The Evolution of Video Games
Video games have been around for over 60 years and are still evolving over time. But just how did these video games advance over these 60 plus years? According to our research, video games started out in the 1950’s-1960’s with basic technology such as low quality graphics, basic controls, and third person play. But from the 2000’s on, video games evolved from basic technology to more advanced technology such as high quality graphics, more advanced controls, and first person play.
The first video game was invented in 1958 by William Higinbotham at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY. It was a table tennis like game played on an oscilloscope. However, there was no official name for this game. It was very simple with very simple controls. Three years later, Steve Russell invented Spacewar, the first interactive computer game in 1961. However, a year later in 1970 Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney begin to attempt to create an arcade version of Spacewar, calling it Computer Space. One year later in 1971, Computer Space became the first video arcade game ever released. “Survivals games like Pac-man and shooting games like Spacewar were very popular back in my day.” (Carolyn C. Clark, from Jamie Clark interview). Even though these games were very simple, their popularity grew faster and faster as the years went by.
While video games themselves grew popular over time, video game technology was advancing as well. Magnavox’s Odyssey, the
During Fall 1975 Magnavox odyssey released and it had done something Atari had not done allow 1 console to play more than 1 game.For the price odyssey was a hit, you pay 30$ for 80 games and to people this was amazing Magnavox was good competition for Atari releasing odyssey 100 and 200 later.
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
"William Higinbotham, who in 1958 created a game called Tennis for Two " (The Beginning), is the one credited for the invention of the video game. At this stage in time, this new innovation did not spark much interest with the public. "Computer and video games themselves did not become part of the
Video games have been a part of the American popular culture since the 1970s, when Pong was first invented. They have affected our society in many ways, some good, and some bad. An analysis of video game trends in our society will reveal their evolution over time, the affects they have on society, and the consequences they have on society.
Video games are a big part of life in modernized countries. It is one of the biggest entertainment money makers and of the things people enjoy doing. They are now mostly played inside the comfort of your home, with a console or computer. But things weren 't always like this. About 40 years ago you would most likely go to the arcade to play. The consoles they had out were either expensive or not good enough to compete with the arcade ones. Classic video games were made with 4-bit pixels and in very low resolution than modern day games. Over the decades, game machines continuously evolved and become more and more powerful, capable of stunning visuals and graphics. In the 21st century, social media, smart phone and tablet technology entered the gaming scene. Casual games become the norm attracting previously non-gamers into the market. However, if those low-quality games were never made, the games would not have evolved into the games they are today. In this article, I will cover main game a platform from the 1970’s to present day explaining what they are, their key development dates, features and limitations.
Video games have been known to play a part in the childhood of many people. Although there is much debate about what video game was really made first, Spacewar!, made by Steve Russell and first premiered for the public in 1962, is one of the many games people list as the first real video game. Later, in 1972, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney teamed up to create the Atari company, which would produce coin-operated video games such as their first big hit, Pong. Little by little, gaming technology became more complex and in 1972 the Magnavox Odyssey was released by Ralph Baer as a video game console for home use. However, at that time Atari’s video game system had become one of the most successful systems on the American market, until the market
The very first ‘Video Game’ was invented by Edward U. Condon in 1940, At first it was a simple game called ‘Nim’. In nim players try to avoid picking up the last match. Thousands of people played it, although the computer won at least 90% of the games. Around ten years later in 1950, a new computer program was created by Claude Shannon for the game of chess. In autumn of 1972 the first gaming console was released by ‘Magnavox’ and they called it the Odyssey. Three years later, the next big gaming console arrived when Sears sold the first ‘Atari Pong.’ This was the beginning of a long partnership between Atari and Sears. This relationship lasted multiple years, and Sears sold several successful games. Multiple years later in 1985, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System. This new gaming console dominated the Gaming Industry and grew Nintendo’s Company. Nintendo created several gaming console legends, such as the Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advanced, Nintendo Gamecube, Gameboy Advanced SD, and Nintendo DS, all of which made a huge impact on everybody’s childhood from 1985 to 2005. In the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century Playstation and Xbox also started releasing consoles. They are still to this day making successful Gaming Consoles, and individual games, as well as Xbox and Playstation.
Did you know that the first video game was made in 1958, 58 years ago? The first video game was a simple tennis game, created by Physicist William Higinbotham. This video game was minuscule, only five inches in diameter! Video games have come a very long way, with improved graphics, and they have become more complex.
Joe Plane is one quirky individual, from his punk rock music to his soft heart, his excited giggle to his serious faces. This man is one amazing coach with weird but genuine qualities. You’d expect a coach to be some hard-headed, always mad, get in your face type of person, but then you take a good look at Coach Plane and it’s a geeky, family-oriented, leader figure.
Let's start with Atari. Atari’s Pong was popular in its time. Other popular games were breakout and asteroids. Breakout was based off of Pong but instead of two paddles and a ball it is a paddle a ball and a bunch of breakable blocks. In Asteroids, you are a triangle (spaceship) shooting and avoiding incoming asteroids. There was a lawsuit over a colored copy, but it was legal. the judge said they didn’t patent spaceships or asteroids and it is in color so it is a different game.later people started just started throwing games on the system thinking people would buy them. One absolute fail was ET the game. Video games almost died out people as wanted to play as actual characters not rectangles, triangles, and weird alien things that half of
Video games were originated first in laboratories by scientists. “This first idea came from their imaginations in late 1940s but unfortunately it did not reach the people as they were confined only to laboratories. This situation was observed till early 1970s until arcade games became popular.Then later on a new start-up named “Atari” unleashed a new
Video games, they’ve been around for over forty years helping to keep people entertained, and in the last decade have seen an evolution in technology. As these games developed, so have their
So, I’m going to change things a bit. Instead of just talking about dates and numbers, which can be boring; I’m going to give this a little casual twist. So, in order to start the history let’s get a few facts out of the way. Let’s talk about gamers, mainly because I’ll be using the term a lot; gamers are people who spent a lot of time playing videogames. The Average gamer playing video games has spent twelve years playing them. Adult gamers have an average of fourteen years of playing videogames, guys have an average of sixteen years, and girls have an average twelve years. Speaking of girls did you know that 47% of gamers are girls? I would have never guessed that, but it’s a fact. So, as of 2013 49% of all people who live in The United States owns a console. All of them that own a console have at least two of them. Me, I own eleven… I think I may have a problem. Anyway, now that some of the facts are out of the way let’s start, THE HISTORY OF VIDEOGAMES! Now before I start I want to talk about all the most important events in the history of videogames, as I call them eras. Each era is very important because they shaped the videogames we know and love today.
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
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,