Essay on How Games Have Changed from Atari to Xbox

Although, seeing as video games are increasingly popular today, not everyone met as unfortunate of a fate. Today, many could credit this to the video game development corporation known as Atari, which arose in 1972 and continuously flourished until about 1982. In 1972, Atari came out with PONG, the first electronic arcade game, and it was an enormous accomplishment that exploded into what is now called the electronic gaming revolution. As time passed, Atari managed to triumph over its competition time and time again, but that is not to say that each of the failed corporations did not feature something that is used today. In fact, a couple of the failed organizations contributed something original to what is common today. For instance, Fairchild Camera and Instrument creating the first system that could play several different games, rather than just one. Another aforementioned group, RCA, was the first to produce and utilize keypad controllers instead of paddles or joysticks. Other consoles that came along, such as Intellivision and Vectrex, sported better graphics than the Atari’s consoles and games, but they still did not manage to gross the amount of money that Atari did because Atari was still on top of collecting all of the most entertaining and enjoyable games of their time. Keep in mind what attracted the masses to video games in the past: fun and addictive gameplay, not how good they looked. Now that the principal eras of gaming have been

In the 1970’s, the video game Pong was introduced to the public, and quickly became a success. Pong opened the door for arcade type video games, and advancement was swift in the 1980’s when computers were added to the mix. The Commodore 64 was one of the first

The first console was called the Brown Box and was mad by a TV maker, Ralph Baer. The Brown Box was made in 1967. Nolan Bushaell bounded Atari in 1972. Atari then had its first big hit with the infamous Pong. In 1980 Mattel releases the Intelivision which is the first challenge against Atari’s rule. Nintendo wasn’t always the video game we know, it was originally a Japanese playing card company. In 1985 Nintendo releases the Nintendo releases the Nintendo Entertainment System, Wow what a creative name that is. Then in 1989 they released their second smash hit with the Gameboy, to compete with other companies such as Atari, Who released their Atari 2600. It included the newly released Tetris which would grow to become a massive hit to top off the huge sales of the Gameboy. In 1991 the super Nes is released. Then the original PlayStation is released in 1995 becoming extremely popular. To combat this popularity Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 in 1996. It includes favorites such as Mario 64, Zelda, and Metroid. The PS2 is released in 2000 marking the beginning of a new era of game consoles. It is the first console to include 128 bit graphics. A problem with original game consoles such as the Atari 2600 is they had little memory. With such little memory Graphics could only be up to 160 by 228 pixels. The normal today is 1925 by 1080 pixels. Some of the earliest adventure games used text instead of images to create the world you’re in. The first of these “text” games was

World 's first commercially sold coin-op video game was called “Computer space”. It was created in 1971 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Unfortunately it wasn 't successful due low marketing, the complicity of game play and difficulty of controls. But creators of “Computer space” didn 't

When video games were first being introduced to the general public, they weren’t all that exciting. Most gaming took place in arcades and most arcades didn’t have many game cabinets due to their being very few games to begin with. However, all of this changed when the Atari 2600 was released. At the time, Atari was known for their home computers and their hit arcade game “Pong”. Though the Atari 2600 might not have been the first video game system, it was definitely the most successful at that time and a great success for Atari’s first attempt at a home video game console. Thanks to the success of the 2600, video games began to take off and arcades started popping up all over the world with hits like “Pac-Man” and “Donkey Kong”. These would be the

Video games have been around since 1958, when physicist William Higinbotham created Tennis for Two to entertain guests for the Brookhaven national Laboratory. MIT arguably created the first real and widely known video game in the late 1960s, Spacewar!. Many people think that the first commercially available game is Pong!, this on the other hand, is not true. The first commercially available video game was called Computer Space. It was an arcade game much like Spacewar!, the only difference being that Computer Space used more processing power and new technology, and that it was the first arcade game as well, not available to personal computers or home televisions. The Magnavox Odyssey was the first home console that was available for the general public. It featured a controller much like the one that pong would eventually make, except that its two dials controlled vertical and horizontal, rather than just vertical. The Magnavox Odyssey as a console was eventually a huge failure, leaving tens of thousands unsold. Games continued to be produced for households, with the most noticeable violent game releasing on August 18, 1995. The game was called Mortal Kombat, the game depicted two

