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I grew up in Northern Ireland, right up in the

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very, very north end of it there,

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where it's absolutely freezing cold.

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This was me running around in the back garden mid-summer.

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(Laughter)

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I couldn't pick a career.

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In Ireland the obvious choice is the military,

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but to be honest it actually kind of sucks.

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(Laughter)

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My mother wanted me to be a dentist.

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But the problem was that people kept blowing everything up.

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So I actually went to school in Belfast,

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which was where all the action happened.

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And this was a pretty common sight.

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The school I went to was pretty boring.

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They forced us to learn things like Latin.

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The school teachers weren't having much fun,

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the sports were very dirty or very painful.

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So I cleverly chose rowing, which I got very good at.

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And I was actually rowing for my school here

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until this fateful day, and I flipped over right in front

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of the entire school.

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And that was the finishing post right there.

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(Laughter)

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So this was extremely embarrassing.

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But our school at that time got a grant from the government,

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and they got an incredible computer -- the research machine 3DZ --

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and they left the programming manuals lying around.

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And so students like myself with nothing to do,

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we would learn how to program it.

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Also around this time, at home,

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this was the computer that people were buying.

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It was called the Sinclair ZX80. This was a 1K computer,

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and you'd buy your programs on cassette tape.

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Actually I'm just going to pause for one second,

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because I heard that there's a prerequisite to speak here at TED --

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you had to have a picture of yourself from the old days with big hair.

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So I brought a picture with big hair.

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(Laughter).

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I just want to get that out of the way.

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So after the Sinclair ZX80 came along the very cleverly named

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Sinclair ZX81.

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(Laughter)

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And -- you see the picture at the bottom?

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There's a picture of a guy doing homework with his son.

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That's what they thought they had built it for.

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The reality is we got the programming manual

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and we started making games for it.

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We were programming in BASIC,

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which is a pretty awful language for games,

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so we ended up learning Assembly language

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so we could really take control of the hardware.

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This is the guy that invented it, Sir Clive Sinclair,

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and he's showing his machine.

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You had this same thing in America,

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it was called the Timex Sinclair1000.

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To play a game in those days you had to have an imagination

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to believe that you were really playing "Battlestar Galactica."

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The graphics were just horrible.

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You had to have an even better imagination to play this game,

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"Death Rider."

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But of course the scientists couldn't help themselves.

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They started making their own video games.

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This is one of my favorite ones here, where they have rabbit breeding,

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so males choose the lucky rabbit.

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It was around this time we went from 1K to 16K,

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which was quite the leap.

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And if you're wondering how much 16K is,

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this eBay logo here is 16K.

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And in that amount of memory someone programmed

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a full flight simulation program.

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And that's what it looked like.

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I spent ages flying this flight simulator,

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and I honestly believed I could fly airplanes by the end of it.

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Here's Clive Sinclair now launching his color computer.

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He's recognized as being the father of video games in Europe.

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He's a multi-millionaire, and I think that's why he's

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smiling in this photograph.

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So I went on for the next 20 years or so

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making a lot of different games.

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Some of the highlights were things like "The Terminator,"

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"Aladdin," the "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles."

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Because I was from the United Kingdom,

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they thought the word ninja was a little too mean for children,

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so they decided to call it hero instead.

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I personally preferred the Spanish version,

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which was "Tortugas Ninja."

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That was much better.

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(Laughter)

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Then the last game I did was based on trying to get the video game industry

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and Hollywood to actually work together on something --

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instead of licensing from each other, to actually work.

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Now, Chris did ask me to bring some statistics with me,

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so I've done that.

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The video game industry in 2005 became a 29 billion dollar business.

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It grows every year.

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Last year was the biggest year.

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By 2008, we're going to kick the butt of the music industry.

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By 2010, we're going to hit 42 billion.

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43 percent of gamers are female.

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So there's a lot more female gamers than people are really aware.

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The average age of gamers?

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Well, obviously it's for children, right?

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Well, no, actually it's 30 years old.

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And interestingly, the people who buy the most games are 37.

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So 37 is our target audience.

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All video games are violent.

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Of course the newspapers love to beat on this.

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But 83 percent of games don't have any mature content whatsoever,

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so it's just not true.

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Online gaming statistics.

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I brought some stuff on "World of Warcraft." It's 5.5 million players.

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It makes about 80 million bucks a month in subscriptions.

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It costs 50 bucks just to install it on your computer,

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making the publisher about another 275 million.

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The game costs about 80 million dollars to make,

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so basically it pays for itself in about a month.

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A player in a game called "Project Entropia"

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actually bought his own island for 26,500 dollars.

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You have to remember that this is not a real island.

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He didn't actually buy anything, just some data.

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But he got great terms on it.

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This purchase included mining and hunting rights,

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ownership of all land on the island, and a castle

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with no furniture included.

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(Laughter)

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This market is now estimated at over 800 million dollars annually.

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And what's interesting about it is the market was actually created

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by the gamers themselves.

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They found clever ways to trade items

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and to sell their accounts to each other

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so that they could make money while they were playing their games.

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I dove onto eBay a couple of days ago

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just to see what was gong on, typed in World of Warcraft, got 6,000 items.

