Before you begin to read, here is some music by “Next Alex” to get you in the mood
Next_Alex_-_Super_mario_bross_remix
I grew up (unlike Sarah who posted before me) with a great love of video games. I had an older brother who influenced me to play and I enjoyed watching him play. I developed a deep love for Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, and others.
I thought it would be interesting to take a quick look at the Ngram viewer to see approximately how popular each system was (at least in literature).
The Ngram viewer tells us that the Japanese video game companies are by far the most popular. Atari, the first system to become popular, was created during Japan’s famous “bubble period” (in which the property in Ginza, Tokyo was valued at JPY 90,000,000 or $750,000 per square meter.) Of course, Atari’s presence in literature quickly dropped as Nintendo’s rose to almost the same popularity as Atari had had. Since then, at least in literature, Nintendo’s popularity has never been surpassed. It is also interesting to check out the height of popularity of Sega, Playstation and Xbox. I personally was never interested in Playstation or Xbox, but I thought I was an anomaly; I was shocked to find that Playstation’s popularity in literature was so low! It makes me wonder which, if any, video game consoles our classmates have owned.
For those who know their video games, you know that the technology advancements of original Nintendo compared to the current Nintendo Wii are huge! It went from a very low quality visual and basic controller to a realistic and 3 dimensional graphic with a motion sensitive controller. Even the characters in the games, which have been updated as or more often than the consoles, show a huge amount of digital evolution. A great example of this are the following images of how the Nintendo character “Mario” has changed since he was created.
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If you have a chance to answer this question, please do; I would like to see if our class can compare to the results of the Ngram viewer.
Which, if any, video game consoles have you owned?
Which one do you prefer and why?
– Katie
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Grafiti, Codi. Flickr Blog. http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalcodi/4261845216/
Joe. Housing Japan: Real Estate Market Japan, Real Estate News. http://housingjapan.com/2011/11/10/a-history-of-tokyo-real-estate-prices/ Accessed Nov 26, 2012.
Next Alex. SOng “Super Mario Bross Remix” http://www.jamendo.com/en/search#qs=q=super mario Accessed Nov 26, 2012.
4 responses so far ↓
bsangster // Nov 28th 2012 at 12:31 pm
Nintendo all the way. My uncle had a Sega which I played adoringly. Christmas of ’97 (I believe) I got my first nintendo system!! I got Super Mario 64 and the N64 for christmas and I had that system all the way until my Gamecube, and later Wii. I also had Gameboy Colour… which I may throw some batteries into before tonights class.
One thing that surprises me is that more kids are not interested in IT classes and programs. I always thought as a young kid that I would love to be a video game designer but somewhere down the road that dream was lost. It’s a curious thing because I think about how much today my imagination flourishes with ideas of fantastical video games, characters, and stories. Video games have certainly come up much shorter in their delivery opposed to the reading of a good book… at least when they are being compared… Harry Potter for example.
Video games are one thing that I haven’t talked much to my students about… and am now curious in talking to them about… how many of them play video games? Which ones? Do their siblings like video games? Why are the games popular?
Today my interests are much more deeply rooted in things like reality tv… but… is that not a game of editing? Things to consider I suppose…
TMD // Nov 28th 2012 at 1:21 pm
I’ve never owned a video console, but I did have a handheld football game device with a monochromatic screen, went to the arcade, and stole into the University labs when I was 14 or 15 to play text-based adventure games.
Game: “You have entered a chamber; to your right there is an urn and a golden key.”
Player: “Pick up the urn.”
Game: “A trap door opens and you descend into a pile of skulls and poisonous snakes, which weave in and out of the skulls’ eye sockets toward you.”
Player: “Go back and pick up the key.”
Game: “You can’t go back.”
kiranheer // Nov 30th 2012 at 12:45 pm
I have to vote for the Playstation 3, since it’s the only console I play. (Although, we do own the old Playstation 2, an old Atari console that I turned on once and then turned off because I couldn’t stand the pixelated graphic and a Wii…that my parents bought to encourage us to move rather than just sit in front of the TV all day.)
