Advancement of video games Essay Example for Free

Advancement of video games Essay In this paper I will show and explain how the advancement of video games consoles has changed Humanity in more ways than one. I will show how the inventors started their Empires by selling plain, simple playing cards all the way to online gaming linked all around the world. How Nintendo and Atari started as two of the giants in the gaming world and then how Nintendo almost died out when Sega came out with their console. I will also explain how the video game mindset changed overtime and evolved into something worldwide. Hanafuda (President) was the name of the very first 52 deck set of playing cards sold by Fusajiro Yamauchi and his Nintendo Koppai. Fusajiro had a bigger plan and dream. This lead to the first Beam Gun made by Nintendo in 1969 (See PIC. 1) A new employee to the company by the name of Gunpei was told that he should â€Å"Do something new† for Nintendo as the Christmas season was swiftly approaching. Within a few short days, Gunpei introduced the Ultra Hand which was an arm toy. This sold a whopping 1. 2 million copies. (Unknown Author, 2011) The Beam Gun was an Opto-Electronics and was the first of its kind. This was the beginning of Video Game Consoles. (Moby Games, 1999-2012) Even though the Beam Gun was a major success, the official â€Å"Video Game Craze† would not kick off until 1975, when Nintendo signed a contract to work alongside Mitsubishi and produce the first known Cabinet Micro-Computers also known as Arcade Systems. (Moby Games, 1999-2012) Around this same time two friend’s names Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney would also create their own version of a coin-operated arcade cabinet with a space like theme and called it Computer Space. Both Bushnell and Dabney would become Co-Founders of the Atari Company, Nintendo’s first biggest competition. With all the success of Nintendo, a second known Video Arcade company would step up to challenge Nintendo in sales. This company was Atari Co. Atari’s first break-through was signing a deal with Sears Roebuck Co. and having their â€Å"Atari Pong† featured in Sears Roebuck’s catalog. (See Pic2) The Atari Pong went on to sell over 150,000 units. This set the way for Atari’s most known and most popular creation, The Atari 2600. (Unknown, 2011) The Atari 2600 was released just before the Christmas season of 1977 at $199. 99. The Atari 2600 was the first console that introduced Pac-Man and went on to sell well over 30 million units before being discontinued in 1992. While Atari had the 2600 with Pac-Man to play on it, this pair was pretty much the â€Å"match made in heaven† but Nintendo didn’t cross their hands and let Atari win over the industry they created. Nintendo introduced the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System, see PIC. 4) The NES was released in July of 1983 and featured classic games such as Zelda, Tetris, Donkey Kong and the most popular game of them all, Mario Bros. Nintendo showed to be the stronger of the two as the NES went on to sell over 61 million units before Nintendo discontinued the system with the release of the Super Nintendo which was a 16bit unit as to the NES which was an 8bit unit. These two companies would be the only two standing video game companies until Sega Genesis came out in the early 90’s and promised to give Nintendo a good challenge. Sega came out with a bigger marketing scheme and also, a much faster system. By this time, more than 800,000 Nintendo NES units were sold worldwide making it difficult for any company to come anywhere near Nintendo’s sales numbers and simultaneously get the consumer to spend another $150 on a new console that had faster graphics and more life-like sports games. Sega spent a lot of money marketing their Sega Genesis system by bashing on Nintendo’s graphics. Sega Genesis made several commercials and a slogan stating â€Å"Sega does what NintenDON’T† (here is a link to one of the commercials, http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=zlulSyBI2aY). By the early 2000’s Sega had developed a system that connected to the internet. This would be the beginning to a whole new gaming world. (Unknown, 2007) Sega invented the Sega Dreamcast which had the feature of being able to log online from your console. This was great at first until consumers noticed that the unit kept crashing and slowing down while online. This was never corrected by Sega which lead to the downfall of the Dream Cast system. Nintendo and Sega would stay at the forefront in the gaming industry until Sony decided to invest into the â€Å"Gamers world† creating the first ever Sony Playstation in 1994 (See PIC6). Sony had perfected what the Dreamcast lacked in and featured faster online game play and up to 4 jacks for 4 player gaming. Sony decided to release the Playstation 2(See PIC7). I personally remember this system because at the time of