From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A video game is a game played using an electronic
device with a visual display.
Overview
Often "video game" is taken in a narrow sense to mean those games played on
consoles for television
and similar handhelds. The term
"video game" is often not considered to include computer games and
coin-operated arcade games, not only
because the games in these three categories are historically different, but also
because the activity of playing these three types of games is different. See history of the
video game for more information. The terms electronic game and
interactive entertainment both include video games, computer games, and
coin-operated arcade games.
Nowadays there is a thin line between computer games and video games in terms
of genre. Arcade games are still based upon gameplay that can be quickly learned
and most involve progression through levels.
Many games intended for computers are now just as prevalent on consoles, both of
which have many of the same selections of titles. This is due to the fact that
video game consoles have drastically increased in computing power and
capabilities over the last few years to the point that they can handle games
that were formerly only playable with computers. With the release of Microsoft's Xbox console, which was
based on PC architecture, and which was developed with online gameplay in mind,
most major computer game releases began coming out on consoles. The
Entertainment Software Association reported that console games outsold computer
games in the US by about 380% in 2003.
Video games are made by developers, who can
be individuals, but are almost always a team consisting of designers, graphic designers and
other artists, programmers, sound
designers, musicians, and other
technicians. Most video game console development teams number anywhere from 20
to 50 people, with some teams exceeding 100. The average team size as well as
the average development time of a game have grown along with the size of the
industry and the technology involved in creating games. This has led to regular
occurrences of missed deadlines and unfinished products, such as Duke Nukem
Forever. See video game
industry practices for more information.
From time to time the term interactive is used to
describe a video game. This term is often used by people in the movie and
television industries who are not comfortable with the idea that they are
involved in making video games, due to the video game industry's persistent
stereotype of making products targeted solely towards children. A line heard from an
executive in such an industry might sound something like, "We're a movie
production company, and now we're getting into interactive."
Video game market
Video games are very popular today, and the market has grown almost
continuously since the end of the video game crash of
1983. The market research company
NPD estimated that video game hardware, software, and accessories sold about
US$10.3 billion in 2002. This was a 10% increase over the 2001 figure.
The video game market changes over the years as new video game consoles
are introduced. This has happened in cycles of about 5 years or so, in which
multiple manufacturers release their consoles usually within about a year of
each other. Then, the console producers and the video game
publishers enjoy several years of game sales until the technology and the
market is ready for a new generation of consoles.
New console launch... the next-generation's conception
Years 1 and 2 of the console lifespan
Console producing companies such as Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony are usually
prepared to build the next generation (aka next-gen) of its product (see below)
at the time its current one is released. Companies wait for a variety of
reasons. First and foremost is quality assurance. The technology that each
company aims to use is normally cutting-edge and highly untested, therefore the
first 2-3 years are consumed by engineering the design and working out bugs in
the hardware.
The new console's prime... the next-generation approaches readiness
Years 3 and 4 of the console lifespan
After the hardware is ready to be used, companies send out development kits
to software producers, so that the console has a strong "launch line-up" (or the
set of games that launch simultaneously with the system). Those producers who
are not obligated, or aiming to release games at launch still need these
"dev-kits" so that they can become acquainted with the new hardware and release
games as quickly as possible thereafter. The video game market is driven by
quality as well as quantity so the faster a company gets games out the better.
The companies have now perfected their design and begun work on getting games on
the shelves at launch, why wait for another year or or two for launch? These
final months leading up to the release of a new system are quite frenzied, all
the companies are trying to build up as much media hype and exposure as
possible, the hardware side releasing small details in small quantities to the
world about their console, the software companies working furiously to beat the
launch deadline.
The new console becomes the old console... next generation launches
Year 5 and the beginning of a new cycle
This extra year also gives the old hardware time to get its last few
blockbusters out and get as much profit as possible before it is slowly taken
out of the mainstream. After the launch of the new console the market hits a
boom, consoles are released at or near Christmas time as a rule of thumb, The
last two generations of consoles enjoyed sell-outs at every store (the good kind
of sell-out) and encountered major shipping problems, for the first month of
console sale most, if not all, sales are done in preorder and mail-order
fashion, attempting to buy a major new console off the shelf will almost never
happen in that time period.
