Computer and video games

Take for example South Korea. Funding for Bollywood films often comes from private distributors and a few large studios. Computer games are huge business worldwide. Nowadays, Indian producers are drawing in more and more funding for big-budget films shot within India as well, such as Lagaan, Devdas, and the recent production The Rising. A large number of summer blockbuster films spawn a companion game, often launching at the same time in order to share the marketing costs. Sequences shot overseas have proved a real box office draw, so Mumbai film crews are increasingly filming in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, continental Europe and elsewhere. The game and film industries are also becoming increasingly intertwined, with companies like Sony having significant stakes in both. But as Western films and television gain wider distribution in India itself, there is increasing pressure for Bollywood films to attain the same production levels.

This is untrue; in the United States, video game sales have exceeded the movies' total box office revenue each year since about 1996, but the movie studios trounce the video game publishers when the movies' "ancillary revenue" is counted, meaning sales of DVDs, sales to foreign distributors, and sales to cable TV, satellite TV, and broadcast television networks. Sets, costumes, special effects, and cinematography were less than world-class up until the mid-to-late 1990s. There is a commonly repeated, mistaken belief that video game sales now exceed the revenues of the movie industry. Bollywood budgets are usually modest by Hollywood standards. Retail PC game sales have been declining slightly each year since about 1998, but this fact should be taken with a grain of salt: the retail sales numbers from NPD do not include sales from online downloads, nor subscription revenue for games like MMORPGs. Notable film clans:. These figures are sales in dollars, not units; unit shipments for each category were higher than the dollar sales numbers indicate, as more software and hardware was sold at reduced prices compared to 2003. Some of the biggest stars, such as Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, and Shah Rukh Khan, have succeeded despite total lack of show biz connections.

It reported that as of 2004:. However, industry connections are no guarantee of a long career: competition is brutal and if film industry scions don't succeed at the box office, their careers will falter. The NPD Group tracks computer and video game sales in the United States. Bollywood can be clannish, and the relatives of film-industry insiders have an edge in getting coveted roles. In South Korea, computer games are preferred, especially MMORPG games and real-time strategy games; there are over 20,000 PC bang Internet cafes where computer games can be played for an hourly charge. Hence many stars make the most of their fame, once they become popular, by making several movies simultaneously. Japanese consumers avoid computer games and instead buy video games, with a strong preference for games created in Japan, that run on Japanese consoles (1 reason the Xbox series is less popular). Directors compete to hire the most popular stars of the day, who are believed to guarantee the success of a movie (though this belief is not always supported by box-office results).

Sales of different types of games vary widely between these markets due to local preferences. Very few people become national icons, who are unaffected by success or failure of their movies, like Amitabh Bachchan. [3]. The popularity of the stars can rise and fall rapidly, based on single movies. China is not considered a significant market, most likely because an estimated 95% of video games sold in the country are pirated. Stardom in the entertainment industry is very fickle, and Bollywood is no exception. Other significant markets include Spain, Germany, South Korea, France, and Italy. Just as in Hollywood, very few succeed.

The four largest markets for computer and video games are the United States, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom. Models and beauty contestants, television actors, theatre actors and even common people come to Mumbai with the hope and dream of becoming a star. The average age of the video game player is now 30 [2], belying the myth that video games are largely a diversion for teenagers. It attracts thousands of aspiring actors and actresses, all hoping for a break in the industry. The popularity of computer and video games, as a whole, has been increasing steadily ever since the 1984-1987 drop-off caused by the video game crash of 1983, and the popularity appears to be continuing to increase. Bollywood employs people from all parts of India. This term has now expanded to include any game that has more direct action, with fewer long term objectives, focuses on time limits and, for the most part, shorter in-game levels. Many lyrics compare the singer to a devotee and the object of his or her passion to Krishna or Radha.

Arcade games that are no longer profitable to lease can be purchased by private individuals, many of whom then explore the game dynamics by altering the programs in minor ways. Another source for love lyrics is the long Hindu tradition of poetry about the mythological amours of Krishna, Radha, and the gopis. Controls are similar to those available for many consoles (albeit usually as peripherals) and range from the classic joystick and buttons (Pac-Man), to light guns (Duck Hunt), to pads on the ground that sense pressure (Dance Dance Revolution). Here's a sample from the 1983 film Hero, written by the great lyricist Anand Bakshi:. These are programmed, equipped, and decorated for a specific game, consisting of a video display, a set of controls, and the coin slot. Bollywood song lyrics, especially in the old movies, frequently use Urdu or Hindustani vocabulary which has many elegant and poetic Arabic and Persian loan-words. Arcade games, traditionally, are "coin-operated games", played on a standalone device originally leased to commercial entertainment venues. Song lyrics are usually about love.

