Back when video games first came out, there was Atari, and it came with games like Pac Man, Galaga, Millipede, and more. These games weren't very expensive, and many households, despite their income, bought them for their kids.

Nowadays, there are numerous types of video games for several game systems. These modern game systems are a lot more expensive, making it difficult for every household to purchase them for their children. Now there are the game systems, the Nintendo Wii, xbox 360, Playstation 3, which makes playing games feel like you're actually on screen playing. If you are playing a bowling game on the brand-new Nintendo Wii, you actually roll a real bowling ball, and at the same time, you see yourself on the screen, actually playing. It's a real technological advance! And it's very fun and exciting for children as well as adults.

There are many different video games for these various game consoles

Such as football, basketball, baseball, and a real favorite for many people, Nascar. In the Nascar game, you can setup your own car, by choosing different tracks, just like you're actually on a real race track. You can adjust the track bar on the car and change tires, and then it's like you're actually racing for the Nextel Cup, in real life. The graphics on these games are unreal, and it's just like watching a game or TV. You choose the team that you want, and play someone else. Also, you can customize your video game, and that is fun, too, especially when you're beating your opponent.

There are also tournaments on these video games, Take a look at one of the most popular video game franchises in history: Super Mario Bros. A plumber falls through a pipe and enters a world where he must rescue a princess, defeat and evil monster and navigate a world full of mushrooms, blocks, question marks and goombas. No matter how imaginative one's imagination could be, there is simply no way that such an occurrence could happen in this world, like, for real. So, the illusion of the game remains intact.

Now, if you look at today's video games for popular systems like the Microsoft Xbox 360 or the Sony Playstation Portable, you can clearly see that video games are now using real world issues as their premise. Of course, there are also a plethora of fantasy based video games and characters. But, more and more games are using Iraq as their setting rather than a mushroom kingdom. Now, if you look at video games through the past, and place yourself at the dawn of the home video game explosion; the early 1980s; it would be hard to imagine a video game dealing with, say for example, the Iran hostage crisis or the invasion of the Falkland Islands. But, today, there are many video games using current events as a fantasy gaming world.

There are many theories as to the dearth of reality-based video games. The improvement of video game graphics can makes it easier to make real world wars, conflicts and issues appear that much, more, real, on the screen. It could be that developing a video game based on the battle in Afghanistan is easier to develop than starting a game from scratch with new characters, settings, story lines, etc. Perhaps it's a calculated effort to hone in on frustrated individuals who can't really join the fight: battle those terrorist creeps that you hate so much from the comfort of your own home. In the latter instance, at least, it can make for a quick way to make a quick dollar.

Before, video games used to be an easily defined line between escape and realism. On one side, was life and the real world with all its problems and ailments, most of which you can't control. On the other side was the gaming universe, where you are the ultimate master and are in total control. Idea: why not combine the two, and give a video game player the complete control that video games provide into a real world situation in which otherwise, they feel powerless?

It seems that today, a gamer can watch the news, get upset and then do something about it in the real world that exists inside their Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. Now, whether or not that contributes anything of substance at all is a subject for another debate altogether.