Videogame in-class survey

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1. Videogames emerged from the culture of the "Cold War" - what does Henry Jenkins from MIT compare the period to in terms of a famous board game?

Henry Jenkins compares this period to the game "Battleship."

2. Who was the inventor of the first Video game according to the documentary?

According to the documentary, the inventory of the first videogame was William Higginbotham. 

What was the name of the game?

The name of the game was "Tennis for Two."

3. Steve Russell is credited with the first true computer-based videogame (in terms of its use with the PDP100 mainframe computer) with SPACEWAR - what popular science fiction book series also influenced him?

Russell was influenced by the science fiction book series "First Lensman."

4. What innovation did Steve Russell's SPACEWAR introduce in terms of input hardware?

SPACEWAR introduced the innovation of the joystick.

5. When the USA was aflame with internal conflict in the 1960s and 1970s, what new home entertainment system let consumers finally control what was being seen on the home television?

The Magnavox let consumers control what was on their television.

Who was its inventor/developer?

Its inventor was Ralph Baer.

6. PONG emerged out of the counterculture spirit of the early 1970s - its natural home was what type of entertainment setting?

Its natural home was the bar/pubs.

Who does Nolan Bushnell say were generally best at playing the game?

Bushnell says women were best at playing the game.

7. "Space Invaders" emerged in the late 1970s as the first game from Japan.

How did the production team intensify the emotion of the game via the use of the four-note in-game theme?

The tempo of the theme would increase as the Space Invaders got closer to the bottom of the screen.

8. Steve Moulder reflects that the first arcade games tended to result in the player's defeat and that 'defeatism' in turn reflected the view by the designers that war itself is defeatist. Has this view changed since that time? Do today's latest games still convey this sense? Why? Why not? (use your own words)

No, most games today are designed for consumerism, and are thus built with the player's victory in mind. Creating games for players who desire defeat/loss is not exactly the most lucrative business practice.

9. Have you ever played any of the games shown in this the first episode of "I, Videogame"? What was your memory of playing it? Where were you, when was it?

I have played "Pac-Man." I was very young when I played it for the first time, and not very interested by it. The first game to ever truly capture me was "The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time." I remember being terrified upon walking into Hyrule Field for the first time.