Because they are designed to be played on the go, they were traditionally small enough to carry conveniently in a bag or jacket (the Virtual Boy being an exception to this), but due to their small size, handheld consoles have reduced processing power compared to larger consoles, meaning that games are shorter, and until the release of the Nintendo DS, were largely limited to 2D. This phenomenon is not unlike the pairings of American composers and songwriters that created old-time Broadway musicals (e.g., Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, or Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe). Handheld consoles act as their own controllers, which the player uses to interact with the game, as well as having in-built display and audio output devices. Music directors often prefer working with certain lyricists, to the point that the lyricist and composer are seen as a team. Handheld games are played on handheld game consoles, such as the Nintendo Game Boy line, the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP. As an example, below is a dialogue from the 1975 film Deewar, between the gangster brother Vijay and his policeman brother Ravi:. Consoles themselves branched off from personal computers around two decades ago, a fact which is still evident not only in the name, but also in many of the peripherals available for many consoles, like the keyboard and mouse peripherals released for the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Sega Dreamcast. Dialogues are often melodramatic and invoke God, family, mother, duty, and self-sacrifice liberally.

The player usually interacts with the game through a controller, and video and sound are typically delivered to the player via a television through composite A/V cables, although most modern consoles support additional outputs, such as surround sound, progressive scan, and High Definition setups through the use of component cables. Contemporary mainstream movies also make great use of English. Console games are played on a video game console,or "home console", a specialized computer specifically designed to play games of a certain format. The dialogues are mostly written in Hindi, with use of Urdu in situations which require poetic dialogues. Some of these games, such as Runescape, however, have expanded far beyond this, and can often be considered on the same level as "mainstream" PC games. The film script (frequently credited as "dialogues") and the song lyrics are often written by different people. Some are on going user-based games that have no ending. In this case, the event is almost always two characters' falling in love.

These games generally do not share the same magnitude of development costs, depth, or seriousness of PC and console games, and are generally quick to complete by comparison. Sometimes, a song is worked into the plot, so that a character has a reason to sing; other times, a song is an externalization of a character's thoughts, or presages an event that has not occurred yet in the plot of the movie. The Internet is also host to thousands of small web-based games, written using formats like Flash and Javascript. Songs typically comment on the action taking place in the movie, in several ways. Online games need to allow several people to play at the same time, so not all genres are suitable; the most popular genres include MMORPGs, FPSs, racing/driving games, strategy games, and sports titles. Though considered by many to be one of India's most beautiful regions, Kashmir has been generally off-limits for quite some time due to violence. It is now a key feature of modern games, with the inclusion of Internet connectivity in consoles such as the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Gamecube (although it was only fully exploited on the Xbox); portable consoles such as the PSP or DS that use Wi-Fi, and in mobile/cellular phones. Switzerland has become a popular setting for these picturisations, largely because its Alpine valleys are reminiscent of Kashmir.

The first console to incorporate this feature was the Sega Dreamcast. This staging is referred to as a picturisation. Online gaming began with PC games, but has expanded over time to include most modern consoles. If the hero and heroine dance and sing a pas-de-deux (a dance and ballet term, meaning "dance of two"), it is often staged in beautiful natural surroundings or architecturally grand settings. Online Games are those which are played over the Internet. The hero or heroine will often perform with a troupe of supporting dancers, usually of the same sex. Ease of software piracy is also a much greater threat with PC games, although console hardware modifications do make it possible to play pirated games on them as well. In modern films, Indian dance elements often blend with Western dance styles (as seen on MTV or in Broadway musicals), though it is not unusual to see Western pop and pure classical dance numbers side by side in the same film.

Without the proper hardware, the game may perform poorly or not run at all, as opposed to console software, in which the software is designed based on the set hardware configuration of the console. The dancing in Bollywood films, especially older ones, is primarily modeled on Indian dance: classical dance styles, dances of historic northern Indian courtesans (tawaif), or folk dances. One possible explanation for the declining sales of personal computer games in relation to that of consoles can be found within the PC itself: a computer must meet certain minimum requirements such as CPU speed, Random access memory (RAM), system clock speed (MHz or GHz), video card memory, hard drive space, operating system, Internet connection speed (for online games) and other criteria. Their songs can make or break a film and usually do. For more information, see sales. The composers of film music, known as music directors, are also well-known. According to the Entertainment Software Association, console games have outsold computer games roughly four units to one in 2003 and 2004 [1]. Most of the female songs in films from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s were sung by Lata.

