Just Dance, New Super Mario Bros. and Wii Fit were all top contenders for the space, as well.

His remarks shocked Hiroshi Kawano, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan who expressed respect for Kojima, but seemed confused by the remarks. To Kokima’s way of thinking, the future lies in the ability of gamers to be able to game anywhere they please on platforms that are universal and using software that is not platform specific. This would be a major blow to well established console makers and so industry observers understand how this could have shocked Kawano whose business depends on the profits from such systems. Some experts believe Kojima may have been referring to network gaming rather than the death of all consoles.

The vintage game has been a favorite among collectors and many versions are available on the market, often being sold through online auction websites such as Ebay. McAllister beat the record in the basement of a friend’s house in Portland, Oregon. The previous record had been set in 1982 by a 15 year old boy named Scott Safran. In order to beat the record, McAllister would take breaks only to eat chicken and drink Gatorade, leaving the game in play while he did so. In the end, he topped the record score and left that record to stand at exactly 41,338,740 points according to another world record holder, Kent House who has the highest score for the game Dig Dug.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online will be coming out just as Woods returns to the Masters and will be available online. While Nike seems loathe to embrace the star despite not dropping him entirely, both Accenture and Gatorade have cut all ties with him. This latest game will be playable over any web browser without having to buy a physical copy of the game and a will be playable for free, with special features being offered through a subscription program. The browser plugin will allow gamers to interact more easily with fellow players. EA hopes that the game will lure in new comers and convert them into Tiger Woods fans by offering free play and then extra goodies for a small subscription price.

Instead, gamers will be offered what Ubisoft is referring to as “in game digital manuals” that resemble those seen on PC games right now. The first title to feature this new type of digital manual will be an upcoming skateboarding game which Ubisoft as created with Shaun White, the Olympic snowboard winner of a gold metal who is also a skateboarding enthusiast. Special light weight packaging for the discs is also set to be tried to see how gamers respond.

More than 40 different tracks will be on the disc and players will be encouraged to not only play the role of MC and rap along to the beats, but to record their performances so that they can share them with others online. This is where the game seeks to be different than its competition because it is leveraging the power of social networking sites like YouTube and Myspace in order to let players not just have a temporary level of gaming fun, but to be able to share that with the world over the web.

In addition to all of these people, most of whom will work for the studio that develops the game, there are also publishers. The publishers also employ a large number of highly skilled individuals in such careers as project management, marketing, accounting, logistics and other fields of knowledge that are needed to take the finished project from the development team and get it out on the market where consumers can buy it. Once the game is published, the royalties are paid to the developers, but developers also get levels of up front investment which they must carefully budget for the game’s completion. All of this is handled with a contract that specifies when the game must be delivered to the publisher by. Contractual agreements are a key part of the gaming industry and much like Hollywood, failure to meet a budget and time line can spell disaster for both publisher and development team. While there are in house development teams that operate under the wing of a publisher, there are also many 3rd party studios which develop the game independently and then sell it to the publisher. In addition, there are independent studios which create and market their own products, as well.

The life of a game developer is an intense one despite the aura of relaxed fun that most studios tend to display. The programmers, artists and other members of the game design team all work very hard in order to get the games out on time, meeting milestones and often having to work incredibly long hours during “crunch time” or during bug testing. Most of the disciplines require some form of education, but not all of them do – some are more based on talent.

Shooter - Formerly grouped with action, this genre has changed to a single one, as the games have been developed in a different direction. Most shooter games employ a first person perspective, meaning the view the player sees on screen is through the eyes of the character.

Adventure – One example of this type of game is the ever popular Resident Evil in which players use ready made characters with little or no alteration available, to work through missions or quests.

Construction/Management – The objective of games in this type of genre is to manage and control a population or group of some sort. One example of this is Kingdom of Keflings, where a town needs to be built and the inhabitants put to work in various jobs.

Life Simulation – Life simulation games are essentially, a player taking a character through the motions of life. In one game of this genre, Virtual Villagers, characters on an island must maintain life by fishing, hunting, working, sleeping and actions of that sort.

Role Playing Games – Role playing games such as Dragon Age: Origins, are playing with the objective of following a storyline with a character that the player has fairly free range in creating. In following this storyline, the player is able to also control how the character develops as well, through gaining experience and stats.

Strategy – Whether these games are in the category of RTS, which is Real Time Strategy, or turn based, the objective and base generally remains the same. Command and Conquer is a basic example of strategy, wherein the idea is to beat the opponent at a game of warfare, ensuring your control over the board.

Vehicle Simulation/Racing – One of the earliest examples of this genre is the classic Afterburner, in which players use planes to shoot down opponents. This genre is not limited to just one type of play, however. There are actual racing games, as well as games that venture into the demolition aspect.

