Television

Overview

The first electromechanical televisions were sold in the United Kingdom in 1928, however these televisions have generally not been known to appear in games. Possibly the most common variant of televisions seen in video games are cathode ray tube (CRT) televisions which were first made in Germany in 1934. Many televisions that have appeared in video games in the 21st century have been LCD or plasma televisions.
 
While some televisions in video games may appear without moving images, some show a limited amount of moving pictures and in certain situations players may even have the ability to turn them on and off. In The Sims games televisions are used as a means of raising a sim's 'fun' mood, with higher quality televisions raising fun faster and sims having their own favourite television stations based on their interests. In Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 televisions play a major role as the means by which characters can see the midnight channel, a mysterious channel which only comes on at midnight on foggy days and people become trapped inside, controlled by a dark presence. Characters in the game enter the midnight channel by crawling inside televisions. The game Pokemon Channel centres almost entirely around interactions with a television and the programs on it.
 
In Grand Theft Auto IV there are a number of different channels players can view, all with short pre-recorded programs. In Starcraft II the television on The Hyperion can be viewed between missions and usually shows clips of the Universal News Network (UNN) reporting on current events in the galaxy. In Alan Wake various televisions appear, some of them showing episodes of a Twilight Zone-like show called Night Springs when turned and others turning on by themselves and showing mysterious images of Alan Wake in the hut on Cauldron Lake. In the Half-Life 2 games Dr. Breen uses giant screens placed around City 17 as a means of delivering his propaganda broadcasts to citizens and Dr. Kleiner can also be observed using televisions as a means of spreading his anti- Combine message.