Portal:Video games

Culture · Geography · Health · History · Mathematics · Nature · Philosophy · Religion · Society · Technology

edit

Video games Portal

A video game (or videogame) is a game that typically involves user/player interaction with a controller interface to generate visual feedback on a video screen. It generally has some system of reward presented to the user in return for meeting certain accomplishments within the framework of a given ruleset.

The various types of electronic devices that video games are played on are known as platforms. Examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. Video games also exist across a full range of technology ranging from large computers such as mainframes down to smaller hand-held devices (like cell phones and PDAs). There are very specialized video games such as arcade games, which while extremely common at one point have seen their use decline over the years. Many players identify their platform of choice as a distinct form of video gaming apart from the rest. The main separations between the many platforms within a generation are interface options, and the level of social interaction inherent to the majority of games found them. The quantitative value of these separations has shifted over the years.

Video games are generally manipulated by a control interface of some sort, and these vary across all platforms. For instance, a dedicated console controller might consist of only a button and a joystick or a dozen buttons and one or more joysticks all on the same controller. Early computer based games historically relied on the availability of a keyboard for gameplay, or more commonly expected the user to purchase a separate joystick with at least one button to play. Many modern PC games allow the player to use a keyboard and mouse simultaneously.

Beyond the common element of video based feedback, video games have also utilized many other systems to provide interaction and information to a player. Chief examples of these include various audio playback devices (speakers) and an array of interactive peripherals (i.e., vibration or force feedback).

Show another featured article (list)

edit

Featured article

Shadow of the Colossus (ワンダと巨像, Wanda to Kyozō?, lit. "Wander and the Colossus"), is a Japanese-developed action-adventure video game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI) for the PlayStation 2. Published internationally by Sony, it was released in North America and Japan in October 2005, and was subsequently released in PAL territories in February 2006. The game was created by SCEI's International Production Studio 1, the same development team responsible for the cult-hit Ico. Well received by critics, Shadow of the Colossus holds an average score of 91% from both Game Rankings and Metacritic.

The game focuses on "Wander", a young man who must travel across a vast expanse on horseback and defeat sixteen giant beings called "colossi" to restore the life of a sacrificed girl. The game is unusual among the action-adventure genre in that there are no towns or dungeons to explore, no characters with which to interact, and no enemies to defeat other than the colossi. Shadow of the Colossus has been described as a puzzle game, as each colossus has a weakness which must be identified and exploited to defeat the boss.

edit