A light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games.
Modern screen-based light guns work by building a sensor into the gun itself, and the on-screen target(s) emit light rather than the gun. The first device of this type, the light pen, was used on the MIT Whirlwind computer.
The light gun and its ancestor, the light pen, are now rarely used as pointing devices due largely to the popularity of the mouse and changes in monitor display technology—conventional light guns only work with CRT monitors.
Read more about Light Gun: Early History, Use in Video Games, Design, Positional Guns, Light Gun Models
Famous quotes containing the words light and/or gun:
“Disease can never be conquered, can never be quelled by emotion’s wailful screaming or faith’s cymballic prayer. It can only be conquered by the energy of humanity and the cunning in the mind of man. In the patience of a Curie, in the enlightenment of a Faraday, a Rutherford, a Pasteur, a Nightingale, and all other apostles of light and cleanliness, rather than of a woebegone godliness, we shall find final deliverance from plague, pestilence, and famine.”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)
“Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?”
—Harvey Thew, screenwriter, John Bright, screenwriter, and Lowell Sherman. Lady Lou (Mae West)