Videogame in Class Survey

1) Videogames emerged from the culture of the "Cold War" - what does Henry Jenkins from MIT compare the period to in terms of a famous board game? BattleShip






2) a) Who was the inventor of the first Video game according to the documentary? William Higginbotham

b) What was the name of the game? Tennis for Two. 

3) Steve Russell is credited with the first true computer-based videogame (in terms of its use with the 1961 PDP1 mainframe computer) with SPACEWAR - what popular science fiction book series also influenced him? Doc's Smith's Lensman Series. 

4) What innovation did Steve Russell's SPACEWAR introduce in terms of input hardware? The joy stick was the hardware that was introduced thru the game SPACEWAR. 

5) a) In the anti-war and counterculture period of the 1960s and 1970s, what new home entertainment system let consumers finally control what was being seen on the home television? Ralph Baer created the first home console. 

b) b) Who was its inventor/developer? 

6) PONG emerged out of the counterculture spirit of the early 1970s - its natural home was what type of entertainment setting? restaurants/coffeeshops

7) Who does Nolan Bushnell say were generally best at playing the game? Women.

8) "Space Invaders" emerged in the late 1970s as the first game from Japan.
How did the TAITO production team intensify the emotion of the game using the four-note in-game music theme?
Intensify the music as the aliens get closer to the player. 9) Steve Moulder reflects that the first arcade games tended to result in the player's defeat. This he argues in turn reflected the view held by many designers during that time that war itself is defeatist. 

Has this view changed since that time? Do today's latest games still convey this sense? Why? Why not? (use your own words) No, mainly because times have changed and although you still lose in games it isn't a direct image of the times. Also not all games end in defeat most have an ending but reward you with defeating a boss or enemy that you encounter throughout the game. 

10) Have you ever played any of the games shown in this the first episode of "I, Videogame"? What was your memory of playing it? Where were you, when was it? Well I played Pac Man but the game had been out for years. I played it in an arcade but the era of arcades has been dead for years. I remember being very bad at the game but had a ton of fun failing. :)