coin-operated arcade games and then as a source
of home computing technology—both general and
dedicated solely to gaming. By the end of the de-
cade, console games were a common platform, and
almost every personal computer in the world had at
least one game on it. Movies such asWar Gamesand
Tronreflected some of the fears and hopes for these
games in the 1980’s, from nuclear war to the ability
of an artificial intelligence to intervene in such a
scenario. At the same time, games drove many ad-
vances in technology, particularly in the areas of
video capability and processor speed. Much of the
drive to improve home computers and bring them
down in price was driven by the consumer demands
of gamers and the possibilities glimpsed by game de-
velopers. Demand for Internet connectivity was also
later shaped by its implications for gaming. As video
games became more sophisticated, they began to
participate in popular culture as a source of both en-
tertainment and narrative equal to film and televi-
sion. Indeed, by the early twenty-first century, the
game industry would earn more revenue annually
than the film industry in the United States.
Further Reading
Beck, John C.Got Game: How the Gamer Generation Is
Reshaping Business Forever. Boston: Harvard Busi-
ness School Press, 2004. Discusses video game-
facilitated knowledge acquisition and argues that
such knowledge exerts a transformative force on
the workplace.
Chaplin, Heather, and Aaron Ruby.Smartbomb: The
Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the
Videogame Revolution. New York: Algonquin Books,
- Discusses the corporations behind the vari-
ous games, as well as the more prominent players,
looking at tournaments and expositions for much
of the narrative.
Gee, James Paul.What Video Games Have to Teach Us
About Learning and Literacy. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2004. Demonstrates the intersections
of video game theory and educational theory
without oversimplifying either field.
Johnson, Steve.Ever ything Bad Is Good for You. New
York: Riverhead Books, 2005. Tests the theory
that influences such as video games are bad for
the mind and argues that such games require
more cognitive work than watching television.
Kent, Steven L.The Ultimate Histor y of Video Games:
From “Pong” to “Pokemon”—The Stor y Behind the
Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World.
New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001. Provides a
thorough and interesting overview of the history
of video games, including interviews with many of
the industry’s most important figures.
Poole, Steven.Trigger Happy: Video Games and the En-
tertainment Revolution. New York: Arcade, 2004. In-
cludes an exhaustive history of the game industry,
along with an analysis of types of games and their
varying appeals.
Prensky, Mark.Don’t Bother Me Mom—I’m Learning!
How Computer and Video Games Are Preparing Your
Kids for Twenty-First Centur y Success and How You
Can Help!St. Paul, Minn.: Paragon House, 2006.
Discusses the multitude of skills that children can
acquire through playing video games.
Takahashi, Dean.Opening the Xbox. San Francisco:
Prima Lifestyles, 2002. Provides insightful analy-
sis of the video game industry, focusing on Micro-
soft and the company’s entrance into the industry
with the Xbox console.
Cat RamboSee also Apple Computer; Computers; Hobbies
and recreation; Information age; Inventions;Pac-
Man; Science and technology; Toys and games; Vir-
tual reality.Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Identification U.S. war monument
Creators Envisioned by Jan Scruggs and designed
by Maya Ying Lin
Date Built in 1982
Place National Mall, Washington, D.C.Millions of people from around the globe would visit the
black granite memorial etched with the names of more than
fifty-eight thousand American militar y personnel who lost
their lives in the Vietnam War.The painful wounds inflicted on the United States by
its longest war were still fresh in 1979, when Vietnam
veteran Jan Scruggs and his wife, after viewing the
movieThe Deer Hunter(1979), decided to launch an
effort to honor Scruggs’s fallen comrades. Only four
years had passed since the collapse of South Vietnam
and the fall of Saigon. Scruggs once said of his own
service in that divisive conflict:1022 Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Eighties in America