In October of 1958, nuclear physicist William Higinbotham created what many people believe to be the world’s very first video game. It was called Tennis for Two and was a small screen connected to an analog computer with two controllers and a dial to control the angle of the ball. A little more than a decade later, the game Computer Science was released as the first commercially sold video game ever (Epstein). Soon after, video game companies like Atari and Nintendo began to revolutionize the video game industry. They made new games and systems and served as inspirations for the creation of today’s most popular consoles, Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox. Nowadays, kids–and even some adults–are spending several hours a day mesmerized …show more content…
An example of a sport that needs a lot of focus is baseball. On defense, baseball players have to keep track of how many outs there are in the inning, how many people are on base and where it is most likely for the batter to hit the ball, so that they can be ready if they think it might come to them. Once the baseball player fields the ball, they have to make a split-second decision on where to throw it and if they lose focus they could make an error and hurt their team. When playing a video game, the brain functions similarly. If someone is playing an action game such as Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed, they must keep track of where the enemy is, what their objective/mission is, and what weapon to use. They also must quickly decide whether or not it is an appropriate time to attack or if they should just take cover or run. If the gamer loses focus for even just a few seconds, it could cause them to fail the mission or get killed by the …show more content…
Hitting a baseball, smashing a tennis ball, or catching a lacrosse ball are all examples of how sports require and help enhance hand-eye coordination. Despite the fact that video games cannot match playing sports from a physical aspect, research has shown that video games can also improve coordination. In 2007, Dr. James Rosser Jr. conducted a study that showed how medical students who played video games for over three hours in a week performed better on laparoscopic surgery training simulators than those who did not. They made 37% fewer errors, worked 27% faster and scored 42% better overall (Hampton). Even though most gamers won’t become surgeons, this study still highlights the fact that playing video games helps with hand-eye coordination. It is amazing how even after just a few hours of video games people can do such a difficult and precise task–like surgery–so much more