The History Of GamingBy Natazjah Harrison

GamingThe gaming era has been around for centuries dating way back to the 1940’s till now. The history of video games goes as far back as then, when in 1947 Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. and Estle Ray Man invented what they described as the “cathode ray tube amusement device”, but video gaming would not reach mainstream popularity until the 1970s and 1980s, when arcade video games, gaming consoles and home computer games were introduced to the general public. Since then gaming has become a popular form of entertainment and a part of culture in most parts of the world. There are currently considered to be eight generations of video game console, with the sixth, seventh and eighth concurrently.

The gaming platforms have increased incredibly through time from having games like pinball and pacman in arcades and them being developed into games that can be played on modern day consoles like the “Xbox 360” “PlayStation 1-4”, and the “Nintendo WII”. Modern day gaming has hugely adapted from then, so virtually every game now is developed into a disk to be played on either one of these consoles plus hand held consoles like the Psp , Gameboy and Nintendo DS.

Gaming

1960 Gaming. The gaming era has been around for centuries, starting with:

.1961-62- Space war, it was developed at MIT using vector graphics on a PDP1.

.Sega release the first arcade game called ‘Periscope’

1970’s GamingMagnavox Odyssey is a game console that came out on 1st of August 1972, consisting of 28 games and it’s the ‘first generation’ home video game console. In the first year it sold over 100,000 copies.

1980’s GamingMega Drive is a game console that came out on 29 October 1988, It is its company, Sega’s most successful console with a estimated range from 29 million to over 40.8 million earned.

1990’s Gaming.Super Nintendo Entertainment System came out on 21 Nov 1990, it is theBest-selling gaming console of the 16-bit era, being a global success. It was Nintendo’s second home console (the first being Nintendo Entertainment System). .PlayStation is a game condole that came out on 3 Dec 1994, Other than playing games, the PlayStation also contains the ability to read and play audio CDs, which can shuffle playing order, playing songs in a programmed order, or repeating a single song or the whole disk in order..Nintendo 64 is a game console that came out on 23 Jun 1996, Although it is the most technically advanced console of the fifth generation, the storage media is limited as it is cartridge-based rather than of Compact Disc format. This was a disadvantage compared to Nintendo 64’s competitors..Dreamcast is a game console that came out on 27 Nov 1998, it’s the first console with a built-in modern and Internet support for online playing.

2001- present Gaming.Nintendo GameCube is a game console that came out on 14 Sep 2001, unlike its’ opponents (PlayStation 2 and Xbox), the Nintendo GameCube uses MiniDVD-based discs rather than full size DVDs. It does not have the DVD-Video playback and audioCD playback function as a result..Xbox is a game console brought out on 15 Nov 2001, it’s the first game console with a built-in hard disk drive, which is used for game savings and content that is downloaded from Xbox live..Xbox 360 is a game console that came out on 12 May 2005, this console (from the Xbox live service) allows players to compete and play online, download arcade games, game demos, trailers, TV shows, etc. as well as the Windows Media Center multimedia..Wii is a game console that came out on 19 Nov 2006, the remote for this console is a wireless controller, which can be a handheld pointing device and also detecting movements in three dimensions.

First Generation Consoles(1972-1977)

The first home 'console' system was developed by Ralph Baer and his associates. Development began in 1966 and a working prototype was completed by 1968 (called the “Brown Box”) for demonstration to various potential licensees, including GE, Sylvania, RCA, Philco, and Sears, with Magnavox eventually licensing the technology to produce the world first home video game console. The system was released in the USA in 1972 by Magnavox, called the “Magnavox odyssey”. The odyssey used cartridges that mainly consisted of jumpers that enabled/disabled various switches inside the unit, altering he circuit logic (as opposed to later video game systems that used programmable cartridges). This provided the ability to play several different games using the same system, along with plastic sheet overlays taped to the television that added color, play-fields, and various graphics to “interact” with using the electronic images generated by the system. A major marketing push, featuring TV advertisements starring Frank Sinatra. Helped Magnavox sell about 100,000 Odysseys that first year. Philips bought Magnavox and released a different game in Europe using the Odyssey brand in 1974 and an evolved game that Magnavox had been developing for the US market. Over its production span, the Odyssey system achieved sales of 2 million units.

Second Generation Consoles(1977-1983)In the earliest consoles, the computing logic for one or more games was hardwired into microchips using discrete logic, and no additional games could ever be added. In other words, these consoles were single-purpose computers, not programmable computers; there was no software, only hardware, so no change of software was possible. This was and obvious issue for developers; customers would have to buy a whole new device to attach to their TV sets in order to play a different game. By the mid-1970’s , game consoles contained general-purpose microprocessors and video games were found on cartridges, starting in 1976 with the release of the Fairchild Video Entertainment. Programs were then burned onto ROM chips (ICs) that were mounted inside plastic cartridge casings that could then be plugged into slots on the console. When the cartridges were plugged in, the ROM electrically became a part of the microcomputer in the console, just as if the ROM ICs were on the same circuit board with the microprocessor inside the console, and the microprocessor would execute whatever program was stored in the ROM. Rather than being confined to a small selection of games included tin the game system, consumers could now amass libraries of game cartridges.

