World Wide Web of Games

Whatever happened to a good old fashioned game of stick ball or kick the can? These days the local neighborhood playgrounds are not as populated as they were a few generations ago. Most kids (of all ages) can usually be found playing video games on gaming consoles or PC’s (personal computers). With the help of the internet, there is no longer a need to congregate at a friend’s house to play a couple rounds of video games. Instead, friends meet up online at their favorite server and get their game on.

Before the invention of home television electronic game (“electronic game”, 2009) consoles in the early 1970’s, the only kinds of games people were playing were coin-operated pinball and arcade machines at the local convenience stores, theaters and burger joints. Ever since even the earliest home games, such as Pong; people have been totally captivated with video games. The Magnavox Odyssey was the first home video game console being introduced to the public in 1972. The Odyssey featured a game of Ping Pong (“Pong” 2009), otherwise known as table-tennis, in which two people could play against each other on their home television. A small American company called Atari Inc. produced a very similar arcade version called Pong. Magnavox sued Atari in 1974 for stealing the concept for Pong. Although, in 1977 Magnavox had von the lawsuit against Atari; Atari Inc. had licensed the patent from Magnavox for $700,000. In the early 1980’s, the home video game market exploded. The Atari had staked its claim in 1977 with the Atari 2600 Video Computer System (VCS) which carried Pong and a few other titles. Nintendo came onto the scene with its Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) (also called just a Nintendo) and enthralled children, juveniles and adults across the globe with its best selling, side-scrolling plat-former Super Mario Brothers. Dozens of other companies popped up producing their version of the almighty Nintendo. Through the years, the only true competitor to the Nintendo system was the glorious Playstation manufactured by the Sony Corporation under Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). The Playstation was the first console to offer networking capabilities available on the Playstation 2 (PS2) console in the 1990’s.

Since the introduction of the Internet to the public in the 1990’s video games have evolved in many ways. Not only can you play games on home game systems such as the Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2 or the PS3, as well as Microsoft Corporations Xbox and Xbox 360, but home PC’s and laptops have many great offerings to tantalize even the most hardcore gamers (also known as core gamers). Whether playing pool against a few friends on a simple game engine running in a web-browser or gunning down the blue team playing Team Fortress 2 on a complex game engine such as the Valve Corporation’s Source Engine (“Valve Source”, 2009); the internet is an integral part of a gamers’ life today. Even one of the most played games in the world such as World of Warcraft, also known as WoW, uses the internet as to bring players of all shapes and sizes together in one battleground. Most games you buy for the PC and consoles only have to be paid for once, there are some that charge a monthly access fee(usually around $15.00 a month), World of Warcraft and City of Heroes (CoH)and Eve Online to name a few. Microsoft Corporation has even picked up on the Pay-Per Month idea with their up and coming Xbox 360 and the Xbox Live (“Xbox Live”, 2009) network which costs around $5.00 a month. Nintendo and Playstation jumped in on the bandwagon as well with very similar console based networks.

The future of gaming is an ever expanding universe and that universe is expanding exponentially. As today’s lightning fast PC’s technology is near doubling every 6 months and the features offered by today’s hottest selling home game console’s gets better and better with each new release. Thirty years ago, we only dreamed of playing a video game in a virtual environment let alone the ability to view a virtual world in a full stereoscopic 3-D viewing experience. Nvidia, a major graphics cards and chipset manufacturer, embodied this very idea in their new technology known as Nvidia GeForce Vision (“Vision”, 2009). To most core gamers, the ability to see in 3-D while in-game would be a great advantage as well as even further immerse you (the player) into the game. The gaming market in the computer industry is what drives the further development of newer and better technologies. Competition between companies such as AMD’s ATi, Intel and Nvidia helps curb the prices as well; allowing the price of performance PC’s down, thus forth sponging capital from the console market.

Since the internet was introduced, it was many different things, from a shopping mall, to a meeting place as well as a mailbox. Thanks to innovation, creativity and the desire to play video games with other players not in your home, the internet is also referred to as a playground. A place to meet your friends online at your favorite game servers IP address and play a couple rounds of some fast paced first-person shooter types such as Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead or Battlefield 2142. Other popular games such as World of Warcraft and City of Heroes have worlds very similar to our own within the game; they allow you to design your own characters whether it is male female, a hero or villain. Many days of game play go into leveling and building your character, aka toon, up to its full potential. Then there are the serious RPG (role playing game) gamers that spend hours online with friends just planning their next online in-game escapade including details you would find at some confidential top secret meeting at the Pentagon.