It all began with Atari. Established in 1972, Atari started the revolution of not only video arcade games, but home video game consoles and home computer games as well. Game systems and video games have come a long way since the first Atari came out. Every year, new games and game systems are being established. Each system has bigger and better graphics than the next and each try to incorporate new and innovate features to out do competitors. Video game design is constantly changing, and allows designers to have the freedom and creativity to come up with systems and games most people could never even dream up. The video game industry is full of competition all across the board. There are technology companies competing to have the best game system on the market that game enthusiasts are going to crave to have. Then there are game companies who are competing to have the best game out there by incorporating life-like graphics and new features. Video game design has come a long way from the days of Atari and it does not look like the industry is going to slow down any day soon. The competitive market of video game systems is saturated with top name electronic companies. Companies such as Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sega make up the most popular video game system companies in the United States. All four have distinct video game consoles with innovative graphics and features. These companies come out with game systems every year trying to out do the current systems that are already on the market. Each company has a full range of employees specializing in video game design to make their product better than any other. The popularity of these game systems is evident around Black Friday and Christmas time, or even when a new system is about to be released. Most recently when Nintendo was coming out with it’s Wii game system, avid gamers camped out for days in front of the nearest Target or Wal-Mart, hoping to get their hands on one of only a few systems to be released. The same can be said for the new Sony Playstation system that was recently released. With the popularity of these game systems, it makes a degree in video game design that much more appealing. Colleges all across the nation are jumping on the video game design bandwagon. Programs in animation, digital design, game design and computer technology are mainstreaming their way into the classroom. These programs are designed to give students an insight into the gaming world and give them the tools and skills necessary to be successful in designing games. There are a lot of factors that go into designing a game, which makes this career field challenging, but exciting at the same time. These skills include game coding, computer technology, animation, graphic design and many other factors that are essential to creating game systems and video games. A career in video game design allows students to tap into their creativity to craft new worlds and characters. Upon completion of a degree program, students will have the skills and knowledge necessary to create these games. Students will gain knowledge in story development, project management, digital content creation and artistic design. Advanced classes in 3D modeling, animation and game content development round out the skills necessary to be successful in designing video games. Students will gain enough knowledge and experience to produce a portfolio that will showcase their video game design talent. With students completing animation programs every year, the video game industry will never be the same.