You’re post reminded me of the reading we have to do for gaming – all of which I read carefully and critically since I would have to present on them. 😛
In the Paul Gee reading from his introductory chapter of “What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literary,” he talks about popular games being the same ones as those that are the most challenging. I have to agree with his claim, because who wants to play a game that so easy as to be boring. I also think that the popularity of the games translated into popularity of the console. From what I know of the Xbox 360 – which I don’t own, but my cousins do – the majority of its sales are related to Kinect and games that children can play hands free. They had an entire campaign centred around the slogan “you are the controller” – relating back to Gee’s point that game players want agency.
Likewise, Gee goes on to point out the similarities between the theories that form the backdrop of a good video game and the theories of cognitive science. Gee states that reading and video gaming – playing both console and computer games – are both social activities. Gaming has definitely become more social now that the leading console systems, the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 both have online multiplayer capabilities. Whereas, before gamers who wanted to play collaboratively with others from around the world would favour computer games, the platform has now shifted to gaming consoles.
Finally, I think another important aspect to consider is that game players are more likely to buy the latest console because of improvements to the graphics. The Atari system was created before I was born, so I never played it, but the one time I turned it on I was put of by the lack of detail in the graphics. After all, it’s pretty hard to live out an escapist reality in a game if it doesn’t look “real.”
-Kiran Heer
Works Cited:
“Xbox + Kinect.” Xbox.com. Web. 30 Nov. 2012
Gee, Paul J. “Introduction.” What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Macmillan, 2003. 1-12. Print.
faran // Dec 10th 2012 at 3:45 pm
Ever since reading the article for this class, I have been ever conscious of the effect of video games on my life. Normally I would not have identified myself as a gamer, or even someone who plays a lot of games. But as I thought back to my experiences, I had so many memories that were in essence formed within video games. This may be due to their memorable and nostalgic effect, but nonetheless I found it surprising just how much of my understanding of the world has spawned from video games.
I especially enjoyed video games like Dracula and Resident Evil that had a horror—and now I have to admit—violent themes. But both these games, in many ways, fall under the strategy category. The entire games were a series of puzzles that I had to solve. These, of course, were both challenging and rewarding and I am glad for the skills that I have developed because of them. Yet I also realize their negative effects. For instance, the very linear way in which each problem or puzzle is to be solved: there is only one way to manipulate some part of the game to continue. I feel this linear and limited way of solving difficult problems has plagued much of my adult thinking and problem solving skills.
But all that aside, in reflection, I find that I have gone through a nostalgic fever of sorts for the games that I use to play as a youth. Most of these games attract me still for the quality of the mood which they inspired in me. Dracula, for instant, despite being a rather elementary game wanting of visual quality, nonetheless created such a forlorn and eery atmosphere that I have not been able to forget after over 10 years.
In all strangeness, in the past year I have acquired many games that I used to play in the past for their intense nostalgic pleasure. Some of these were ‘Ninja Turtles 3’ and “Contra” for the nintendo, all of ‘Dracula’ series and ‘Age of Empires’ for PC, and recently, Counter Strike. I was reminded of Counter Strike when the students at my school were talking about the new release of the game, Global offensive.
Yet, as I have been playing CS: Global Offensive—and considering my wife’s over all disapproval of the game—I realized a great dilemma in video games in general. Specifically, the violent nature of most of these video games—especially CS—is not at all like me. So I have many questions to ask of myself and many inconsistencies in my thoughts to unravel when I consider the pleasure I get from playing these violent games. How is it that I could be so detached from what the games may be doing to me. Most shocking for me was I found myself sometimes shooting the enemy even after they were dead for celebration. And this is usually a common practice. In fact, there are a lot worse things that those who play on the net would do to the person’s dead avatar.
In fact, one of the students in my children’s class, who at the time was less than 10 years old, was joking about tea bagging the other student. I was so shocked and appalled that someone so young should know about such an act, let alone pretend to perform it on a friend. Yet, this became more clear to me recently as I played CS online for the last time. Indeed, a common disrespect an opponents dead avatar is to stand over their body and press the “duck” button repeatedly. No doubt, an online first-person shooting game has been my students source of education.
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