A video game, also known as a computer game or just a game, is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device to generate visual feedback from a display device, most commonly shown in a video format on a television set, computer monitor, flat-panel display or touchscreen on handheld devices, or a virtual reality headset. Most modern video games are audiovisual, with audio complement delivered through speakers or headphones, and sometimes also with other types of sensory feedback. Some video games also allow microphone and webcam inputs for in-game chatting and livestreaming.
Pong is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released on 29 November 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, but Bushnell and Atari co-founder Ted Dabney were surprised by the quality of Alcorn's work and decided to manufacture the game. Bushnell based the game's concept on an electronic ping-pong game included in the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console. In response, Magnavox later sued Atari for patent infringement.
E3 was an annual trade event for the video game industry organized and presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It was held principally in Los Angeles from 1995 to 2019, with its final iteration held virtually in 2021. The event hosted developers, publishers, hardware manufacturers, and other industry professionals who used the occasion to introduce and advertise upcoming games, hardware, and merchandise to the press. During its existence, E3 was the world's largest and most prestigious annual gaming expo.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 adventure video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600 and based on the film of the same name. The game's objective is to guide the eponymous character through various screens to collect three pieces of an interplanetary telephone that will allow him to contact his home planet.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association, in response to criticism of controversial video games with excessively violent or sexual content, particularly after the 1993 congressional hearings following the releases of Mortal Kombat and Night Trap for home consoles and Doom for home computers. The industry, pressured with potential government oversight of video game ratings from these hearings, established both the IDSA and the ESRB within it to create a voluntary rating system based on the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system with additional considerations for video game interactivity.
The video game industry is the tertiary and quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the development, marketing, distribution, monetization and consumer feedback of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide.
Game Informer was an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game retailer FuncoLand started publishing an in-house newsletter. It was acquired by the retailer GameStop, which bought FuncoLand in 2000. Due to this, a large amount of promotion was done in-store, which contributed to the success of the magazine. As of June 2017, it was the fifth-most popular magazine by copies circulated.
In video games, censorship are efforts by an authority to limit access, censor content, or regulate video games or specific video games due to the nature of their content. Some countries will do this to protect younger audiences from inappropriate content using rating systems such as the ESRB rating system. Others will do this to censor any negative outlook on a nation's government.
GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. As of February 2024, the company operates 4,169 stores including 2,915 in the United States, 203 in Canada, 404 in Australia and 647 in Europe under the GameStop, EB Games, EB Games Australia, Micromania-Zing, ThinkGeek and Zing Pop Culture brands. The company was founded in Dallas in 1984 as Babbage's, and took on its current name in 1999.
EB Games was an American computer and video games retailer. First established as an American company in 1977 by James Kim with a single electronics-focused location in the King of Prussia mall near Philadelphia, the company later grew into an international corporation. EB Games's parent company, GameStop, has its headquarters in Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. When Electronics Boutique was an independent company, its headquarters was in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, near West Chester.
Game Retail Limited is a British video game retailer, owned by Frasers Group since June 2019.
Rakuten.co.uk is a website owned by Rakuten, that operated as an online marketplace until August 2016.
Circana, formerly known as IRI Worldwide and The NPD Group is an American market research and technology company. Its global headquarters is in Chicago, Illinois, USA. In 2017, NPD ranked as the 8th largest market research company in the world, according to the independent AMA Gold Report Top 50 report. The NPD Group operates in 20 countries, across more than 20 industries. The current name, Circana, was adopted in 2023 after the company's merger with IRI.
Monster Inc. is an American company that manufactures and markets about 6,000 products, but is best known for audio and video cables. It also produces speakers, headphones, power strips, mobile accessories and audio devices for automobiles. The company was founded by an audiophile and engineer, Noel Lee, in 1979 by experimenting with different ways to build audio cables. It grew by doing demonstrations to convince the industry that audio cables made a difference in audio quality and by establishing relationships with retailers that were attracted to the cable's profit margins.
Gameplanet was a video gaming website that provided news, reviews, previews, videos, and other information. It was the largest video gaming website in New Zealand. Gameplanet New Zealand despite having the same name with the biggest specialized videogame retailer in Mexico, has no connection to Gameplanet S.A.. Gameplanet nalso operated GP Forums, an online forum community site covering video games as well as various other topics.
GameCrazy was a video game retailer based in Wilsonville, Oregon. It was a subsidiary of Movie Gallery. The stores were often, but not always, located adjacent to Hollywood Video rental stores.
Gamereactor is a Nordic online media network covering video games in multiple languages and a former print magazines network. In 2013, it was "one of the biggest games publications in Europe" according to Develop.
EB Games Australia is an Australian video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. EB Games mainly sells video games, consoles, and accessories for Nintendo, PC, PlayStation and Xbox systems as well as merchandise related to pop culture/gaming.
The Netherlands' mainstream video games market, not taking into consideration the serious and casual games, is the sixth largest in Europe. In 2008, the Dutch market took up 3.95% of the entire European market in total sales and 4.19% in software sales.
FuncoLand was an American video game retailer based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, that specialized in selling new and used video game software. It is considered the first major video game retailer to allow consumers to sell and trade used video games. The chain's parent company Funco Inc. was established in the home of David R. Pomije in 1988, initially as a leaser of video games to video stores, and then as a mail-order business specializing in used video games. Upon the success of this venture, Pomije moved Funco to a Minneapolis warehouse, and began opening FuncoLand retail outlets nationwide.
