Java 7 for Absolute Beginners

C H A P T E R  12

Video Games

By “video games,” I mean games which have very limited controls and a primary interface that is somehow animated. Other computer games still use animation but aren't video games in classic parlance. For example, an old game called BattleZone (which I used to play in college) is a video game. Civilization, in all of its incarnations, is a computer game but not a video game. What's the difference? Complexity and the skill used to play the game. Video games tend to be simple and require dexterity. Other games tend to be more complex and rely on intelligence. As an avid gamer, I enjoy both, depending on my mood.

I bet a lot of the people who read this book want to learn to write video games. Fair enough. I probably ...