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History of Computer Games. ITEC820 Software Development Tools for Games and Interface Design. INFO111 Computer Games. Play Games Talk about Games Think About Games Make Games. History. In almost 50 years a lot has happened We are going to look at 3 particular events
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History of Computer Games ITEC820 Software Development Tools for Games and Interface Design
INFO111 Computer Games • Play Games • Talk about Games • Think About Games • Make Games
History • In almost 50 years a lot has happened • We are going to look at 3 particular events • The industry collapse of 1983/84 • The dominance of the PC over other computers in the 90’s • The eclipse of the PC by newer consoles
History of Computer Games • 1961 • Spacewar • Designed by Steve Russell at MIT • Ran on a PDP-1 • Distributed and played by 100’s of programmers and engineers
Video Games • 1972 Nolan Bushnell starts Atari • develops Pong as arcade game • After playing ping-pong on Odyssey
Space Invaders - 1978 • Hugely popular • Caused coin shortage in • Japan until supply • quadrupled • Cause of juvenile crime
Atari 2600 • 1977-early 1990’s • 25 million units • First successful console to use plug-in cartridges • Instead of having games built-in • Two joysticks and paddle controllers
Growth • Throughout 70’s many home video game systems released • For example • Coleco Telstar • Executive Games • Atari Pong, marketed by Sears • Mattel Intellivision
Atari 2600 Games • 4K in size Atlantis Pac-man Pitfall Donkey Kong Sword Quest Real Sport Tennis Pole Position Breakout
Intellivision Games Armor Battle Auto Racing Major League Baseball Donkey Kong
1983 • Video game business crashed 1983-1984 • Bankruptcies • What went wrong?
Aggressive pricing of computers • From US$1000 to US$500, then lower to under $100 • Commodore ads saying university/college bound kids needed a computer more than a console • Computers more powerful, better graphics and could run other programs
Flood of products • Hardware manufacturers lost control of software • Companies rushed in after 3rd party production declared legal • Stores became overload with product • Ill-prepared companies produced poor games
E.T. • Atari rushed ET (1982) to market (6 weeks) • Produced 4 million cartridges – sold 1.5 million • Mass burial of cartridges in landfill in New Mexico • After paying $20 million for rights Atari loses $536 million in 1983
Retailers Lost Faith • Products distributed on sale or return • With developers going bust, no return • So retailers discounted • From standard $34.95, games went for $4.95 • So market for $34.95 games evaporated • Retailers decided video games a fad, so cut shelf space
Results • Long term console manufacturers gone • Mattel, Coleco, Magnavox • Atari damaged and sold off • Most importantly, centre shifted from Japan to US • Third gen consoles would be dominated by Nintendo and Sega
Computer Games in the 80’s • Multiple platforms • Commodore • Atari • Apple • PC • And others
Computer Hardware • 1977 - Apple II • 1978 – 8088 • Adopted for IBM PC 1981
Motorola 68000 • Atari ST • Apple Macintosh • Commodore Amiga
Home Computers - The 80’s • 8-bit • Atari 400/800 & successors 1979-1992 (8K/16K memory) • Commodore 64 8 bit 64K memory 1982-1993 • Very popular • Apple II • IBM PC 1981 • Sinclair ZX Spectrum 1982-1987 (successor to ZX80) • 16 bit • Atari ST 512K (later 1,2,4 MB) 1985-¬1993 • Commodore Amiga 1985-1994 • Apple Macintosh • IBM PC 1986 • Texas Instruments TI-99/4A 1981-1983
Commodore 64 • Sound and graphics well beyond PC when introduced International Karate 1987 1986 version
Commodore Amiga • Commodore bought Amiga to get into 16 bit market • Probably most advanced of its time Original Amiga - 1985
Commodore Amiga • Blitter (block image transfer hardware) • Rapid copying of video memory • Freed CPU for other tasks • Forerunner of separate GPUs
Atari ST • Fully bit-mapped GUI • First integral MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) support • Not as powerful as Amiga, but cheaper Atari 520ST 1985
Apple II • 1977-1993 • Good graphics and sound • Heavily used in schools and universities
IBM PC • Initial failure in home market – 1981 • Graphics not taken seriously • MS-DOS didn’t have an API for graphics • Not a serious player until VGA graphics -1987 • 640x480 16 colours • 320x240 256 colours
Why the PC? • In 80’s PC was not the game system of choice • More like 4th or worse • So why did it supplant the others?
Some Clues • EGA – 1984 • Enhanced Graphics Adapter • 640,350, 16 colours • VGA – 1987 • Video Graphics Array • 640x480, 16 colours • 320x200, 256 colours • SVGA -1989 • Super Video Graphics Array • 1024x768, 256 colours
More • Intel 80386 – 1986 • 32-bit • Intel 80486 • 25 MHz 1989 • 33 MHz 1990 • 50 MHz 1991
More • Soundblaster - 1989 • Windows 3.0 – 1990 • First widely successful version of Windows • Windows 3.1 – 1992
So?? ???
Console Generations • 3rd Gen • Nintendo NES, Atari 7800, Sega Master system • 4th Gen • Nintendo SNES, Sega Mega Drive, Phillips CD-I, SNK Neo-Geo, NEC Turbo-Grafx 16 • 5th Gen (The 32-bit era) • Atari Jaguar, Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64, Sanyo/Panasonic 3DO • 6th Gen • Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation 2, Nintendo Gamecube, Microsoft Xbox • 7th Gen • Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360
Master System Games Hang-On Alex Kidd in Miracle World After Burner Phantasy Star Wonder Boy in Monster Land Marble Madness
Mega Drive Games Ecco the Dolphin Road Rash Phantasy Star IV Golden Axe Space Harrier II John Madden Football 93
SNES Games Street Fighter II Turbo Star Fox F-Zero Super Mario All-Stars Chrono Trigger Earthworm Jim II
Sega Saturn Games Sega Rally Virtua Cop Shining Force III Virtua Fighter 2 Panzer Dragoon Saga Guardian Heroes
Nintendo 64 Games Perfect Dark Madden NFL 2001 Legend of Zelda: Majora’s mask Star Fox 64 Banjo Kazooie GoldenEye 007
Playstation Games Final Fantasy VII Tekken Resident Evil Tomb Raider Crash Bandicoot Gran Turismo
Sega Dreamcast Games Sonic Adventure 1998 House of the Dead 2 1999 NFL 2002 2001 Phantasy Star Online 2000 Headhunter 2001 Skies of Arcadia 2000
Sony PlayStation 2 Games Champions of Norrath 2004 Ace Combat 4 2001 Devil May Cry 2001 FIFA Soccer 2002 2001 SOCOM II: US Navy SEALs -2003 Kingdom Hearts 2002
Nintendo Gamecube Games The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 2003 Super Smash Bros. Melee 2001 Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II 2001 Resident Evil 4 2005 Tales of Symphonia 2004 Metroid Prime 2002
Microsoft Xbox Games Amped 2001 Fable 2004 Chronicles of Riddick 2004 Enter the Matrix 2003 Project Gotham Racing 2003 Halo 2001
Playstation 3 Games Ratchet and Clank 2007 Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune 2007 FIFA 08 2007 Devil May Cry 4 2008
Wii Games Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 Mario Kart 2008 Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 2006 Sonic and the Secret Rings 2007
Xbox 360 Games Halo 3 2007 Dead or Alive 4 2005 Full Auto 2006 Gears of War 2006 Saints Row 2006 Chrome Hounds 2006
F.E.A.R Playstation 3 Xbox 360 PC