Discuss the popularity of computer games,how they have changed patterns of leisure inside and outside the home - Who do they appeal to and why? How have they changed and how are they changing? What factors drive these changes?

        Game consoles have altered leisure patterns in many ways. For example now a children will properly come in from school and instead of going out and playing will properly spend a few hours on his games console before going out to play, this may effect the child because instead of the child having exercise and interacting with people they will be stuck playing on a game. This will lead to people to become more antisocial towards one another in the house. With gaming consoles such as the Nintendo gameboy it means that children can play on computer games while they are out, this can have a major effect on leisure. Because when children are out with their friends then instead of playing football etc then they will all be playing on separate game consoles and not interacting at all. Also some of the games that are available could be considered not socially acceptable for example GTA where the aim of the game is to steal cars and kill people, this may have an effect on children as hey may believe it to be acceptable to does this in real life. Also now computer games can be played on digital tv so instead of going to make a cup of tea during a advert break you can play on games using the tv remote.

        Like stated before the games console market now has a wide market segment. However different consoles and games are aimed at different ages, for example the Nintendo game cube is aimed at a younger market, because of the type of game it brings out and the generally design of it. Whereas the x-box is aimed at the more mature end of the market where people are into more advanced games, it also has a more grown up feel to it.

        Game consoles and the games for them have gone through a phenomenal change from when they first brought out. I believe the first computer game that was in public use was a very basic tennis game with 2d graphics. However now you can get a very wide range of different gameplays. These changes has occurred because of the advances in technology and because of the needs of the game player have become greater and greater, some class it as a type of drug where addicts need more and more games to feed their habits.