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| Home - More Info - Videogame Glossary |
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1st Party: Console titles published by the company that also produces the hardware (ex. Halo is published by Microsoft for Xbox)
3D: Today’s standard gaming vantage point; objects within a game are styled with three dimensions, lending a realistic depth to a game’s characters and scenery.
3Rd Party: Console titles produced by a software publisher other than the company that makes the platform. (ex. Atari is a 3rd Party publisher for Microsoft’s Xbox)
Analog control: Unlike digital control, which simply registers a button push or joystick direction, analog control is highly sensitive and takes into account to what degree the button or joystick is pushed. In 3D games, this allows you to use the same joystick to walk or run.
Anime: an animated cartoon drawing style typified by short characters with large eyes. In video games, this style in most evident in RPGs, especially those released in the 90s.
Anti-Aliasing: A programming technique (or hardware capability) that automatically smoothes jaggy edges, and is especially useful for making low-resolution images look better.
Attract Mode: Most evident in early consoles like the Atari 2600, this mode causes a game not being played to cycle through colors on the screen.
Bit: In the early 90’s, this term was often used to indicate the technical capabilities of a console. For example, the NES was 8-bit and the Genesis was 16-bit. The term was originally intended to describe the number-crunching power of the CPU (central processing unit), but unscrupulous video game PR firms abused the term for their own purposes, rendering it meaningless (mainly Atari). Today, most console power is not judged in terms of bits but instead by processor speed.
Boss: In many video games, each stage ends with an encounter with a creature or robot that is typically much larger and tougher than the normal enemies. Which begs the question: Why do they hire henchmen that are weaker than they are?
Cheats: Special codes that allow you bypass the normal limitations of a game. Typical cheats allow you to gain extra lives, become invincible, access different stages, give players big heads, etc. Some cheats are built into games, while others can only be accessed using devices like the Game Shark.
“Cheated Death”: A term used to describe how you miraculous survived a hopeless situation.
Combo: A term used mainly in fighting games, a string of moves that can be executed in rapid succession. In some games, these cannot be resisted.
Component Video Cable: Currently the state-of-the-art in console video cables, separates the video into three wires that carry the red, green, and blue signals. These wires have five plugs, including the red/white plugs for audio. Component is a step up from S-Video.
Composite Video Cable: A video cable with a single yellow plug (usually along with the red/white audio cables). Produces better quality than RF but not as good as S-Video.
Console: A system dedicated to playing video games. This does not include PCs or handhelds.
Copyright: The legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.
Cut-Scenes: Short intermissions typically presented between stages to convey a storyline. These can be live or computer-generated videos clips, and are usually non-interactive.
Digital control: Until the mid-90s, most video game controllers were digital, only registering each direction or button push as “off” or “on”. Analog controls, which became popular on the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, provide a much finer degree of control. The joystick that contained a shaft and a pivotal point was patented by Stephen D. Bristow of Atari Gaming Systems in 1977.
Double-Jump: In certain platform games, you can perform a second jump after the first while in mid-air, allowing you to reach high platforms.
Easter Eggs: Hidden features inside of video games. The first Easter Egg was a hidden room inside the Atari 2600 game “Adventure” (1980). These can also take the form of built-in cheat codes.
Engine: Engine is a reference to the application that is used to power a game. In todays games there is generally one primary engine (The graphics engine) and a few smaller engines that power other aspects of the game (AI, Sound). People refer to the whole product as the engine.
ESA: Entertainment Software Association.
EULA: End-User License Agreement
Fatality: In fighting games, the typically gruesome act of killing your opponent after defeating him. Popularized by Mortal Kombat (1992).
First-Person: A point of view which allows you to see the action through your characters eyes. You never see you own body, except for maybe your arms. Was made popular by flight simulators and shooters like Doom.
Flicker: Common in early video game consoles, this problem made the objects look transparent and hard to see, and was the result of system limitations or poor programming.
"Force Feedback": A controller reaction, where the controller “shakes” (vibrates) when you are near an explosion or are shot by an enemy.
Frag: To kill an enemy in a first-person shooter video game. Originally coined in Vietnam from use of the fragmentation grenade.
Frame Rate: A term that describes the smoothness of motion in a game. The image on a television screen is really a series of still images shown in rapid succession. A normal television show is broadcast at 33 fps (frames per second). Some games cannot maintain this rate due to system limitations or poor programming, and the result is choppy animation that’s hard to watch. Higher frame rates (like 66 fps) results in more attractive, fluid animation.
