Video games have been one of the leading trends in the last 20 years. They started out in the 1980s being made by a single computer programmer working for a couple weeks. Now, it is nearly impossible to make a decent game without working in a highly advanced game development studio with many other people. Video games sales have reached an all-time high, with new gaming systems always in development. Not just in America, but all around the world, children will hope to wake up on Christmas morning to find a Playstation2, the newest and most advanced gaming system, under their trees. However, many kids will be dissappointed that morning because thousands of the gaming machines are being shipped to Iraq, and some say Hussein plans to use the powerful systems for his military applications. Programming has gone from being a part time hobby to a six-digit income profession.
There have been many gaming systems to date, and there will be many more to come. Some of the currently popular systems include the Nintendo 64, the Sony Playstation, the Sega Dreamcast, and the recently released Sony Playstation2, and while we entertain ourselves with these, Microsoft has their own gaming system in development, the X-Box. The games for these systems vary in price, some selling for as low as $20, and some selling for as much as $80. All of the systems are unique in some way, but probably the biggest characteristic of the Nintendo 64 that truly sets it apart is that while the other systems use CDs for their games, this system uses a cartridge as a medium for the game. Many argue whether or not the use of the cartridge as opposed to the CD has been a good decision.
The researcher has found great interest in the thriving business of game programming. He decided to determine if there is a significant difference in price of games for the Nintendo 64, which use cartridges, and games for the Playstation, which use CDs. Solely because the games are based on two different mediums, he hypothesized there would be a significant difference in the prices of the Nintendo 64 games and the Playstation games. The null hypothesis stated that there was no significant difference in video game prices for the Nintendo 64 and the Playstation.