Vid-iot -

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

Vid-iot

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

Lesson Two

Now let's get into the history of video games.

It all started with a television technician named Ralph Baer. Not long after he started, he had a brilliant idea. Why not use localized radio-signals programmed directly into a TV? He began work on a device that could do just that. The end result is what is known as 'the brown box.' Pong and similar games were spawned.

It took him quite some time to get a company to produce it. Magnavox finally picked it up. The Oddysseu, first home console, was born.

It wasn't long before Atari and other companies started using the technology to make their own consoles, and the Oddyssea's sales suffered miserably.

With the help of Baer's blueprinting and record keeping, Magnavox sued Atari and other game companies for using THEIR technology to make consoles. In what seems to be bi-polar effects, as Magnavox had success in the courtroom, it lost on the shelves.

Out of this, you should of gotten many things, the major one being that Ralph Baer is the father of videogames.

-- Edited by Babblefish at 19:18, 2005-11-21

The Forerunners · Freeman

Well, someone has done his homework. (applause)

Good article Eric.

Now, if you are really interested in this stuff and wish to learn more, check out the Wikipedia article on video game history.

Also check out this article on all sorts of video game related stuff.

However, do not even try and read these if you have little time. Read Eric's articles, for they are much shorter and to the point, unlike these articles which contain a bunch of other stuff that you may not care about.

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

Lesson 3 The Government Steps In It came to pass that games did indeed become more violent. There was public outcry when Mortal Kombat 1 came out on Sega. This was because of the (at the time) realistic violence and incredibly gory finishing moves. To avoid this attention, Nintendo had a version of Mortal Kombat in which there was no blood; replaced by graymatter (sweat?). This is why Sega Mortal Kombat is far better than Nintendo's; gamers were outraged at Nintendo's conformity. The government had stepped in at that point, saying that if game companies did not do something, then the government would. This, of course, was absurd. The government had not any such right to do much anything; the ideals of free enterprise being felt all around the country. However, game companies, still young at that point, did not want to get into a power struggle while trying to set their place in the world's industries. Thus, ESRB was born. This system used one or two letters or numbers to depict what age group that each game was meant for.

-- Edited by Babblefish at 11:54, 2005-12-08

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

Srry i haven't posted much here recently. I WILL soon. My computer is fried right now.

Amergin · Peon

For clarification, there have been MMO games set in the first-person view, Planetside being the biggest name I can think of at the moment.

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

Lol, I'm speaking ONLY in terms of MMORPG for that point.

Lesson 4

Now that you have some basic backbone of video-games guruness, let us delve deeper.

Nearly all games series have large fan-bases. Some of these include Warcraft, Final Fantasy, and Metal Gear Solid.

People don't realize how brilliant game companies are; by developing such a strong fan-basis for one game series set into a particular genres, by making the same game in a different gaming style (WoW), that they can easily make millions. Take me, for example. I had heard that they were going to make a third-person shooter of Vincent from FF7, and I REALLY wanted to get it.

Furthermore, company loyalty is another gargantuan part of the gaming community. I myself am very faithful to the X-Box franchise.

I fear for Nintendo's survival in the long run, though. The fact is that when some recent titles came out, they were excluded from the Gamecube and put on the PS2 and X-Box. It also seems to me that the Revolutions is going to fail.

I am NOT against Nintendo. I am both sadenned and bewildered by what's going on. Nintendo proved in the sixties and seventies that gaming was NOT just a passing fad, and it put gaming on the map.

Anyway, as company loyalties and single-game-(or game serrieses)-fan-bases developed, fan-boys emerged. Fan-boys basically created what is known as "The Gaming Community";by spawning what they worshipped, the totallity of all this infatuation became the gaming community, spawing fan groups and gaming cults.

The most hard-core fan boys play their idol games constantly, and usually as their minds become more integrated in the game-play, they become god-likeat the genre their idol games belongs in.

