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History of Video Games

CS481/CS681 Fall 2007. History of Video Games. Summary. 1931 Pinball machine 1971, first commercial game introduced 2 game market crashes $10,000,000,000 industry Seven generations of hardware What’s the future?. Pinball. Bally Manufacturing Williams Manufacturing Midway Games

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History of Video Games

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  1. CS481/CS681 Fall 2007 History of Video Games

  2. Summary • 1931 Pinball machine • 1971, first commercial game introduced • 2 game market crashes • $10,000,000,000 industry • Seven generations of hardware • What’s the future?

  3. Pinball • Bally Manufacturing • Williams Manufacturing • Midway Games • Created the production, distribution, and consumer channels used by video game industry

  4. Japan (Pre-history) • Early coin operated companies established by foreigners • Taito, (Sega + Rosen Enterprises = Sega Enterprises) • 1966 – Periscope • Imported to the US and Europe, expensive • Set the 25 cent price for coin operated machines • Meanwhile, back in the US ... computers rising

  5. Electronic / Computer games (Prehistory) • 1948: Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device patent for electronic game. Vacuum tubes controlled missiles firing at a target • 1951: Transistors replacing vacuum tubes at university computers. Students want games. • Checkers (1951) • TTT (1952) • Nimrod played Nim (UK)

  6. Birth • Spacewar, 1962, MIT students wanted to “test” the capabilities of their new DEC PDP-1 • Gravity, warp • Widely distributed by DEC • Other games were not distributed (no internet)

  7. Commercialization • 1971: Galaxy Game • Clone of Spacewar • Stanford, 10 cents in student union • Ran until 1979 • Bushnell, Dabney created custom arcade hardware for Spacewar clone - failure... • June 27, 1972 Bushnell/Dabney found Atari Inc. ... meanwhile...

  8. Games on Television Screens (Consoles) • Ralph Baer • 1967 – chase game • Light gun -> shooting, paddles -> tennis • Prototype played multiple games • No sound, overlays • 3 dials for vertical, horizontal, and spin • Magnavox bought it, and managed to sell 100K units

  9. Pong • Al Alcorn, Atari’s first game engineer • 1972: Implemented Pong • Atari tried to get Bally’s to manufacture it • Machine malfunctioned during demo because it was too full of coins! • Atari decided to forget Bally’s and go into manufacturing! • Many Pong clones competed

  10. 70s Creativity, new game genres • 1974, Tank designed by Steve Bristow • 1973, Gotcha, pursuit • 1974, Gran Trak 10, Driving/Racing • 1976, Night Driver, sit down cabinet • 1975 Breakout, SP Pong • 1976 Death Race

  11. Golden Age of arcade games (2) • 1978:Space Invaders, (Taito) high score, no name • 1979, Star Fire, (Exidy), initials • 1979, Atari Football, smooth scrolling scree, trackball controller • Many Companies entered the business • Konami, Namco, Irem, SNK, Technos Japan. • Galaga, Defender, Scramble, Moon patrol

  12. Maze Games: Pac-Man • 1980, Namco, Originally Puck-man but changed name before releasing in the US. • Best selling arcade game up to that point • First identifiable video character • Cover of Time • 1981, MIT students enhancement kits for pac-man ended up producing Ms. Pac-Man (4 mazes) • 1982, Namco, Pole Position, Racing, POV

  13. Platform Games • 1981, Donkey Kong, Nintendo • 1982, Donkey Kong Junior introduced Mario • 1983: Elevator Action

  14. Tech • 1972: handheld TTT • 1976: game cartridges • 1977: Joystick • Vector graphics • 1979: Asteroids, others (but died after 1983 and raster) • Laserdisc • 1983: Dragon’s Lair, animated sequences, interactive movie

  15. 80s • 1982: EA born • PCs, game source code printed in magazines • Commodore 64 • 1983, Snipes, first networked commerical text-mode game • Maze War (university research game) • Spasim (3d multiplayer space sim), precursor to Doom and Quake • Handheld LCD console

  16. Crash of 1983 • Too many companies, too many bad games • So many ET the Extra Terrestrial game cartridges were left over that they had to be buried in a big hole in NM! • Lasted One Year!

  17. Video game consoles (3) • Nintendo, NES (Famicon), Super Mario Brothers • Gamepad • 8 direction D pad with 2 or more action buttons • 1986: Dragon Quest precursor to RPG • 1987: Final Fantasy, Role playing game • 1986: Legend of Zelda • 1988: Nintendo Power Magazine

  18. 90’s (4) • Rising to match Hollywood • 3D graphics, sound cards, CDs, fast PCs • Internet based distribution, shareware, • 1992: RTS games, Dune II set the std. • Warcraft, C&C, StarCraft • 1993: Myst, and adventure puzzle game • Sim games: Sim city, SimEarth,...The Sims (2000) • Mods, Counterstrike, Half Life mod

  19. Internet Gaming • Multi-User Dungeons • 1996: Quake, FPS • MMORPGS: Ultima Online, Everquest • Persistent worlds, large numbers of players • Java/Flash back to simple games • Decline of arcades, rise of home consoles, PCs

  20. 4, 5, 6, 7 generations • Sega Genesis, Super NES • Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64 • DDR • Sega Dreamcast, Playstation2, Game Cube, Xbox • Sims, Halo, GTA, Halo 2, GTA San Andreas, Guitar Hero • PSP, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS • Spore Demo

  21. Future • Where is it heading? • Graphics • Physics • AI • Immersion, Realism, ... • Holodeck

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