It seems nowadays children are preoccupied with either television or video games. But it wasn’t that long ago when children had to use their ingenuity and imaginations to be entertained when playing and having fun. Parents can bring back this ideology back into our homes by turning off those dreaded machines, getting back to the basics and bringing into our homes the classic toys that have entertained and educated children.
With the advent of the “video age”, there is no doubt toy companies feel slighted on the bottom line. But some toys stand the test of time and never go out of style, still entertaining and thrilling children for decades, with no let up in sight. Let’s explore one of these classic toys and an icon of the toy industry:
Etch a Sketch
Invented in the late 1950’s by a gentleman named Arthur Granjean (he called it “L ‘Ecran Magique”), meaning the magic screen; in his garage. The Ohio Art Company decided to take a chance on his “drawing toy” and renamed it the Etch A Sketch and in 1960 launched a successful television advertisement campaign to promote it.
The response was so overwhelming, Ohio Art continued to produce them until noon Christmas Eve, 1960. The toys were then immediately shipped to the west coast so people there could have the Etch A Sketch in time for Christmas.
The Etch A Sketch has entertained over 100 million adults and children in 67 countries worldwide. The basic design pretty much stayed the same, although Ohio Art did offer hot pink and blue frames in the 1970’s, but found that people preferred the traditional red frame. Additionally, the Etch A Sketch Club was formed in 1978 and has an average of 2,000 members worldwide.
For fun, take a poll of your friends or coworkers, and ask them how many of them ever drew something with an Etch A Sketch. Your numbers will be astonishing; it was and still is, one of the world’s most popular toys!
Did you know there is an Official Etch A Sketch Website? You can go to www.etch-a-sketch.com if you want to learn more about this marvel of the toy industry and if you are feeling a bit nostalgic you can even draw online!
Online Games || Games
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Choosing Casino Bonuses
Casino bonuses are offered by some online casinos so that they can encourage their players to keep playing in their site. Some casino bonuses offer free money for certain games. And others offer to double or triple the deposits of the player. But, are casino bonuses advantageous to online casino players?
Some online casino players ignore casino bonuses. They believe that casino bonuses are not real. They believe that offering casino bonuses is just a method of online casinos to strip more money from the players. And they already had an experience with casino bonuses which left a bad taste in their mouth. The reason for their negative opinion is that there are numerous so-called online casinos that offer deceptive bonuses.
Yet, there are casino players who love the bonuses offered by online casinos. These players come back again and again to a certain online casino because of the bonuses offered by this particular online casino. These players have become loyal to the online casinos. Obviously, these players have chosen the credible online casinos that offer real bonuses.
Players, therefore, must carefully choose the online casinos that they sign up with. The players should not be just lured in by the bonuses. If the casino bonuses are real, then the player is lucky. But if the casino bonuses are deceptive, there is practically nothing that the player can do to recover his money from the disreputable online casino.
How does a player choose bonuses that are real? There are two major things that a player must check out before he decides to avail of the casino bonuses.
The first thing to check out is the license of the online casinos. The online casino that offers bonuses should be fully-licensed in the country or state where it operates. Some states have banned online casinos and if an online casino reports to have their main location in that such a State, then the online casino is fraudulent. To determine if an online casino has the right credentials, a player may check the “About Us” page or contact the online casino itself and ask for the information. If the online casino is hesitant about giving such information, it may be fake.
The second thing to check out is the customer support service of the online casino. This customer support should be always available to the player, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. Reputable online casinos have a customer support service such as this. These online casinos believe in keeping their clientele, the online casino players, happy and satisfied.
To find out about the quality of customer support, a player must find and test the contact numbers of the online casino. The customer support service is supposed to help players to cash out their bonuses. If the support lines are not available, then the online casino may be either fake or incapable of giving casino bonuses.
Online Games || Games
Some online casino players ignore casino bonuses. They believe that casino bonuses are not real. They believe that offering casino bonuses is just a method of online casinos to strip more money from the players. And they already had an experience with casino bonuses which left a bad taste in their mouth. The reason for their negative opinion is that there are numerous so-called online casinos that offer deceptive bonuses.
Yet, there are casino players who love the bonuses offered by online casinos. These players come back again and again to a certain online casino because of the bonuses offered by this particular online casino. These players have become loyal to the online casinos. Obviously, these players have chosen the credible online casinos that offer real bonuses.
Players, therefore, must carefully choose the online casinos that they sign up with. The players should not be just lured in by the bonuses. If the casino bonuses are real, then the player is lucky. But if the casino bonuses are deceptive, there is practically nothing that the player can do to recover his money from the disreputable online casino.
How does a player choose bonuses that are real? There are two major things that a player must check out before he decides to avail of the casino bonuses.
The first thing to check out is the license of the online casinos. The online casino that offers bonuses should be fully-licensed in the country or state where it operates. Some states have banned online casinos and if an online casino reports to have their main location in that such a State, then the online casino is fraudulent. To determine if an online casino has the right credentials, a player may check the “About Us” page or contact the online casino itself and ask for the information. If the online casino is hesitant about giving such information, it may be fake.