Three machines dominated the second generation of consoles in North America, far outselling their rivals:

The Video computer system (VCS) ROM cartridge-based console, later renamed the Atari 2600, was released in 1977 by Atari. Nine games were designed and released for the holiday season. While the console had a slow start, its port of the arcade game Space Invaders would become the first killer app and quadruple the consoles sales. Soon after, the Atari 2600 would quickly become the most popular of all the early consoles prior to the North American video game crash of 1983. Notably the VCS did this with only an 8-bit 6507 CPU, (30) 128 bytes (i.e. 0.125 KB) of RAM, and at most 4KB of ROM each game program cartridge.

The intellivison, introduced by Mattel in 1980. Though chronologically part of what is called the 8-bit-era, the intellivison had a unique processor with instructions that were 10 bits wide (allowing more instruction variety and potential speed), the registers 16 bit wide. The system which featured graphics superior to he older Atari 2600, rocketed to popularity. The ColecoVision, an even more powerful machine, appeared in 1982. With its port of arcade game Donkey Kong included as a pack-in, sales for this console also took off. However , the presence of three major consoles in marketplace and a glut of poor quality games began to overcrowd retail shelves and erode consumers interest in video games, within a year this overcrowded market would crash.

Activision was created by disgruntled former Atari programmers. It was first third- party developer of video games. By 1982, approximately 8 million American homes owned a video game console, and the home video game industry was generating and annual revenue of $3.8 billion, which was nearly half the $8 billion revenue in quarters generated from the arcade video game industry at the time.

Third Generation Consoles (1983-1995)

In 1985, the American Video Game Console market was revived with Nintendo’s release of its 8-Bit console, the Famicom, known outside Asia as Nintendo Entertainment 8-bit console, the Famicom, known outside Asia as Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was bundled with Super Mario Bros. and instantly became a success. The NES dominated the North American and the Japanese market until the rise of the next generation of consoles in the early 1990’s. Other markets were not as heavily dominated, because of heavy competition from PCS like the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64. This led to allowing other consoles the chance to find an audience In the new consoles. The game pad or joy pad , took over joysticks, paddles, and the keypads as the default game controller included with the system. The gamepad design of an 8 direction Directional-pad (D-pad) with 2 or more action buttons became the standard. This generation also marked a shift in the dominance of home video games from the United States to Japan to Europe. But this generation of games ended with the discontinuation of the NES in 1995.

Fourth Generation Consoles(1988-1999)

The Mega Drive/Genesis proved its worth early on after its debut in 1988. But Nintendo responded with its own next generation system known as the super NES (SNES/ in 1990. The TurboGrafx-16 (1987) debuted early on alongside the Genesis, but unlike in Japan it did not achieve a large following. The intense competition of this time was also a period of not entirely truthful marketing. The TurboGrafx-16 was billed as the first 16-bit system but its central processor was an 8-bit In Japan, the 1987 success of the PC Engine (as the TurboGrafx-16 was known there) against the Famicom and CD drive peripheral allowed It to fend off the Mega Drive (Genesis) in 1988. CD-ROM drives were first seen in this generation, as add-ons for the PC Engine in 1988 and the Mega Drive in 1991. Basic 3D graphics entered the mainstream with flat-shaded polygons 3D graphics. SNK's Neo-Geo was the most expensive console by a wide margin when it was released in 1990, and would remain so for years. It was also capable of 2D graphics in a quality level years ahead of other consoles. The reason for this was that it contained the same hardware that was found in SNK's arcade games. This was the first time since the home Pong machines that a true-to-the-arcade experience could be had at home. This generation ended with the SNES's discontinuation in 1999

Fifth Generation Consoles(1993-2006)

In 1993, Atari re-entered the home console market with the introduction of the Atari Jaguar. Also in 1993, The 3DO Company released the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, which, though highly advertised and promoted, failed to catch up to the sales of the Jaguar, due to its high price tag. Both consoles had very low sales and few quality games, eventually leading to their demise. In 1994, three new consoles were released in Japan: the Sega Saturn, the PlayStation, and the PC-FX, the saturn and the PlayStation later seeing release in North America in 1995. The PlayStation quickly outsold all of its competitors, with the exception of the aging Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which still had the support of many major game companies. By the end of this period, Sony had become the leader in the video game market. The Saturn was moderately successful in Japan but a commercial failure in North America and Europe, leaving Sega outside of the main competition. The fifth generation is most noted for the rise of fully adapted 3D games.

Sixth Generation Consoles(1998-2004)

In the sixth generation of video game consoles, Sega exited the hardware market, Nintendo fell behind, Sony solidified its lead in the industry, and Microsoft developed a gaming console. The generation opened with the launch of the Dreamcast in 1998. While it was initially successful, sales and popularity would soon begin to decline with contributing factors being Sega's damaged reputation from previous commercial failures, software pirating, and the overwhelming anticipation for the upcoming PlayStation 2. Production for the console would discontinue in most markets by 2002 and would be Sega's final console before becoming a third party game provider only. The second release of the generation was Sony's PlayStation 2. Nintendo followed a year later with the Nintendo GameCube suffered from a lack of third-party games compared to Sony’s system, and was hindered by a reputation for being a “kids console” and lacking the mature games for current market appeared to want.