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The history of video games essay
The history of video games essay
Video games throughout history
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Video Games
BANG! You fire another round into the horde of zombies’ lurching toward you, and reach for another clip. Then you realize that you’re out of ammo, and there’s still loads of rotting corpses walking right at you. You take out your handy combat knife and prepare for a fight.
Of course, you’re not actually being attacked by zombies; you’re playing a video game. Video games are the world’s fastest growing industry, with a net worth of more than 30 billion dollars (“zdnet.com”). They are played by millions worldwide and have become a large part of contemporary society’s culture.
So, what’s the history behind the video gaming phenomenon? Video games were first presented as a patent in 1948, starting with the Cathode- Ray tube amusement device. This sparked interest among inventors of the time, even though it was not a very successful innovation (“History of Video Games”). Through the next few years, many creations came out, but none were ever really popular. In 1961, MIT students created Spacewar!. It is considered the first widely available and influential computer game. Then, in 1972, Atari was founded. They had their first widespread success with Pong the same year. This success snowballed into the arcade age, where many arcade games such as Pac-Man, Asteroids, and Space Invaders were seen in malls, movie theaters, and even grocery stores (“History of Video Games”). In 1980, Mattel created the Intellivision system. It was not very popular (Herz 16). Then, in 1982, the Colecovision debuted but still wasn’t very popular (Herz 18). Many more consoles were produced, but none were very well known, and most people preferred to just play the arcade games as opposed to buying a home console anyway. This persisted until the third generation of video game consoles. In 1985, Nintendo came out with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was bundled with Super Mario Bros and quickly became a huge success(Herz 20). During the 1980's, the video-game market became more and more popular, and the budget for the creation of video games increased as well, as more and more publishers and fans bought into the craze. Then in 1989, Sega came out with the Sega Genesis, and Nintendo responded with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Next came the Sega Saturn, and the Sony PlayStation in 1994 and 1995. Then came the Nintendo 64, in 1996 selling more than 1.
Torie Boschs “First eat all the lawyers” appeared in Slate october 2011. Her piece was to reach out to horror fans and to explain to them why zombies are a great monsters in current media. Zombie fanatics who read this short essay will love her vast knowledge of zombies while others who still do not understand why zombies are horribly terrifying can get behind her argument. Bosch explains that the current zombie craze has to do with our current society and how white-collar workers would be left defenceless in a world over run with a rampant horde of zombies. While blue-collar workers can flourish in this current state as they have more skills suited for survival. Boschs essay uses rhetorical devices such as ethos, foil and satire to make her
Choosing the right weapon can make a difference between a dead zombie or becoming one yourself. Always keep a weapon on you or around you at all times. Maybe even more than one. Some weapons include a gun, knife, bow and arrow, and any sharp object any item around you could mean life or death. Fighting a zombie is not only dangerous but it’s suicidal. If your weapons are out of reach you will have to fight them off. Use blankets and pillows to wrap your legs, torso, and arms so it is harder for the zombies to get
An examination of videogames in popular culture is a complicated one. There is a large debate as to what is the very first video game. The supposed earliest known video game was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann on a cathode ray tube in 1947. The game was a missile simulator similar to radar displays from World War II, and overlaid sheets of paper were used for targets since graphics were unknown at this time. On May 5, 1951, the NIMROD computer was presented in Britain. It used a panel of lights for its display and was used to play a game called “NIM”. Later, in 1952, Alexander S. Douglas made the first compu...
