The Day Video Games Almost Died

It’s time to get Halloweeny and tell you about a really scary time…

So, a long, long time ago (in a galaxy far away), back in the year 1983, there was a time when the video game industry almost went away. Back then, there were few game systems and too many games. Many blame the infamous E.T. game for the Atari home console (this is why people say it was buried in the desert, but that wasn’t why). It was mainly because of people’s expectations for the next big console and then no sales to back up the cost of creation. (If you guys want to know more about this, there’s a great documentary on Netflix called Atari: Game Over.)

But, what if I told you there have been other crashes in the video game market? Well, it’s true. In 2013, there were whispers of a video game crash about to happen, and no one is exactly sure if it’s happened yet. But, one we do know happened, the one that happened before the infamous Crash of ’83, was the often ignored Crash of ’77.

1977 was an even simpler time than 1988; with even less consoles and surprisingly even more expectations than in ’83. After the introduction of the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972, people knew that this new-fangled technology was getting better and better, and the games people wanted were expected to be just as advanced. But, the newer systems weren’t selling as expected. Only the biggest companies, like Magnavox and Atari, managed to stay in the market because of the popularity of their systems. But these systems were quickly becoming outdated and so the games were expected to 

be better, but the systems couldn’t keep up, and the market spiraled.     

Long story short, don’t expect too much too fast, or it’s all getting messed up. 


Be sure to leave comments down below!

Trick or Treat?!

It’s that time of year again! ‘Tis the season for scary stories, spooky movies, and candy hoarding! I decided to make this a Halloween-themed post in honor of the holiday this Saturday.

Plants vs Zombies 2 is a popular mobile game in which players have to plant flowers to attack approaching zombies before they "eat your brains." The game already has a spooky feel since the antagonists are undead creatures, but for a limited time, the game is getting a Halloween makeover.

I figured there was no better time than the present to learn to play this game!

I downloaded the Plants vs Zombies 2 app with the new update on my iPod, and then I started with the tutorial. Although it went at a very slow pace, I found the tutorial fun and informative.

World 1 started out easy. As the levels went on, I unlocked more and more plants. First, I had the peashooter. The peashooter is a basic plant that shoots enemies with a normal amount of damage. It was the most effective plant for killing zombies that I used. Eventually, players are able to buy plant food to make the peashooters more powerful. Sunflowers are also helpful to gather sunlight in order to buy more plants.

I enjoyed playing the game until power-ups were introduced. I was used to placing plants down to attack the zombies, and now I was expected to kill the enemies myself.

I enjoy playing video games as a part of this project, but when I’m sitting at my desk, hunched over, staring at a tiny screen, I feel a little unproductive. So hopefully I can find a game that makes me feel a little more industrious for next week’s post (any suggestions?).

Happy Halloween!

Why Indie Games Really Are Cool

Just because it’s indie doesn’t mean it’s for hipsters.

In case you’ve been out of the loop, indie, or independent games, have been on the rise recently. The amount of crowdfunding for games has become insane, and these games have become super popular, super fast.

Why though?

Well, for one thing, indie games provide something new and different to the gaming scene. Games like Shovel Knight and Undertale are highly successful games made by independent developers that change the mechanic. Shovel Knight might be like a retro platformer, but using a character that uses a shovel as his weapon of choice is certainly different. And Undertale, during its crowdfunding campaign, was advertised as an RPG where you don’t have to kill anyone to progress through the game, which certainly has never really been done before in gaming history. This is definitely something, but what else makes them so different?

For another thing, they’re generally cheaper than most other games on the market. When I bought Undertale, the game was only $10 on the Steamstore. Depending on the system for which the game is sold, the prices of indie games can be anywhere from free to $30, but it is generally very rare to see a title be the same amount as a AAA game ($50, $60). These cheaper prices make it easier for gamers to buy and get access to these unique games.

    

Indie games are inexpensive, highly inventive games that allow people to enjoy something new without destroying their bank accounts. Buying these titles helps support people who have made full story video games either by themselves or with a very small team of people. I believe having indie games strengthens the community as a whole, and gives us something fun at the same time. 


