The first thing to be considered a video game was Space War, released in 1962.
Video games started to become commercially available for the home in the early 1970s.
Home Pong was a game played through the TV, used one machine and one game. Released on the Atari system.
Altaria was made in 1977, used very limited colour and sound.
Typical Arcade games were introduced in 1980.
Two different streams of games, home and arcade. Graphics were much better in Arcades. 3D was faked by use of mirrors in arcade machines.
Atari was biggest games company of the 1970s/early 80s.
Space Invaders and Pac-man were released in 1978 and 1980 respectively. Two of the most iconic arcade games of all time.
Nintendo Game and Watch, first released in 1980. Inspired Nintendo DS systems available today, which are the most current Nintendo handheld (well, the Nintendo 3DS.)
Used LED screens, used for alarm clocks. Had one game on it, with two difficulty levels.
Atari 2600, from 1980-1982. Steve Jobs worked with Atari, links Atari and gaming with Pixar and other companies we have been studying.
It plugged into a TV and had the game code information on games cartridges. Was one of the first consoles to use cartridges.
1982 - Pitfall released on Atari 2000, used only 8 colours. Started to use more colours in games.
1983 - crash in the games market, due to the market being over saturated with low quality games. In an attempt to improve the games market, people were making games based on films, such as E.T. and Indiana Jones.
There was a myth stating that the excess games during the crash were buried in the desert in New Mexico.
Known as the Video Game crash.
Atari ran into trouble in 1983 for image problems which made pornographic games. Sales began to fall drastically here.
Home Micros were around from 1983 to 1992, a period of time when they focused on making games for home computers. Games industry was very competitive in the 1980s. However, internal memory was very small, it was 16-64. Very simple compared to today's computers. Initially sold as business machines for the home. Often called Micro Computers.
Most popular home computers for gaming in the 1980s were the Commodore 64, Spectrum 48K, Amstrad cpc 464, and the BBC Model B. Most were plugged into a normal TV set. Cassettes were the usual way to store games. Machines could also be programmed by the user.
BBC Computers were used in schools.
Joysticks were popular for games.
Sir Clive Sinclair was a British Inventor, originally made calculators and the ZX Spectrum. Could be a good case study topic. Wanted each home to have a computer that includes Microsoft Excel and Word, but instead were used for games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIcAyFVK0gE
Development of Apps, most notably Angry Birds. First game to be released for Apple's iOS.
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2010/02/19/angry-birds-review-2
Paradroid was created by Game Designer Andrew Baybrook in 1985. He programmed the game from the comfort of his own bedroom. Had to make whole game compared to now, where making a game is split into different departments, such as design and programming.
Most game genres were developed in 1980s. Home Micros had advantages to earlier consoles, such as having better memory, use of keyboards and better sound chips compared to older consoles.
This allowed game designers to be more adventurous with game concepts and brand new game genres.
An example of this is Advenure/Role Playing Games. Used keyboard and text input to control game. Usually fantasy based. Influenced by Role Playing Games such as Dungeons and Dragons. At first very limited graphics and no sound. Limited memory of machines meant only a few words were recognised.
A few examples include the Hobbit (1984) and Zork 3(1983)
Strategy games, inspired by chess, one of the earliest "traditional" games to be "ported" onto the computer. Most popular strategy games were fantasy and war related. Improved graphics led to more immersive games such as Lords of Midnight.
Theatre Europe (1985) Based on Cold War, nuclear war.
Most popular games, however, remained the "shooters," or "shmups" presumably short for "shoot 'em ups." Came in a variety of styles but broadly copied arcade games such as Defender and Space Invaders. Examples include side scrolling shoot em up Uridium and Beach Head.
Dropzone is an example of this. As is Attack of the Camels, which was copied for a gmae version of The Empire Strikes Back.
Platform Games also migrated from the arcade. Examples include Dizzy, the Great Gianna Sisters and Prince of Persia.
Due to the lack of 3D, isometric shapes were made to create the illusion of 3D. This involved an angled view from above. Examples include Spin Dizzy and Head over Heels.
Beat em ups began in the arcades. Usually involved two opponents fighting in an oriental setting. Dual Play gameplay made these games very popular. Most were limited by the joystick controls, usually a limit of 16. Examples include The Way of the Exploding Fist and IK+
Barbarian was controversial and was branded sexist marketing and in game violence. Woman on box was only side character who spectated. Used as a sex symbol.
Sports Simulators made many different sports into games, such as cycling and the Olympics. Evolved from Track and Field style arcade games. Typically players had to waggle controls at a fast pace to make sprites move. Examples include Summer Games 2 and Daley Thomas Decathlon.
Racing simulators were very popular, fast paced action games. Examples include Revs, Pitstop 3 and Supercycle.
Flight Simulators also began to emerge at this time. Usually focused on controls and aimed for realism. Lack of 3D controls made it difficult to convey a sense of flight. Examples include Aviator and Dambusters.
Open Ended Games, started as a variation of the flight sim as open ended exploration games. Started to introduce 3D Examples include Elite, Mercenary and Starglider 2
Early computer press came in the 1980s in a form of computer themed magazines and journals, which became the main source of news of the industry, which included interviews with designers, hardware advice, game reviews and game demos. the best selling magazines of the time included Zzap!64, Computer and Video Games and Sinclair User.
Star Wars Arcade Machine (1983) had sounds from the film, which up to that point sounds from movies had never been used in a game before.
Other popular racing games of the time included Pole Position and Outrun. Outrun (Sega, 1986, Arcade) had hills and an element of choice. Was made with Bitmap which gave more flexibility and lots more detail.
Virtua Racing, an arcade game released in 1992, was one of the earliest 3D racing games, had very simple 3D because of limited capabilities, but included User Interfaces (UIs)
Commodore Amiga, released in 1990, one of the first consoles to use 3D Polygon Graphics. Games such as Starglider 2 and Interceptor were released for the Commodore Amiga.
Game Boy. Nintendo handheld that used cartridges.
1990s saw the rise of games consoles, such as Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
However, some games, such as Doom (1993) refused to move onto hand helds.
Playstation One, released in 1994 (the year I was born!!) Very significant. Sony's first console. Virtual Fire was good to represent 3D
WipeOut - Polygon Based.
PS2 and Xbox (2000s) PS2 best selling console ever. 3D games became rapidly more successful. Xbox basically PC but console version.
Top games include God of War (PS2)
Unreal Tournament (PC, 1999) Game could be modified and has evolved from then to the current generation (Unreal Tournament 3, PS3, 2007) Graphics have significantly improved. Uses only normal maps for textures but large processing power.
Lara Croft, introduced gaming equality between men and women. Good for case study for conflict of women in games and feminism.
Nintendo Wii (2007) brought social gaming back into the limelight. First time since Atari. brought more social contexts in games
MUD to MMORPG (1970-2010)
Multi User Dungeon - Text Based RPG
-Social Games
- Uses Headsets
-multi user
As graphics became better for home consoles, use of advanced arcade games deteriorated.
Bump maps give really good graphics.
Are games art, or just entertainment?
Do violence in video games influence society?
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