“Zombie killings are similar to reading and deleting 400 work e-mails on a Monday morning or filling out paperwork that only generates more paperwork, or following Twitter gossip out of obligation, or performing tedious tasks in which the only true risk is being consumed by avalanche” (41). These are all similar to zombie killings because zombies will never go away unless you turn to really harsh tactics like aiming for one’s brain with a shot gun and repeating this for every zombie you come in contact with. In order to clear those 400 emails after reading them you must repeat the steps for each and every one, which is time consuming and can be very frustrating. Completing paperwork is very tedious, and can sometimes become overwhelming you may begin to feel as if it will never end which is common well it can feel similar to that when it comes to zombie killings as well because there will be one zombie followed by another one and many more to come. “Battling zombies is like battling anything….. Or everything” (42). Never assume the war is over because it is not, there will be one or more zombies hiding out, the war is never over. “The zombies you kill today will merely be replaced by the zombies of tomorrow” (44). Zombies are a “live-stock” they are brain dead but they travel in packs and have no limit as to how far they will go. In the movie Dawn of the Dead the zombies actually
... middle of paper ... ... Works Cited Bateman, Daniel. A. “Dead Easy to Fight Zombies.” Townsville Bulletin 29 Mar. 2008: 441.
Zombies do not feel pain nor possess emotions. Their primal brains do not have the ability to reason and are therefore hostile. The only way to kill a zombie is to destroy the brai...
You don’t want to die alone now do you? Grab a partner or a friend as a meat shield so you can run away while they stand there getting slaughtered. Make sure you find some shelter and a nice secure door so they won’t be able to get in because zombies love breaking the doors down. If you’ve lost your mind because you’re not smart, you might hide in a house and be scared to death. Use your brain and go out there! Your brain might not be the most powerful tool for fighting, but you might’ve been dead before you could even fight with your brain. Fight ‘till every last zombie has died or until you died because your brain probably won’t help you at all with math equations, and writing essays because that’s not the point in the zombie
In contrast to the zombie of the past, these new ones are born of a different circumstance. It is not always clear just what caused the zombie infestation, often not even being told within the story. The fact that more than just one person is a zombie is a large change. In modern media it is often portrayed that the main characters are part of the surviving few who aren’t zombies. This craze started in Ramiro’s “Dawn of the Dead”, having a group of survivors fight to live through a zombie attack. Zombies changed from normal people being controlled by dark magic to undead creatures, shambling around, looking for human flesh to devour. The fear inspired by them was not that they were a dangerous enemy, but that they were an endless horde, an inevitable demise.
As soon as they almost get there, zombies start to catch up to both of them. At a moment Shane falls to the ground because of his leg. Otis picks him up and they start to walk. They unload their weapons on the horde of zombies. Shane lies to Otis when Otis asks, how many rounds he had left.
Video games started as arcade machines with simple graphics and even simpler stories, soon evolving into home gaming with The Magnavox Odyssey, the world’s first home-gaming console. It invaded living rooms in 1972, selling 300,000 units. Since then there has been many consoles and games released, some have been huge commercial successes which
Video games, specifically home consoles, came to the US on October 18th 1985. The NES. Most games around that time were all bright and cheerful looking games such as Mario, Kirby, Legend Of Zelda, and Pokemon a few years later on the Gameboy. But as other game developers appeared, new types of games were made. The shooter genre and fighting genre of games came mostly on the Xbox and PS systems with a couple exceptions being on a Nintendo console(Doom, Goldeneye, Smash bros). Now shooter games
Video games have come a long way. They have evolved from the simple game of Pong into a complex, multi-platform, multi-genre, multi-billion dollar industry.
Some may see a zombie and think instantly that they are fully prepared to fight them off, and others may be doomed
Many of the gang dismounted and fought on foot, brandishing everything from axes to crowbars. One guy had a Samurai sword and must have been a trained martial artist. He met his enemy like a tornado. His spinning kicks and flashing blade cut a path through the gathering undead. His dynamic moves proved useless in the end. The zombies just walked right into his vicious attacks and overwhelmed him.
The American homes every year increasingly besieged by menacing of zombies and killing of aliens. It is the fact that these characters in popular violent video games being exist just on screen. Maybe parents are worried about limiting their children’s exposure to violence. The October issue of the Harvard Mental Health Letter reports that worries about violence of video games, but also gives advice how parents save their children’s health.