Part of the Chalk Talk again this time based on Gaming VS Culture, things have totally changed since now and back around the late 80's and early 90's for most gamers who have lived through various generations on gaming.

During the times before the NES was released back in 1985, most people would head to their nearest arcade's or unless you had an Atari back then. Most kids and adults didn't really play many games around those times even from what I heard from my parents all they played were games like Space Invaders, PONG and Pac-Man. Around 1985 gaming became a huge thing when the NES was released throughout the world.

"Where the magic began, with a simple theme that would become a hit"

Games like Super Mario Bros, nearly every kid had one of theses in their homes and with the basic gameplay control even adults like myself would have fun playing Mario Bros. It wasn't long when the SEGA Genesis/Megadrive was released; the first time I got into was playing Sonic the Hedgehog which I still love from this very day. Had the same basic gameplay mechanics as Mario did but with 16bit graphics used instead. Slowly after the Gameboy was a huge piece of history for the handheld where nearly every single person could easily get addictive to Tetris-

You can't really say no when it comes to Tetris. During the 90's the Playstation and Nintendo 64 were released and their line up on games was huge. Around those games they were multiple type games from Platformer, Shooter, driving, RPG or even Action-Adventure. Most people I've met and friends I've made all have had different taste and opinions on what are their favourite games. During years after 2000 we've had the Playstation 2, Xbox, and Cube; and they also had a great line up on games, but its sales were totally different when it comes to sales across various countries around the world.

"Yes people do still play Monster Hunter over in Japan"

For example in Japan the PSP was released back in 2004 for them and since then it is still the number 1 best-selling system, they are into anything that would be RPG related like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, even games based off Anime shows or Manga would also be huge across there. The Monster Hunter series has made a huge impact for the PSP on its sales alone and nearly every single person in Japan would own one along with Monster Hunter where you can hunt or alone or play up to 2-4 players on Co-Op which can be a lot of fun for most gamers.

"Surely they must run out of ideas by now"

Elsewhere like America and various parts of Europe, things are totally different here instead of Japan. Where hard-core games with lots of Action and Violence like Call of Duty which has made a huge impact on the sales nearly every year and making it appear at number 1 on the sales. Even consoles like the Xbox 360 would be on top of sales charts. The strongest point about games like these would be its multiplayer where it can get really competitive online when playing against other players. This can be quite serious or fun for others if they want to have a good time playing online when it comes to games based on shooters, sports or even racing games.

"Weeeee!!!, you mean Nintendo Wiiiiii!!!!"

Back in 2006 the Nintendo Wii has played a huge impact on the gaming world, its in almost every family home if you've got young siblings who are starting to get into gaming or having friends or family around for Christmas or even Birthday parties the Wii has had a good variety on family-friendly games. I've met a few people who are not into gaming but they would simply enjoy a simple game of Wii-Bowling or Just Dance they would get easily hooked onto a game straight away and can have as much fun as a normal gamer.

"Have you heard, that the bird is the word?"

Do you remember owning a mobile phone like a 3210? Games from the mobile phone have changed since the late 80's and 90's where the only games that were yet simple and basic like SNAKE were the only games that you could play. And now there's games like Angry Birds which was first released on the i-Phone and that does have simple gaming task by tossing birds to smash blocks and getting rid of green pigs. As of now Angry Birds is now on almost every console including Google Chrome on your internet, I can see why almost anyone can get addictive to something simple like this within the first half an hour.

Apart from Gaming being fun for everyone, its also played a huge impact on everyone lives for its outstanding art, music, and culture. There have been midnight launches on various games and consoles throughout the years and online games have also made a huge impact on systems like PC with stuff like World of Warcraft.

"The suspect is you!!"- Professor Layton

For games like Pokémon and Final Fantasy has played a good impact across world on both gaming and anime where people would actually dress-up as those characters from various video-games for stuff like Halloween or for big gaming events like E3 and Tokyo Game Show. Even people like me have dressed as a video-game character at least once and it has been a fun thing to do, where I've met and made friends along the way and like the same stuff like you.

Like I said gamings has pretty much been a huge influence on us all and have also been made into books and movies as well. Charities have been a good idea too where gamers would have a marathon or a speed-run to raise money for charity which has helped everyone and plus makes you feel good about yourself.

Hope you've enjoyed reading my blog and has hoped helped you on why gaming can be fun for all.