History of Game Technology V102.02

1. History of Game TechnologyV102.02

2. History of Game Technology Videogames have evolved as technology advances. Each new technological development enhances the game playing experience with new visual and audio developments.

3. Major Technological Developments • Power and memory • Vector vs Bitmap • Laserdisc technology • Controls • Consoles • Hand held games • Linking games • Computers • MS Windows • Game engines • Improvements in computer technology

4. Power and Memory • 1970-80’s arcade games technology was not sophisticated enough for good-quality graphics and sounds. • Game developers had to work within strict limits of available processor power and memory. • Early games had to rely on simplicity and fun gameplay. • Many of these games continue to be enjoyed today despite having been outdated by modern technology. Atari 2600 had 128 bytes of RAM and no video memory Nintendo Entertainment had 2 kilobytes of RAM and 64 simultaneous sprites.

5. Vector vs Bitmap • In the late 1970’s, arcade games gained momentum with such popular games as Gee Bee (arcade game) (1978) and Galaxian (1979) and became widespread in the 1980’s with games such as Pac-Man,King and Balloon,Tank Battalion, and others. The central processing unit in these later arcade games allowed for more complexity than earlier discrete circuitry games such as Atari's Pong (1972). These 1980’s games saw game developers experimenting with new hardware, creating games which used vector displays as opposed to standard raster displays. Vector displayes used images that were sharper and crisper than raster images. Although vector images were a great idea, problems with the high cost of repairing vector displays caused their decline.

6. Laserdisc • A laserdisc was a 12-inch platter capable of 425 lines of NTSC resolution. Videotapes of the day barely managed 250. Laserdisc was an improvement yet it never caught because of the large size of the discs, and the price. A typical movie disc cost approximately $35. • The laser game, Dragon's Lair was shown in the spring of 1983 just a few short months after the introduction of Astron Belt. Dragon's Lair changed the timetable for the availability of laser disc machines, and it altered the thinking of what the new technology could provide with a little imagination and a great deal of talent. Images from Laserdisc games

7. Laserdisc - Halcyon • In the 1980’s arcades where booming with a new form of gaming. Interactive games that streamed data off of laser discs (The precursor to the DVD) were growing quite popular. • RDI Systems Inc was a manufacturer of laser disc games. In 1984, they decided to take a crack at the home console market. The result was the first home laserdisc video game system. The Halcyon was named after the “Hal” computer from the movie “2001: Space Odyssey”. It was a standard Laserdisc player similar to the Pioneer LaserActive. The player could read double-sided discs that allowed a whole lot more footage than its coin-op arcade counterparts. This may have been the first instance of a home game being of better quality than the coin-op. It also came with a keyboard, 2 games (Quest and NFL Football), and a unique voice headset which allowed the player to use voice commands instead of keystrokes. The system is capable of recognizing 1000 words, and can also be programmed with more. • Retailed for $2,000 and Consumers were simply unwilling to pay that much money for a simple home experience. Also by the late 80’s the popularity of laser interactive gaming began to dwindle.

8. Laserdisc - Pioneer LaserActive • The Pioneer LaserActive was a $2000+ technical masterpiece that only the wealthy could afford. • It debuted in October 1993. • The LaserActive used MPEG-1 video standard for sharp & smooth full motion video. • The Pioneer LaserActive used add-on devices called LD-ROM packs. Each pack retailed from $400 to $600 dollars. The first pack released was the Mega-LD pack that was developed in conjunction with SEGA Enterprises. This pack allowed you to play 8 and 12-inch LaserActive Mega-LD disks.

9. Game Controllers The controller is what separates video games from other media. It's where player and game meet. If the controller feels like a natural extension of your hands, it can work wonders, pulling you into the experience. If the input device is awkward or painful, it can ruin an otherwise great game.

10. First Game Controller • The first computer game controller was, appropriately enough, created by the guys who designed the first computer game. In 1961, members of MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club used the school's new PDP-1 computer to design a game called Spacewar. • The club wanted to use joysticks, but they couldn't find any, so members quickly hacked together two identical control boxes from spare parts. Two metal flip-switches controlled the ship's rotation and thrust, while a button fired torpedoes. Both players were able to sit back an equal distance from the screen and hold the small controllers in their laps.

11. First “Joyce” Stick • Credit for inventing the joystick goes to: • French aviator Robert Esnault-Pelterie, • Or pilot inventors James Henry Joyce and A.E. George. The joystick was originally called the "Joyce stick“ or the “George stick”, • Or an unknown Civil War-era submarine designer. • Who knows? • The joystick itself was present in early planes, though the mechanical origins themselves are uncertain. • The first electrical 2-axis joystick was invented around 1944 in Germany. The device was developed for targeting the glide bomb Henschel Hs 293 against ship targets. The joystick was used by an operator to steer the missile towards its target. Glide bomb Henschel Hs 293

12. Joystick • Joysticks pull off a really neat trick. They take something entirely physical -- the movement of your hand -- and translate it into something entirely mathematical -- a string of ones and zeros (the language of computers). • With a good joystick, the translation is so flawless that you completely forget about it. When you're really engaged in a game, you feel like you're interacting with the virtual world directly.

13. Atari 2600 Controllers • The Atari standard joystick, developed for the Atari 2600 was a digital joystick, with a single 'fire' button, and connected via a DE-9 connector, the electrical specifications for which was for many years the 'standard' digital joystick specification. • Joysticks were commonly used as controllers in first and second generation game consoles, but then gave way to the familiar control pad with the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System in 1985 and 86. • Joysticks - especially arcade-style ones - were popular after-market add-ons for any console.

