Arie Kaplan - The Epic Evolution of Video Games

NOTE TO READERS: Not all games are appropriate for
players of all ages. Remember to follow video game
rating systems and the advice of a parent or guardian
when deciding which games to play.

Copyright 2014 by

Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. International
copyright secured. No part of this book
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any
meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior
written permission of Lerner Publishing Group,
Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

Lerner Publications Company

A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

241 First Avenue North

Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A.

Website address: www.lernerbooks.com

Content Consultant: Crystle Martin, postdoctoral researcher, Digital
Media and Learning Hub at the University of California, Irvine

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kaplan, Arie.

The epic evolution of video games / by Arie Kaplan.

pages cm. (Shockzonegames and gamers)

Includes index.

ISBN 9781467712484 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)

ISBN 9781467717830 (eBook)

ISBN 9781467759984 (Audisee ISBN)

1. Video gamesHistoryJuvenile literature. I. Title.

GV1469.3.K35 2014

794.809dc23

Manufactured in the United States of America

1 MG 7/15/13

Table of

Contents

The First Video Games

Chances are you have a favorite video game, whether its Call of
Duty, Angry Birds, Super Mario Bros., or Madden NFL. Thats no
surprise. Video games are a huge part of
our culture.

But it wasnt always like this. Ever wonder what the first games
were? Or how gaming became such a big deal? Read on to
find out.

Video games inspire an enormous amount of
passion in players around the world.

If you went back in time to the 1950s and told
someone that video games would one day fit in
your hand, they wouldve laughed in your face.
Computers took up whole rooms in university
laboratories. Only scientists could make and
play games.

But dont feel too disappointed. The games
were terrible. In one game, Bouncing Ball ,
a dot appeared at the top of the screen,
fell to the bottom, and rolled away.
Yep, you read right. That was the
whole game. Boring!

In 1966 an engineer invented
the first video game console
that could be hooked up to
TV sets. It was nicknamed the
Brown Box. Despite the lame
name, it amazed the people who
saw it. The electronics company
Magnavox smartly renamed it the
Odyssey and released it in 1972.
Within a few years, video games
were a national sensation.

Computers fit in the palm of your hand now,
but in the 1960s, they were gigantic.

The Golden Age

If you tried to think up a great new video game character today, chances are you wouldnt think of a big, angry gorilla, a leaping carpenter, or a yellow circle.
But those weird ideas became some of the most famous game characters of the 1970s and the 1980s. This time became known
as the Golden Age of video games. There was an explosion of new kinds of games and consoles.

The company Atari released its Atari 2600 console in 1977. People could play hundreds of different games on the same console. All they had to do was plug in different cartridges.

cartridges =
plastic devices
containing computer