These also the same people (againg, usually) that win the all the tournaments and are kwon for their prowess. Ex., Char of Halo and Halo2.

-- Edited by Babblefish at 12:12, 2005-12-05

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

Hey, all you gamers. This area is to be a cornecopia of general video-game knowledge. This area is no JUST for me to post, but has been thus far.

Post your video-game knowledge here, but be careful not to repeat and/or rip off something something someone has already said.

Lesson Five

The videogame industry grew to a collosal size over the years, and soon it was influencing the world in peculiar ways. Words and phrases became quite common in actual speech and terminology in games (pwned, fragged, lvl up, etc). Before long (bad) movies were mad of video-games. This is a grave error of the cinema industry. Books were also made, but also suffered in ways similar to that of the movies.

The fact that games and gaming in general spwaned an entire community has already been said, but another major thing is one that is often overlooked.

These are flash/internet games. Before long, proggraming codes were made to create free, playable games solely on the internet. The most successful of these is clearly Alien Hominid, which has even come out with a console game for all systems.

Internet movies soon came too. One of the most notable is probably Red vs. Blue. It is a long running internet movie. It has many flash spin-offs and even a collection of DvDs of their many episodes.

Needless to say, video games are massively influential of culture everywhere.

Amergin · Peon

Babblefish wrote:

I am NOT against Nintendo. I am both sadenned and bewildered by what's going on. Nintendo proved in the sixties and seventies that gaming was NOT just a passing fad, and it put gaming on the map.

-- Edited by Babblefish at 12:12, 2005-12-05

Didn't know Nintendo had so much to do with the creation of Pong.

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

Hmmmmm... anyway, onto the next lesson. (Haven't ya heard of arcades? these were started in the freakin FIFTIES!)

Yes I suppose that this lesson may be some-what influenced by my loyalty to the X-Box, but it is all factual.

Many people say that X-Box 360 is not really a next-gen system. I've heard people say it alot, actually. Nt only do I hear them say that, but the only arguement I've ever heard said is that, "Oh, well, it messes it up alot."

The Psp had some issues when IT came out. But the Sony fans just sorta put that on the side.

The X-box 360 DOES have some problems. Many systems have. That is no reason for it not to be a next-gen system.

X-Box 360 plays off of the new HD capablities of television, and is the first system to do it. It is 80 times more powerful than X-Box, which had alot of horse power itself. Next-gen. The style and controller have been modified, upgraded, and changed (yes, these words basically mean the same thing). X-Box liuve has been turbo-charged. Take this into account along with the fact that X-Box live was a huge part oif gaming already, and you realize that the X-Box 360 is one lean, mean, gaming-machine.

And of course, what sort of rant would be complete without a little under-cuuting, comparison, and 'constructive' criticism. From what I have heard, the Ps3 is going to be $500, a full $100 more than the more expensive edition of the X-Box 360, which comes with a 20-g detachable hardrive, two wireless controllers, full-HD capability, and free X-Box live (it comes with more, just can't remember it all). Apparently, the Ps3 will simply come out with the system and one, possibly two controllers.

People say that the Ps3 could be more expensive, because it probably won't glitch. Not only IS there a chance that it will glitch, but you could always buy the warranty from the retailer on the x-Box 360, and it will STILL be cheaper than the Ps3.

I haven't heard much on the Revolution's price, but I have seen the system. I think that Nintendo is going on too far a limb here with the Revolution.

Out of my own opinion (andconsole sales), it seems that during the 'last-gen,' Nintendo hang-on just because of its games (which ARE great).

That's out of my system.

Now let's get into some more detail, eh? I played Call of Duty 2 on X-Box 360, one of its launch titles. 4 sylables; phe-no-men-al. Graphics are amazing. Game play is as smooth as butter. The effect of the explosions and smoke are excellent. VO's, gun-shots, and sound effects are all great. The AI will leave you wondering if you hadn't accidently wandered into on-line play. And most of all, you get the feeling that you are something that is massively beyond just you; the feeling that you are part of a momentous event that, if necessary, will leave you behind.