Have a suggestion for the next post? Let me know in the comments down below!

A Wild Pokémon Appeared!

Pokémon is one of those games that every gamer has played at some point in his or her life. No matter how old you may be, Pokémon is a good starter game to learn, even though the protagonist is only 10 years old.

My little sister is an avid player of Pokémon games. She’s constantly training her pokémon and telling me all about her battles. She knows the names and types of all the monsters. A few years ago, I bought a Pokémon game so I could play with her, but I was never as skilled or knowledgeable as she is.

This is why I wanted to take the time today to talk about Pokémon.

Each game has 8 gyms that you have to beat. Once you obtain all 8 gym badges, you can challenge the Elite Four. Eventually, you must battle the Champion.

Last week, Sanoyas Interaction announced the opening of an actual Pokémon gym in Osaka, Japan this November. Members must purchase a gym card and pass in order to be admitted. The gym offers tips and activities, as well as training programs for Pokémon players.

The Pokémon EXPO gym is also launching a smartphone app for members to track their stats and ranking.

The gym is a great way to market new games to players. Each game has its own region, and players who prefer the "old school" Pokémon games tend to be more familiar with the original Kanto and Johto regions. Two of the newest games, Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, introduce the Kalos region. Many players are hesitant to learn the new game, so the EXPO gym hopes to encourage trainers to play these games by rewarding them with "special pokémon."

I believe that the Pokémon gym in Japan is a great idea and will be well-received by fans. Hopefully, more gyms like these will be established around the world.

How do you feel about the new "real life" Pokémon gym?

"Mobile Games Aren't Real Games" ...Right??? Pt. 2

Hello and welcome back! Sorry about the late post guys! Last time, we discussed some of the background of mobile phones and began to touch on how the mobile game market has begun to expand, and the AAA companies that are involved. Do you wish to continue? (3...2...1...)

With the explosion in mobile game downloads, the amount of “casual” gamers has been on the rise, and game companies want to be in the money loop. Even just earlier this year, Nintendo has refused to put themselves into the mobile game market, but they’ve since changed their minds. Since September, Nintendo has allowed for one of their biggest properties, Pokémon, to be in the mobile space with Pokémon Shuffle Mobile. With 1 million+ downloads (myself included), this game is gaining popularity. Other companies like Square Enix and EA have already been in on this market for years, and they’re benefiting from it greatly.

And, the games become more and more popular if they're free. The developer gets money from either adds, or in-app purchases, so you don't have to spend money on the download to support the developer, so everybody wins! 

Mobile games are simple, easy to make, cheap, addicting games that are easily accessible to the masses that allow for easy profit and great popularity. They might not be the next Halo, but they are still worth something. 

Red vs Blue: It Isn't Just Black and White!

I apologize for the late post! It’s been quite the busy week.

"What team should I choose?"

This is a question many gamers ask themselves when starting a game. Today's video game choice will hopefully give us an answer.

From Mario Kart to Team Fortress 2, most games have red and blue teams. Earlier this year, Psychology Today posted an article titled “Red vs. Blue: Which Should You Choose?” In theory, the wins should be 50/50, right? Wrong. According to the article, the red team is more likely to win.

There is one game however, where the odds are reversed.

League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena game where players compete as champions (characters on League with their own special abilities) in order to destroy the other team's defense structures. Players are not able to pick their teams. The blue team is more likely to win in ranked games.

I would have loved to have played a ranked game in order to see if the blue team actually won more, but ranked is only available for players over level 30. As a beginner, I had to play a normal game (the red team has a higher probability of winning in normal games).

League is not a game designed for beginners. It is very confusing and the games can last up to an hour long. Naturally, I got extremely frustrated and only played two games.

My boyfriend, Tim, and his best friend, Noah, are experienced at League of Legends, so they taught me how to play.

For the first game, we were on the red team. Apparently our team got a lot of kills (none of them were from me) and the other team surrendered, giving us the win.