its release in November, 2000. I was working for Montgomery Wards. The night before it was scheduled to hit shelves nationwide, there was people camping outside to be the first to buy the Sony Playstation. I remember stopping and staring for a while as hundreds of people lined up with camp tents and blankets to keep them warm on a freezing cold Chicago night just to be the first to purchase this Sony sequel to a very successful Playstation system. The PS2 went on to sell well over 154 million systems worldwide making it the most popular gaming unit and taking the historic sales that the NES had produced from the 80’s and early 90’s. I highly doubt that Mr. Fusajiro Yamauchi would have ever thought that his company would go from selling plain old playing cards to a gaming world never thought possible. Lets forward to 2012. To this date there are three major consoles out in the market. The PS3 made by Sony playstation, the X-BOX 360 made by Microsoft and the Nintendo WII (See PIC8, 910). The features on these units are incredible. For example, the PS3 has an integrated blu-ray reader so you can play your blu-ray, DVD and CD’s on the PS3 console. Both the PS3 and X-Box 360 have online gaming where the player can actually login online and play a game with someone on the other side of the planet. There are headsets where you can listen and speak to other gamers from anywhere in the world. The PS3 and Nintendo WII have taken it one step further. On these two consoles you can now download Netflix and watch an unlimited number of movies straight from your console. In this essay I have shown and explained the advancements of video game consoles and how they changed Humanity in more ways than one. In my opinion the advancements of Game Consoles have been a perfect example on how we as people progress and improve over time. Anything we did 20 or 30 years ago cannot compare to what we have now. We can be talking about cars, buildings, computers, the way we communicated from mail to email to facebook and video gaming is no exception to these constant improvements and progress. PIC. 1 this was the Beam Gun created by Nintendo PIC. 2. This was the Atari Pong featured in Sears Roebuck Co. Catalog PIC. 3. Atari’s biggest creation, the 2600. PIC4. Nintendo’s NES system PIC5. Sega Genesis Console. PIC6. Sony Playstation PIC7. Sony Playstation 2 PIC8. Microsoft X-BOX 360 PIC9. Sony PS3 PIC10. Nintendo WII Video Game Consoles Annotated Bibliography Unknown Author, 2011). The History of Nijtendo: 1960-1970. http://www. snesclassics. com/history/nintendo. php This article explains a history on how Gunpei designed Nintendo’s first hand held video game and opened the door to a new concept for the Nintendo Company. Moby Games (1999-2012). The fall of Nintendo: Nintendo’s Beginnings. http://www. mobygames. com/featured_article/feature,15/section,129/ : This article provides information on the beginnings of what eventually would become the largest manufacturer of Video game consoles, Nintendo Co. It explains how Fusajiro Yamauchi, began the company in a small town in Japan. The company manufactured playing cards known as Hanafuda. This was a 52 deck set of Japanese playing cards. The article explains how the company evolved from playing cards to manufacturing a system called the Beam Gun Series which used opto-electronics in 1969. In 1975 Nintendo signed a contract with Mitsubishi to produce the first ever electronic video recorder (EVR). This evolved into the cabinet micro-computers also known as coin operated arcade games in the 1970’s and kicked off the arcade game craze. Unknown Author(2011). Video Computer System: Atari 2600. http://www. atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/2600menu/2600menu. htm : This article explains how Atari’s first home video game console, the Atari 2600 was developed and sold in 1977. The initial selling price was $199. 99 which was a lot of money back in the 70’s. IT also explains how a merger with Nintendo was about to happen until Ray Kassar, Atari’s CEO was let go. This made Nintendo change their mind and went on to produce their console solo. Unknown Author (2011). Atari Consoles: Atari Pong. http://www. atarimuseum. com/videogames/dedicated/homepong. html : The Atari Pong was very popular in bar scene during the early 70’s. Atari arcade engineer Bob Brown designed a home version of Pong and got Sears Roebuck Co. to add it into their catalog. Sears was hoping to sell 50,000 units by Christmas of 1977 and ended up moving 150,000 units. Unknown Author (2007). Sega Genesis: Where were you when the 1980’s were about to end? http://www. digitpress. com/systems/genesis. htm : This article is great because it explains how the feeling was around the time when Sega Genesis came into the market to give Nintendo a run for their money with the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog and slogans such as â€Å"Sega does what Nintendon’t†.

