© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 9 Video Games

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. A Short History of Computer and Video Games 1931: Baffle Ball, the first mass produced arcade game 1933: Contact, the first electric pinball game

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Today’s Games Emerge  1961: Spacewar, the first interactive computer game  1975: Atari marketed Home Pong through Sears  1977: Mattel Toys’ titles such as Missile Attack, Auto Race, and Football played on handheld calculator-sized LED and LCD screens A Short History of Computer and Video Games

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Pac-Man in 1980 and Donkey Kong in 1981 became instant classics and all-time best sellers 1987 release of NEC’s hybrid PC/Console in Japan Early 1990s saw advent of CD-ROM-based computer games Doom (1993) could be played over LANs and was the first first-person perspective shooting game A Short History of Computer and Video Games

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. A Short History of Computer and Video Games

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. A Short History of Computer and Video Games

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Games and Their Players 68% of American homes play video games Video game: when the action of the game takes place place interactively on-screen  An online text-based game such as a MUD, multi-user dimension, is a videogame, but the home version of Trivial Pursuit is not

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Games and Their Players

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Games and Their Players

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Scope and Nature of Video Game Industry The U.S. accounted for 45% of the $32 billion worldwide console, PC, and handheld game industry market (2008) Half of this total spent on software; which does not include online or mobile gaming revenues Concentration and globalization are the rule in gaming

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Trends and Convergence in the Video Game Industry Newer consoles:  play DVDs  burn music CDs  Internet access with music and video streaming Home computer users use MMORPGs such as Ultima Online, World of Warcraft, EverQuest and Second Life

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Games can be played:  on cable television  on dedicated console  on handheld gamer  online through an ISP Trends and Convergence in the Video Game Industry

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Games can be played:  on cable television  on dedicated console  on handheld gamer  online through an ISP  online from game developer’s Website  online through game console  online through PDA or cell phone  online through personal computer Trends and Convergence in the Video Game Industry

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The distinction between games and personal computers disappeared Hypercommercialism  The segmented demographics of video gamers have made videogames appealing vehicles for commercial and persuasive campaigns Trends and Convergence in the Video Game Industry

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Trends and Convergence in the Video Game Industry

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Advertisers attracted to online games Cross-promotion Advergames Advocacy games encourage users to interact with policies and other issues Trends and Convergence in the Video Game Industry

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 1994: Industry established Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) rating system  EC Early childhood (ages 3 and up)  E Everyone (ages 6 and up)  E10+ (ages 10 and up)  T Teen (ages 13 and up)  M Mature (ages 17 and up)  AO Adults only (ages 18 and up) Developing Media Literacy Skills