Im not doing this to promote Time magazine but its fun to look back at all there cover story and they even made a Flash Video Game Time Line. I wont post all there covers from each of there storys from 74 to 05 cuase only three of there covers had video game theme. But I will link to each of there storys of all video game related storys.
[img width=400 height=527]http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8069/timemagjan181982dz8.jpg[/img] [img width=400 height=527]http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/9310/timemagsep271993ws8.jpg[/img] [img width=400 height=527]http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/3401/timemagmay232005hz0.jpg[/img]
"Atari sold some 8,500 games to U.S. amusement parlors and other businesses last year, in addition to a substantial overseas trade. Pong is played on a standard television to which a simple circuit board has been added."
From
Space-Ace PinballApr. 1, 1974
"Game players have accomplices, but they do not have sympathizers. It may be for this reason that they are so likely to form warm little subcultures, or termite nests, within the larger society, complete with their own lingo, legends, heroes, magazines, newspapers and meetings of the clan."
From
Games People Play: 1977Dec. 26, 1977
"Once every year or so a new game jumps into the public's lap and licks its face, and proves so endearing that money in unbelievable abundance falls on the heads of its fortunate makers."
From
Beating the Game GameJan. 18, 1982
"The first episode, Zork I, is the bestselling piece of recreational computer software on the market, with sales of 250,000 copies. It is currently outpacing the home versions of such arcade hits as Zaxxon and Frogger."
From
Putting Fiction on a FloppyBy By Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Dec. 5, 1983
"Few companies have risen so fast or crashed so rapidly as Atari, the onetime king of video games. From 1977 to 1982, annual sales zoomed from $200 million to $2 billion. But last year Atari lost $536 million in just the first nine months."
From
The Zinger of Silicon ValleyFeb. 6, 1984
"At the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, the purveyor of the world's most successful electronic-game system unveiled its long-awaited successor: a gray plastic book-size box called the Super Nintendo Entertainment System."
From
Hold On to Your JoysticksBy Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Jun. 10, 1991
"Suddenly a new medium -- and a new market opportunity -- has opened up in the place where Hollywood, Silicon Valley and the information highway intersect. Games are part of a rapidly evolving world of interactive amusements so new that nobody knows what to call them: Multimedia? Interactive motion pictures? The New Hollywood?"
From
The Amazing Video Game BoomBy Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Sep. 27, 1993
"The folks at Sony--the company that brought you the Trinitron television and the Walkman, and will soon launch the PlayStation game player--are newcomers to the $5 billion U.S. video-game business. But it didn't take them long to get into the mtv-blaring, schoolyard-taunting, testosterone-burning spirit of the thing."
From
Mortal KombatBy Philip Elmer-DeWitt and David S. Jackson
May. 22, 1995
"The video-game industry ... has been waiting nearly three years for this game. It stars a familiar character--a stumpy, mustachioed plumber named Mario--but it runs on a new machine so powerful, so blisteringly fast, so graphically rich that it could be single-handedly running out of lives."
From
Super Mario's Dassling ComebackBy Michael Krantz
May. 20, 1996
"As violent video games have evolved, the targets have gone from monsters to people. In the racing game Carmageddon, the player tries to run down pedestrians, including old ladies with walkers."
From
Are Video Games Really So Bad?By Joshua Quittner
May. 10, 1999
"Can Xbox match GameCube for visuals? You bet. If anything, it's even more cinematically realistic and detail obsessed. Just take a walk through the space station in Halo, an action game based on Larry Niven's classic sci-fi novel Ringworld, and you'll notice fingerprint marks on triple-glazed windows."
From
The Battle Of SeattleBy Chris Taylor
May. 21, 2001
"The GameCube ($200) and the Xbox ($300) will both be arriving in retail stores this week. If you are of a certain age and inclination, you're probably wondering: Which one should I buy? And what about Sony's PlayStation2, which came out last year?"
From
The Box Meets The CubeBy Josh Quittner
Nov. 19, 2001
"As goes talent, so follows buzz. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which won Best Game of the Year at last month's Game Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif., got more adulation from critics and Star Wars junkies than any of the Lucas movie prequels."
From
You Ought to Be in PixelsBy Chris Taylor
Apr. 12, 2004
"Right now video games are the world's largest cult phenomenon. Those who play them (fully half of all Americans ages 6 and up) love them, and those who don't play them regard them with virulent distaste.... Take a look at three new video games that expand our notions of what a video game can do."
From
The Art of the VirtualBy Lev Grossman
Nov. 8, 2004
"Gamemakers ... already invest, on average, $15 million to develop a game. But which offerings are truly worth your time and money?"
From
Best Video Games 2004By Chris Taylor
Nov. 29, 2004
"The video-game industry is heading for another record year, with sales of $12 billion in the U.S., up 7% over 2003, including consoles and PC titles. And thanks to hot new games like Halo 2 for the Xbox, the industry is light-years ahead of the toy business when it comes to buzz."
From
Zapped!By Daren Fonda
Dec. 6, 2004
"As video games have become a regular part of kids' daily lives--a recent survey by Michigan State University found that eighth-grade boys play them on average 23 hr. a week and girls 12 hr.--many people agree that the games' increasingly realistic depictions of violence and sex need to be examined."
From
Video VigilantesBy Anita Hamilton
Jan. 10, 2005
"Let's face it, a lot of the software released these days in the name of electronic amusement isn't worth the effort it takes to lie on your couch and mash a button. But there's that rare sweet spot where graphics, game play and storytelling come together to make a game work."
From
5 Video Games Worth Sore ThumbsBy Lev Grossman
Mar. 28, 2005
"This isn't just a story about Microsoft. It's also a story about a sea change in American culture, which has embraced video games, formerly a despised hobby, as a vital force in pop culture. Gates and his team have spent the past 3 1/2 years working in obsessive secrecy to build the greatest piece of game-playing hardware the world has yet seen."
From
Out of the X-BoxBy Lev Grossman
May 23, 2005
Bonus Link: Time Mag - Video Game Console Timeline both in
URL and
SWF (For Best View Set it on Low Quality)