Today we see video games as a fun way to spend your time or a complete waste of time. Video games are sold and played worldwide. Video games were first used by scientist. In 1952, British professor A.S. Douglas created OXO, also known as tic-tac-toe, as part of his doctoral dissertation, which is a long essay on a particular subject, at the University of Cambridge. The first arcade video game sold commercially was Computer Space by Nutting Associates, which was introduced in 1971. In 1972, Atari offered a new video game called Pong. An interesting thing to mention is that Atari was created by Nolan Bushnell, the man who created Computer Space. He left Nutting Associates to create Atari. Pong was the first truly successful commercial arcade video game. It was a great hit when it came out.

Even since the first GameBoy has appeared on television and magazines, video gaming has flooded the game industry. The classic game of Pong where two players control a console which allows them to use a flat white line on the screen to play a game of tennis was the first arcade game to ever receive a universal acclaim. The first gaming console was introduced in 1967 by a German born television engineer who invented a gaming console that connects to the television, called the Brown Box.

The first video game, Spacewar, was created by three MIT students in 1961 (Johnson, 215). Spacewar involved two players flying spaceships and firing torpedoes at one another. Johnson takes a more optimistic take on technology, in comparison to Carr. He discusses how video games contributed to the entertainment aspect of technology and computers, which now generates $100 billion in sales (Johnson, 217-218). Programmers could now take a more creative route, fulfilling magical worlds that could be accessed by players around the world.

After looking around for an iconic game in this era there were only a few choices and I chose Space Invaders. Space invaders was first released in 1978 on arcade machines. I chose this game because when you think about top arcade games in history this would most people’s top 5. This game should be known in the history of gaming because it was the first Japanese game to do so well in America even though there were a few before it. In just 4 years in America it made $2 billion (Peckham, n.d.). However it wasn’t just the American market it was doing so well back in Japan there was a nationwide shortage of 100 yen coins because the game was being played by so many people in Japan (Edwards, n.d.). It inspired space-themed games not to be

The company came out with two games that stood out as complete failures: Pac Man and E.T. Pac Man, a popular arcade game, was to be released in 1982 for their VCS console. It was highly anticipated, but the game did impress consumers the way they thought they would be. Atari made 12 million cartridges, but only 7 million were bought. The game that truly buried Atari was the E.T. game. They hired Steven Spielberg to create it in six weeks, when it normally took six months to make a game, so that the game would be on the shelves for Christmas. The game was horrific, most of the copies were returned by both retailers and consumers. about 2.5 to 3.5 million games were left unsold, and furthermore, 3.5 to 4.5 million games were returned. All of the copies were dumped in a New Mexico landfill never to be played again.When Atari finally decided to make a new console, it was too late, the console was nothing compared to the competitor’s. With the surplus of games and consoles, Atari had lost $536 million. Finally, by 1983, Atari went bankrupt.

Herman et all (2002) points out that history of video games begins from 1971 year, when Nutting association released 1500 machines with Spacewar video game. At the beginning it was too difficult to control the game process and playing machines had huge dimensions. But by the time with new technologies they become more compact and easier to play. According to the information given by Herman et all (2002), the period between the years of 1978-1981 is called ‘golden age’ of video game industry. In this period the arcade games ‘Football’ and ‘Space Invaders’ were released. All previously known sale records were broken by these two games with nearly equal wages. In this time interval great breakthroughs in the field of graphics were achieved,

(1980) Released by Mattel in 1979, The Intellivision video game console began development in 1978, less than a year after the Atari 2600 was introduced. Derived from the words “intelligent television”, this product sold over 3 million

D'Angelo, W. (2013, May 2013). 2013 year on year sales and market share update to May 18th. Retrieved January 27, 2014, from VGChartz: www.vgcartz.com

Ever since video games existed, it took a while for game engines to be part of the industry. Games would have to be made completely from scratch to make the optimal use of the hardware. The first few games engines came around in 1983, in the form of 2D game creation systems for independent use. Pinball Construction Set and ACSII’s War Game Construction Kit were the first 2 that came around with many more to follow.