A common misconception people have about old hardware is that it just dies at
the end of its life cycle. In 1994, in the 16-bit era to those of you gamers out
there, this was more or less true, when new hardware came out production of the
console and games for it ceased. However, today systems continue to be produced
and continue to get new games for years after the beginning of a new cycle. For
example, the top-selling system of the 1995-2000 cycle of systems, the
PlayStation One, continued production (and even got a face-lift) after the
release of its console brother, the PlayStation 2. (Its production was called to
a halt in 2004, to take effect in 2005, after selling over 100 million units
worldwide.) Sony has announced that it will also continue the production of the
PlayStation 2 far into the next-generation's cycle as well, this is largely due
to the inclusion of "backward-compatibility," a large consumer draw that means a
consumer can play games not only for the new system that he just bought but
games made for that system's predecessor as well. This quality was exclusive to
the mobile (read:Game Boy) systems until Sony adapted it to the PlayStation 2,
and is key to selling old hardware in the new market. The current major consoles
are:
Top video games
The ten best selling console video games, according to NPD, ranked by total
US units (April 2004)
were:
- Fight
Night 2004, Electronic Arts, PS2
- NBA
Ballers, Midway, PS2
- Fight
Night 2004, Electronic Arts, Xbox
- MVP
Baseball 2004, Electronic Arts, PS2
- Pokémon
Colosseum, Nintendo, GameCube
- Resident
Evil:Outbreak, Capcom, PS2
- Tom
Clancy's Splinter Cell:Pandora Tomorrow, Ubisoft, Xbox
- NBA
Ballers, Midway, Xbox
- Halo, Microsoft/Bungie, Xbox
- Hitman:
Contracts, Eidos Interactive,
PS2
The ten best selling console video games, according to NPD, ranked by total
US units (annual 2003) were:
- Madden NFL 2004,
Electronic Arts, PS2
- Pokémon Ruby,
Nintendo of America, Game Boy Advance
- Pokémon
Sapphire, Nintendo of America, Game Boy Advance
- Need for
Speed:Underground, Electronic Arts, PS2
- The
Legend of Zelda:The Wind Waker, Nintendo of America, GameCube
- Grand Theft
Auto:Vice City, Rockstar Games, PS2
- Mario Kart:Double
Dash, Nintendo of America, GameCube
- Tony Hawk's
Underground, Activision, PS2
- Enter the
Matrix, Atari, PS2
- Medal of Honor:
Rising Sun, Electronic Arts, PS2
See also: 2003 in video
gaming, 2004 in video
gaming
Critics of video games
From time to time, video games have been criticized by parents' groups,
psychologists, politicians, and some religious organizations for allegedly
glorifying violence, cruelty, and crime and exposing children to
this violence. It is particularly disturbing to some adults that some video
games allow children to act out crimes (for example, the Grand Theft
Auto series), and reward them for doing so. Some studies have shown
that children who watch violent television shows and play violent video games
have a tendency to act more aggressively on the playground, and some people are
concerned that this aggression may presage violent behavior when children grow
to adulthood. These concerns have led to voluntary rating systems adopted by the
industry, such as the ESRB rating system in the United
States and the ELSPA rating system in Europe,
that are aimed at educating parents about the types of games their children are
playing (or are begging to play).
Critics of movies, television, and books as a group look down on video games
as an inferior form of entertainment. This is probably because of the
observation that most video games have very little plot and even less character
development, which may or may not be true. A frequent counterargument is that
this is like complaining that a game of football does not contain much plot or
character development, and that although video games include a narrative,
they are really about acting in and against a virtual world, which is
not primarily based upon passively seeing and hearing. Another point of view
compares video games to the movies, which during the silent era were also
considered mere entertainment.
See also: video game
controversy
Genres
Nearly all video games fall into one or more genres. A
genre is a category
that classifies what kind of content and game play a game is likely to contain.
For example, a first-person
shooter is likely to contain a great deal of action, will require quick
reflexes, and may contain graphic violence, while an adventure game will
require a great deal of problem-solving and exploration.
See Computer and
video game genres for more information.
