Is a game played on a computer a video game?

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Sonic200
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02 Jul 2022, 12:42 am

I tend to think of video game as just referring to console games. However I have seen online where games played on the computer were called video games.



funeralxempire
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02 Jul 2022, 1:58 am

Aren't consoles just computers dedicated to the task of playing games?


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enz
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02 Jul 2022, 5:04 am

funeralxempire wrote:
Aren't consoles just computers dedicated to the task of playing games?


Now that you mention it… didn’t think of that



lostonearth35
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05 Jul 2022, 4:42 pm

I think a video game is a video game whether it's played on a console, a computer, a phone or an arcade cabinet. I know that for years games played on computers have usually been called computer games so they won't be confused with console games. And also maybe to trick your parents into thinking the game is "educational". :)



funeralxempire
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05 Jul 2022, 4:48 pm

lostonearth35 wrote:
I think a video game is a video game whether it's played on a console, a computer, a phone or an arcade cabinet. I know that for years games played on computers have usually been called computer games so they won't be confused with console games. And also maybe to trick your parents into thinking the game is "educational". :)


Come on mom, I'm learning how to defend a Martian moonbase from being overran by demons from the depths of hell.
How is that
not educational?


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kitesandtrainsandcats
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05 Jul 2022, 5:04 pm

Anyone for some history of videogames?

Assuming, that is, that the Smithsonian knows what they are talking about when discussing things other than dinosaurs and airplanes,

https://www.si.edu/spotlight/the-father ... me-history

The origin of video games entangles University computer geeks, televisions, and arcade games,

"
... In fact, video games did not get their true start from computer programmers, but from an engineer skilled in another major invention of the 20th century: the television set. By the 1960s, millions of Americans had invested in televisions for their homes, but these television sets were only used for the viewing of entertainment. Engineer Ralph Baer was certain this technology could be used to play games.

In 1966, while working for Sanders Associates, Inc., Baer began to explore this idea. In 1967, assisted by Sanders technician Bob Tremblay, Baer created the first of several video game test units. Called TVG#1 or TV Game Unit #1, the device, when used with an alignment generator, produced a dot on the television screen that could be manually controlled by the user. Once Baer had established how it was possible to interact with the television set, he and his team were able to design and build increasingly sophisticated prototypes.

Sanders senior management were impressed with Baer’s progress and assigned him the task of turning this technology into a commercially viable product. After a few years and numerous test and advancements, Baer and his colleagues developed a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system, nicknamed the “Brown Box.” Sanders licensed the Brown Box to Magnavox, which released the device as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972.

With fewer than 200,000 units sold, Magnavox Odyssey was not considered a commercial success. Among the contributing factors, poor marketing played a large role. Many potential consumers were under the impression—sometimes encouraged by Magnavox salesmen—that Odyssey would only work on Magnavox televisions. Ultimately, the problem was that Magnavox saw Odyssey as a gimmick to sell more television sets. Executives at Magnavox lacked the vision to see that television games had the potential to become an independent industry, and did not give the product the support it needed.

Meanwhile, a creative young entrepreneur named Nolan Bushnell remembered playing Spacewar during his years as a student at the University of Utah. He began to think of ways that the game could be retailed. Bushnell had past experience with amusement park arcades and had witnessed firsthand the popularity of pinball machines. He believed that Spacewar would make a successful coin-operated machine.
...
"


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05 Jul 2022, 5:09 pm

In the UK everything was called a computer game as most people owned computers first. The cheap 8-bit ones.

We were exposed to American media where they called everything a video game, so that made its way into the vernacular.

Before that happened everything was either a computer game or a console game.

Back when we were all using 8-bit computers we were looking at the screenshots of console games with jealousy as graphical upgrades were huge steps back in those days, so console games were seen as something totally seperate.