History of video game consoles |
Though the history of the video game spans almost five decades, video games themselves didn't become part of the popular culture until the late 1970s.
Early years
Many people attribute the invention of the video game to William Higinbotham, who in 1958 created a Pong-like game called
Tennis for Two on an oscilloscope to entertain visitors at Brookhaven National Laboratory. This is
incorrect, as under the general definition, the first video game came about six years prior to Tennis for Two.
A.S. Douglas developed a graphical version of Tic-Tac-Toe in 1952 at the University of Cambridge in order to demonstrate his thesis on Human-Computer interaction. It was
played on the now archaic EDSAC computer, which implemented cathode ray tubes in order to create a visual display. In spite of its technological antiquity, the game
is still playable on emulators available on the Internet.
The 1960s
In 1961, a group of students at MIT, including
Steve Russell, programmed a
game called Spacewar on the then-new DEC PDP-1. The game pitted two human players
against each other, each controlling a space ship capable of firing missiles. A black hole in the centre created a large gravitational field and another source of hazard. This game was soon
distributed with new DEC computers and traded throughout primitive cyberspace. It was the first widely available and influential
game.
One of the developers of Multics, Ken Thompson, continued to develop the operating
system after AT&T stopped funding it. His work focussed on development of the
OS for the GE-645 mainframe. He
actually wanted to play a game he was writing called Space Travel. Though the game was never released commercially (and apparently costing $75 per go on the
mainframe), the game's development led to the invention of the UNIX operating system.
In 1966, an engineer named Ralph Baer
created a simple video game called Chase that could be displayed on a standard television set. Baer continued development, and in 1968 he had a prototype
that could play several different games, including versions of table tennis and target shooting.
The 1970s
In 1971, Nolan Bushnell and
Ted Dabney created a coin-operated
arcade version of Spacewar and called it Computer Space. Nutting Associates bought the game, hired Bushnell, and manufactured 1,500 Computer Space machines. The
game was not a success because people found it difficult to play.
As Bushnell felt he didn't receive enough pay by licensing games to other manufacturers, he founded his own company, Atari, in 1972. The first arcade video game with widespread success was Atari's Pong, released the
same year. The game is loosely based around table tennis: two players each
control a "paddle" which has the freedom to move up and down at their end of the "court". A ball is "served" from the center of
the court and as the ball moves towards their side of the court each player must maneuver their bat to hit the ball back to their
opponent. Atari sold 19,000 Pong machines, and soon many imitators followed. The coin-operated arcade video game craze had begun.
1972 also saw the release of the first video game console
for the home market, the Magnavox Odyssey, based on Ralph Baer's
earlier work and licensed from his employer. The console was connected to a home television set. Built using mainly analog
electronics, it was not a large success, although other companies with similar products (including Atari) had to pay a licensing
fee for some time.
1976 saw the first controversy over gratuitous violence in a video game, with the
release of Death Race, by Exidy, where
the object of the game was to run over "gremlins"—who looked more like pedestrians—with a car. The controversy
increased public awareness of video games.
Early home computers from Apple, Commodore, TRS-80 and others had many games, that people typed in from books (those present
will remember David Ahl's book, Basic Computer Games), magazines (Creative Computing), and cassette tapes, floppy disks, and ROM cartridges.
In 1977, Atari released its cartridge-based console called Video Computer System (VCS),
later called Atari 2600.
In 1978, Nintendo released an arcade game:
Computer
Othello.
In 1978, Atari released Asteroids, its biggest best-seller. It replaced the
game Lunar Lander as the number one arcade hit.
In 1979, Activision was created by
disgruntled former Atari programmers. It was the first third-party developer of video games ever.
Other arcade classics of the late 1970s include Night Driver, Space Invaders, Breakout and Battle Zone.
While the fruit of development in early video games appeared mainly (for the consumer) in video arcades and home consoles, the
rapidly evolving home computers of the 1970s and 80s allowed their owners to program simple games. Soon many of these games (often clones of popular arcade games)
were being distributed through a variety of channels, included the physical mailing and selling of floppy disks and tapes, and
the inclusion of the game's source code in magazines and newsletters, which allowed users to type in the code for themselves.
Soon a small cottage industry was formed, with amateur coders selling disks in plastic bags sent through the mail.
