older games are often more popular emulated than when they were on sale.

People can play portable video games anywhere. One of the most popular portable video game consoles is the Nintendo Game Boy. Today, there are the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable. People can even watch movies on the PlayStation Portable.

There have been some arguments over the violence and sex in video games, and some video games have been banned
(not allowed to be sold) in certain countries.

The use of video games to compete is called electronic sports.

Current generation consoles

Microsoft's Xbox 360 came out in late 2005. It is the new version of the Xbox. It offers a better online experience and graphics than its predecessor, as well as wireless controllers. Like the original, it also allows people to put music from an MP3 player or other sources onto the system. Being the first next generation console to hit the markets, it has had a big advantage over its competitors.

Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3), which came out in November of 2006,(It was released in March 2007 in Europe) is the newest of the PlayStation game consoles. It also has better graphics and online gameplay. Like the PSP, the PS3 can play movies, music, and browse the internet.

Nintendo's new console, the Wii, was also released in November 2006. The Wii does not have high-definition graphics, but instead has a unique controller. Its controller is shaped like a television remote which makes it much different from a normal game controller. It features a motion sensor built into the remote that allows the player to control things in the game by moving the controller. An example would be swinging the remote like a tennis racket when playing a tennis game.

History of video games

The first video game ever is often said to be a computer game called Spacewar!. In fact, some ideas of video games can be found before.

In the 50s, when the first computers began to be made, three people had some ideas to create the basis of actual video games.

In 1951, Ralph Baer, an American engineer of Loral Electronics, tried to create "the best television", proposing to add a gaming module, but his employer didn't like his idea. Even if his idea was never realised, he is the first man to have thought of the idea of video games.

Later, in 1952, A.S Douglas, of the Cambridge University in the UK, made a video game on a computer in order to illustrate one of his speeches. The game, called OXO, was a tic-tac-toe game and one of the players was the computer.

In 1953, Willy Higinbotham made a game called Tennis For Two to entertain the visitors of the National Laboratory of Brookhaven.