which can turn your television set into a game that two can play.

You ready, Jen? Play.

Pong, first released in 1972,

was as simple as a game can possibly be.

Two white rectangles batting a square ball back and forward

as players attempted to win points off each other.

It tested reflexes and nerves

and introduced an exciting new medium to millions.

Most importantly, it turned pal against pal

or sibling against sibling

in a spot of friendly or fierce competition.

That's something the gaming industry is still doing

to the delight of millions to this day.

Video games have come a long way since Pong though.

Your mother thinks you ought to be

spending more time at your homework.

What do you think about that?

Undoubtably, yes.

This old stereotype of gamers being isolated loners

is quite frankly boring and outdated.

Video games have long since come out of the bedroom

and into the world.

Shared and celebrated by fans and communities

across the globe.

Here are six more of the iconic titles

that helped make that happen.

Around five years after Pong

Space Invaders was launched,

bringing with it more colours, more sophisticated music

and a distinctive plot and mood.

While sceptics dismissed Pong as a passing novelty

Space Invaders proved that video games were not only here to stay

but they were a massive and extremely profitable global industry.

And the little pixelated enemies are still used to this day

as an icon of video games as a whole.

Waka-waka-ing his way onto the scene in 1980,

Pac-man was arguably video gaming's first real character.

Urban legend states that his shape was inspired by a pizza

minus a couple of slices.

Pac-man tried something different.

In it you had to use your wits and strategically evade enemies

until you were strong enough to chase them down instead.

Pac-man quickly became a pop culture phenomenon

featuring on t-shirts, ties, glasses, bags,

balloons, board games, books, caps

and any other merchandise that sat around in one spot for too long.

Of all the video game characters to grace our consoles over the years,

none have made an impact quite like Mario.

The side-scrolling platform game

featured a plumber trying to rescue a princess

from a fire-breathing turtle

and a labyrinth of pipes and platforms to traverse

while avoiding razor-toothed plants

and even odder-looking mushrooms.

And so of course it captured gamers' hearts

and became one of the fastest-selling video games of all time.

Tomb Raider was the butt-kicking, action-adventure game

that sold PlayStation consoles by the bucketload

and introduced the world to fictional archaeologist/treasure hunter

Lara Croft.

As one of the first ever notable female game protagonists

Lara's Launch in 1996 had already caused a media sensation.

If Pac-man was gaming's first ever character

and Mario its first mascot,

Lara Croft was its first icon.

Now you could argue that Lara

is really more a source of male titillation than female empowerment

but she was one of the first playable women

I remember seeing in a video game

and that representation really mattered.

World of Warcraft, launched in 2004,

still stands as one of the biggest

massively multiplayer online role playing games of all time.

Players could create an avatar, assign them a class, race and skills

and then send them out into the world of Azeroth to explore,

complete quests and meet with other player characters.

In its prime, the game had more than 100 million registered users.

World of Warcraft played a huge role

in legitimising multiplayer gaming for the masses.

And I should know, I spent six years on it.

Minecraft is an open world game

that lets players build, create and alter environments

by making, placing and destroying blocks.

It's been extremely popular with children and academics alike

due to its incredible scope for creating physics

and logic-based puzzles

and to scale replicas of everything from the Starship Enterprise

to the British Isles.

A large part of its popularity is that it's an incredibly social game

with a litany of devoted fans

who work together to build entire worlds out of little coloured blocks.

Of course, there were many other titles that changed the world

over gaming's long and lustrous history.

In the last decade the rise of indie games, esports and mobile games

have changed the gaming landscape again,

as players themselves diversify

and look for new experiences they can share with other players.

Fans have known this for a long time that video games aren't just games -

they're art, they're fun, they're beautiful.

They can amaze, delight, teach, empathise, empower.

They're a huge part of our culture and they're here to change the world.

Thanks for watching! :)

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