There is, however, a continuing movement to get the most popular games to run under the Mac and Linux operating systems, although it is still small. One of the most recorded of these playback singers is Lata Mangeshkar who, through the course a career spanning over six decades, has recorded thousands of songs for Indian movies. Today, most major PC games require a recent version of the Windows operating system to be installed on the computer. Playback singers are prominently featured in the opening credits and have their own fans who will go to an otherwise lackluster movie just to hear their favourites. PC games are often more detailed than console games because of early market releases of their external architecture and graphics cards. These forays, while well-received at the time, have not led to real singing careers for either actor. Video feedback is received by the user through the computer screen, sound through speakers or headphones. Of late, a few actors have again tried singing for themselves:.

They are played on the personal computer with standard computer interface devices such as the keyboard and mouse, or additional peripherals, such as joysticks. Saigal, Suraiyya and Noor Jehan were also known as both singers and actors. Personal computer games are commonly referred to as "computer games" or "PC games". L. During the last generation of gaming, most major PC game releases have coincided with the release of console versions, and titles initially developed for a single platform are often ported to others if they prove to be successful. K. Many games intended for PCs are now just as prevalent on consoles, with many developers creating versions for more than one platform. One notable exception was Kishore Kumar, who starred in several major films in the 1950s while also having a stellar career as a playback singer.

The final home platform is the PC. While most actors, especially today, are excellent dancers, few are also singers. The 3 main home video game platform companies are Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, who between them have created seven of the eight home platforms most commonly used today. Songs from Bollywood movies are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers, with the actors then lip synching the words to the song on-screen, often while dancing. Games are not interchangeable between platforms so, for example, Xbox games will not work in your PC. Bollywood film music is called filmi music (from Hindi, meaning "of films"). Personal computers, consoles, handheld systems, and arcade machines are all common. Any fan of Bollywood movies will be able to list films that he/she regards as transcending the run-of-the-mill masala movie.

Today there are many different devices, or platforms, on which games may be played. It should also be said that a fair number of films with mass-appeal are either estimable simply as well-crafted amusements or even artistic achievements in their own way. The increase in the popularity of online gaming has also resulted in sub-genres being formed, such as massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). There is now a significant audience of young, educated, urban Indians who want to watch Indian films, but demand a different presentation. Most games nowadays are a combination of two or more genres (e.g action/RPG). Current films are increasingly likely either to break the mold or to ironically subvert it. The most common genres in use today include platformer, adventure, role-playing game (RPG), first person shooter (FPS), third person shooter (both these are sometimes refered to as shoot-'em-ups), sports, racing, fighting, action (note that this term is abused often), puzzle, simulation, and real time strategy (RTS). However, Bollywood is changing.

Games, like most other forms of media, may be categorized into genres based on gameplay, atmosphere, and various other factors. They often lost out at the box office to movies with more mass appeal. Although the use of this term is often disputed, as it is considered too vague for the range of concepts it describes, it is currently the most commonly used and accepted term for this purpose when describing video games. There have always been Indian films with more "artistic" aims and more sophisticated stories, both inside and outside the Bollywood tradition (for example, many of the films of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Guru Dutt, Shyam Benegal, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, and Gulzar among others; see Indian art cinema). It includes direct interaction, such as controls and interface, but also design aspects of the game, such as levels and graphics. They frequently employ formulaic ingredients such as star-crossed lovers and angry parents, love triangles, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, courtesans with hearts of gold, long-lost relatives and siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences. In computer and video gaming, gameplay (sometimes called "Game mechanics") is a general term that describes player interaction with a game. Plots tend to be melodramatic.

The second generation Microsoft offering, the Xbox 360, will be powered by a multi-core CPU, the PlayStation 3 will be powered by Cell processor technology, and the Nintendo Revolution will allow the gamer to interact with the game via a wireless motion sensing controller and promises more innovations, although full technical specifications are yet to be revealed. Like masalas, these movies are a mixture of many things. Sony with the PlayStation 3, Nintendo with the codenamed Nintendo Revolution, and Microsoft with the Xbox 360 are all participating in this coming year's "technology race". Such movies are called masala movies, after the Hindi word for a spice mixture, masala. The end of 2005 and first and second quarters of 2006 will see the next generation of console gaming in the form of continuing advances in processor technology, graphics technology, design innovation, and even platform specific gaming community infrastructure. Songs and dances, love triangles, comedy and dare-devil thrills—all are mixed up in a three-hour-long extravaganza with an intermission. In Western countries the consoles have had similar levels of success,the PSP sales being slightly bigger, but in Japan the DS has been a huge hit, vastly outselling the PSP. Indian audiences expect full value for their money, with a good entertainer generally referred to as paisa vasool, (literally, "money's worth").

