Video game

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A video game is an electronic game played on a video screen (normally a television, computer monitor, or built-in screen when played on a handheld machine).

There are many types, or genres, of video games: role-playing games; shooters, first-person shooters, side-scrollers, and platformers.

Video games usually come on CDs, DVDs or digital download. Many games used to come on cartridges. A specialized device used to play a video game at home is called a console. There have been many types of consoles and home computers used to play video games. Some of the first were the Atari 2600 in the 1970s and the Sega Master System and Nintendo Entertainment System in the 1980s. Newer video game consoles are Microsoft's Xbox Series X, Sony's PlayStation 5 and Nintendo's Nintendo Switch. The best-selling video game console of all time is the PlayStation 2, made by Sony.

People can also use computers to play games, which are sometimes called PC games. The older consoles do not have new games developed for them often, although some console games are emulated for PCs (see emulator). This means that new computers can play many old console games along with games made just for new computers. Older games are often more popular emulated than when they were first on sale, because of the ease of download^[source?].

People can play portable video games anywhere. Mobile devices (running operating systems such as iOS or Android) also can download games, making them portable game machines. Mobile phones have many games, some of them using a mobile emulator for games from consoles. Not all PC or console games are on mobile or iPad/ iPod/Tablet.

Competitions of video game players are called electronic sports. Also known today as e-sports.