Full Motion Video (FMV): Popularized by the Sega CD in the early 90s, FMV games allowed the player to interact with live or computer-generated video. Most of these game weren’t much fun, and soon FMV was relegated to introductions, cut-scenes, and ending sequences.
Game Genie: A product popular in the early 90’s that allowed you to enter “cheat” codes into games.
Game Shark: A product that became popular in the late 90’s that let you use “cheat” codes on your games.
“Glory Seeking”: Taking a particularly dangerous course of action for the opportunity to score bonus points. For example, pursuing the vegetables in Dig Dug.
Isometric View: Instead of viewing the action directly from above or directly from the side, an isometric view allows you to look at the action from an angle. This is popular in football games.
ISP = Internet Service Provider:
MMORPG, MMP or MMO: Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game
MSO’s = Multi-Service Operators:
Multi-tap: A device that allows you to plug in more controllers than the console has ports for.
Overlay: Included with many older console games, overlays are a thin piece of plastic that slides over the buttons on a keypad, labeling the keys for the functions that pertain to that game.
P2P = Peer-to-Peer:
Pixel: The smallest unit of information on a TV or computer screen. The image you see is composed of a large number of colored pixels. Low resolution results in larger, square pixels, while high resolution produces tiny dots.
Platform Game: A game that requires you to jump on platforms of various sizes. These games also typically involve collecting items and jumping on enemies. Examples include Super Mario Bros (NES), Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis), and Jak and Daxter (PS2).
Polygons: Small individual shapes that fit together to form complex 3-D objects. Detailed 3D objects are composed of thousands of polygons.
Pong: Ralph Baer, Father of the Videogame, created what became Magnavox’s Odyssey “ping-pong”, which became the impetus for Atari’s “Pong”, the first arcade videogame.
Power-Up: An item that gives you special abilities or makes you more powerful. Power-ups usually only last for a limited time.
PSP: Sony’s new handheld console. The PSP is in essence a PSX shrunk down so it can be help and played in your hand.
Product Tester: Employee’s that test the product to ensure that all the 1st party standards as well as our internal ATARI standards are met and to ensure that our Quality expectations are met on every product.
RF (Radio Frequency) Cable: A low quality signal sent over coaxial cable (used for cable TV). These cables were commonly used for old video game systems, and are still available for new ones. Produces the lowest quality video signal, and is susceptible to interference.
Rapid-Fire: Allows you to shoot fast and continuously by tapping the fire button, or in some games, simply holding it down.
Real-Time: Normally used to describe combat sequences, the action does not stop to allow you to enter commands. This is the opposite of “turn-based”.
Resolution: A term that describes the level of detail in a game’s graphics. An image on a television screen is actually a series of pixels strung together. High-resolution images look more detailed and lifelike, which low-resolution images tend to look blocky or jagged.
RPGs = Role-Playing Games: Lengthy, slow moving games with elaborate storylines that involve going on a quest and developing one or more characters on the way.
RTS = Real-Time Strategy: A style of game that allows users to control multiple units in a battlefield view. The goal of these games is more strategic and puts the users in the chair of a commander.
Rumble Pack: A device that plugs into a controller to provide vibration feedback.
S-Video Cable: A video cable that produces better video quality than a composite cable, but not as good as a component cable. S-Video improves on composite by separating the color and luminance signals.
Shoulder buttons: Found on the controllers of most modern systems, these can be found on the side of the controller that faces away from the player. These are usually pressed with your index fingers, and are usually analog (touch sensitive). Also known as “triggers”.
Slow-down: When more objects are on the screen than a system can handle, the game tends to slow down, often to the detriment of the game play. This tends to be a problem with systems that have underpowered processors like the SNES.
Sprite: Animated images that form objects or characters in 2D games. These were used in most video games until the PlayStation popularized 3-D, polygon graphics.
Survival Horror: A genre popularized by Resident Evil (PlayStation, 1996), a survival horror game is typically a 3-D adventure involving the escape from an army of zombies or other monsters.
“Tempting Fate”: A generally unwise decision involving toying with an enemy in order to gain the opportunity to score bonus items or points.
Texture Mapping: The programming technique that draws graphical patterns on polygons. This allows smooth surfaces to look bumpy or shaded.
Third-Person: A point of view that lets you see the character you are controlling. The opposite of first-person.
Trigger: See “Shoulder buttons”.
Turbo: The ability to speed up for a short stretch, this is common in racing games. In some games, it’s known as “nitro”.
Turn-based: Normally used to describe the combat sequences in RPGs, pauses the action to allow the user to enter commands between attacks.
