final+research+paper

Ricardo Dabney 11-12-09 Senior Seminar A block Kevin Martin


 * The Evolution of Games and Technology**

Popularly known as the fastest evolving technology on the face of the earth. With its ability to be sold at a store, downloaded to your household computer, or even made at home, video games have proven to not only be cutting-edge technology but extremely versatile in the many ways that they can be used. Video games have grown rapidly. In a matter of years, games jumped from 2D sprites, to 3D models, and now even real time models that move along with the player’s body. Video games have grown so much that they are even being used in the medical field fighting Alzheimer's disease **(**PS3 FAQ). Video games have evolved a lot from their flying dots on the screen to their portability and now even to their medical uses.

When games first appeared they were little more then blocks, dots, and lines on the arcade machines. Today video games have evolved so much that they can sometimes be confused with movies, or even real life at first glance. A huge step in the video game industry is the inclusion of home consoles. Before home consoles the only way you could really play a game was in an arcade which meant that you needed to ride to an arcade, give up a wallet full of hard earned money to a machine that will turn it into quarters, and spend the rest of the day trying to break what seems to be an impossible to reach record. Many company's such as Nintendo and Atari, thought that people would enjoy playing games in the comfort of their own home rather then going out all the time to play which led to the invention of home consoles. About a decade later the home consoles didn't work side by side with the arcade as planned but took over gaming almost completely leaving arcades nearly extinct (Michael). As the home consoles became more and more popular more companies started appearing and designing games which increased competition. Even today competition can be felt in the video game industry as each new home console seems to carry a unique function such as the Nintendo Wii’s motion controls and the Sony PlayStations blue-ray player. Because the video games industry has become so competitive over the years

Because Video games are currently considered to be the most competitive software industry by many (Crawford), video game programmers and company’s are forced to constantly come up with not only new and improved software, but hardware that can push the software to new limits. A good example of a push in technology that video games have created is user interaction. In most devices user interaction usually means touching the screen with your finger or pressing a button on a controller until a message pops up on the screen and asks you what you want to do next. Video games, however, have taken user interaction a step further by not only getting the fingers involved but your voice, arms, and the rest of your body as well. A work in progress titled “Project Natal” is a prime example of video games advancing current technology. Natal has complete user interaction by allowing the user to go through the menu with a wave of their hands, scanning real life objects such as skateboards that will appear inside a game, and even trample through a city as a giant dinosaur by just walking in your living room (// Project Natal )//. Although project Natal is a work in progress and probably won’t be available for a few years it is digital proof that video game industries have many ideas on how to improve user interaction. One of the more recent advances in video game technology is online play, which lets players play cooperatively with other players from around the world. When online play first arrived in video games it was something that people didn’t expect and weren’t used to as many were only used to playing games with another person in the same room. Today online play has evolved so much that people alsmot expect it to be in every game that gets released. Video games have also slightly evolved portable media with systems such as the PlayStation Portable (PSP) which can play fully three dimensional games, web surf, and play and store music and movies.

Even though many people think that video games Hinder people more then they help, because of current technology video games have helped in the battle against disease and other body problems. One of the most current ways that video games have helped people is with the software program called “Folding@home”. Folding@home is a program only available on the Sony PS3 and is currently the most powerful and precise protein folder currently known to man (a title previously owned by super computers). While protein folding isn’t fully understood, the PS3’s Folding@home is putting such an impact on our current knowledge of protein folding that it’s helping doctors fight the age old disease, Alzheimer’s. While the PS3 is busy helping the mind, Nintendo is currently hard at work on helping the body with one of their latest systems the Wii. The Nintendo Wii is a system that is specifically designed to help the body get fit and has many games that help you do just that. One of the more popular and recent games on the Wii that is aimed at helping people get fit is appropriately titled “Wii Fit” which has a built-in digital yoga instructor who will help you exercise daily on a balance board that comes with the game. Despite the concept, Wii Fit has become extremely popular, so popular in fact that it is currently the third best selling game in video game history selling over 21.82 billion copies in a little over a year. Another example of the Wii’s attempt at making people healthier is “Wii Spots” which is a combination of five games including boxing, golf, tennis, bowling, and baseball all of which are designed to give the players arms a work out. Wii’s Sports has recently become the number one best selling game in history and with a combination of Wii Fit’s rank, and Wii sports rank, Nintendo has proven that working out and getting healthy can be fun, and convenient for the entire family.

With the ability to not only entertain but help the lives of many, video games have proven to be one of the most diverse forms of technology to date. Videogames have came from being nearly extinct, to becoming one of the worlds most popular forms of entertainment (Bangeman). and with technology constantly changing, and the expectations of games constantly growing, there seems to be no end to the evolution of video games.


 * Works Cited: **

Bangeman, Eric. "Growth of gaming in 2007 far outpaces movies, music." //Ars// //Technica//. N.p., Fall 2009. Web. 8 Oct. 2009. <[] gaming/news/2008/01/growth-of-gaming-in-2007-far-outpaces-movies-music.ars>.

Bellis, Mary. "Computer and Video Game History." //About//. N.p., Fall 2009. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. <[] blcomputer_videogames.htm>.

Crawford, Chris. "The Art of Computer Game Design." //Stanford//. N.p., 21 Sept. 2009. Web. 21 Sept. 2009. <[] Crawford%20on%20Game%20Design.pdf>.

"Folding@home PS3 FAQ." //Folding@home//. N.p., 1 Feb. 2008. Web. 16 Oct. 2009. <[]>.

//Project Natal: A New Revolution of Gaming//. N.p., 6 June 2009. Web. 16 Oct. 2009. <[]>.

Weesner, Jason. "On Game Design: A History of Video Games." //Game Career Guide//. N.p., Fall 2009. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. <[] features/327/on_game_design_a_history_of_video_.php>.

Thomson, Michael. "What we all knew: classic arcades are dying." //Ars Technica//. N.p., 6 June 2008. Web. 10 Nov. 2009. .

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