The Nintendo DS (DS stands for Dual-Screen) is a highly innovative console, and the PSP is much more powerful and also includes limited media capabilities. However, they do not fit easily in the "musical" category as defined by Hollywood movies; they usually contain a great deal more in the way of plot and action than is found in the typical Hollywood musical. The other two more technically advanced handhelds to be released in 2004, the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable (PSP), didn't help the N-Gage. Few movies are made without at least one song-and-dance number. In 2004 Nokia released a re-tooled N-Gage, the N-Gage QD which didn't fare much better. Most Bollywood films would be classified as musicals. It was criticized for being poorly designed, and flopped. .

Nokia entered the handheld market with its N-Gage game-phone hybrid on October 7 2003. A few movies are also made in two or even three languages (either using subtitles, or several soundtracks). Sega became a third-party developer for Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft in 2002. It is not uncommon to see movies which feature dialogues with English words and phrases, even whole sentences. Sega realised they could no longer compete, and announced they would discontinue the Dreamcast and no longer manufacture hardware. This is a political debate; see the articles on the various languages/dialects.) There has been a growing presence of English in dialogues and songs as well. Nintendo released their successor to the Nintendo 64, the GameCube, and the first all new Game Boy since the consoles inception, the Game Boy Advance. (Linguists would call both Hindi and Urdu variants of Hindustani.

Its flagship game, Halo: Combat Evolved, is also available at the system's launch. Bollywood is also commonly referred to as "Hindi cinema", even though use of poetic Urdu words is fairly common. In 2001 Microsoft entered the videogame console industry by releasing its new home console, the Xbox. Bollywood is a strong part of popular culture of not only India and the rest of the Indian subcontinent, but also of the Middle East, parts of Africa, parts of Southeast Asia, and among the South Asian diaspora worldwide. It was an instant hit and became the best-selling computer game of all time, surpassing Myst. Bollywood and the other major cinematic hubs (Tamil - Kollywood, Telugu - Tollywood, Bengali - also called Tollywood, Kannada, and Malayalam) constitute the broader Indian film industry, whose output is the largest in the world in terms of number of films produced and in number of tickets sold. The Sims was also released. Though some purists deplore the name (arguing that it makes the industry look like a poor cousin to Hollywood), it seems likely to persist and now has its own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.

In 2000 Sony released the widely anticipated PlayStation 2. The name is a conflation of Bombay, the old name of Mumbai, and Hollywood, the center of the United States film industry. 1998 saw the releases of the Sega Dreamcast in Japan (1999 in the US) and the Game Boy Color from Nintendo. Bollywood is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry in India. The Saturn was successful in Japan but a failure in North America, leaving Sega outside of the main competition. Apsara Awards. By the end of this period, Sony had dethroned Nintendo, the PlayStation outselling the Nintendo 64. IIFA Awards.

In particular, SquareSoft, which had released all previous games in its Final Fantasy series for Nintendo consoles, now turned to the PlayStation; Final Fantasy VII (1997) was a huge success, establishing the popularity of role-playing games in the west and making the PlayStation the primary console for the genre. Stardust awards. Nintendo's choice to use cartridges instead of CD-ROMs for the Nintendo 64, unique among the consoles of this period, proved to have negative consequences. Star Screen Awards. The flagship title, Super Mario 64, became a defining title for 3D platform games. Zee Cine Awards. After many delays, Nintendo released its 64-bit console, the Nintendo 64 in 1996, selling more than 1.5 million units in only three months. the Mangeshkar sisters (Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Usha Mangeshkar).

Both consoles used 32-bit technology; the door was open for 3D games. the Ganguly brothers (Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Anup Kumar). In 1994-1995, Sega released Sega Saturn and Sony made its debut to the video gaming scene with the PlayStation. the Khan-Roshan clan (Roshan, Rakesh Roshan, Rajesh Roshan, Hrithik Roshan, Suzanne Khan (Hrithik's wife), Sanjay Khan (Suzanne's father), Zayed Khan, Feroz Khan, Fardeen Khan). Basic 3D graphics entered the mainstream with flat-shaded polygons enabled by additional processors in game cartridges like Virtua Racing and Starfox. the Pataudis (Sharmila Tagore, Saif Ali Khan (her son), Soha Ali Khan (her daughter)). CD-ROM drives were first seen in this generation, as add-ons for the PC Engine in 1988 and the Megadrive in 1991. the Mukherjee-Samarth family (Shobhana Samarth, Debashree Roy, Sashadhar Mukherjee, Joy Mukherjee, Deb Mukherjee, Sharbani Mukherjee, Nutan, Tanuja, Mohnish Behl, Tanisha, Kajol, Ram Mukherjee, Rani Mukherjee).

