Through the years, the technology involved in creating and playing video games has continued to evolve in ways that its founder might never have dreamed possible. Starting with tabletop roleplaying and card games and monochrome arrangements of lines, it has since traversed through 8-bit landscapes to become a world full of realistic 3D environments and characters. Currently, it is even venturing into virtual-reality with life-like graphics so the players can genuinely put themselves inside of the game. The industry has taken leaps and bounds in just the last half of a century to reach its current point, and it is only showing the promise to continue to progress further from here.
The predecessors for most, if not all, video games and consoles are the tabletop roleplaying games and trading card games. For example, Nintendo, one of the largest video game companies in the world, started out as a small company printing simple Hanafuda playing cards in 1889 (Erbland, 2014). In 1967, the “Brown Box” was invented by Ralph H. Baer, who is now known as the “Father of Video Games.” This Brown Box was a large, rectangular wooden box with two controllers attached. He created it to work with ordinary TV sets at the time, and it came with six simple games installed; ping-pong, tennis, handball, volleyball, chase games and a light-gun game (Poh, 2011). The user could switch between the games using various combinations of the switches located on the front of the console. Baer licensed his
"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
The rise and increasing popularity of computer gaming as a contemporary leisure phenomenon has become a significant part of many people’s daily lives. PC and game consoles as leisure technologies changed significantly during the last 20 years from simple games with basic graphics to intermediates between reality and fantasy, making it hard to distinguish what is hyperreality and what is not. Graphically ingenious (see Figure 1), with scenes and stories accompanied by realistic music and sounds, nowadays’ games contain 3-dimensional graphics of highly complex content and details, depicting natural human settings and expression of characters with utmost realism. Different platforms and gaming genres, integration of gaming technologies into
The video games have been marked with a considerable advancement since its first introduction in 1970s. Emergence of the modern technology and social networks has enabled games to expand and explore new means and forms of its application (http://www.statista.com/topics/868/video-games/ ).
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.
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
The gaming industry has progressed the most in the past century, starting with silent ping-pong games and evolving into intense story plot and battle games liken to Final Fantasy. Games are becoming more and more realistic, characters can talk, blink, jump, wave and move individual body parts, mimicking human behavior. Parental advisory
“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.
Video games are a profound art form, incorporating trades and mediums that span the artistic spectrum and beyond. To refute this is to ignore decades of rich history, disregard hours of artful labor, and discredit the immeasurable devotion of many whom worked to perfect this art form. Although video games may not suit every individual’s tastes, one cannot claim with credibility they possess no artistic merit.
This video game was actually backed by the department of Energy, and used an oscilloscope (an electric testing device, commonly used to detect brainwaves or cardiac pulses) as the display. The 1960’s gave rise to one of the first widely acceptable titles, “Spacewar!” along with the invention of the light gun. However, when the 1970’s arrived, video games began to take off. In 1971 Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney created a coin operated version of “Spacewar!” Called “Computer Space.” These two men would later found Atari in 1972. The first game published by Atari was also the first video game to garner media attention, the insanely popular “PONG.” “PONG” was a major turning point in the industry, but it was the Taito Corporation that ushered in the “golden age of arcade games” with “Space Invaders” in 1978. The 1970’s also saw the rise of the first video game consoles, with the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972.
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
Video games are a great pass time and relaxing getaway from everyday life, but how have the systems that play the wide verity of video games change over the years? The first video game console was called “The Brown Box”, created by Ralph H. Baer in 1962. The Brown Box was designed as a “Rectangular Brown Wooden Box with two attached controllers”. Ralph Baer was then nicknamed “The Father of Video Games”, the console only had 6 games, most notably was “Ping-Pong” also known as “Pong”.
A man named Ralph Baer, would be the first man in the world to create his very own video game in 1966 (“video Games” World). Baer would help to jump start video games by introducing his very own game, Paddle-Ball. After a while Baer and two other collies, would help him to create their second video game, hockey (“Video Games” World). Years later after Baer’s game came out, more and more game making pioneers would
Ralph Henry Baer was the inventor of The Brown Box [the first game console] Ralph H. Baer born in 8 of march, 1922 Rodalben, Germany and he died on 6 December 2014 Manchester, United States. When Ralph was 11 years old he was expelled from one school just because he was a Jewish because of that he has to go to a complete Jewish school he works in a factory like his father with a weekly wage of 12 dollars he was recruited by the military forces for fight in the second world war being assigned to the post of military intelligence. he had three children their names were James, Mark, and Nancy. He starts making the Video Game console (brown box) he invented other projects but the first was the Brown Box, he was part of the BAE Systems, he changes
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.