The Sports Game is a type of video game which includes and replicates the practice of sports. As few games of this category emphasises playing the sport in actual manner like “FIFA”, “Pro Evolution Soccer” and “Madden NFL”. On the other hand, few others like “Football Manager” and “Out of the Park Baseball” emphasises sport management and strategy. With the list of names going further, this sports genre is considered as one of the oldest genres in gaming records.
Origin of the Sports Game
The origin of such video games in sports traces back to electro-mechanical games (were recognised as arcade games), which were manufactured using a combination of electrical and mechanical components, during the period of 1940s to 1980s. Examples of such type include games like “International Mutoscope Reel Company’s K.O. Champ” (1955), Bally Manufacturing’s “Bally Bowler”, Chicago Coin’s “Corvette” (1966), “Midway Manufacturing’s Little League” (1966), Chicago Coin’s “All Stars Baseball” (1968). And other team sport games like “Taito’s Crown Soccer Special” (1967), Crown Basketball (1968), as well Sega’s MotoPolo (1968) and Air Hockey (1972).
However, the earliest sports video game is said to have originated in 1958 when a game called “Tennis for Two” was created by William Higinbotham. As per reports, before the 1970s the video games were primarily played on university mainframe computers, under time sharing systems which supported multiple computer terminals on school campuses. In 1972, the “Magnavox Odyssey” was released, for this game Ralph Baer is said to develop Table Tennis for the first video game console.
Beginning of New Era
Later, there was the arrival of the ‘ball-and-paddle-era’, which was successful in showcasing the era of new video game mediums. One such game of this era is “Pong” (1972). After these, the sports video game went through various stages of development and are also played by individuals in their Android applications.
Importance of the Game Structure
Talking about the structure, such games include physical and tactical challenges. As well, it attempts at testing the player’s accuracy and precision. And most of them come up with the characteristics required by that sport, which includes speed, strength, accuracy as well as acceleration. And this category has been popular throughout the history of video games and is competitive, just like the sports of real-world. Furthermore, a number of game series feature the names and characteristics of real teams and players, also are updated annually to reflect real-world changes.
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