VIDEO GAMESFrom Ping Pong to Angry Birds

BAFFLE BALLDavid Gottlieb – 1931

Invented the first mass-produced arcade game

Small wooden cabinet with one moving part – a plunger. Precursor to pin ball.

Followed by imitators

Followed by slot machines with cash payout

Civic IssuesDepression was in full swing

Community leaders were not in favor of money-eating slot machines – GAMBLING

NYC banned the games and Pinball was considered gambling.

Gottlieb again initiated “games of skill” as a way around the gambling issue.

Humpty DumptyIn 1947, Gottlieb introduced a six-flipper game that rewarded high-scorers with replays.

Bans were lifted – pinball returned to the arcades.

Set the

stage for video

games as we

know them.

Today’s Games50’s and 60’s – computers filled entire rooms and worked on teletype output or punch cards.

Most advanced were designed for military research as were most games.

Only three universities and a few dedicated research facilities had these advanced machines (MIT, U. of Utah and Stanford).

Today’s GamesNerds unite

Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) began writing programs for fun for a military computer.

Out of this came the first interactive game

Spacewar (1961) (first interactive game – Steve Russell)

Or was it Tennis for Two? (1958)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6mu5B-YZU8&feature=related

What are they and who plays

them? Video game players are predominantly male.

Video games are anything that takes places interactively on a screen

From Magnavox (1972) sold the Odyssey for $100. First in home game console. Soon after Atari’s console and the game Pong really set the home gaming industry on fire.

All the way to now – MMOs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games) Wolrld of Warcraft, Minecraft.

Pong

Now: App CultureCasual gaming is a HUGE industry.

Mobile phones are a leading contributor to this boom. Along with social networking games….

APPSOf the 82% of adults today who are cell-phone users, 43% have software applications or "apps" on their phones.

When taken as a portion of the entire U.S. adult population, that equates to 35% who have a cell phone with apps. This figure includes adult cell phone users who:

Have downloaded an app to their phone (29% of adult cell phone users).

Have purchased a phone with preloaded apps (38% of adult cell phone users).

• Pew Research Center

APPS

Jesse SchellTEDtalk – When games invade real life

http://www.ted.com/talks/jesse_schell_when_games_invade_real_life.html