Computer and Video Games: Computer games are not something new. In fact, they are as old as computers themselves. In the beginning, computer games were created as academic exercises in the study of computation. However, computer games have now come out of the University and Research laboratories to our homes. They have revolutionized the way we use computers. In fact, computer games may have been one of the reasons why computers have been so popular in our households.

The concept of computer games owes its origin to Claude Shannon. Shannon, in 1950, proposed that computers can be programmed to play chess. This influenced computer scientists for decades to come and was responsible for many developments in the field of computer games. Video games started to gain popularity with public demonstrations at University laboratories. For example “Tennis” was developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and “Spacewar!” was developed at MIT in 1962 to demonstrate the PDP-1 minicomputer.

The 1970s saw the introduction of coin-operated games. In 1972, Atari was founded with introduction of games like Pong and Pac Man it became the leader in arcade games. Video game consoles started selling like hotcakes. However, it was the platform game Mario that led to the popularity of arcade games. Mario was so popular that it became synonymous with arcade games. Even now, Mario is as popular as it was then. The later part of the 70s saw personal computers gaining popularity. Games for personal computers started appearing and this meant decreased sales for video game console manufacturers. However, by the end of the 80s console games again started to see popularity. This increase in popularity was due to developments in consoles that provided graphics capabilities that compared with computers.

The ultimate revolution to the game industry came with first person shooters like Id software’s Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. Sports games, like Electronic Art’s Madden Football that was based on motion capture techniques and massively multiplayer games, like Ultima Online and Everquest tooks computer gaming to new heights. These games became reality because of the advances in microprocessor technology, graphics capabilities and networking.

Games have always been fascinating our minds. There are video games that take us to the distant future, to far off galaxies to fight with aliens. There are computer games like Age of Empires that take us to the past. As long as human creativity exists, games will come and inevitably go. Though games are still a programming challenge, their social impact can never be underestimated. Excessive violence associated with games is showing its effects on young people. And it is the responsibility of both developers and players to make use of these in an ethical manner.