Sony's Game Revolution

Sony has long been associated with the consumer electronics field, creating a high-profile brand name manufactureing products such as televisions, computer monitors, and audio devices. Even with this track record with industry, few people thought the lunch of their home entertainment console would bring them much success. Earlier in the 1990's, much-hyped systems from companies like 3DO, NEC and even the console veteran Atari had failed in the and -dominated console market. Given these products ' unfortunate ends, and the relative stranglehold that the Nintendo and Sega systems had on the marketplace, the Playstation looked like it would probably misfire as so many others had before.

The Playstation proved to be in the right place at the right time, however. Powered by a slick, multi-million dollar ad campaign, a stronge lineup of games, and the fact that the system itself was well-designed and successful console of the '90s, selling more than 70 million units worldwide---almost 30 million in North America alone. Put into perspective, nearly one American in 10 owns a Playstation. In the six years since its original Japanese release, over 4,000 software titles have become available for the systen worldwide.Though the has been around for over half a decade, it shows few signs of yielding market share to either or , each of which has debuted new systems since the PlayStation launch. The Sony console has consistently had the highest-selling games, with strong original titles and an impressive line of third-party games, with strong original title and an impressive line of third-party games. Among the most popular titles are the Final Fantasy series of RPGs (role-playing games), the skateboard game Tony Hawk: Pro Skater, and the platform games featuring the console's most prominent mascot, Crash Bandicoot.

Sony has not been resting on it laurels, however. The console was shipped to stores across the country. Boasting and ultra-fast central processor and a DVD drive,
this console features optional accessories like modem and digital camera attachment. And since the coming year promise no new major console hardware releases, Sony is placing itself in a strong position to continue its domination of the video game scene.

Bringing Games to Life and Life to Our Games

People have always played games. The ancient Chinese, for example, played a game called mehen (meaning "snake") that combined a board game with moves of pieces shaped like lions, dogs, and balls on a large field. The Egyptians loved the senet--a board game resembling cribbage in some ways. Over the centuries, games have slowly changed, with many popular ones, such as chess and checkers, still being played today. There are card games; board games; word games, like crossword puzzles; and math games, like Sudoku.

With the onset of the technological revolution in electronics in the 1970s and 1980s, and the rise of computers, games changed in a fundamental way. No longer were people moving pieces on a board by hand or writing out answers on a piece of paper. Instead they began experiencing games in a virtual--rather than physical --world.

This advance seemed innocent enough at first. While the technology was still new, the primitive and limited capabilities of early video games were more of a novelty than a cultural phenomenon. The first people to play video games were engineers and others highly educated technophiles, people enthusiastic about technology who not only under stood how to play computerized games but who could also write the programming for them. Later crude games like Pong, Asteroids, and Donkey Kong had limited graphics capabilities. Many players lost interest in them by the early 1980s.

Technology progressed, however, and video games became more and more realistic. Today video and the ability to control characters' action on the screen have become so convincingly true-to-life that the experience is almost like living in another world. Whether using a home system such as the Nintendo Wii or PlayStation 3, or playing online, players are now submerged in a virtual reality where they can assume another character's identity, seek outlandish adventures in another world, make friend, communicate with other players, and even conduct real business transactions or attend business seminars.

Video games have come a long way, and they have become more than just an entertaining pastime; in 2008 they were a $35-billion industry worldwide. They have become part of out culture and an influential part of our lives. Many people have embraced the video game revolution as a benefit to society, making a case for how it has increased social networking, but others worry that it encourages violence, laziness, and social isolation.

The future holds many possibilities for video games, including branching out beyond gaming and evolving into a kind of second reality where people can socialize, conduct business, and even go to school. How we use them will be up to us.

Transformation of the Arcade

Like many other technological inventions, the sophisticated video games of the twenty-first century can be traced back to much more primitive, simple roots. The forerunner of today's popular video games was the pinball machine. Although not the refined, computerized pinball machine we see today, the first modern pinball machine appeared in the 1930s. They evolved from a nineteenth century game called bagatelle that was similar to Skee-Ball. This was modified into a game called Baffle Ball--invented by David Gottlieb in 1931. Baffle Ball was more similar to pinball games and included the bumpers and flippers with which anyone who has played pinball is familiar. Gottlieb, as well as a growing number of competitors, made money by placing pinball machines in penny arcades. They then collected the change that player inserted into the games, giving the arcade owners a cut of the money.

Games for the Television

The next important development for video games came in 1967, when Ralph H. Baer came up with the idea of inventing computer games that could be played on a television set. Baer was a manager leading a team of engineers at Sanders Associates, a defense contractor. Working with television manufacturer Magnavox, Baer created Odyssey the first game system. Odyssey only contained some transistors and diodes that, when connected by a cable to television, could produce simple dots and other basic graphics. But that was about all they could do.

Strategy Guides & Cheats

Cheating is soooo easy! Have you ever heard someone say, "it isn't whether you win or lose; it's how you play the game"? Yeah, right! The people who say that are probably the same ones who wouldn't pick up a dollar in a parking lot because the person who lost it should have it. Give me a break. Of course winning matters. Why else would you even play games? Playing games is a whole lot more fun when you can win sometimes.

There's just one problem--some games are just so hard that you almost don't have a chance. If you keep getting blown away by the enemy before you ever make it off level 1, eventually you may just give up.

Finding game cheat codes is a awesome way to extend you gaming.

There's one important bit of information you need to know about cheat codes--you sometime have to pay a price for using them. You might lose a level or have other penalty applied to your character once you enter the cheat code. What's ever worse is that you probably won't be given any warning about what the cheat code will cost you. Of course, the added powers you'll are probably worth whatever price is levied on your game character.

You my also want to condersider whether cheating all the time is really going to be all that much fun.

Modding and Cheats

Playing video games often inspires bright young people to create games as well. Many may start off by modding existing video games. Modding--or modifying--games involves actually writing bits of program that add new objects or capabilities to an existing game. For example, a modder might creat a new type of weaponry, a new type of enemy to defeat, or even and entire new scenario within the game. Modding can also involve creating ways to cheat for player to use to win a game. One common way to edit a game is to add a new lives to a player so that he or she does not die as quickly--or at all-- when fighting opponents; or, perhaps, a modder might make the hero run faster.