History of Video Games

CS481/CS681

Fall 2007

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

● Created the production,

distribution, and consumer

channels used by video

game industry

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

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)

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)

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...

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

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

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

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

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

Platform Games

● 1981, Donkey Kong,

Nintendo● 1982, Donkey Kong

Junior introduced

Mario● 1983: Elevator Action

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

Future

● Where is it heading?

– Graphics

– Physics

– AI

– Immersion, Realism, ...

● Holodeck