Surfing Video Games

Surfing Video Games

A lookback at the video games industry and how far it has come

It's hard to imagine what people did with their hands and minds during the time prior to home computers, Nintendo game consoles and other forms of electronic entertainment. Human hands seem completely contoured to fit control pads and computer mice -- or could it be the other way around?

Both the PC and video game industries have dramatically modified home entertainment. Now, these two industries are quickly becoming the same thing.

Have you heard about the Magnavox Odyssey? Announced in 1972, it was actually the very first widely-released game console. However it was a few more years before a bouncing-ball game named Pong made the planet to fall madly in love with video gaming and launched Atari to the top of the home game marketplace.

In the late 70's, home PCs debuted, and soon, primitive PCs similar to the Commodore 64 and also the Tandy color PC started contesting with games consoles for the time and money of tech-savvy purchasers. While some houses had both a PC and a game console, that was rare. Money-conscious customers were forced to make a choice between the versatility of a home computer and the improved controllers and graphics of consoles.

Eventually, companies such as RCA, Intellivision as well as Nintendo went into the video gaming market whereas Apple, IBM and an array of clones went into desktop computing. Speed and graphics quality improved on Nintendo game systems and PCs over the years, and up-to-the-minute games would briefly put one system before another until one more new advance altered the industry all over again.

Home computers reached notoriety after windows 95, when the vast majority of homes posessed at least one PC, and they have shown no signs of decline. Games consoles have never reached this type of expansion, however they continue to gain in popularity despite temporary blips within the market.

Whilst games consoles were for many years conditional upon their control pads and computers contingent on mice or the occasional touch pads and trackballs, the twenty first century launch of the Nintendo Wii advanced gaming consoles in the direction of an eventual controller-less experience. Gaming console makers have also built in wireless internet connections and the ability to surf the internet to their consoles, eliminating the need for a personal computer in households where PCs are not needed for business uses.

As well as Nintendo games that detect movement and don't require controllers, the near future also holds further integration between TV, gaming, the web and home computers.

Soon, one inexpensive device wired into a high-tech, wall-mounted monitor will be offering users a total entertainment experience. In reality some TVs coming on the market in the next few years will offer almost every gaming alternative users can imagine -- and they are prepared for ones that don't even exist in the minds of their designers yet.

But don't worry. Retro will consistently be in, too. Pong is still available for most gaming formats -- and still selling like it's 1975.

Please go to xbox 360 console for more information.

About the Author

Hunter has a keen interest in technology and the games industry.

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