Back in elementary school, history was one of the classes that made me enter a battle to the death with sleep. Although I always had great teachers(at least those teaching history), keeping in mind so many dates, events, and names was kind of confusing. Today, I can say history is one of my passions, although I am not a walking history manual. Usually, I go hunting for military history info, but this time we're going to talk about something different - the two decades of history left behind by the Sega Genesis console and its impact on today's gaming world.

As you can easily figure out by visiting the link above, the history is far from being over, since the Sega Genesis console turned into a valuable collector's item, although I think the prices are pretty decent. After all, sometimes we're talking about more than just money, and those playing Sonic the Hedgehog or Streets of Rage almost two decades ago surely know what I mean, because some things can't be described with words. Now, let's go through a little history class for the young ones reading this, shall we?

Back in 1988, Sega started the 16-bit era, introducing the first console powered by a CPU as powerful as those in personal computers of that time, the Sega Mega Drive having inside it the Motorola 68000 CPU, the same one as those under the hood of the Apple Macintosh, Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST personal computers.

While the Mega Drive was released in 1988 in Japan, here you have the complete specs of the Sega Genesis console,<-250x250 Square - right-> released one year later in the US(we're talking about the same thing, marketed in Japan and Europe as the Mega Drive, and Genesis, only in the US):

- Retail Price at Launch: $189.99
- Media Type: Cartridges
- Processor: Motorola 68000 (16-bit)
- Processor Speed: 7.67 MHz
- Memory: 64K RAM, 64K Video RAM
- Resolution: 320 x 224
- Colors: 512
- Colors on screen: 64
- Max sprites: 80
- Sprites size: 32x32
- Sound: 6-channel Stereo
- Cartridge size: 256kb - 4meg

Looking back, today we will probably find amusing that the 7.67MHz processor of the Sega Genesis console totally owned Super NES's 3.58MHz one, but back in those days, this made a huge difference, and helped Sega endanger Nintendo's domination of the market.

When talking about strong characters to be associated with the console, Nintendo had Mario, and so Sega thought about coming up with something fast, cool, and edgy, Sonic the Hedgehog being everything that Mario wasn't.

Although Sega got out of the console market a few years ago, it is worth remembering that the Sega Genesis console was the one to bring game consoles to the masses, and then they managed to disappear in the shadows not because their enemies, but because their own internal problems. Anyway, talking about Sega's fall is not what I have in mind now, so I'll leave this topic for another time.

At last, instead of more history(I told you that the fall of this great company on the console market is not what I have in mind, so I'll stay away of telling you more than you need to know now), I will give you the names of those games that I will always remember(I never had a Sega console at home, but I was fortunate enough to have access to one): Alladin(think about it as the ancestor of today's Prince of Persia), Mortal Kombat(a classic that will never be forgotten), and Vectorman.

These being said, I only have one thing left to add - if you have one of these golden oldies lying somewhere, get it back on its feet and let the good times roll again. Speaking for myself, I guess I'll have to find some software emulator, because none of my friends still has a Sega Genesis console in working state available...

The idea of playing an interesting game of roulette or a simple pack of cards sounds interesting enough, but there are a large number of individuals who do not get enough time to visit casinos or simply do not have a good casino located nearby.
Well, help is at hand for such individuals in the form of online casinos. Internet and the online world open a great deal of opportunities for individuals who want to play casino games and try their luck without having to move out of their homes.

Why online casino?
It will not be an exaggeration to say that the online world is large and inundated with opportunities. This is the reason why it is extremely important to select only the good and best rated online casinos if an individual wants to invest their money in online games. Some of the top rated online casinos include:

•    Golden Casino – this casino was opened at the end of 2006 in the form of the latest Vegas Technology Casino. This site allows only US nationals as players. This immensely popular casino game site has more than 80 games to offer. The players can choose to download the entire game or play via flash player. This site offers technical and bank support to its players round the clock.
•    Millionaire Casino – this casino was introduced as the exclusive casino site where entry was possible only via an invitation. However, today it has boomed into one of the most preferred sites for serious online gamblers who do not mind investing a large amount of sum in online casino games at this site. Millionaire Casino is the brainchild of English Harbor Gaming Ventures Group. Thus its gamblers are assured of their integrity, honesty and special treatment of all the players who are registered members of this popular casino gaming site.
•    Rushmore Casino – this casino has managed to enter the good books of all the die-hard gamblers all over the country primarily because of two reasons. They are its outstanding customer service and secondly, the large amount of bonus offers and promotions which are offered by this company are simply incomparable. The minimum bet amount and wager requirements are extremely less as compared to the vast fortune which this site offers as the gambling prize. Their commitment towards their clients and instant rewards offered to the betters has ensured that this company remains as one of the most preferred online casino websites.
•    Lucky 18 Casino – this casino company is run by a Cyprus based venture. It facilitates gaming for its players with the help of TST certified Real Time Gaming Software platform. The odds offered by this gambling site are far better than any other casino based in Las Vegas.
•    Platinum Play online casino – this casino website is officially approved by eCOGRA which means that it bears its seal of “safe and fair play” approval. Platinum was certified with eCOGRA in 2004 and since then, has been instrumental in providing interesting online casino games to individuals.

Rock, my friends, rock is the mistery of life in a minute, rock is the music of angels and devils alike, rock is everything for a lot of people, as well as a serious source of income for a lot of artists and - most important for this article - for companies like Viacom. Why Viacom? Well, it's all about Rock Band, of course!

The story is pretty short, but it has a very strong impact. At least that's what I think, of course. Just hear this - while Viacom's movie and TV performance was not something to be proud of, sales of Rock Band were a ray of light in the darkness for the media giant.<-125x125 Button - right->

When talking about numbers, the overall profits went down to $401 million for the last quarter, from a previous $641 million, but the division which includes the company's games output grew 36 percent to $313 million, and Rock Band was the main force behind these numbers.

Philippe Dauman, president and CEO of Viacom, said they are "very excited by the great potential of our games business, led by our rapidly expanding Rock Band franchise," and I only have two words to say: rock on!!!

How much is Rock Band worth? This would be the final question, but there's no accurate answer. You got your numbers above, but I think Rock Band is worth much more, so just wait until next year, and then we'll talk again about this. After all, I am sure the Christmas shopping spree will show us how much is Rock Band worth!