That’s one win for the red team!

The next game, we were all on the blue team. This game was much more difficult, and after an hour or so of playing, we were defeated.

That’s two wins for the red team.

If I hadn’t gotten so infuriated, I would’ve played more games to better test my theory. Instead, I decided 2/2 wins for the red team was enough.

In the end, I decided that maybe there really is something to this whole red team-blue team deal.

The Game Theorists also made a video on this topic. If you have the time, I highly recommend watching it!

What do you think? Does the red team win more than the blue team in the games you play?

"Mobile Games Aren't Real Games." ...Right??? Pt. 1

Sure, the Birds are Angry, but why are they popular?

Ever wondered how this spike in mobile games even happened? One day, it’s a joke to play a game on your phone, and then the next celebrities are advertising them everywhere, they get their own movies (yes,this real), and anyone with a smartphone has them. What’s going on?

Well, the answer is simple.

Smartphones.

Before the age of everyone and their mother having a mobile device, cellular devices were more or less used for/by businesspeople. These dinosaurs of the cell phone’s history had only one function: phone calls. It wasn’t until the mid-2000s when Apple released its first mobile phone with a touch interface; the modern smartphone. After that, mobile devices have been selling like hotcakes, and becoming more and more advanced as the years go by. They have become less about conversation and more about being a platform for which people can create.

Now, don’t get me wrong, mobile games have been around since cell phones had screens, but the modern mobile game has only been around since the first iPhone. These games are more complex, have better graphics, and more complex mechanics than any old game of Snake. And sure, these games are simpler than some AAA title on a console or PC, but it still matters when AAA companies like Nintendo and Square Enix are now in the mobile market...

Sorry guys, but we're gonna have to leave this on a

Want to know more about this??? Well, then tune in next time for part two!!

Mario Time!

I’m only on the third post in this series, and it’s already getting extremely difficult to find reliable studies that I can reproduce in my dorm room. For today’s post, I plan to do something a little different than originally planned.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a side-scrolling platform game that was released in 2009. It was the first game my little sister and I bought together, and it’s been a family favorite ever since.

When the game was first released, That Videogame Blog published an article titled “Playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii Alone Will Make You Look Serious.” The author, Rain Anderson, explains how the game was originally designed to be played by two people, but more and more gamers are playing it single-player. Those who play the game alone tend to have a serious look on their face, according to Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto.

I wanted to see if I actually looked serious, so I recorded my expression while I played. I started a new game and played through World 1, letting my laptop webcam run the whole time.

Danielle and I hope to keep our identities as private as possible on this blog, so I won’t post any screenshots of my face, but I think Kanye perfectly depicts my expression here:

I was super concentrated on getting that plumber to the flag pole at the end of the level. I was in such deep thought, I subconsciously stuck my tongue out a few times.

Although it sounds ridiculous, single-players of New Super Mario Bros. Wii look serious.

Gaming is a serious sport, so naturally, video gamers look serious when they play them.

What game do you want to see next? Tell me in the comments below!

What is the "True Origin" of Video Games?

This is a weird one to answer.

Depending upon who you ask, there’s many different answers to the question “What is the origin of video games?” When you look up the definition of “video game”, you find out that it is “a game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a television screen or other display screen”. With that definition, we can rule some things out.

Let me explain.

According to The National Museum of Play, the origin of video games dates all the way back to 1940 (wow that’s so old). This machine was created by Edward U. Condon and was called the Nimatron. The Nimatron was a computer that played a game called Nim. The computer apparently won 90% of all games it played. The game was played on the Nimatron with lightbanks. The light would turn off when a button was pressed, and this would represent the “objects” in the game of Nim. Because it uses lights and not a screen, we can assume it’s not a “video game” by the exact definition, so now we move on.

The first game with a true display screen would not be until 1958 when William Higinbotham created Tennis for Two. It was a game similar to Pong (which would not be created until the 1970s), where a dot bounced between two sides. Now, many consider this the first video game, since it was an electronic game displayed on a screen, but does the oscilloscope hooked up to an analog computer count? If the answer is no, then can continue.

