The Great Debate

There is a major controversy over the effect of violent video games on the youth. There have been numerous studies on this yet there is no clear answer. In this blog I am going to go over both sides of this controversy.

Many people say that video games are having a negative effect on kids. Some studies show that children that tend to act more aggressively on the playground seem to be watching TV shows and playing video games that are violent. Lt. Col. David Grossman has said that a violent video game is a “murder simulator” that is training children to use weapons, that violent video game publishers are hardening children “emotionally to the act of murder by simulating killing of hundreds of thousands of opponents” in video games.

On the other hand, there have been studies that say that violent video games have little effect on children. A study done by the Secret Service showed that only “12% of those involved in school shootings were attracted to violent video games, while 24% read violent books and 27% were attracted to violent films”. Another study done by two researchers (Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson) from Harvard Medical School “found that playing video games did not have a particularly negative effect on” a research group of more than 1200 middle school children.

"Video game controversy." Wikipedia. 16 Dec. 2008. 16 Dec. 2008

Reflect and Reconsider

When I started my blog it was not about video games, it was about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs for short. I had to change topic because I could not find enough information about this topic to produce a good blog. I changed my topic from UAVs to military aircrafts. Yeah there was more information about military aircrafts but still not enough so I changed my topic a third time. This time I changed it to a topic that I already knew some information about, video games. Now I’m not a hardcore gamer, just a casual gamer but I still like playing all of the new games that keep coming out. Now it was just a matter of me actually doing the blog.

Even though I started this blog know quite a bit about video games, there was still a lot that I did not know. For example, that the very first home console released in was the Magnavox Odyssey and that the first console to use a CPU was the Fairchild Channel F. Both of these consoles are from the first generation of home consoles and right now we are on the seventh generation of consoles. These new consoles are the most advanced consoles that we have ever had. With the Xbox 360 using three 3.2 CPUs, the PS3 being the first console to use Blu-ray and the Wii to be the first console to use a motion sensitive controller. These consoles may be the most advanced that have ever been made but there will always be another console be made.

I know that more consoles will be made but I would like to know when they might be coming out and if the games from the previous consoles will be compatible with it. If a console will be made that supports games from multiple gaming consoles? With the next couple of blog I hope to answer these questions that I have.

Research and Report

There has been 7 generation of video game consoles consisting of 76 video game consoles.(1) Each console being a highly specialized computer for its generation. Every console has some components that are the same. Every console has a CPU, RAM, video outputs, audio outputs, power supply, software kernel (which is the console operating system), and a storage medium for games (which is the memory that you save your game on).(1)

The very first consoles didn’t have a CPU in them, but as newer console started to come out CPUs were a must. The first console released with a CPU was in 1976, The Fairchild Channel F.(2) It had a speed of 1.79 MHz.(2) Today the Microsoft Xbox 360 has three 3.2 GHz CPUs in it.(1) That’s 5491.8 times faster that the Fairchild Channel F’s CPU.

Like the CPU, RAM was not even in the first generation of video game consoles. The first console with RAM was the Bally Astrocade which was released in 1977-1978.(2) It had 4KB of RAM. (2) The Microsoft Xbox 360 has 512MB(1). In 1MB there are 1024KB that means that there is 524288KB of RAM in the Microsoft Xbox 360 today.

Of course every console had a video output or else you wouldn’t be able to play. In the very beginning games were played in black and white because the console could not support color yet. With today’s consoles everything is in color. The video output can even be in High Definition. First generation consoles didn’t have sound at the beginning. Now we have surround sound.

7 generations, 76 consoles, each generation more advanced than the previous. Starting out with no CPU at all, the Magnavox Odyssey released in 1972 (3), and now have with three 3.2GHz CPUs in one console, Microsoft Xbox 360 released in 2005. Console went from having two colors, black and white, to having and endless amount of color that can be played in High Definition.

Sources

1)Tyson, Jeff. "How Video Game Systems Work." 16 October 2000. HowStuffWorks.com. 17 October 2008.

2) XAdvance Web Publishing. "Video Game Consoles." Game Machines. 2008. 14 Oct. 2008 http://www.game-machines.com/consoles/>.

3) CompanyLongName. "Magnavox Odyssey." Computer Closet Collection. 17 Apr. 2003. 14 Oct. 2008 .

Survey and Summarize and Interpret

I made a survey about video games and gave it to 13 people. I asked them what gender they are, what age group they are in, if they owned a video game console (handheld or home console), when the last time they played video games, how much time per week they play, and if they play at their house or a friend’s house. Out of the 13 people that participated in this survey 6 were male and 7 were female. All of the participants were in high school or graduated from high school. Now I expected the guys who took the survey to say that they owned a console and that they played at least 3 hours per week and the girls to probably not own a console but occasionally play at a friend’s house once a week for maybe an hour.

From this survey that consisted of 13 people, 6 males and 7 females, I get the idea that gaming is no longer just for the guys any more. Out of 11 of the participants that owned a console or handheld console 5 of them were female and 6 were male. The other 2 that didn’t own a console were girls. Even though guys may play video games more than girls, girls still do play some games. The average boy played at least 1 hour of video games per week while the average girl played video games less than one hour. All of the girls played at a friend’s house even though 5 of them owned their own consoles, 5 out of the 6 boys play at their friend’s house with all 6 of them owning a console. 1 boy plays at his house and 1 of the boys that plays at a friend’s house also plays at his house.

This survey tells me that even though girls don’t play as much as boys they still play, that video games are not just for the guys any more. To expect more games for the casual video game player than for the hardcore gamer. A majority of the gaming population is still boys but to not be surprised when you run into a chick while playing online.

Website Review

The site that I reviewed is http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/index.html

This website is made by CNET Networks, Inc. a CBS Company in 2008. This website is an in depth history of video game. The site has a nice design to it, all of the facts are listed in order and there are links that can take you to a time period of about 2 to 4 where you can look up the information that you want to find. Anything that you want to know about the history of video games, not arcade games, is on this site. The history on this site is extremely accurate. From before Steve Russell made SpaceWars to the creation of the Sony Playstation 2, the Nintendo GameCube and the Microsoft Xbox. Everything related to video games is recorded on this website up to the year 2001.

This site is totally unbiased. It just states the facts about video game history. The site is credible because it is made by CBS, which is a credible company. The site doesn’t say when it was last updated but it is fairly new because it was created this year. Compared to the background blog that is on this blog all of the information was on this website. The source for the back ground blog was a CQ Researcher which is a credible and reliable source.

The site is easy to use and find information, but only on a certain time period of 2 to 4 years. It would have been nice if you could choose to look at the history of all the companies or the history of just one company. Other than that the sites setup is very nice and easy to use. The Links are in a bright green so that they are noticed by the reader.