Vector Graphics: Unlike a television screen or computer monitor, which is composed of a series of horizontal lines, a vector graphics display plots points and draw lines freely. This technology, popularized in the early 80s was used in arcade games like Asteroids, Tempest, and Battlezone. The Vectrex was the only video game console to use real Vector graphics.
Video Games
action adventure: A genre of games in which the player advances by “physically” overcoming obstacles and collecting items. Examples of action include running, jumping, shooting, etc.
AI: (artificial intelligence) The manner by which a nonhuman character processes information. All characters in video games not controlled by the player are imbued with some form of AI.
arcade adventure: A genre of games comprised of arcade conversions of “classic” video games such as Donkey Kong, Frogger, Pac-Man, etc.
beat-'em-up: (fighting game) A genre of one-on-one combat games, including kung fu and boxing.
Beta: A program near its final stage of development but still containing some bugs to work out. Often the version of a game or program seen by a reviewer or released to the public as a preview.boss The enemy that must be faced by a game’s main character before a level can be finished or before the game can be considered complete. Bosses can consist of a single enemy (typically bigger and more powerful than the player’s character) or some other obstacle (a large, challenging group of enemies, or a particularly hard or deadly puzzle)
Bug: An unexpected and unintended error encountered during a program’s normal operation that typically causes an unaccounted-for problem or error to occur.
cell shading: A graphics animation technique that makes 3D characters in a video game look like a 2D cartoon.
controller: Device used to play video games often having buttons or analog joysticks or both.
CPU: (central processing unit) The main processor in computers and game consoles.
cutscene: An animated or video sequence in a game that provides additional information, including story elements, tips, tricks or secrets.
console: A computer whose primary function is playing video games. The PS2, Xbox and GameCube are all consoles.
developer(s): Person or people who create the computer code for games.
double buffering: An animation technique that uses two frame buffers. One frame is displayed while the other is being rendered. The newly rendered frame then replaces the old one and the process continues throughout the game, providing a smoother animation and higher frame rate than single frame buffering.
easter egg: A secret message or feature written into a game’s code by the programmer. Easter eggs are often uncovered by clever gamers who go looking for them or by accident. Their locations and contents are then shared in forums, chat rooms, etc. until they become more common knowledge.
Emulator: The virtual simulation software that enables a gamer to re-create a specific piece of hardware. For instance: allowing someone to play a console game on their computer.
end-sequence: The final animation or story element that appears at the end of a game. It can lead to, be part of, or follow the game’s credits. Sometimes, an end-sequence will include previews of games to come or tricks and tips for replaying the game you have just completed.
environment mapping: A rendering technique used to create realistic looking reflections on an animated surface.
ESRB: (Entertainment Software Ratings Board) A committee formed in the mid '90s by the gaming industry to provide a self-regulated system for rating and describing game content. Similar in function to movie ratings.
event-based: Linking occurrences within a game. Another term for cause and effect; events within a game that you control influence or cause other events to follow.
fantasy: A genre of game that typically involves characters and events of a medieval time period and includes elements such as mythical creatures, treasure, wizards, etc.
first-person: Vantage point as seen through the eyes of the game’s main character. Often used in FPS (“first-person shooter”) games.
flight sim: A game that simulates the action of flying an aircraft. Controls are often fairly realistic, making the flight itself a significant part of the game’s challenge.
FMV: (full-motion video) An animated video intermission within a game; typically used to narrate the story of the game, reveal secrets, paths or information crucial to your character's survival. The animation typically seen during a cut-scene.
frame rate: The number of complete screens or frames drawn per second (FPS). Higher frame rates provide smoother motion. Broadcast video operates at 30 FPS and movies are shown at 24 FPS. Video games typically try to achieve at least 30 FPS, with the smoothest running at 60 FPS or higher.
GameGen: A polygon-based modeling tool from MultiGen, Inc. Favored by the military industry for visual simulations, this product excels at creating accurate, optimized 3D display lists.
genre: A category a game fits into, such as fighting, driving, action, puzzle. Games within a genre generally share similar styles of gameplay, goals and characters.
hack 'n' slash: A genre of game (typically labeled action or adventure) whose gameplay consists of characters using various weapons to battle their way through countless enemies to reach a goal. Rewards in these games are often gained by destroying as many enemies as possible. This same element tends to be at the heart of the appeal of these games.
hardware: The peripherals used in conjunction with a computer or game console to create or accessorize a system.
HUD: (heads up display) Used most commonly in first person games, the heads up display refers to information appearing on the screen such as life meter, level, weapons, ammo, map, etc.
isometric view: A game’s overhead, angled vantage point; also known as — view.