The first true computer game came from MIT students that developed Spacewar! in 1962. The first home console, the Magnavox Odyssey was patented in 1968 and released in 1972. Depending on what you define as a “video game”, with this information, I’m sure you can figure for yourself which is the first video game. (My money’s on Spacewar!.)

Aggressive Street Fighting?

This is the first post in a series about my video game journey. Enjoy!

The first game I learned to play was Street Fighter IV. Street Fighter IV is a fighting game, which is shown to cause aggression. After playing SFIV, I took a questionnaire based on the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory to test my level of hostility and aggression. 

At first, I played against Danielle in order to learn how the game worked. After she beat me several times, I decided to play arcade mode with CPUs. Naturally, we set them to 'easy.' 

My strategy at first was to just hit random buttons all at once, hoping I would KO the enemy. Obviously, that didn't work very well for me. Eventually I had to revise my game plan and use stronger combo moves. 

There were points in the game where my enemy would use a special ability that would paralyze my character for several seconds, which was extremely frustrating for me. I don't know if the reason I got so frustrated was specifically because I was playing I fighting game. I believe playing a new game you don't know much about is generally annoying.

I got through several levels until I was finally beat by the character Dudley, an English boxer.

When I took the questionnaire after playing, I got a relatively normal score. My overall aggression score was a 79. Before I played the game, my average was 75. The average for men is 77.8 an the average for women is 68.2.

Playing a fighting game like Street Fighter IV did not make me overly aggressive, despite studies done by researchers on the link between video game play and an increase in aggression.

Do you feel aggressive after playing "violent" video games?

New Challenger Approaching!

So what’s the deal with video games? Maybe I can answer that.

Hello!

My name is Danielle and I am a college freshman, psych major, gamer, and overall nerd.

 I have been playing video games ever since I could work a controller. I grew up playing on the old Nintendo and Sega systems with my two older brothers (which is very ironic, considering the “console war” between the two in the 80s). Some of my favorite genres are adventure, platformer, and (J)RPG. For most of my life I considered The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to be my favorite game (because it is pretty great, let’s be honest), but that consideration might go to another title at some point.

When I’m bored I’ll sometimes spend my time researching various things; from comics, to video games, to movies, I’ll look it up. I love to answer interesting questions, and video games have plenty of those.

Despite this blog being a class project, I hope to learn even more than I already have on my own time, and enjoy combining two of my biggest interests. My friend and classmate Courtney is basically a beginner, having barely played any video games, so she’s the perfect candidate for testing research studies involving video games. I will be answering some pretty big questions involving video games, and you guys can draw your own conclusions. Between the both of us, we can hopefully give you a new perspective and a new knowledge of many people’s favorite pastime.

Thank you for checking out our blog! I hope to see you every Monday and Wednesday!

Courtney the Novice

You know the feeling you get when you try something new? You’re scared but excited at the same time? That’s how I feel about writing this blog.

I’m Courtney, a freshman at Stevenson University. I am majoring in Applied Mathematics with the intent to get my Master’s in Teaching.

 I’ve never really been one to play video games. My first experience with video games was at the age of 9 when my sister and I received a PlayStation 2 under the Christmas tree. I thought it was entertaining, but I never developed a massive interest in PlayStation games.

  

About a year after our introduction to the PlayStation, my grandfather bought us a Wii. My sister and my favorite games were WiiSports and Animal Crossing: City Folk. Wii games were more interactive than PlayStation games, but I easily got tired of them if I played too long. 

A year and a half ago, I met my now-boyfriend, Tim, and gained a new-found interest for video games. He’s been playing them practically since he was born. The first game we played together was Super Smash Bros. I played as Jigglypuff and he played as Ike. I wasn’t very good at it and I kept getting frustrated, but Tim didn’t give up on me. He kept teaching me how to play video games.

  

And this is why I was first interested to start a video games blog where I learn to play various games.

  

Danielle has a lot of experience playing video games. Together we hope to play games and gain a better understanding of them.