For those of you about to die, I salute you.

-- Edited by Babblefish at 09:15, 2005-12-24

AdviceGuy · Date: Dec 21, 2005

Babblefish wrote:

I haven't heard much on the Revolution's price, but I have seen the system. I think that Nintendo is going on too far a limb here with the Revolution.

Out of my own opinion (andconsole sales), it seems that during the 'last-gen,' Nintendo hang-on just because of its games (which ARE great).

Wow, Nintendo hung-on only because of its games? That seems to me to be the most important part of a console. I have a PS2 (and my next system will be a laptop, which is almost the same as an xbox) and the PS2 is really no fun at all to play without the games. You can turn it on and theres a menu and you can change the time "hey guys look at this I can change the time, look now it's 5:00!" "He think we should restrain him now, he's been changeing the time for four hours"

And another thing

Babblefish wrote:

The Psp had some issues when IT came out. But the Sony fans just sorta put that on the side.

The Psp had issues that didn't involve it catching on fire. Personally I don't look for Combustibility when i buy electronics. In fact that's one of the few places where I would prefer if it was not fully Flammable. With the Psps (Dead Pixels?) you can still play, but with the XBox(Flamming Death) you can't.

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

I think you're missing the point.

The Games made by Nintendo were the absolute high-point. Not the console.

Listen here; more copies of Super Smash Brother Melee were bought than the Game Cube itself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also, what do ya mean fires? There were none.

And by the way, a reason why alot of the X-Box 360's were messing up was because people started standing them up sideways while it was playing, something you are NOT supposed to do.

And another point on that topic about Nintendo. It seemed that Nintendo was being left out when third-party game developers. This would normally completely kill a consoles sales. However, the success of Nintendo's OWN games supported the Gamecube greatly. This was what I meant. I guess I could have made that more clear.

-- Edited by Babblefish at 23:39, 2005-12-31

AdviceGuy · Date: Dec 22, 2005

No your missing the point. I buy consoles based on the games that they have, not on their hardware specs. I really don't care about how many hertz it runs at or about the gigabytes of memory, without good games its still pretty much a box.

It's also pretty intresting about the more copies of Super Smash Brother Melee were bought than gamecubes. However I doubt it's accuracy, whats your source?

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

I hear (well, mostly read read) people say it alot.

Also, in, 2001, the Super.....Melee sales vs. Gamecube sales was 3:4, and that ratio has done nothing but increase, apparently.

And, by the way, you are ONE person. To use yourself as an example is really just no use. People who are die-hard fans of one company will most definitely buy their system. It majorly depends on the preferences of the masses, which vary greatly.

-- Edited by Babblefish at 14:14, 2005-12-22

AdviceGuy · Date: Dec 22, 2005

Just admit that Software(games) is more important than hardware(specs and stuff).
3:4 ratio means that for every 3 SSBM games sold 4 GameCubes are sold... Right?

Asdfghjkl · Master Mage

OHHHHHhhhh...... NO
Every body byes consoles for games and not b/c they are fans
And if any 1 byes a system b/c they are fans of the company is totaly retarted b/c its stupid and that is why a lot of people like PS2 and not Xbox b/c PS2 has better games
ofcoarse Xbox got huge hits after awile and i think it did become a better system.
BUT do not bye a console just because your friends have it !!!
That is what i did and now my xbox is just sitting there.

-- Edited by Asdfghjkl at 18:39, 2005-12-22

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

That's the thing, it IS the fans!

I'm just saying, if it wasn't Nintendo making its own games, and instead used 75% third part game developers, then the Game Cube would not even be a condsideration in the console race.

