ABSTRACT
Historically, games intended for use on personal computers, mainframes, and minicomputers were o en referred to as computer games, while their equivalents on home consoles and coin-operated arcade cabinets have from their rst appearance in the early 1970s been known as TV games or video games. is distinction, however, became increasingly blurred a er the mid-1990s, as the same games were made available on both personal computers and consoles. Since the alternative designations occasionally employed-such as “electronic game” or “ digital game”—seem awkward and are little used by either players or developers, this book simply uses videogame to refer to any game that runs on some form of computer hardware.