The second thing to check out is the customer support service of the online casino. This customer support should be always available to the player, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. Reputable online casinos have a customer support service such as this. These online casinos believe in keeping their clientele, the online casino players, happy and satisfied.
To find out about the quality of customer support, a player must find and test the contact numbers of the online casino. The customer support service is supposed to help players to cash out their bonuses. If the support lines are not available, then the online casino may be either fake or incapable of giving casino bonuses.
Online Games || Games
A Look Back At Video Game History – Do You Remember Pac Man, Space Invaders And Super Mario Brothers?
Of all the things that the 1970’s produced, there are few that made as big of a cultural impact as video games. There’s no question about it: video games have been a significant force in society and one of the most popular leisure pursuits. Chances are if you’re under the age of 40, you played them, some of us a lot. There was Atari, Intellivision and Colecovision. Don’t forget Sega and Nintendo. Today there are web sites that allow you to download free online games.
And if you remember those days of the late ‘70’s and early 80’s, you recall that the games relied on graphic improvements and better ways of shooting the enemy. It was more or less a solitary pursuit. With the rise of the Internet and online games however, lots of things changed, including the ability to download games and playing online games, making games a more social activity, with lots of players, or opponents playing each other from different countries. This may be the biggest change – and the latest benefit that games have offered the world.
But what about the early days? How did it all start and what were the video games that defined the era?
The Innovators
Many people think that Pong was the home game that started it all, but really it was Magnavox and their "Odyssey" system in 1972. Although it was very simple, it was still the first. It had twelve simple games with graphic overlays. However, there was lots of room for improvement, and that’s where Pong came into play.
Nolan Bushnell created Pong, along with Al Alcorn, the founder of Atari. Rumor has it that when the prototype was tested at a California bar, the machine broke down after two days, because it was so popular. The next logical step was to create a home version. So, one year later, Atari released Pong, complete with built in paddles, and a speaker. Of course, Pong was a huge success and represented a new stage in the evolution of gaming. Over sixty Pong knock-offs would be produced, but Atari dominated the market.
Next was the implementation of the microprocessor, which the entire industry adopted. As a result of this, more complicated systems could be developed. These systems produced groundbreaking and innovative graphical and auditory effects that had never been seen before. Consumers were eating it up. The industry was on fire. In 1981 alone, five billion dollars were spent on video arcade machines and another billion dollars was spent on home video game systems. Atari’s VCS/2600 system remained the dominant player through 1982, when the gaming market experienced a crash.
What were some of the great games? How about Pac Man? Pac Man, the yellow blob that ate up dots and avoided squid-like ghosts, was a worldwide sensation and probably the biggest game of all time.
Space Invaders was another incredibly popular game. In fact, it really marked a turning point for arcade games, bringing them out of bars and into family friendly places like shops and restaurants. The premise of Space Invaders was to stop an alien invasion. This simple formula went on to become the most successful arcade game of all time.
Then there was Super Mario, which was huge as well. It involved an Italian anti-hero who was deliberately designed as a character that everyone could relate to. Soon thereafter came Zelda, Metroid, and other classics.
Rise and Fall of Atari
Atari was the hottest thing in the gaming world in the early ‘80’s. Today, they are a relic of past glory. So what happened? Atari made some bad decisions, and although it’s a little complicated, it’s helpful to understand the situation. At that time in the computing world, magnetic mediums were implemented in the data storage used in Arcade machines. These mediums allowed for a higher memory capacity than ROM cartridges.
In 1982, Atari had the option to include a disk drive in their systems. The price difference would have been nominal, and the memory capacity would have been significant. Atari, however, thought that magnetic media was too “fragile” for the consumer to adequately handle. Atari's "concern" for the customer backfired on them. In the previous years, there had been a very fine line separating arcade game quality from home game quality. With arcades utilizing storage capacities ten to forty-five times larger than home systems that fine line became a chasm. Arcade games seemed to be evolving exponentially, while home systems seemed "stuck in a time warp.”
The public quickly became uninterested in video game specific consoles, and sales plummeted.
This would mark the end of Atari's reign of the video game market.
The Rise of the New
In 1984, everything changed. The reason? Two innovations: The reduction in cost of Dynamic RAM (DRAM) chips which allowed more memory, and the production of higher power 8-bit processors, which lowered the prices of the previous chips. Sega, a new player in home gaming systems, entered the console market with their Master System 2. The Sega Master system would sell very well, but its success would be limited.
The other key player was Nintendo of Japan. The genius of Nintendo was their marketing prowess, as they poured millions into advertisements. These advertisements hit consumers at the perfect time, as evidenced in their sales. In fact, Nintendo couldn’t manufacture enough systems to keep up with demand. After all was said and done, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) would become the highest selling system in history. They would also become the most notorious, as they were involved in the intimidation of retailers, competing companies, and other suppliers and partners.
