Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles Here's a brand new idea from the United States which can turn your television set into a game that two can play. You ready, Jen? Play. Pong, first released in 1972, was as simple as a game can possibly be. Two white rectangles batting a square ball back and forward as players attempted to win points off each other. It tested reflexes and nerves and introduced an exciting new medium to millions. Most importantly, it turned pal against pal or sibling against sibling in a spot of friendly or fierce competition. That's something the gaming industry is still doing to the delight of millions to this day. Video games have come a long way since Pong though. Your mother thinks you ought to be spending more time at your homework. What do you think about that? Undoubtably, yes. This old stereotype of gamers being isolated loners is quite frankly boring and outdated. Video games have long since come out of the bedroom and into the world. Shared and celebrated by fans and communities across the globe. Here are six more of the iconic titles that helped make that happen. Around five years after Pong Space Invaders was launched, bringing with it more colours, more sophisticated music and a distinctive plot and mood. While sceptics dismissed Pong as a passing novelty Space Invaders proved that video games were not only here to stay but they were a massive and extremely profitable global industry. And the little pixelated enemies are still used to this day as an icon of video games as a whole. Waka-waka-ing his way onto the scene in 1980, Pac-man was arguably video gaming's first real character. Urban legend states that his shape was inspired by a pizza minus a couple of slices. Pac-man tried something different. In it you had to use your wits and strategically evade enemies until you were strong enough to chase them down instead. Pac-man quickly became a pop culture phenomenon featuring on t-shirts, ties, glasses, bags, balloons, board games, books, caps and any other merchandise that sat around in one spot for too long. Of all the video game characters to grace our consoles over the years, none have made an impact quite like Mario. The side-scrolling platform game featured a plumber trying to rescue a princess from a fire-breathing turtle and a labyrinth of pipes and platforms to traverse while avoiding razor-toothed plants and even odder-looking mushrooms. And so of course it captured gamers' hearts and became one of the fastest-selling video games of all time. Tomb Raider was the butt-kicking, action-adventure game that sold PlayStation consoles by the bucketload and introduced the world to fictional archaeologist/treasure hunter Lara Croft. As one of the first ever notable female game protagonists Lara's Launch in 1996 had already caused a media sensation. If Pac-man was gaming's first ever character and Mario its first mascot, Lara Croft was its first icon. Now you could argue that Lara is really more a source of male titillation than female empowerment but she was one of the first playable women I remember seeing in a video game and that representation really mattered. World of Warcraft, launched in 2004, still stands as one of the biggest massively multiplayer online role playing games of all time. Players could create an avatar, assign them a class, race and skills and then send them out into the world of Azeroth to explore, complete quests and meet with other player characters. In its prime, the game had more than 100 million registered users. World of Warcraft played a huge role in legitimising multiplayer gaming for the masses. And I should know, I spent six years on it. Minecraft is an open world game that lets players build, create and alter environments by making, placing and destroying blocks. It's been extremely popular with children and academics alike due to its incredible scope for creating physics and logic-based puzzles and to scale replicas of everything from the Starship Enterprise to the British Isles. A large part of its popularity is that it's an incredibly social game with a litany of devoted fans who work together to build entire worlds out of little coloured blocks. Of course, there were many other titles that changed the world over gaming's long and lustrous history. In the last decade the rise of indie games, esports and mobile games have changed the gaming landscape again, as players themselves diversify and look for new experiences they can share with other players. Fans have known this for a long time that video games aren't just games - they're art, they're fun, they're beautiful. They can amaze, delight, teach, empathise, empower. They're a huge part of our culture and they're here to change the world. Thanks for watching! :) Don't forget to subscribe and click the bell to receive notifications for new videos. See you again soon!
B2 gaming pong pac man lara world croft Seven video games that changed the world | BBC Ideas 8 1 Summer posted on 2020/04/23 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary