Choose your own adventure: since 1968, video games have just kept getting better and better.

• Author: Suderman, Peter

WHEN THE FIRST issue of reason was published in May 1968, hardly anyone knew what a video game was. But that was about to change. That same year, inventor Ralph Baer patented the interactive television device that would go on to become the world's first home video game console. The very first computer game, Spacewar!, was conceived by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student just seven years before that.

As reason evolved into something bigger, so did interactive entertainment. Today, video games have leveled up to the top of the home entertainment heap. They're a $67 billion global business, and roughly half of Americans say they play them every week.

There's no deep mystery to the popularity of the medium. Video games offer something that reason has championed throughout its existence: individual choice and personalized experience. Garners aren't stuck with the pre-scripted narratives of Hollywood, nor are they mere onlookers watching the elites-only competition of big-time sports. Modern games put you, the player, and your individual decisions at the center of the story or the action.

This fall, garners' choices are about to expand even further. Sony and Microsoft, two of the biggest companies in the market, are preparing a new generation of video game consoles for release. Early announcements suggest that these devices will expand the roles of choice and personalization still further.

Sony's new system, the Playstation 4, is built around social networking options that encourage players to capture their in-game experiences and share them with others. Microsoft's new platform, the Xbox One, looks even more ambitious: The system is designed as a full-fledged home media hub, built to switch between TV, games, and a slew of other living-room media options. It's voice-activated and motion-controlled, with biometric sensors powerful and finely tuned enough to make the Department of Homeland Security jealous.

Amusement junkies didn't always have such power at their disposal. And they had to fight government censors and nannying legislators in order to get to where they are. As Steven Kent recounts in his 2001 book The Ultimate History of Video Games, early games were in many ways an extension of the pinball business. Because mid-century politicians associated pinball with in the first place gambling, they spent more than a little time trying to shut the nascent industry down. In January 1942, New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia signed an...