Video Games Would Not Be The Same Without......

[Phillyman]

Finish the sentence below

Video games would not be the same without......

[Areala]

  Phillyman said:

Finish the sentence below

Video games would not be the same without......

I'll go for the obvious, then a not-so-obvious.

...Shigeru Miyamoto.

This man almost single-handedly revolutionized the way games were designed. Instead of having static screens where all the action took place, Miyamoto envisioned a world that encompassed more than just the monitor, that could be explored by moving left, right, up and down. He also introduced the gaming world to its most enduring and recognizable icon: Mario.

...Gunpei Yokoi.

What do "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night", the Game Gear, and Lara Croft have to do with Yokoi-san? Everything. Yokoi introduced the world to the concept of portable gaming with his Nintendo Game & Watch handhelds, then went on to design the Game Boy, which Sega immediately ripped off by creating the Game Gear. Yokoi introduced the world to the game design that spawned the original Metroid and every other sequel/spinoff that has utilized the action RPG idea of a side-scrolling 2D world where much of the map is unavailable until you have found the right item, design that is so common these days as to have its own portmanteau name: Metroidvania. And in Samus Aran, Yokoi gave us the first recognizable human female hero in video game history. Samus showed girls the world over that saving the universe wasn't strictly a male occupation and that women in games could do more than sit around waiting for male heroes to rescue them from bad guys. Without Samus, there's no Lara Croft, period.

*huggles*

Areala

[Phillyman]

Ok now I can answer.....

Cheat Codes!

Video Games would not be the same without being able to cheat! I love to fire up Grand Theft Auto and walk around with a Rocket Launcher blowing shit up. Contra? Would have never beat it with my friend when I was 11 without them. Finding a cheat code in a magazine was Epic back in the day. I always was confused as to how the magazines found out about these codes. I feel like cheats are going away these days though, damn achievements are making cheat codes go extinct....because the programmers cant be bother with writing code to disable achievements when the code is activated.....grrrrr

Seriously....UUDDLRLRBA!

[MacGruber]

Regarding the cheat codes, you are right. But did you thinked about the "game intensifiers", like GameGenie, PAR 1 and 2, Gold Finger, etc.? I tried thru emulators an they are incredible

Now, definitively videogames would not be the same without "gamepads/joysticks"

I don't know how the people play PC games without them; I hate to use the keyboard to play a game, so thats the main cause why I don't play PC games, instead (when its possible) I play their equivalent thru PS2.

The videogames were created intrinsically to be played through gamepads/joysticks, so I don't understand why many times the game developers don't include support for them.

[triverse]

I will go with the super obvious answer....

Ralph Baer and his inventions.  Seriously, we would probably be playing something else if it weren't for Mr. Baer's early breakthroughs in technology.

[Tony_32]

Also, don't forget Nolan Bushnell who did a lot to get games off big arcade machines and expensive computers to a comfortable place in people's homes.

[Data]

Mothers.

Mom says to her son Jake, "Okay Jake because you have been such a good boy, I will buy you your favorite game". With much enthusiasm and careful studying behind the glass cabinets Jake proclaims, "I have found the game I want. After hailing a Wal Mart employee mom uses her credit card to make the purchase. Jake can hardly wait to get home so he can be the first one on his block to play this new game that he decides to get a head start and read the instructions on the ride home.

If it were not for the hardcore gamers and the fans that pay retail prices for games, the market would shrink.

As for Joysticks and gamepads versus the keyboard, there is a large selection of games I would rather use a keyboard and mouse. Obviously PC games like Sim City and First Person Shooters require the use of a keyboard and mouse but it is so much better to play Diablo with a keyboard and mouse. You need to program your number keys for selecting magics and items on the run or die unnecessarily.

4 bit and all the way up to first generation Playstation games can be played easily with a keyboard and with a little dexterity and practice you can perform Ryu's fireball as easily as if you had a control pad, although in that case I would still prefer a joystick or a game pad.

Atari, NES, Genesis, Turbographx 16 were made for the keyboard in my opinion.

[Tony_32]

  Quote

Atari, NES, Genesis, Turbographx 16 were made for the keyboard in my opinion.

Blasphemy.

[bombatomba]

Video games would not be the same without......

timelimits.

I was only allowed to play games for an hour a time, about once a day. While not as bad as it sounds (I used to play tons of games at a friends house), try playing through Final Fantasy in one hour bites. Not that much fun.

[Phillyman]

  bombatomba said:

Video games would not be the same without......

timelimits.

I was only allowed to play games for an hour a time, about once a day. While not as bad as it sounds (I used to play tons of games at a friends house), try playing through Final Fantasy in one hour bites. Not that much fun.

It worked pretty good in Super Mario Bros 2

[Areala]

...Hot Coffee.

Because, really, would it be the same if we didn't have Jack Thompson to make fun of every now and then when he files one of his patently absurd lawsuits about how video games are tearing apart the fabric of society?

Actually, we can go one step further and say:

...Night Trap and Mortal Kombat. These two games were effectively responsible for the creation of the modern-day ESRB.

*huggles*

Areala