Joypad: (controller) This is the most common form of video game system controllers. Console systems usually come with at least one and most games released for that system are compatible with it, taking advantage of its specific features.
Joystick: An analog or digital controller that consists of a base unit, stick and button(s).
lighting effects: Special effects used to set mood, control the appearance of objects and re-create atmospheric conditions, such as fog, daybreak and night. Lighting effects are also responsible for surface reflections and shadows.
lives: In some games this measures how long you have left to play. The number of lives or a life meter gives you an idea of how many mistakes you can make before needing to restart from given areas.
MIPS: (millions of instructions per second) A unit measure of processor performance. The more MIPS, the better a system’s performance.
monitor: A hardware device used in conjunction with a video card to display graphical output. Also, computer screen or computer monitor. A TV may be considered a monitor when hooked up to a video game console or computer.
morphing: An animation technique used to transition between two shapes or images such that the first appears to change into the second.
motion capture: A technology that digitizes the actual motions of a human being or animal and then transfers it into 3D animated models.
multiplayer games: Games that allow more than one person to play at the same time.
multiprocessing: The ability of a system that contains more than one processor to simultaneously execute separate processes on each.
multitasking: The ability of an operating system to execute two or more processes simultaneously.
nonlinear: A game in which no order (or very limited order) is assigned to the goals needed to complete the game. Generally found in the action adventure genre, nonlinear gameplay allows you to move a character anywhere you want in a given environment and react to it however you wish. In this type of gameplay there are often many ways to complete a goal or level.
PAL: (phase alternating lines) Indicates a game is designed for the European video standard. "PAL game" = "European version of game" and is incompatible with U.S version systems.
parallax scrolling: A three-dimensional method of "panning" across a landscape or backdrop that simulates motion.
peripherals: Any of the accessories you can add to a computer or game console, such as speakers, extra controllers, keyboards, etc.
platform: The type of system a game is played on. Popular platforms include PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube.
platformer: A sub-genre of action games. Sometimes called a "run 'n' jump" game. It refers to the two-dimensional side-scroll action seen in games like the original Super Mario Brothers for Nintendo. It has also come to refer to the 3D versions of those games or games with similar gameplay elements.
polygon: The basic 2D element from which 3D objects are constructed. The number of polygons in a game's characters or surroundings is generally a good indicator of the quality of the graphics (the more they have the better).
power-up: An object (such as a health packet or weapon) within a game that, when picked up by a player, gives special powers or extra lives.
preview: A noncritical account of a game prior to its release that highlights the anticipated features composing a game.
puzzler: A genre of game in which puzzles are solved by manipulating geometric shapes.
pixel: Acronym for picture element; a unit of measurement for the colored dots in a video display. The more pixels a display has, the higher the resolution and the clearer the picture.
RAM: (random access memory) The temporary memory used in a computer or game console to generate the elements that make up the game. Elements stored in memory of this type can be accessed in any order.
RDRAM: (Rambus Dynamic RAM) Developed by Rambus, Inc. RDRAM is the combination of low-cost dynamic RAM and high-speed access.
real time: When events occurring in a game appear to happen in time corresponding to real life. For example, one hour of playing the game equals one hour of events in the lives of the characters and the environment of the game.
resolution: The quality of pixels on a screen. Typically, the more pixels a display has, the better able it is to display graphical detail.
ROM: (read only memory) The type of memory used in game packs; unalterable.
RPG: (role-playing game) A genre of games for both PCs and consoles in which the player develops intelligence and skills by collecting points and solving puzzles. RPG is a term often associated with the fantasy genre.
shooter: A game where the object is to destroy enemies by shooting, while also avoiding enemy fire. These games are typically presented in a 3D environment through a first-person perspective and are commonly referred to as FPS or "first-person shooters."
side-scrolling: The ability of the foreground and background fields of vision to move from side to side.
simulator/sim: A game genre that replicates actions of "real" life. Some sims are more realistic than others. For instance, many fight simulation games are more realistic than the average physics in a flying game.
software: Coded programs for computers or consoles created by developers.
sound card: A PC add-in accessory that enhances the quality of sound.
strategy: A genre of game in which players utilize competitive tactics and must plan, coordinate and precisely execute actions in order to win. These games frequently involve outthinking the enemy which may be controlled by a computer's AI or another human player.
third party: A software company that produces games for another company's console.
vertical-scrolling: The ability of the foreground and background fields of vision to move from top to bottom or vice versa.
VRAM: (video RAM) The memory within a computer or console that contains the screen's graphical display.
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