Here's a brand new idea from the United States
which can turn your television set into a game that two can play.
You ready, Jen? Play.
Pong, first released in 1972,
was as simple as a game can possibly be.
Two white rectangles batting a square ball back and forward
as players attempted to win points off each other.
It tested reflexes and nerves
and introduced an exciting new medium to millions.
Most importantly, it turned pal against pal
or sibling against sibling
in a spot of friendly or fierce competition.
That's something the gaming industry is still doing
to the delight of millions to this day.
Video games have come a long way since Pong though.
Your mother thinks you ought to be
spending more time at your homework.
What do you think about that?
Undoubtably, yes.
This old stereotype of gamers being isolated loners
is quite frankly boring and outdated.
Video games have long since come out of the bedroom
and into the world.
Shared and celebrated by fans and communities
across the globe.
Here are six more of the iconic titles
that helped make that happen.
Around five years after Pong
Space Invaders was launched,
bringing with it more colours, more sophisticated music
and a distinctive plot and mood.
While sceptics dismissed Pong as a passing novelty
Space Invaders proved that video games were not only here to stay
but they were a massive and extremely profitable global industry.
And the little pixelated enemies are still used to this day
as an icon of video games as a whole.
Waka-waka-ing his way onto the scene in 1980,
Pac-man was arguably video gaming's first real character.
Urban legend states that his shape was inspired by a pizza
minus a couple of slices.
Pac-man tried something different.
In it you had to use your wits and strategically evade enemies
until you were strong enough to chase them down instead.
Pac-man quickly became a pop culture phenomenon
featuring on t-shirts, ties, glasses, bags,
balloons, board games, books, caps
and any other merchandise that sat around in one spot for too long.
Of all the video game characters to grace our consoles over the years,
none have made an impact quite like Mario.
The side-scrolling platform game
featured a plumber trying to rescue a princess
from a fire-breathing turtle
and a labyrinth of pipes and platforms to traverse
while avoiding razor-toothed plants
and even odder-looking mushrooms.
And so of course it captured gamers' hearts
and became one of the fastest-selling video games of all time.
Tomb Raider was the butt-kicking, action-adventure game
that sold PlayStation consoles by the bucketload
and introduced the world to fictional archaeologist/treasure hunter
Lara Croft.
As one of the first ever notable female game protagonists
Lara's Launch in 1996 had already caused a media sensation.
If Pac-man was gaming's first ever character
and Mario its first mascot,
Lara Croft was its first icon.
Now you could argue that Lara
is really more a source of male titillation than female empowerment
but she was one of the first playable women
I remember seeing in a video game
and that representation really mattered.
World of Warcraft, launched in 2004,
still stands as one of the biggest
massively multiplayer online role playing games of all time.
Players could create an avatar, assign them a class, race and skills
and then send them out into the world of Azeroth to explore,
complete quests and meet with other player characters.
In its prime, the game had more than 100 million registered users.
World of Warcraft played a huge role
in legitimising multiplayer gaming for the masses.
And I should know, I spent six years on it.
Minecraft is an open world game
that lets players build, create and alter environments
by making, placing and destroying blocks.
It's been extremely popular with children and academics alike
due to its incredible scope for creating physics
and logic-based puzzles
and to scale replicas of everything from the Starship Enterprise
to the British Isles.
A large part of its popularity is that it's an incredibly social game
with a litany of devoted fans
who work together to build entire worlds out of little coloured blocks.
Of course, there were many other titles that changed the world
over gaming's long and lustrous history.
In the last decade the rise of indie games, esports and mobile games
have changed the gaming landscape again,
as players themselves diversify
and look for new experiences they can share with other players.
Fans have known this for a long time that video games aren't just games -
they're art, they're fun, they're beautiful.
They can amaze, delight, teach, empathise, empower.
They're a huge part of our culture and they're here to change the world.
Thanks for watching! :)
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