Think You Know Gaming?
If you’re anything like the rest of us, you will have no doubt spend many hours playing your favorite video games.
But how much do you know about your favorite games? And what exactly do you know about the gaming industry as a whole?
Even if you have never really thought about the industry behind your games that much, there are still some really awesome facts that are well worth knowing. Being able to slip them into conversations with your gaming friends will make it look like you know everything there is to know about gaming!
Ready to learn just how cool gaming is? Here are some amazing facts that might really impress you!
- The PlayStation was originally meant to be the Nintendo
Wait, what?! Yes, you read that correctly! The original PlayStation model was originally going to become a Nintendo as both Sony and the Nintendo company designed and created it together as a joint project. But Nintendo then changed their mind and pulled out of the whole plan. So, Sony went ahead with it on its own and named it the PlayStation. The rest, as they say, is history!
- We’ve Collectively Spend 200,000 Years Playing Angry Birds.
Yes, that may be quite depressing, but unfortunately, it is entirely true. Collectively, all humans have spent 200,000 years playing Angry Birds. That’s almost the same amount of time that humans have been around for! If you ask me, we need to quickly start playing some better quality games to knock Angry Birds off that top spot!
- The Video Gaming Industry Is Worth 70 Billion Dollars Worldwide
Looks like we’ve been buying a lot of games over the years! So much so that the entire global video gaming industry is now thought to be worth around 70 billion dollars. So, if you are still in college and wondering which industry to start your career in, it looks like there is plenty of money to earn in gaming!
- Old Games Are Still Valuable
In fact, there are lots of gamers out there who actively collect old games, especially vintage ones. Do you think that you might have a few games that could make you a couple of bucks? If so, you can try to sell your games at one of the various online selling sites. Rare editions of games sell extremely well if they are still in mint condition.
- There Were Lots Of Babies Named After Mario In The 1980s
The Mario Bros game first launched in 1983, and it was a huge hit. As a result, naming male babies Mario was a big hit as well! As sales of the game surged, so too did the number of babies being christened after this popular gaming character!
- Censorship Guidelines Have Been Quite Strong In The Past
These days, we aren’t that bothered by blood, violence, and swearing in video games. Those that are quite violent or bloody always come with strong age guidelines, so there usually isn’t any reason to overly censor the games. However, this wasn’t always the case. However, things weren’t always like this. When video games first burst onto the scene, they were quite heavily censored. In fact, in the very first Legend of Zelda game, the makers had to change their originally planned opium smugglers into banana smugglers!
- The Makers Of Dead Space Watched Lots Of Horror Movies
Do you remember the game Dead Space from 2008? One of the things that was so memorable about the game was just how gruesome the necromance monsters were. Well, the game’s makers have recently explained how they were able to design such horrible creatures – they watched horror movies! As well as staying up late watching lots of horror movies, they also studied images of car crash victims.
- Most People Are Gamers
Don’t listen to anyone who says that they don’t play video games! In actual fact, the majority of us do. It is widely thought that two-thirds of American households play video games. Of those households, sixty-percent of the gamers are male while forty-percent are female. So it isn’t a mainly male hobby as was previously thought!
- The Pokemon Creator Was Inspired By Real Life
The creator of Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri, came up with the idea for the game after playing with insects as a young child. During his childhood, he used to collect caterpillars and would watch them turn into beautiful butterflies. This was his whole inspiration behind evolving Pokemon in the game.
- Mario Could Have Turned Out Much Cooler
In the current versions of the game, Mario doesn’t have any weapons and can only jump up to hit blocks. However, in the very first plan for the game, it looks like his creators had intended him to be a lot cooler! The plans show that he was going to be given an awesome jetpack rocket and a rifle known as a ‘beam gun.’
- Matt Damon Refused To Be In The Bourne Conspiracy Video Game
Matt Damon was, of course, given the chance to voice his character Jason Bourne in the Bourne Conspiracy video game. However, Damon refused as he believed that the game was way too violent. Which is odd, because the Bourne Conspiracy movie in which he plays Jason Bourne is pretty violent throughout…
- Marlon Brando Should Have Appeared In The Godfather Video Game
Marlon Brando was all lined up ready to appear in the game and had even recorded lines for it right before he died. However, his lines were cut as the makers thought that they were too mumbly and wouldn’t be understood properly. Instead, they hired a voiceover accent to completely redo all his lines!
- There Are 100 Million Game Boys In The World
Remember the Game Boy? Well, there are around 100 million of them still around in the world. Of this amount, it is thought that 32 million are in Japan while 44 million are still in America. Maybe you have one of them?!
These facts are almost as cool as playing the games themselves, huh?!