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I liked this one the best:

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a level 60 Warlock with lots of epics for 174,000 dollars.

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It's like that guy obviously had some pain while making it.

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So as far as popularity of games,

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what do you think these people are doing here?

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It turns out they're actually in Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles

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listening to the L.A. Philharmonic playing video game music.

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That's what the show looks like.

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You would expect it to be cheesy, but it's not.

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It's very, very epic and a very beautiful concert.

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And the people that went there absolutely loved it.

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What do you think these people are doing?

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They're actually bringing their computers so they can play games

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against each other.

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And this is happening in every city around the world.

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This is happening in your local cities too,

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you're probably just not aware of it.

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Now, Chris told me that you had a timeline video a few years ago

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here just to show how video game graphics have been improving.

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I wanted to update that video and give you a new look at it.

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But what I want you to do is to try to understand it.

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We're on this curve, and the graphics are getting

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so ridiculously better.

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And I'm going to show you up to maybe 2007.

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But I want you to try and think about what games could look like

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10 years from now.

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So we're going to start that video.

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Video: Throughout human history people have played games.

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As man's intellect and technology have evolved

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so too have the games he plays.

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(Music)

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(Applause)

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David Perry: The thing again I want you to think about is,

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don't look at these graphics and think of that's the way it is.

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Think about that's where we are right now,

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and the curve that we're on means that this is going to continue

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to get better.

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This is an example of the kind of graphics you need to be able to draw

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if you wanted to get a job in the video game industry today.

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You need to be really an incredible artist.

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And once we get enough of those guys, we're going to want

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more fantasy artists that can create places

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we've never been to before, or characters that

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we've just never seen before.

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So the obvious thing for me to talk about today is graphics and audio.

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But if you were to go to a game developers conference,

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what they're all talking about is emotion, purpose,

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meaning, understanding and feeling.

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You'll hear about talks like, can a video game make you cry?

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And these are the kind of topics we really actually care about.

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I came across a student who's absolutely excellent

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at expressing himself, and this student agreed

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that he would not show his video to anybody until

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you here at TED had seen it.

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So I'd like to play this video.

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So this is a student's opinion on what his experience of games are.

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Video: I, like many of you, live somewhere between

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reality and video games.

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Some part of me -- a true living, breathing person --

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has become programmed, electronic and virtual.

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The boundary of my brain that divides real from fantasy

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has finally begun to crumble.

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I'm a video game addict and this is my story.

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(Music)

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In the year of my birth

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the Nintendo Entertainment System also went into development.

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I played in the backyard, learned to read,

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and even ate some of my vegetables.

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Most of my childhood was spent playing with Legos.

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But as was the case for most of my generation,

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I spent a lot of time in front of the TV.

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Mr. Rogers, Walt Disney, Nick Junior,

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and roughly half a million commercials have undoubtedly

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left their mark on me.

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When my parents bought my sister and I our first Nintendo,

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whatever inherent addictive quality this early interactive

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electronic entertainment possessed quickly took hold of me.

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At some point something clicked.

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(Music)

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With the combination of simple, interactive stories

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and the warmth of the TV set, my simple 16-bit Nintendo

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became more than just an escape.

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It became an alternate existence, my virtual reality.

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(Music)

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I'm a video game addict, and it's not because of

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a certain number of hours I have spent playing,

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or nights I have gone without sleep to finish the next level.

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It is because I have had life-altering experiences in virtual space,

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and video games had begun to erode my own understanding

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of what is real and what is not.

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I'm addicted, because even though I know I'm losing my grip on reality,

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I still crave more.

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(Music)

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From an early age I learned to invest myself emotionally

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in what unfolded before me on screen.

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Today, after 20 years of watching TV geared to make me emotional,

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even a decent insurance commercial can bring tears to my eyes.

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I am just one of a new generation that is growing up.

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A generation who may experience much more meaning

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through video games than they will through the real world.

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Video games are nearing an evolutionary leap,

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a point where game worlds will look and feel just as real

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as the films we see in theatres, or the news we watch on TV.

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And while my sense of free will in these virtual worlds

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may still be limited, what I do learn applies to my real life.

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Play enough video games and eventually you will

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really believe you can snowboard, fly a plane,

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drive a nine-second quarter mile, or kill a man.

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I know I can.

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Unlike any pop culture phenomenon before it,

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video games actually allow us to become part of the machine.

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They allow us to sublimate into the culture of interactive,

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downloaded, streaming, HD reality.

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We are interacting with our entertainment.

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I have come to expect this level of interaction.

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Without it, the problems faced in the real world --

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poverty, war, disease and genocide -- lack the levity they should.

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Their importance blends into the sensationalized drama

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of prime time TV.

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But the beauty of video games today lies not in the lifelike graphics,

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the vibrating joysticks or virtual surround sound.

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It lies in that these games are beginning to make me emotional.

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I have fought in wars, feared for my own survival,

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watched my cohorts die on beaches and woods that look and feel

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more real than any textbook or any news story.

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The people who create these games are smart.

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They know what makes me scared, excited, panicked, proud or sad.

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Then they use these emotions to dimensionalize the worlds they create.