Causes Of World War I :: Papers

Causes Of World War I There were many reasons for the beginning of World War 1. Both small and large events contributed to war and it was impossible to control the situation in anyway. Tension was a very large contributor to war. Also there was the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which sparked major issues between Austria and Serbia. No one really understood the reason for the beginning of war or why the countries were fighting. In some cases, you could say that no one was to blame and that war was inevitable. In 1904, an alliance was signed between Britain and France and few years later, Russia, too, joined the alliance. This was to be known as the Triple Entente. Ten years later, the six larger countries had been divided into two alliances. Germany, Austria- Hungary and Italy had formed the Triple Alliance. There were many predominant tensions between specific countries such as Britain- Germany, Russia- Germany, and France- Germany. Germany was a main source of tension between the two alliances due to the arms build up and the strength of Germany as a single power. Within the alliances, each member was made to promise that if an ally was ever in trouble, that they would always help that particular country and help. There were many tensions between people and there wasn't much trust at all. When Germany took the important industrial area of Alsace-Lorraine France in 1871, France showed resentment towards Germany and was trying to form an ally with someone to finally get revenge on Germany. And in 1894 this occurred and France formed an alliance with Russia. France was determined to get revenge on Germany and rightfully get back their land of Alsace-Lorraine. Kaiser Wilhelm 2nd, had always wanted Germany to be a strong power like Britain, but he wanted more power than the British. The German leaders were worried because of the positioning of the two powers in the Triple Alliance. France and Russia were either side of Germany and this was known as 'encirclement'.

Discuss Pinters dramatic presentation of Ruth in The Homecoming

Surrealistically representing the pugilistic life of a pack of ‘Hackney predators', Pinter portrays the mounting conflict within the tribe as each male fights for the Alfa position, with the reward of the lone female, Ruth. Embroidered with elaborately hidden meanings, pregnant pauses and ellipses, this play strips the characters of the outside shell of etiquette and politesse associated with society and left with only language as an attempt to cover the nakedness of their animalistic cores. These characteristics are recognized through the ‘Pinteresque' themes of nameless menace, erotic fantasy, obsession and jealousy, family hatred, and mental disturbance. The plot follows the course of Teddy returning home with his wife, Ruth, and her journey in to ‘take on' the pack and eventually take over the role of Queen Bee. During the course of the drama, she exacts her revenge on Teddy in leaving him for his family of sexually screwed up ‘butchers'. Teddy and Ruth's arrival from America is symbolically representative of Teddy's homecoming after nine years away. He returns married with a ‘Doctorship of Philosophy' and supposedly father of three sons, although later questioned by Max, ‘all yours, Ted?', suggesting Ruth is, as ever, unfaithful and a prostitute. ‘Are you tired?' this passage opens with the estranged couple struggling to find coherence with the blatant discord, ‘No'. Ruth's replies are cold, quasi-monosyllabic and detached, perhaps in an attempt to undermine Teddy's ascension to authority as he blatantly refuses to listen and orders her around: ‘Go to bed. I'll show you the room' shows the reader that ultimately, Ruth's opinions are irrelevant as the subordinate member in a marriage. Like Joey is to Lenny, Teddy sees Ruth as merely an appendage, thus his patronizing condescendence, ‘You can help me with my lectures when we get back'. Teddy's long speeches reveal him as nervous despite his seeming attempts to reassure Ruth : ‘You'll be perfectly all right up there without me.' He uses excessive language to cover his vulnerability in face of the confident and controlling Ruth, whose short, sharp syntax displays her self-assured disposition. Similarly, Max and Lenny, who appear to feel her authority also go off into long, pre-rehearsed monologues, for example Lenny's encounter with ‘a certain lady' ‘with a certain proposal' ‘one night, not too long ago'. Ruth's presence evokes ambiguous emotions within Teddy's family: alternately revered and rebuked, she is perceived as both the absent mother-figure (Jessie) : ‘make the beds', ‘do the cooking', ‘scrub the place out a bit', ‘keep everyone company', and