| The
first computer game, SpaceWar, was invented by Steve
Russell in 1962. By the mid-1960s, it was installed on
virtually all research computers in US universities. Remember PacMan
or Tetris? How about Space Invaders? From black and
white, crude pixelated graphics, computer games have
evolved to sophisticated animation and storylines. Think
Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy VIII. Game development is
serious business and sometimes technology developed for
games has moved on to more worthy uses such as medical
imaging.
Where
game machines used to be those dinky Game&Watch in
the 1980s, the latest PlayStation2 uses enough chip power
to warrant it being restricted in sale to "hostile''
countries like Iraq. No matter, according to some news
reports, Iraq is buying Playstations for its chips
anyway--for missile guidance systems. Puts a new spin to
the term War Games.
|
