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Encyclopedia > Killer game

A killer game is a video game that is so popular, that many buy a particular video game console or upgrade their computer hardware simply to play it. "Killer game" is a marketing term used to describe the commercial success of a game in causing sales of hardware, not a colloquial term to describe popularity. A killer game is one type of killer application. A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... The XBox 360 is an example of a current generation video game console. ... A computer is a machine capable of undergoing complex calculations. ... Hardware is the general term that is used to describe physical artifacts of a technology. ... A killer application (commonly shortened to killer app) is a computer program that is so useful that people will buy a particular piece of computer hardware, gaming console, and/or an operating system simply to run that program. ...


Importance

To a video game console manufacturer, having such a game available for its platform is critical to a platform's market success. The failure of home video game systems such as the 3DO, as well as handhelds like the Atari Lynx and the Game.com can be attributed to the fact that no killer game emerged for those systems. 3DO Interactive Multiplayer is the name of a number of video game consoles released in 1993 and 1994 by Panasonic, Sanyo and Goldstar. ... The Atari Lynx is Ataris only handheld game console, and the first such machine with a color display. ... Tigers game. ...


A killer game can also have great impact on competing hardware in the market. If a killer title is available for one console or set of hardware but not the other, consumers may be unlikely to purchase the second console in anticipation of the killer game on the first console, even if there are other reasons to purchase the second console.


Examples

The original killer game on a console was surely Space Invaders for the Atari 2600. Boasting 112 variations on the basic concept, this was the first time consumers could play in their homes a game which had previously only been available in an arcade. Although hundreds of games were released for the 2600, in the beginning it was primarily known for its ability to play Space Invaders. Space Invaders was a very popular arcade video game designed by Toshihiro Nishikado. ... The Atari 2600, released in 1977, is the first successful video game console to use plug-in cartridges instead of having one or more games built in. ...


For the original Sony PlayStation, Final Fantasy VII was thought to be a killer game, having sold over 3.5 million copies in Japan alone by the end of 1997, with similar sales to be achieved a few months later in the United States. Sales of PlayStations were rising likewise at this time, reaching 12 million worldwide by the end of 1997. [1] However, it cannot be said for certain that sales of this game caused sales of the PlayStation (see Correlation implies causation (logical fallacy))--the rise of console sales may be due to extraneous factors rather than solely due to Final Fantasy VII's high sales. The original PlayStation was produced in a light grey colour; the more recent PSOne redesign sports a smaller more rounded case. ... Final Fantasy VII (ファイナルファンタジーVII Fainaru Fantajī VII) is a console and computer role-playing game released by Square Co. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Correlation implies causation, also known as cum hoc ergo propter hoc (Latin for with this, therefore because of this) and false cause, is a logical fallacy by which two events that occur together are claimed to be cause and effect. ...


The Nintendo 64's first killer game was Super Mario 64, available at system launch. The game sold a million copies in its first three months, and nearly everyone who bought a Nintendo 64 in its first year bought a copy of Super Mario 64, according to N-Sider Media [2]. The game was widely regarded as one of the best in the history of video games, and demand for the console to play it was so high that Nintendo was not able (or perhaps willing) to supply enough hardware during the first few months of release. The Nintendo 64, commonly called the N64, is Nintendos third home video game console. ... Super Mario 64 is a video game for the Nintendo 64. ... A launch game is a video game that has been made available to consumers synchronously with its respective video game console. ... Screenshot of N-Sider Web site N-Sider is a website that covers news and history relating to Nintendo Co. ...


For the original GameBoy, the killer game was of course Tetris, which was bundled with every original GB sold. Nintendo recognised the need for a killer game for their handheld system very well, and accurately foresaw that Tetris was that game. Their aggressive pursuit of the rights to the game have been well documented. The massive popularity of Tetris was highly influential in allowing the Gameboy to succeed in a market where technically superior competition (the Sega GameGear and the Atari Lynx), which lacked killer games, failed. Much later, sales of original GameBoy hardware saw a significant upswing with the release of the "Pokemon" games. This significantly extended the lifetime of the now cheaper original GameBoy hardware (including the GB Pocket) at a time when most games were targeted at the GameBoy Colour and early adopters were awaiting the arrival of the Advance.


Super Smash Brothers Melee was the killer game for the Nintendo Gamecube. It was release about one week after launch and it has sold with a very high ratio to the system. Years later many people still sit around the television for hours playing countless matches. Super Smash Bros. ... Nintendo (Japanese: 任天堂, ニンテンドー Nintendō; NASDAQ: NTDOY, TYO: 7974 ) is an international company originally founded in Japan on November 6, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards, for use in a Japanese playing card game of the same name. ... The Nintendo GameCube (Japanese: ゲームキューブ; originally code-named Dolphin during development; abbreviated as GCN) is Nintendos fourth home video game console, belonging to the 128-bit era; the same generation as Segas Dreamcast, Sonys PlayStation 2, and Microsofts Xbox. ...


Halo: Combat Evolved was the killer game for Microsoft's Xbox. It was released on launch and has become the most popular game for Xbox and one of the most popular games of all time. [3] Halo: Combat Evolved, or simply Halo, is a video game in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre, created by the Microsoft-owned Bungie Studios. ... Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKEx: 4338) is the worlds largest software company, with 2005 global annual sales of 40 billion US dollars and nearly 60,000 employees in more than 90 countries and regions. ... The Microsoft Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console first released on November 15, 2001 in North America, then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and later on March 14, 2002 in Europe. ...


For the Nintendo DS, Nintendogs has caused a large upswing in sales of the handheld system in Japan. According to Anoop Gantayat of IGN, the jump in DS sales in August 2005 was due in large part to the popularity of the several versions of Nintendogs. [4] The Nintendo DS, (sometimes abbreviated NDS or just DS), is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. ... Nintendogs is a pet simulation video game, similar to a virtual pet, for the Nintendo DS portable game system. ... IGNs Editors Choice Award is given to only the top games IGN.com is a multimedia news website. ... Note: as an adjective (stressed on the second syllable instead of the first), august means honorable. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...


See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
Killer 7 - GameCritics.com (1349 words)
The devotees of the enchanted school of hardcore gaming, who are relieved to see otaku bizarreness other than the King of All Cosmos with his magnificent codpiece, of course counter the philistine masses to revel in Killer 7's strangeness.
There is one thing that all would likely agree on: Capcom has produced a game that may seem like a throwback to halcyon days of yore, when adventurers pointed and clicked their way to the end of a game, but it drips modern style and gun action along with rivers of blood.
The game is focused on countering the deadly Heaven Smile, mutated beings who have become monsters able to move invisibly and undetected through society, allowing them to appear where they will and to explode mercilessly, causing havoc and bloody destruction.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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