Also, it WAS mostly the hard cor Sony Fans who stuk to the PsP. Well maybe not, but that was where a majority of the sales came from. (Majority being over half over their sales)

I also predict that that's what's going to happen with the Ps3. I mean, have you seen this thing? It is pretty BIG, and the controller looks like it was partially melted an hung during creation. The controller is also large; these were drawbacks in the design of the X-Box.

-- Edited by Babblefish at 09:18, 2005-12-24

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

*Warning! This post is educational. To some, it may be boring. To true gamers, it may or may not be interesting. However, the purpose of this topic is to teach and transform gaming-knowledge-deprived web-surfers such as yourselves (which may not include all of you) into full blown game-gurus. Hence the topic's name, 'Vidiot.'*

Another lesson in video-games for all of you to read and learn from.

Time once again to delve into the history of this great activity, and view its progression.

Video-games were first created in the 1950's and 1960's. These games were played on very primitive computers, and the basic goal was the move one entity on the view screen to a certain location. This developed into what we now affectionately refer to as Arcade Gaming, as these systems were evolved into electronic machines with sole purpose of consuming-coins and sunsequently delivering gaming-goodness. The most common type of these machines are called uprights. Conjure up the image of a clasic arcade Pac-man game in your head. The model is what is known as the upright; taller than it is wide, and the screen and controls in front of the screen on a close-to-flat surface on the front of the machine.

This has been boring so far. Hang in there.

These arcade games started poping up in many places. These include bars, grocery stores, and even gas stations. Their appearance marked an uprising in gaming throughout America and Japan. The most notable companies during this area where Namco, which was most powerful in Japan, and Atari, Namco's counterpart in America.

The most notable arcade games during what was known as "The Golden Age of Arcade Games" were Asteroids, Space Invaders, Centipede, Galaga, Tron, Doney Kong, Defender, Dig Dug, Pong, Tank, Galaxian, Rally X, and Tetris. A major mile stone in Arcade Gaming was Dragon's Lair, as it was the first arcade game to exhibit smooth full-motion gameplay.

Arcade gaming was basically the start of the video-gaming phenomena.

As I had mentioned ealier, Ralph Baer started home console gaming. Home gaming was mostly considered a fad. It continued through years. However, In 1983, there was a major gaming crash. This was caused primarily because game companies were going bankrupt. There was an entire year in which no ne games were produced.

This all leads up to one point. In 1985, Nintendo broke this drought with its success of the NES. Nintendo saved h home-gaming with this revolutionary system.

Remember that when you pass up that new Zelda game for Civilization 4.

Date: Dec 31, 2005

This will probably be a shorter lesson.

A major issue with the future of video-games is the level of reality. If a game gets too realistic, can it blend too much into peoples's acual lives? Can it influence decisions people make and their behavior, either subconciously or even conciously. Can it reach a level so high, that it may be believed that some people acual may mistake it for reality? Some believe this to be so, and use crimes to prove that violent video-games are far too realistic.

A more major issue with gamers is inflation. For the Ps2, X-Box, and Gamecube, new releases were $50.00. Now with the X-Box 360 releases, that price has jumped to $60. Hand-in-hand with this is the increase system costs. In the future, gaming may only be available to those with a high life-style.

..................c'mon people, post your gaming knowledge here. This topic is all about that. It can't be that if I'm the only one typing this kinda stuff down. Or is a little work too hard for ya?

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

Yes the above was me.

Something is seriously wrong. I log in, and when I change screens, it logged me out (I think).

Babblefish · High Keeper of the Sacred Texts

Well, vid-iot may have to shut-down.

I can't be the only one that does this. i can't keep this running by myself. More people were supposed to post game-knowledge.

*sigh*

This may give me more time to work on the web-comic. But first I'm gonna have to buy a whole bunch of drawing crap. I usually don't stock on that (it doesn't really fit into my 'If zombies take over the world' plan).

TheMightyCheeseQueen · Peon

DON'T WANNA BE AN AMERICAN IDIOT!!!