as a sexual object ‘in a dress in pale corded blue silk, heavily encrusted in pearls' and ‘pantaloons in lilac flowered taffeta'. Significantly mentioning the structure of the house, Pinter reminds the reader and the audience of the boneless, spineless family, now that Jessie, ‘the backbone' has died. Teddy, who wants to ‘stay up for a bit' and ‘walk about', provokes sub-textual connotations of the returning male reassuming his dominance as eldest son and marking his territory. However, giving Ruth the house key, having his cigar go out and going to bed prior to Ruth culminates into his eventual emasculation and loss of power among his brothers. Subtextually, Teddy's ‘You†¦need some rest, you know' is ambivalent in expressing Ruth's mental instability, or that Teddy is sending her away for doing something he doesn't approve of. The audience might relate this with ‘she's a very popular woman, she's got lots of friends', once again suggests Ruth's involvement with prostitution as a ‘photographic model for the body'. Stifled in her relationship with a British academic, Ruth's, ‘I think I'll have a breath of air' and ‘just a stroll' suggests she's out and about and ‘on the Game' even before Max and Lenny agree to sponsor her. Quintessentially, Ruth's confrontation with Lenny opens her ascension to power. If language is an attempt to cover nakedness, Ruth's short, direct syntax show her to be in a position of power over Lenny. Not dissimilar to courting males in the animal kingdom trying to hide their vulnerabilities from the females with bright colours or confrontational battles, Max and Lenny use long and decorously embroidered renditions of what have happened previously to appear intelligent and dominating. And yet, Lenny still seeks his absent mother, ‘Do you mind if I hold your hand?'. Psychoanalytically, Pinter portrays the mental decay of his characters as Lenny oscillates between the maternal craving and desire to punish women with ‘a belt in the nose and a couple of turns of the boot.' He expresses his assumed dominance in stating ‘I decided she was', referring to the irrelevance of whether or not the prostitute was diseased, but rather that his word_as a pimp and ‘escort'_is law. Even so, Ruth overrides his authority, threatening, ‘if you take the glass, I'll take you'. Proposals such as ‘sit on my lap' and ‘lie on the floor' have significantly provocative innuendoes, versus the maternal figure naming Lenny, ‘Leonard'. Pinter's intricate depiction of Ruth is her reminiscent, contemplative nature. She cunningly employs frequent ellipses ‘†¦' as a time of careful planning to put the angle of vision on her in a positive light. ‘I†¦move my leg', ‘I wear†¦underwear†¦which moves with me†¦it†¦captures your attention'. Employing this teasing, provocative language register, Ruth enacts a wordy striptease, seducing the men around her and putting herself in the spotlight. She describes America as ‘all rock. And sand', portentous of the ‘arid scimitar' in To the Lighthouse, while the ‘insects' metaphorically refers to her popularity amongst her ‘friends'. ‘once or twice †¦ cold buffet' insinuates Ruth is a high-class prostitute. Contrastingly with Max's diction, Ruth's language register is not full of expletives but rather strategically thought out. She applies legal diction to decide the conditions of her contract with Teddy's family: ‘All aspects of the agreement and conditions of employment would have to be clarified to our mutual satisfaction before we finalized to contract', showing she is able to take care of herself as an individual and will not let the ‘butchers' exploit her. This independence helps her stand out even more prominently than Teddy in all his aloofness, as she rises to position of Queen and orders Lenny , ‘I'd like something to eat', ‘I'd like a drink'. In noting how Lenny does not reject the subordinate role to Ruth, the reader might suspect he enjoys being told what to do by a woman and thus deduce that Pinter's own fantasies play a significant part in the play. He models Ruth on his wife, Vivien, embodying her as both saint and sinner, contrasting maternal and temptress. Biblically, Ruth, symbolic of ‘pity' but also a Moabite widow who left her own people to live with her mother-in-law Naomi. All assets of femininity are sewn into one character, exposing her to the male's sex drive and simultaneous desire for a mother presence. Ultimately, Pinter's presentation of Ruth significantly exposes her as the model female, simultaneously dominate and subordinate, maternal and temptress. Through his pack of Hackney predators, he depicts her as a tool for sexual enjoyment but the eventual Queen Bee with Joey ‘kneeling at her chair' in the final, still-life portrait.