Over the next five years Sega and Nintendo would battle for dominance, going back and forth. The consumer definitely benefited from this rivalry.
Today, it’s between PlayStation 2, the Xbox and the GameCube. Xbox has taken the step to merge the past and present, where Xbox "Live Arcade" is a console system that has a "download-like" characteristic where you can buy games via the console itself. One thing in the video game industry will always remain: the classic games of yesterday were great games, helped define an era, and will always be fun.
Online Games || Games
And if you remember those days of the late ‘70’s and early 80’s, you recall that the games relied on graphic improvements and better ways of shooting the enemy. It was more or less a solitary pursuit. With the rise of the Internet and online games however, lots of things changed, including the ability to download games and playing online games, making games a more social activity, with lots of players, or opponents playing each other from different countries. This may be the biggest change – and the latest benefit that games have offered the world.
But what about the early days? How did it all start and what were the video games that defined the era?
The Innovators
Many people think that Pong was the home game that started it all, but really it was Magnavox and their "Odyssey" system in 1972. Although it was very simple, it was still the first. It had twelve simple games with graphic overlays. However, there was lots of room for improvement, and that’s where Pong came into play.
Nolan Bushnell created Pong, along with Al Alcorn, the founder of Atari. Rumor has it that when the prototype was tested at a California bar, the machine broke down after two days, because it was so popular. The next logical step was to create a home version. So, one year later, Atari released Pong, complete with built in paddles, and a speaker. Of course, Pong was a huge success and represented a new stage in the evolution of gaming. Over sixty Pong knock-offs would be produced, but Atari dominated the market.
Next was the implementation of the microprocessor, which the entire industry adopted. As a result of this, more complicated systems could be developed. These systems produced groundbreaking and innovative graphical and auditory effects that had never been seen before. Consumers were eating it up. The industry was on fire. In 1981 alone, five billion dollars were spent on video arcade machines and another billion dollars was spent on home video game systems. Atari’s VCS/2600 system remained the dominant player through 1982, when the gaming market experienced a crash.
What were some of the great games? How about Pac Man? Pac Man, the yellow blob that ate up dots and avoided squid-like ghosts, was a worldwide sensation and probably the biggest game of all time.
Space Invaders was another incredibly popular game. In fact, it really marked a turning point for arcade games, bringing them out of bars and into family friendly places like shops and restaurants. The premise of Space Invaders was to stop an alien invasion. This simple formula went on to become the most successful arcade game of all time.
Then there was Super Mario, which was huge as well. It involved an Italian anti-hero who was deliberately designed as a character that everyone could relate to. Soon thereafter came Zelda, Metroid, and other classics.
Rise and Fall of Atari
Atari was the hottest thing in the gaming world in the early ‘80’s. Today, they are a relic of past glory. So what happened? Atari made some bad decisions, and although it’s a little complicated, it’s helpful to understand the situation. At that time in the computing world, magnetic mediums were implemented in the data storage used in Arcade machines. These mediums allowed for a higher memory capacity than ROM cartridges.
In 1982, Atari had the option to include a disk drive in their systems. The price difference would have been nominal, and the memory capacity would have been significant. Atari, however, thought that magnetic media was too “fragile” for the consumer to adequately handle. Atari's "concern" for the customer backfired on them. In the previous years, there had been a very fine line separating arcade game quality from home game quality. With arcades utilizing storage capacities ten to forty-five times larger than home systems that fine line became a chasm. Arcade games seemed to be evolving exponentially, while home systems seemed "stuck in a time warp.”
The public quickly became uninterested in video game specific consoles, and sales plummeted.
This would mark the end of Atari's reign of the video game market.
The Rise of the New
In 1984, everything changed. The reason? Two innovations: The reduction in cost of Dynamic RAM (DRAM) chips which allowed more memory, and the production of higher power 8-bit processors, which lowered the prices of the previous chips. Sega, a new player in home gaming systems, entered the console market with their Master System 2. The Sega Master system would sell very well, but its success would be limited.
The other key player was Nintendo of Japan. The genius of Nintendo was their marketing prowess, as they poured millions into advertisements. These advertisements hit consumers at the perfect time, as evidenced in their sales. In fact, Nintendo couldn’t manufacture enough systems to keep up with demand. After all was said and done, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) would become the highest selling system in history. They would also become the most notorious, as they were involved in the intimidation of retailers, competing companies, and other suppliers and partners.
Over the next five years Sega and Nintendo would battle for dominance, going back and forth. The consumer definitely benefited from this rivalry.
Today, it’s between PlayStation 2, the Xbox and the GameCube. Xbox has taken the step to merge the past and present, where Xbox "Live Arcade" is a console system that has a "download-like" characteristic where you can buy games via the console itself. One thing in the video game industry will always remain: the classic games of yesterday were great games, helped define an era, and will always be fun.
Online Games || Games
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