This blog is about the history of games and their effects on the industry. I hope you'll find the information helpful.
Types of platforms
There are currently 5 types of gaming platforms out there. These are:
- Console (eg. Xbox's, PlayStation's, Wii's, etc)
- Mobile/Handheld (phones, tablets, Gameboy's, DS Light's, etc.)
- PC (Windows, Mac's, Linux, etc.)
- TV (TV's, Smart TV's, etc.)
- and Arcade.
These are the 5 types of platforms you can currently play games on.
Consoles are unique in that they are a combination of hardware and software. Consoles are therefore tailored to run games within a certain spec parameter. Also, when a person says "platform" (in context to gaming platforms), they are actually referring to a specific combination of hardware and software that is required to operate a game.
The difference therefore between a PC and a console platform is that for consoles (Xbox's, PlayStation's, etc.) the games are made to run at the specs of the console (tailored to the console), whereas with a PC you could say that the PC is made to fit the game, because a PC is upgradeable/customizable.
Another difference (related to the last paragraph) is that when people go to buy a game in a shop, PC gamers will always check the back of the game box, to check, for the required operating specs. Whereas someone who, lets just say, plays on a PlayStation console won't check for the specs on the back of the game box, because they know that their console will run the game.
So you could say that a PC gamer is limited only by how much he/she is willing to pay.
The history of console games
Ok everyone. Here comes the part I'm sure all of you will love: history *enthusiastic cheer*.
To be honest, I know that only half of you are interested in history, so I will try to make this as exciting as possible for you, so please hang in there (because it gets a lot more exciting after the history post).
Here we go.
1889: Nintendo was founded in Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi. Nintendo (which roughly means "leave luck to heaven") started off as a playing cards company and it wasn't until the 1960's that they started to change directions from playing cards and ventured further.
Marty Bromley imports slot machines to military bases in Hawaii, founding Sega.
1961: Physicist William Higinbotham invented an interactive table tennis game.
Steve Russel made an interactive 2 player game called Spacewar. In the video below, you will find Steve Russel talking about his game Spacewar.
The next video will show what some of the gameplay was like. Note the difference between then and now.
Consoles are unique in that they are a combination of hardware and software. Consoles are therefore tailored to run games within a certain spec parameter. Also, when a person says "platform" (in context to gaming platforms), they are actually referring to a specific combination of hardware and software that is required to operate a game.
The difference therefore between a PC and a console platform is that for consoles (Xbox's, PlayStation's, etc.) the games are made to run at the specs of the console (tailored to the console), whereas with a PC you could say that the PC is made to fit the game, because a PC is upgradeable/customizable.
Another difference (related to the last paragraph) is that when people go to buy a game in a shop, PC gamers will always check the back of the game box, to check, for the required operating specs. Whereas someone who, lets just say, plays on a PlayStation console won't check for the specs on the back of the game box, because they know that their console will run the game.
So you could say that a PC gamer is limited only by how much he/she is willing to pay.
The history of console games
Ok everyone. Here comes the part I'm sure all of you will love: history *enthusiastic cheer*.
To be honest, I know that only half of you are interested in history, so I will try to make this as exciting as possible for you, so please hang in there (because it gets a lot more exciting after the history post).
Here we go.
1889: Nintendo was founded in Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi. Nintendo (which roughly means "leave luck to heaven") started off as a playing cards company and it wasn't until the 1960's that they started to change directions from playing cards and ventured further.
Marty Bromley imports slot machines to military bases in Hawaii, founding Sega.
1961: Physicist William Higinbotham invented an interactive table tennis game.
Steve Russel made an interactive 2 player game called Spacewar. In the video below, you will find Steve Russel talking about his game Spacewar.
1972: The company Magnavox brought out the console Odyssey in 1972. When it was brought out it had 12 cartridges, containing a total of 28 games all together.
1973: Three big companies enter the games industry. These are; Taito (Bubble Bubble and Space Invaders) , Williams (not the betting company hahaha they made Doom and Mortal Kombat 3) and last, but not least, Midway (Pac-Man and Rampage). Please note: Midway did not originally make Pac-Man. Pac-Man was created by Namco (a Japanese company) in 1980, and Midway was the company licensed to distribute it in the US in the same year.
1977: Atari releases its first home console system, the Atari 2600. The 2600 was very popular because it was one of the first home consoles that used cartridges, which was more efficient than previous consoles, because previous to consoles with cartridges, you had to buy a new console every time you wanted a new game, as the game was built into the system. Consoles like the Atari 2600 raised the popularity to its former glory and beyond.
1980: Atari released (in my opinion) one of the greatest classic games in history: Space Invaders. This hit landed on many consoles across the US. Another thing that changed the games industry was the start of porting.
These next facts are more in the arcade direction and not console, but still relevant as a contrast.
By 1980, about 7 million coins had been inserted into round-about 400 000 Pac-Man machines worldwide. I don't know about you, but that is a lot.
1981:Also, Nintendo releases Donkey Kong (arcade not console. But it is note worthy).
1983: 1983 marks probably the darkest chapter in gaming industry. It was the "North American Video Game Crash of 1983" (known in Japan as the "Atari Crash"). The games industry was so badly impacted that its revenue fell by about 97% by 1985 and many analysts claimed that the games industry wouldn't recover (luckily it did). This crash was caused by multiple factors like a flooded console market (there where too many consoles on the market), inflation, the loss of publishing control and high profile failures. These were just some of the reasons,
At that time Activision was still a 3rd party developer and most publishing companies continued to refuse/avoid crediting game designers for there games and if they had interviews, on the companies behalf, they had to change their names (for their protection).
Nintendo releases the Famicom (Family Computer0 in Japan. This is a success.
1985: Russian mathematician Alex Pajitnov designs Tetris, which is an awesome game (even though I don't think I got passed the first level when I was a kid).
1987: Nintendo publishes The Legend Of Zelda and SEGA unveils the Mega Drive (one thing SEGA and Atari have in common is that they like to make there consoles sound... well... big.)
1989: Nintendo releases the Game Boy (the Game Boy started off my gaming life). SEGA brought out the Genesis the same year.
1994: The Genesis 2 is released.
1995: Sony brings out one of their most successful products; the PlayStation 1. Sony quickly becomes a big competitor in the games industry. I loved the Rayman games.
1996: Nintendo finally brings out the N64. Which (to me) had a weird looking controller.
1998: SEGA brings out 2 consoles. The SEGA Dreamcast and the Genesis 3.
Nintendo also brings out the Pikachu N64 (basically pikachu themed).
Looking back at all of these, we have moved so far with technology in the last 50 years that maybe, in another 50 years our current next gen console will be no more than retro. And maybe in the future we'll have a platform that will be able to run virtual reality. Who know? We'll just have to wait for the next gens to come and help make history.
My next post will be about the history of arcade and computer platforms. I know some of you are already bored at this point, but you can just skip the history sections.
To finish off, here is a 3 minute video that will sum up that history in a graphically exciting way. Enjoy.
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