The 1980s
In 1980, Pacman (first powerups?) was
released, the most popular arcade game of all time. 100,000 units are sold in the United States. Williams created Defender, a side-scrolling shooter which was also very popular.
Shigeru Miyamoto was asked to fix the pre-production
Radarscope, an arcade game to be released by Nintendo. He decided to make
a new game instead: Donkey Kong, which instantly became a big success.
Coleco released Colecovision,
a cartridge-based home console. Nintendo licensed Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. to Coleco. Midway released a
top-selling game: Ms. Pacman and Namco released Super
Pacman.
The famous Commodore 64 (C64) was released in 1983. This was a great success in sales, because it was marketed aggressively. It had a BASIC programming environment and advanced graphic and sound capabilities for its time, similar to the Atari
2600 console.
The Apple Macintosh arrived in 1984. It lacked color, but the operating system support for the GUI attracted
developers of some interesting games (e.g. Lode Runner) even before color
returned in 1987 with the Mac II.
Squaresoft was founded in 1985.
Hironobu Sakaguchi decided to make their final game a fantasy role-playing game, and the Final Fantasy series is born. Final Fantasy 1 saved Squaresoft from bankruptcy.
Nintendo finally decided in 1985 to release its Famicom in the United States under the name Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was bundled with Super Mario Brothers and it suddenly became a success. The NES
dominated the market until the rise of the next generation of consoles in the early 1990s, causing some to call this time the Nintendo era.
In 1989 Nintendo released the Game Boy, a
monochrome handheld console. Sega released its 16-bit console, Sega Genesis.
The 1990s
In 1990, Nintendo's sales rose because of the success of Super Mario 3. SNK released the 16-bit
NeoGeo console in home and arcade formats.
In 1991, Nintendo released the SNES home console.
Sega created Sonic the Hedgehog. The first fighting
game arcade success was Street Fighter II, released by
Capcom. The "16-bit" Genesis and SNES
were the most popular consoles for the next several years.
Midway released its top-selling fighting game Mortal Kombat in 1992. It became an
instant success. It was the first game with digitized characters. It was criticized for its gratuitous violence, which ironically
added to its popularity. Nintendo released a version for SNES without blood and different
fatalities.
Rare made a game for Nintendo called Donkey Kong Country. The game was popular because of its distinct graphics, sound and gameplay. Its 3D
pre-rendered graphics contributed to its success. Nintendo released Super
Game Boy, an adaptation for the SNES in order to be able to play Gameboy games in the console.
In 1995, Nintendo released its 32-bit virtual-reality console called Virtual Boy. Sony released
the PlayStation and its sales started to rival Nintendo.
After many delays, the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64 are released in 1996. More than 1.5 million units
were sold in only three months. Nintendo stopped manufacturing Virtual Boy.
In 1998, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the Game Boy Color.
In 1999, Sega released the DreamCast
(named Katana before release). Connectix Corporation released the Virtual Game Station, a successful PlayStation emulator.
Sony went to court to dispute the legality of the system, but Connectix won. The Bleem
company released Bleem!, another PlayStation emulator.
Early 21st Century
In 2000, Sony released the PlayStation 2.
In 2001, Nintendo released the GameCube
and the successor to the Game Boy Color, the Game Boy Advance.
Microsoft entered the videogame console industry by releasing its new home
console, the Xbox. Sega announced they would discontinue the Dreamcast and no longer
manufacture hardware.
In 2002, Sega became a third-party developer for Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.
In 2003, Microsoft bought Rare. Nokia introduced the N-Gage multimedia handheld
console. 3DO filed bankruptcy. Nintendo
released the Game Boy Advance SP compact handheld console.
Infogrames, owner of the Atari intellectual properties, changes its name to Atari.
In 2004, Nintendo announced a brand new type of portable handheld console, the Nintendo DS.
See also
External links
- Console Database
- Information on Video Game Consoles (from the 1970s
right up to those of today) and the games available for them.
- GameSpot's The History of Video Games
- A Santa Clara University student's History of
Video Games
- A History of Video Games with separate sections for Arcade games and home
consoles and numerous photos
- The Dot Eaters
, a detailed history of various types of video
games
- The First Video Game a desrciption at Brookhaven National
Laboratory
- The Edsac
Simulator contains a downloadable version of
A.S. Douglas' Tic-Tac-Toe game as well as information on it
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