The PC Engine eventually lost out to the Super Famicom, but retained enough of a user base to support new games well into the late 1990s. the Khans (Salim Khan, Helen, Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sohail Khan, Malaika Arora). In Japan, the PC Engine's (Turbografx 16) 1987 success against the Famicom and CD drive peripheral allowed it to fend off the Mega Drive (Genesis) in 1988, which never really caught on to the same degree as outside Japan. the Hussains (Nasir Hussain, Tahir Hussain, Aamir Khan, Mansoor Khan, Faisal Khan). The NEC TurboGrafx 16 was the first 16-bit system to be marketed in the region, but did not achieve a large following, partly due to a limited library of English games and effective marketing from Sega. the Dutts (Nargis and Sunil Dutt (wife and husband), Sunjay Dutt (their son)). The North American market was dominated by the Sega Genesis early on after its debut in 1989, with the Nintendo Super NES proving a strong, roughly equal rival in 1991. the Vinod Khanna family (Vinod Khanna, Akshaye Khanna and Rahul Khanna (his sons)).

While some of the other systems remained in production until the mid-90s, the Game Boy remained at the top spot in sales throughout its lifespan. the Rajesh Khanna family (Rajesh Khanna, Dimple Kapadia (his wife), Twinkle Khanna (his daughter), Akshay Kumar (his son-in-law) and Rinke Khanna (his younger daughter)). Although most other systems were more technologically advanced, they were hampered by higher battery consumption and less third-party developer support. the Bachchans (Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan). Several rival handhelds also made their debut around that time, including the Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx. the Deols (Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Esha Deol, Abhay Deol). Included with the system was Tetris, a popular puzzle game. the Kapoors (Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Rajiv Kapoor, Babita Kapoor, Neetu Singh, Karisma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Riddhima Kapoor, Shivani Kapoor).

In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy, the first handheld console since the ill-fated Microvision ten years before. Aamir Khan took a turn singing "Kya Bolti Tu" in Ghulam but only because "the character had attitude that only Aamir could do justice to", according to director Vikram Bhatt. See the article on Console wars for additional information on that facet of game history. Amitabh Bachchan, sang "Mere Angane Mein" in "Lawaaris" in the mid-80's, and has also sung in "Silsila", "Mahaan" "Toofan", Baghban, and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, as well as doing a duet with Adnan Sami in the song Kabhi Nahin (Never). The last two decades of game history have been marked by separate markets for games on video game consoles, home computers and handhelds. and many others of today's popular Nintendo genre.

The video game crash of 1983, however, produced a dark age in the market that was not filled until the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) reached North America in 1985.This presented Americans with games such as Mario Bros. The late 1970s to early 1980s brought about the improvement of home consoles and the release of the Atari 2600, Intellivision and Colecovision. He created a system with limited capabilities called the brown box, which paved the way for the next wave of home consoles. The first home console video games, were created by Ralph Baer who is now known as the creator of video games.

The 1970s also saw the release of the first home video game consoles. The paddles were white bars with a dot moving between them. One of the best-known of these games is Pong, a simple game simulating Ping Pong. Arcade games were developed in the 1970s (Pac-man to Frogger) and led to the so-called "Golden Age of Arcade Games".

The first video game was Space War created at MIT in 1962. The first primitive computer and video games were developed in the 1960s and 1970s and ran on platforms such as oscilloscopes, university mainframes and EDSAC computers. . In common usage, "computer game" or "PC game" refers specifically to games played on a personal computer, "console game" refers to games played on specifically-designed set top box, that play through a TV and "video game" (or "videogame") refers to any game played on a device that plays through your TV but also includes PC, Console, Mobile Phone or PDA or other handheld device.

To avoid ambiguity, this game software is referred to as "computer and video games" throughout this article, which explores things common to both types of game. The phrase interactive entertainment is the formal reference to computer and video games. Usually there are rules and goals, but in more open-ended games the player may be free to do whatever they like within the confines of the virtual universe. These terms are not always interchangeable as some games, particularly older games, do not use a video display.

A video game is a computer game where a video display such as a monitor or television is the primary feedback device. A computer game is a computer-controlled game that players may interact with. PC game sales: $1.1 billion, down 2% from 2003 [6]. Console and portable hardware and accessory sales: $3.7 billion, down 35% from 2003 [5].

Console and portable software sales: $6.2 billion, up 8% from 2003 [4]. For specific information regarding "console games" or, see console game.. For specific information regarding "computer games", see personal computer game..