Video Games : The Decade Of Decadence

The 1980s culture illustrated both the positives and negatives of American society at that time. From the many movies, to the toys, new technology, fashion, music, and sports, all of these reflected the decade. As a matter of fact, most of these examples listed did have a huge impact on today’s culture. To begin with, the 80s had memorable moments such as the famous movies at that time. Science Fiction or Sci-Fi, an expanding and unique form of movie genre, was incredibly popular.

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 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

The 1980s started out like every other decade. There were new trends, music, and culture. But there was something about the 80s that set it apart from any other decade. It was the way its culture weaved it’s way into people’s hearts, and minds. The 80s soon became symbolic in many ways. It showed that women could go into the workforce and get high educations, technology was about to revolutionize the world, and the culture was even bigger and better than before. Pop Culture in the 1980s can be summed up as trend setting and iconic because many things that were relevant during the decade are still around and or cherished today by many people. So let’s take a trip down memory lane and go back to a time to the 1980s.

Over the past decades, America has grown and changed tremendously. For instance, the new knowledge on behalf of society empowers more female rights in the modern days. The advancement of technology has made connections of the social network possible throughout the world in seconds. And new science researchers allowed humans to travel to Mars and other planets. The TV mini-series 80s: The Decade That Made Us by National Geographic claims that 80s are the official decade that created the modern world. The decade touched base from sports heroes, computer development, video games, and many more. Tired of the beat from Afghanistan war, economic downfall, and bad news, America was in desperate time for a positive change. It is the 1980s that made it possible for people to feel good and filled many hopes on the American people. I agree with the National Geographic’s claim that 1980s played a key figure in influencing the current generation with the introduction of cell phones and technological developments.

The 1980s were a very iconic decade in time, a lot of things that happened then have effected how things work even now in 2015. Sports memories, history. and titles were all changed in the 80s. Fashions were created and remodeled. Some of the most famous musicians ever debuted their hits in the 1980s. The 1980s truly has changed our generation and i’m sure very many to come. Many things have changed since then and im excited to see what is to come.

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.

Video games were introduced in amusement arcades in the late 1970s and were most popular during the golden age of arcade video games, the early 1980s. Arcades in the 80s is a place that people get to explore the new games that come out. Where teens could

The 1980s experienced many things that have lasted through decades and are even still around today, such as personal computers, MTV, and cell phones. The 1980s was a major contributor in shaping the way the US and even the world is today.

This led to a market that was flooded with consoles and left many consumers confused. Adding to this confusion was the fact that there wasn’t many reliable sources for game information. The market was overwhelmed with lackluster and poorly made games and no one was being informed as to which games these were. So eventually people just stopped buying games. All of this mixed with Atari manufacturing too many console units and games led to a market crash many call “The Video Game Crash of ‘83” causing many to label video games as a dying fad.

When the NES came out Nintendo started a licensing company for third party games to produce their games in Nintendo factories. After the NES was created Nintendo redesigned the Famicom (the game cartridge) to look like a VHS tape to help grip the system grip it better. Also, the rarest game in NES history is the boxed version of Stadium Events, “but only a handful of boxed, complete copies have ever been seen in the wild, and they can fetch anywhere from $35,000-45,000 at auction” (www.usgamer.net). The best selling game in NES history was Super Mario Bros as it sold a total of 40 million copies (www.usgamer.net). Before the NES came along, Donkey Kong was the king of gaming. The reason for this is because arcades were the only way to play at the time. Luckily, NES games were playable in the arcades. Games like Ninja Gaiden and Super Mario Bros were stretched into the arcades by a system called Play-Choice10. In conclusion, the NES was part of a revolution in

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

The 1980’s is when the video game industry began to take off in earnest. In 1977 came the Atari 2600. Intellivision came next, introduced by Mattel in 1980. Intellivision, which featured better graphics compared to the older Atari 2600, became very popular. The ColecoVision, the most powerful console to date, appeared in 1982. Like the others, its sales also grew. However, having three major consoles on the market, a

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”.