Shooters are categorized by the player perspective:įirst-person shooters (FPS) are played from the main character’s viewpoint Call of Duty, Half-Life, and Halo are good examples. Shooters let players use weapons to engage in the action, with the goal usually being to take out enemies or opposing players. Up until that point, every platformer game was played “side-on,” and characters usually ran from left to right, in 2D. is probably the best known, and Donkey Kong was one of the earliest.įun Fact: Jumping Flash! on the original Sony PlayStation was the first 3D console platformer game. There are many types of platform games Super Mario Bros.

Platformer games get their name from the fact that the game’s character interacts with platforms (usually running, jumping, or falling) throughout the gameplay. Most early video games like Donkey Kong and Galaga fall into the action category.īecause action games are usually easy to get into and start playing, they still, by most accounts, make up the most popular video games. Types of video gamesĪction games are just that-games where the player is in control of and at the center of the action, which is mainly comprised of physical challenges players must overcome. Here’s a complete list of all the different types of video games. To that point, in the last few years, new game categories and genres have been created to accommodate games that have fallen outside of traditional game classifications. Fast-forward to today, and technology allows game developers to create anything they can dream up.

In those early days, computer processing power limited the types of games programmers could create. Visitors lined up to play, and Higinbotham’s experiment soon became the most popular exhibit in the lab. The game, Tennis for Two, was played on an oscilloscope, and the miniature, five-inch screen only displayed thin blue lines that looked a lot like PONG. To have a game that people could play, and which would convey the message that our scientific endeavors have relevance for society.” Higinbotham, who worked at the laboratory, wanted to create an interactive experience for visitors quoted in an interview years later, Higinbotham wanted to, “. It was the highlight of Brookhaven National Laboratory Visitor Open House that year. Physicist William Higinbotham created the first video game in October 1958. Do you like to solve puzzles or micro-manage resources? Real-time strategy games (RTSs) or role-playing games (RPGs) might be better suited for you.īut no matter what your interest, there is definitely a game genre that will appeal to your taste or even expose you to the benefits of Esports.įirst, a little history. Sure, it can be confusing, but by breaking down the game mechanics, we can start to understand how developers and publishers categorize their titles.įor example, if you’re an instant gratification type of gamer, action games are probably best. Game categories or genres, then, can also have subgenres, and many games fit into multiple genres! There are many different types of video games, and typically, they're categorized by their characteristics or underlying objectives-not by the type of gameplay they contain.

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