How Video Games Changed Throughout History

Although the hardware from the 1970s is incredibly inferior to what we have today, the consoles we use today are still put together in a similar fashion. When the Atari 2600 was released, it had no hard drive to save programs to, barely any RAM, and the game cartridges only had about two to four kilobytes of memory (McCall para. 4). To put that in perspective, a trillion kilobytes is equal to exactly one gigabyte. That is virtually nothing. Back in the ‘70s, the graphics were not good because thats all the computing power that was available back then. Simple games with pixellated graphics took up all the space in the hardware. Gaming controllers had to be simple because the games lacked the

Some problems are solved over a cup of coffee and some go on for decades without any sign of resolution. The reason may be that a solution can not be found or possibly that too many solutions are established. The ongoing argument of whether video games are good or bad for society is a clear example. Opponents believe they are a bad contribution to society while proponents believe they are a necessary and supportive addition to society.

was one of the best critically acclaimed and biggest blockbuster movies in 1982, so naturally Atari obtain the license to create a game based on the movie. They ask Atari designer Howard Scott Warshaw to create the game within six weeks before the Christmas season the result was he program which would be known as “’the worst video game ever’” (Stanton, 89). So the E.T for Atari 2600 did not sell well, but thousands of unsold cartridges and were thrown in landfills within New Mexico and Atari lost millions in profit. But it didn’t stop there with these two games other companies kept popping out poorly made games to get easy money, which made 60 dollars games to 5 dollars in the bargain bin which create a chain reaction that over saturated the market with poor quality entertainment and loss of trust with the

So, I’m going to change things a bit. Instead of just talking about dates and numbers, which can be boring; I’m going to give this a little casual twist. So, in order to start the history let’s get a few facts out of the way. Let’s talk about gamers, mainly because I’ll be using the term a lot; gamers are people who spent a lot of time playing videogames. The Average gamer playing video games has spent twelve years playing them. Adult gamers have an average of fourteen years of playing videogames, guys have an average of sixteen years, and girls have an average twelve years. Speaking of girls did you know that 47% of gamers are girls? I would have never guessed that, but it’s a fact. So, as of 2013 49% of all people who live in The United States owns a console. All of them that own a console have at least two of them. Me, I own eleven… I think I may have a problem. Anyway, now that some of the facts are out of the way let’s start, THE HISTORY OF VIDEOGAMES! Now before I start I want to talk about all the most important events in the history of videogames, as I call them eras. Each era is very important because they shaped the videogames we know and love today.

Storytelling has always been an ancient art form, taking people back to past cultures. Some believe stories were first printed on rock, carved into clay tablets, stone, bark and other materials. With the beginnings of writing they moved on to parchment and paper and now are digitally produce. “When we experience a story, we allow ourselves to be invaded by the teller” (Gottschall XV). If the author is good at his job, we are completely taken over by the story and our mind is working hard to absorb the characters, theme, colors and scenes. Early video games did not have a story but with the new digital forms, stories are necessary to keep players involved. Storytelling in games gives the gamers the opportunity to be involved in the game, experience the characters, stimulate feelings like fear and excitement and let the player know they make situations happen and the choices they make affect the outcome as well as motivate them to continue on. Graphics have always been important to the game, but developers are now realizing that the story is equally as important if players want to stick with the game.

Video games were originated first in laboratories by scientists. “This first idea came from their imaginations in late 1940s but unfortunately it did not reach the people as they were confined only to laboratories. This situation was observed till early 1970s until arcade games became popular.Then later on a new start-up named “Atari” unleashed a new

A fad is a temporary fashion, notion, manner of conduct, etc., especially one followed enthusiastically by a group. Fads are, by definition, temporary. But, what is it about them that make people follow the trends for a short amount of time, and then completely forget about them? Fads, or crazes, can arise from a place of necessary, social, or political change. Trends die out because civilization changes, leaving them antiquated. Without the public, fads wouldn’t exist. Any fad can be attributed to the society it arises in.

Video games are a great pass time and relaxing getaway from everyday life, but how have the systems that play the wide verity of video games change over the years? The first video game console was called “The Brown Box”, created by Ralph H. Baer in 1962. The Brown Box was designed as a “Rectangular Brown Wooden Box with two attached controllers”. Ralph Baer was then nicknamed “The Father of Video Games”, the console only had 6 games, most notably was “Ping-Pong” also known as “Pong”.

Before the video game industry conquered the entertainment market, and before the gaming masterpieces of the modern day we know, video games earned their place in entertainment at public arcades. For classic games such as Donkey Kong, Pac Man, Mortal Kombat, and Galaga, the local arcade was the perfect foundation for the game industry to build upon, as arcades provided a cheap public source to play games. These low cost game corners drew in a community, the community that would become the first gamers, warranting the attention of game creators and their respective companies. