Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
In 2000, Red Storm was acquired by the larger game company Ubisoft. Com-
puter games may seem unimportant, but in fact they are often on the cutting edge
of computing and software technologies. The rendering engines for realistic back-
grounds have expanded from games to other forms of business such as animated
films.
Computer Games as a Major Industry
The computer-game business entirely depends on computers and
software and could not exist before they became widely used and
popular. Modern games have expanded from being played on com-
puters to operating on special game consoles such as the Nintendo
Wii and Microsoft Xbox, tablets, special handheld devices such as
Gameboy, and smartphones.
Some of the MMORPGs are played by hundreds or thousands
of participants, and the games operate 24 hours per day, seven days
per week. This is a new and interesting social phenomenon that
would not occur without computers, software, and the web. Com-
puter gaming has also created major new forms of software tech-
nology. Some game systems such as the Wii feature physical at-
tachments that resemble tennis rackets, golf clubs, and other sports
equipment. These allow fairly realistic simulations of actual sports.
There is some concern among psychologists and medical pro-
fessionals that violent computer games may lead to violence in
real life. There is also concern among medical professionals that
games may be somewhat addictive and that excessive computer-
game playing can lead to obesity and lack of muscle strength due
to passive physical posture with no exercise.
The sophistication of computer-game algorithms reached a new
high on May 11, 1997, when IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer beat
the world chess champion Gary Kasparov. The match was close,
but Kasparov apparently made a mistake during the opening moves
of game six. This was the first time a computer had beaten a world-
champion chess player. However, ordinary computer chess games
on personal computers play well enough to be tough competit-
ors for unranked amateur chess players and even for fairly serious
ranked players.
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