Videogames

When videogames started, there was a large hype about it. It is obvious that such a technological breakthrough would start such an interesting revolution and bring us to the almost too real graphics of today.

A bit of history to enlighten your mind…

If we ever thought back to the game that started it all off, we probably wouldn’t know. Why bother thinking about the old when we could think of the new?
Well, that’s where we’ve lost it. PONG was a major hit back in 1972. All it required was for the player to press the up or down button and all you had to do was to hit a ball across the screen from one stick to another. It was so simple yet so addictive, but it is now called so old (although others could argue that it could be labelled as a classic). PONG started the ongoing era of videogames like Bruce Lee started the era of kung fu movies. It was pure genius.

Other than PONG, Pac-man made its arrival from Namco in 1979. Again, it was a simple concept for a game, but it definitely brought us entertainment. If you think back to those two games, you’ll realise how far and different we have come to getting to the fanciness of today. In the end, it doesn’t matter how games today are full of life-like graphics, the old shall still be cool!

Enough about the old, what’s up with the latest games?

Censored…

It has come to everyone’s attention that other than using a game controller, we can actually be in the games ourselves. Gaming developers have come up with the idea of being able to interact in games such as boxing. We are able to put on boxing gloves with censors and play a boxing game with them. Censors are a handy tool to read our reaction and compute it into the game.

With a game called EyeToy it is possible to see yourself in the game with a camera equipped with a censor, it is even possible to use it as a webcam. The whole idea of using a camera isn’t that original as it has been used in other games, but it certainly did not have the capacity to entertain as the PS2 EyeToy does.

Even so, with great power comes great… faults. Some cameras with censors are affected by light, if there is too much light, it is finicky and a drag. If there is not enough light, expect it not to work so great.

Another thing that has been talked about over and over is the influence of a game. Some violent games, apparently, influence kids to copy and act inappropriately. Grand Theft Auto is one game that has caused havoc amongst parents. Parents worry that the antics within GTA are extremely offensive and wrong for their children. The makers of GTA warn the parents that it has a clear ‘17’ and over label and their child should not have been playing the game. Obviously that has not stopped half the people, boys especially, from playing GTA or playing any other games that has a much higher age label than allowed. Parents also worry about the amount of time children spend on games. They think it is ruling their lives, which has a possibility to be true, but at least it keeps them quiet.

All in all, games are good, bad and every other word you can think of. The variety of games is immense, but they will definitely continue to grow.

By Sarah Delgado