Video games


Early 80's I spent my allowence on a
Radio Shack battery powered pong tv
game unit. Games included Hockey,
Soccer, Tennis and of coarse it had
a black and white screen. The graphics
controled up and down two or more
white lines as you and second player
try to deflect a square ball bouncing
back and forth trying to score points.
Video games were introduced as a
commercial entertainment medium in 1971,
becoming the basis for an important
entertainment industry in the late
1970s/early 1980s in the United States,
Japan, and Europe. After a disastrous
industry collapse in 1983 and a
subsequent rebirth two years later, the
video game industry has experienced
sustained growth for over two decades to
become a $10 billion industry, which
rivals the motion picture industry as
the most profitable entertainment
industry in the world. If the 1980s were
about the rise of the industry, the 1990s
were about its maturing into a mainstream
form of entertainment. The 1990s saw the
beginning of a larger consolidation of
publishers, higher budget games,
increased size of production teams and
collaborations with both the music and
motion picture industries. Video games
sure came a long way.