Video Game Change Over Time

Although the hardware from the 1970s is incredibly inferior to what we have today, the consoles we use today are still put together in a similar fashion. When the Atari 2600 was released, it had no hard drive to save programs to, barely any RAM, and the game cartridges only had about two to four kilobytes of memory (McCall para. 4). To put that in perspective, a trillion kilobytes is equal to exactly one gigabyte. That is virtually nothing. Back in the ‘70s, the graphics were not good because thats all the computing power that was available back then. Simple games with pixellated graphics took up all the space in the hardware. Gaming controllers had to be simple because the games lacked the

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.

"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

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 last 30 year the video game industry has vastly changed. From pixelated games to having 3D graphics. From going to the arcade and using a quarter for paying games to having a microphone to talk to friends from around the world. While there are many differences there are also many similarities.

The video game Pong was introduced in 1972 and can be considered the beginning of the video gaming industry. Unlike the game Pong, the controversies surrounding video games today are not quite as simple. Certain media outlets often portray video games to be bad for individual’s health and behaviour. There are still some people in the world that believe video games are contributing to the decline of today’s generation. However, video games and their industry are much more beneficial than they are perceived to be. Today the video gaming industry employs thousands of people worldwide. The video gaming industry has grown to support other industries. In the 21st century, the video game industry produces

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

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 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.

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.

The 2000’s and 2010’s has become the most transformative age for video games and the gamers who make them popular. Within the last 15 years the amount of gaming devices in homes has risen to eighty-eight percent. This is a large leap from where the original “Brown Box” console created by Ralph Baer in nineteen sixty-seven, but video games didn’t just go through a cut scene and magically appear in everyone’s homes. They have had it rough from lawsuits, heavy competition between companies, and even government intervention. After all that though they have become a staple in many people’s life’s and have granted many young adults from across the world gather a major following and earn a living all from home.

“During the 1940s and the 1950s, computers took up entire rooms and were so expensive that only universities and large companies could afford them” (Behring 1). Being as that, computers were too expensive to obtain to be able to create a game, “students Steve Russell and his friends” used their school’s computer to create the “dueling game between two spaceships”, called “Spacewar”. (Behring 1) They game began to be used at other universities that also had computer programs. Ralph Baer who was an engineer, considered using the television to play video games on. Baer then created the first video games for the television in 1967(Behring2). Once the first games were created more games followed. Then what would be known as the gaming industry by a “Nolan Bushnell”, who wanted to use they games for retail. The industry would grow within a short span of time in which the sales declined until evolved games would once again rise sales and future advancements.

In the past 15-25 years video games had enhanced a lot. With the newer technology the video games, controllers and consoles have reached a new stage in the way people can play video games, without controls just motion sensors. Of all the changes that have happened in video games. The new games that are played now versus the old games that people play some years ago. There are some new kind of games that in the past did not exist such as Wii Sports, Grand Theft Auto Five, Call Of Duty, boat load of other new games. Lots of the video games are just a step up of games of the past, such as Mario Cart, Super Smash Bros, and Mario Bros and a lot of different games.

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,

To start off let’s look at the background of video games and how it evolved in to what it is today. Video gaming started becoming popular around the 1970’s when Atari released their pong arcade machine. (Atari, 99)during this time many first generation consoles started being released which included the Magnavox Odyssey, TV Tennis Electronics, and Home pong. Alongside those consoles home computers were starting to emerge like the commodore VIC-20, and the Amstrad CPC. (Bagnall & Melick)Even though video gaming at the time was still in its infancy it was still a large factor in the market for selling of both of these consoles and computers. Also with such a big demand for video games the technology for both video games and the hardware to run video games got better, and cheaper. In a comparison that encyclopedia Britannica did between an Apple I Mack from