14. Atari’s 5200 Joystick • Atari 5200's controller frustrated gamers and set back controller design about ten years. The company's ill-thought-out decision to use an analog joystick that wasn't self-centering -- meaning that when you let go of it, it stayed in the same position. • Another awful idea was the numeric keypad. These were placed on game controllers because they made the system look more like a computer. This was to make parents believe that the expensive toy they were about to buy would help their children succeed in the information age.

15. The D-Pad • Early games only needed two or three buttons to work properly; many of the games were played entirely by moving the character left and right. But in 1982 when Nintendo crafted a Game and Watch version of Donkey Kong, four-directional movement was needed. • Game and Watch was designed to be held in the hands and operated with the thumbs. Players moved Mario around with a tiny pad in the shape of a plus sign, using only gentle thumb movements to accomplish what took two hands on the Atari 2600. • Dubbed the "directional pad“, it was like no joystick that the video-game buying public had ever seen or used before. • Many American kids complained of soreness after extended periods of gaming, an affliction which the media playfully dubbed "Nintendonitis."

16. Shoulder Buttons • As the 16-bit wars geared up, Nintendo and Sega both realized that the next generation meant more buttons. • Sega's Genesis controller added two more buttons back onto the actual pad and not the console: one of them was a Start button, but the other was an additional button to be used in gameplay. • Nintendo added four buttons to the SNES controller: two extra face buttons, arranged in the now-familiar diamond shape, and "shoulder" buttons labeled L and R that sat atop the controller and could be pressed by the index fingers.

17. Thumbstick • In 1995, Spaceworld was unveiled. • The Nintendo 64 need a new controller. • The controller that Nintendo revealed at its Japanese trade show featured an analog thumbstick.

18. Dreamcast Controller • The Sega Dreamcast’s standard control pad had lots of screw-ups: • Circular shape and mammoth size • The hard plastic D-pad • Only 4 tiny face buttons • The reason for the memory card slot in the center of the controller was so the screen of the Visual Memory Unit -- a memory card with a tiny LCD screen -- could be viewed during gameplay. • The only thing the Dreamcast controller did right was feature analog triggers. To make a car go slower, for example, you could just gently pull down with your index finger.

19. “Wavebird” Wireless Controller • The WaveBird's name is a reference to Dolphin, the GameCube's codename during its development. • It is unique in that it relies on RF waves rather than infrared line-of-sight control. • The WaveBird’s center hole has been replaced by the RF mechanism. • The range of the controller is officially 20 feet.

20. Small LCD Screens

21. Virtual Reality

22. Linking Games

23. Linking Games • LAN – Local Area Network • WAN – Wide Area Network • MMORPG - Massively multiplayer online role-playing game • MMOFPS - Massively multiplayer online first-person shooter • MMORTS - Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy • MMODG - Massively Multiplayer online dance game • MMOMG - Massively multiplayer online manager games • MMOR - Massively multiplayer online racing • MMOTG - Massively multiplayer online tycoon game • MMOSG - Massively Multiplayer Online Strategy Game - or Massively Multiplayer Online Sports Game - or Massively Multiplayer Online Social Game

24. Local Linking • Linking two or more computers with wires or wirelessly in a single location. • Gameplay is not passed through the internet. • Using two or more controllers attached to the same console is a form of linking locally. • Multiple players add a new dimension to gameplay – competition with your friends.

25. The Internet - MMOG • MMOGs have characteristics that make them different from other multiplayer online games: • host a large number of players in a single game world • players can interact with each other at any given time • thousands of players online at any given time • usually do not have any significant mods since the game must work on company servers • Most charge the player a fee to have access to the game • Non-MMOG usually have less than 50 players online.

26. The Game Engine • A game engine is the core software component of a computer video game or other interactive application with real-time graphics. • It provides the underlying technologies, simplifies development, and often enables the game to run on multiple platforms. • The core functionality typically provided by a game engine includes: • A rendering engine for 2D or 3D graphics • A physics engine for collision detection • Sound • Artificial intelligence • Networking • Streaming • Memory management • The process of game development is economized by in large part by reusing the same game engine to create multiple different games. • Game engines are some of the most complex and sophisticated software applications in the world. Many sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. • Unreal 2 Engine cost $350,000 for first copy and $50,000 for each additional copy.

27. Game Engines • Torque Game Engine • originally developed by Dynamix for the 2001 FPS Tribes 2. The Torque engine has since been available for license from GarageGames to independent and professional game developers. Several notable commercial titles developed using the engine include Marble Blast Gold, Minions of Mirth, TubeTwist, Ultimate Duck Hunting, Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa, and Blockland. • 3D GameStudio • is a 3D computer game development system which allows users to create their own 3D applications and publish them royalty-free. It comes with a model/terrain editor, a level editor, and a script editor and debugger. • Unreal Engine • a widely-used game engine developed by Epic Games of Cary, NC • First illustrated in the 1998 first-person shooter game Unreal, it has been the basis of many games since. • Aurora Engine • developed by BioWare for use in computer and console role-playing games. • The Aurora Engine is the 3D successor to BioWare's earlier engine, called the Infinity Engine. • The first game released using the Aurora Engine was Neverwinter Nights, and included a number of tools for users to create their own content.

28. Improved Computer Technology • More powerful processors running multiple “core” technology • Added RAM, VRAM, and cache memory • Video cards with onboard memory • High Definition LCD and Plasma Screens • High Definition DVD drives • Nanotechnology • The space needed to store information today is about one-50-millionth required only a few years ago. • WiFi connectivity • Surround sound • Voice recognition technology • Mouse control replaced with face “nose” recognition • “Blinking” instead of clicking • Gyroscopic mouse – detects location in 3D space • New computer languages • Real-time language translation and voice synthesizer – you will be able to speak a foreign language instantly to someone around the world.

29. Improved Computer Software