Using the Spanish Verb Pensar

Pensar typically means to think, but it is not always used in the same way as the English verb. Most significantly, the words that follow pensar might not be the ones you would expect. Keep in mind that pensar is conjugated irregularly. When the stem pens- is stressed, it becomes piens-. Thus, the present indicative forms are pienso (I think), piensas (you think), piensa (he/she/you think), pensamos (we think), pensà ¡is (you think), piensan (they/you think). Here are the main uses of pensar: Using Pensar by Itself Most frequently, pensar, when used by itself, is the equivalent of to think. Pienso, luego existo. (I think, therefore I am.)No pienso mal de ellos. (I dont think bad of them.)El que piensa demasiado siente poco. (The one who thinks too much feels little.) Using Pensar Que Pensar que is a very common way of indicating opinions or beliefs. It often is translated appropriately as to believe rather than to think. In the positive form, it is followed by a verb in the indicative mood. Note that while que in this usage usually can be translated to English as that, it often can be left untranslated, as in third and fourth examples. Pienso que vivo como un cerdo. (I think that I live like a pig.)Mi madre piensa que el doctor es culpable. (My mother believes that the doctor is at fault.)No quiero pensar que me equivoquà ©. (I dont want to believe I made a mistake.)Tambià ©n pensà ¡bamos que la recuperacià ³n econà ³mica iba a ser mà ¡s rà ¡pida. (We also used to believe the economic recovery was going to be quicker.) When used negatively, no pensar que is followed in standard Spanish by a verb in the subjunctive mood. It is not unusual, however, to heard the indicative mood used in casual Spanish. No pienso que seamos diferentes. (I dont believe we are different.)No pensà ¡bamos que fueran a darnos problemas. (We didnt think they were going to give us any problems.)Mis amigos no piensan que yo tenga mà ¡s de 21 aà ±os. (My friends dont believe Im more than 21 years old.) Using Pensar De Pensar de is another way to say to have an opinion about. Esto es lo que pienso de tu regalo. (This is what I think about your gift.)Tenemos que cambiar de lo que pensamos de nosotros mismos. (We need to change what we think about ourselves.)Ya he indicado antes lo que pienso de la clase. (I have already indicated what I think about the class.)No es bueno preocuparse por lo que los otros piensan de usted. (It isnt good to worry yourself about what others think about about you.) Pensar sobre can also mean to have an opinion about, especially when used in a question. Pensar de is more common.  ¿Quà © piensas sobre la nueva web? (What do you think about the new web site?) ¿Quà © piensan sobre los ataques suicidas como instrumento tà ¡ctico para ser utilizado en una guerra? (What do they think about suicide attacks as a tactical instrument to be used in a war?) Using Pensar En When followed by en, pensar typically means to think about in the sense of having ones thoughts focus on something. Note that this isnt the same as using to think about in the sense of having an opinion. Estoy pensando en ti. (Im thinking about you.)Pablo no piensa en los riesgos. (Paul doesnt think about the risks.)Las chicas sà ³lo piensan en divertirse. (The girls think only about having fun.)Nadie piensa en cambiar las baterà ­as. (Nobody thinks about changing the batteries.) Pensar sobre can mean basically the same thing as pensar en but is much less common and is probably overused by English speakers speaking Spanish as a second language or when translating from English to Spanish. Pienso sobre eso dà ­a y noche. (I think about it day and night.)Primero hacen y luego piensan sobre ello. (First they acted, and then they thought about it.) Following Pensar With an Infinitive When followed by an infinitive, pensar is used to indicate plans or intentions. Pensamos salir maà ±ana. (Were intending to leave tomorrow.)Yo pienso estudiar medicina de veterinaria en la universidad. (Im planning on studying veterinary medicine at the university.)Pensaron salir de Venezuela, pero decidieron permanecer. (The were planning to leave Venezuela, but they stayed.)