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A well-designed video game will seamlessly

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weave the user into the fabric of the virtual experience.

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As one becomes more experienced

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the awareness of physical control melts away.

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I know what I want and I do it.

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No buttons to push, no triggers to pull, just me and the game.

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My fate and the fate of the world around me lie inside my hands.

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I know violent video games make my mother worry.

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What troubles me is not that video game violence

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is becoming more and more like real life violence,

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but that real life violence is starting to look more and more

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like a video game.

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(Music)

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These are all troubles outside of myself.

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I, however, have a problem very close to home.

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Something has happened to my brain.

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(Music)

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Perhaps there is a single part of our brain that holds

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all of our gut instincts, the things we know to do

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before we even think.

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While some of these instincts may be innate, most are learned,

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and all of them are hardwired into our brains.

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These instincts are essential for survival in both real and virtual worlds.

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Only in recent years has the technology behind video games

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allowed for a true overlap in stimuli.

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As gamers we are now living by the same laws of physics

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in the same cities and doing many of the same things

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we once did in real life, only virtually.

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Consider this --

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my real life car has about 25,000 miles on it.

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In all my driving games, I've driven a total of 31,459 miles.

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To some degree I've learned how to drive from the game.

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The sensory cues are very similar.

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It's a funny feeling when you have spent more time

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doing something on the TV than you have in real life.

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When I am driving down a road at sunset all I can think is,

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this is almost as beautiful as my games are.

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For my virtual worlds are perfect.

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More beautiful and rich than the real world around us.

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I'm not sure what the implications of my experience are,

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but the potential for using realistic video game stimuli in repetition

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on a vast number of loyal participants is frightening to me.

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Today I believe Big Brother would find much more success

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brainwashing the masses with video games

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rather than just simply TVs.

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Video games are fun, engaging, and leave your brain

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completely vulnerable to re-programming.

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But maybe brainwashing isn't always bad.

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Imagine a game that teaches us to respect each other,

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or helps us to understand the problems we're all facing

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in the real world.

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There is a potential to do good as well.

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It is critical, as these virtual worlds continue to mirror

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the real world we live in, that game developers realize

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that they have tremendous responsibilities before them.

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I'm not sure what the future of video games holds

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for our civilization.

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But as virtual and real world experiences increasingly overlap

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there is a greater and greater potential for other people

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to feel the same way I do.

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What I have only recently come to realize

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is that beyond the graphics, sound, game play and emotion

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it is the power to break down reality that is so fascinating

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and addictive to me.

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I know that I am losing my grip.

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Part of me is just waiting to let go.

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I know though, that no matter how amazing video games may become,

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or how flat the real world may seem to us,

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that we must stay aware of what our games are teaching us

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and how they leave us feeling when we finally do unplug.

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(Applause)

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DP: Wow.

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(Applause)

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I found that video very, very thought provoking,

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and that's why I wanted to bring it here for you guys to see.

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And what was interesting about it is the obvious choice

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for me to talk about was graphics and audio.

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But as you heard, Michael talked about all these other elements as well.

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Video games give an awful lot of other things too,

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and that's why people get so addicted.

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The most important one being fun.

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The name of this track is "The Magic To Come."

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Who is that going to come from?

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Is it going to come from the best directors in the world

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as we thought it probably would?

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I don't think so.

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I think it's going to come from the children who are growing up now

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that aren't stuck with all of the stuff that we remember from the past.

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They're going to do it their way, using the tools that we've created.

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The same with students or highly creative people,

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writers and people like that.

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As far as colleges go, there's about 350 colleges around the world

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teaching video game courses.

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That means there's literally thousands of new ideas.

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Some of the ideas are really dreadful and some of them are great.

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There's nothing worse than having to listen to someone

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try and pitch you a really bad video game idea.

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(Laughter)

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Chris Anderson: You're off, you're off. That's it.

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He's out of time.

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DP: I've just got a little tiny bit more if you'll indulge me.

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CA: Go ahead. I'm going to stay right here though.

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(Laughter)

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DP: This is just a cool shot, because this is students coming to school after class.

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The school is closed; they're coming back at midnight

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because they want to pitch their video game ideas.

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I'm sitting at the front of the class,

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and they're actually pitching their ideas.

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So it's hard to get students to come back to class,

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but it is possible.

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This is my daughter, her name's Emma, she's 17 months old.

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And I've been asking myself, what is Emma going to experience

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in the video game world?

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And as I've shown here, we have the audience.

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She's never going to know a world where you can't press a button

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and have millions of people ready to play.

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You know, we have the technology.

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She's never going to know a world where the graphics just aren't

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stunning and really immersive.

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And as the student video showed, we can impact and move.

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She's never going to know a world where video games

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aren't incredibly emotional and will probably make her cry.

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I just hope she likes video games.

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(Laughter)

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So, my closing thought.

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Games on the surface seem simple entertainment,

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but for those that like to look a little deeper,

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the new paradigm of video games could open entirely new frontiers

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to creative minds that like to think big.

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Where better to challenge those minds than here at TED?

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Thank you.

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Chris Anderson: David Perry. That was awesome.