The sound effects from the video game burst out of the speakers next to the television, while the extremely vivid graphics fill the screen. Nowadays it seems as if these characteristics are “the norm” to the mind of an avid gamer. But to look back at the first video game to the ones now; it is truly astonishing to see how far they’ve come.

The first ever interactive electronic game was invented by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann in 1947, called The Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device. The game was a missile simulator inspired by radar displays from World War II. However, there have been many debates over whether or not this should be considered the first video game, since there were many other games invented at the same time.

One of the better known “first video games” was Tennis for Two, an interactive computer game, invented by William Higinbotham in 1958.  Then throughout the 1980’s, video games started to become a lot more popular with the masses, and a lot of that publicity is thanks to games like Tetris, Frogger, and Pacman.

These games influenced inventors and engineers to one-up them, so in the 1990’s, a whole new wave of video games were processed. Some of the most popular games were Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, and Pokemon. These games are still being made today, just with newer developments, so the game makers obviously did a great job inventing those!

Today, the color, the sounds, the realism, and everything else about these games is absolutely incredible. Some of the most popular games of today include Call of Duty, The Walking Dead: The Game, and Just Dance 4. These games include some of the most life-like graphics and movements, which makes the evolution of these games so much more impressive.

Freshman Katelyn Pritchard said that the newer video games have amazed her and said “everything looks more real, and it’s [the games] more interactive, and the artwork and design is a lot better and everything looks more creative.”

For example, the Call of Duty games have improved their graphics each time a new game has been released by making the soldiers look more real, as well as their surroundings in the game. But besides that game alone, video games in general have improved all of their characteristics over the past few years.

Freshman Chris Kwait commented, “Anything that looks more real and life-like is an improvement to me.”

If a step is taken back, though, and the big picture is shown, the evolution itself is what has been so brilliant throughout the course of video games. Sophomore Bree Closs said, “All these new games lately have made me realize how much technology has been advancing so quickly, so the graphics are even better and there’s so much more to offer on them unlike before. But still, going back to the basics is just as fun.”

From any point, video games have been impressing mankind for decades now, and will continue to do so. And what I say to that is, the best is yet to come!