Music/Party Games – These games feature a type of entertainment that appeals to people who generally do not enjoy the typical video games. With options of singing, dancing, playing instruments among other things, this genre has become very popular recently.

Puzzle Games – Games such as Puzzle Quest that feature matching colors and symbols in an effort to progress in the game fall into this genre, as well as the classic Tetris.

Trivia Board and Card Games – The converting of these type of games to video game format has been done to allow players to play online with other opponents, when they would otherwise not have that option, or to play on a handheld system, one example being Magic:The Gathering.

Sports - These objective of these games are primarily to manage a successful sports team as well as actually play the sport. These games cover almost every pro sport out there.

Educational - The primary purpose of these games is to educate children in a way that differs from the traditional approach by adding the element of virtual entertainment.

Exercise Games – Some say Dance Dance Revolution started the path into games of this genre.  Today, Wii Fit is the most well known exercise game. Games of this genre are targeted towards both adults and children with the aim of providing a different way to exercise.

Art/Experimental Games – This genre, while it is designed for some entertainment, leans more towards the objective of creating a specific reaction from the player, through many different ways. Most of this genre is from indie game developers, trying to break ground into mainstream game developing.

Cooperative Vs Non-Cooperative – This classification is fairly obvious and easy to understand. Non cooperative games feature solo players, with no partners, while cooperative games have players working together as a team. Some cooperative games have the choice to have partners, where others, such as Resident Evil 5, require a partner to play. There are also hybrid games, which melds the two types of game play together. There are quite a few games of this style, referred to as MMO, or massive multiplayer online, that are have gained much popularity over recent years.

Simulation – Games of this classification hold a simple concept, which is to run a virtually simulated world. This type of game gives the player control over a multitude of situations, whether it be running a business, a person or family, or even something as simple as a garden. Viva Pinata is one example of this type, wherein a player builds and cultivates their garden, and gains new types of animals and plants.

Non Zero Sum vs Zero Sum – This is one of the oldest and most basic classifications for games because it is the effect that players have within the game itself. Those games, such as checkers, where players stand to “gain nothing” are referred to as zero sum games, based on the Latin meaning of zero sum. Non zero sum games, the polar opposites, are games where players compete for resources in order to have an advantage over one another. These games are usually closer to simulations than pure games.

Drama – The games that fall under this category tend to lean more towards the narrative role of the story than the action section. For example, the role-playing game, or RPG, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, follows a band of adventures that are mere moments behind the group that is featured in the actual film, Lord of the Rings. This RPG has fantastic fight scenes, however, the storyline of following in the footsteps of Aragon, Gimli, and Frodo gets much more screen time, during which he player gets to enjoy graphics with quality close to the big screen, due to large advancements in technology.

In the end, with the multitude of games that are readily available for players of all ages, even classifications as strong as these quite often have to be blended with others in order to encompass the many ranges of different types of play that are featured in the games.

The 1960′s did not prove to show much innovation that the public was aware of, but by the 1970′s, things had begun to change in a huge way and stand up, coin operated video games began to be possible. These first machines were powered by quarters and although the first title, Computer Space, was a bit too difficult for many to get into, when Asteroids, Space Invaders and eventually Pac Man hit the scene, things would prove to be much different for these arcade games. Their popularity would rise quickly and at the same time, more technology was becoming available to make what came to be called console games which could be played using a television set that already existed within the consumer’s home. The Odyssey from Magnavox was the first such system and it sold well enough that it paved the way for a whole wave of different video game systems which would be brought out in the years to come. In parallel with these console systems, computers were also made smaller and companies such as Commodore, Tandy and Apple came out with impressive machines that played games nearly as complicated, sometimes even more so, than the arcade or console games.

However, it would be the 1980′s that would be the decade of greatest change for this industry that was still in its infancy. During this era, technology would begin to grow at a lightning pace and a huge number of innovations would mean computers got smaller and smaller. Hand held games became possible thanks to LCD screens that helped them be portable and there would be more systems coming out from companies other than Atari, the first big console gaming system. Nintendo and Sega would each release impressive systems for home use and arcades would become big business in the United States, Europe and especially Japan. The game industry grew like crazy and it threatened to outshine the music and movie business in terms of consumer spending.

Then came the 1990′s and here computers became wide spread in nearly every house across the United States and Japan, taking computer gaming to whole new levels with online play, as well. Console systems from Sony and Microsoft hit the market and new generations of console games came out to dazzle the eye. The arcade industry began a gradual decline until it became a rare thing in the early 2000′s. Today the computer and video game industry outdoes the film and music businesses on every level, making it the largest entertainment segment in the world.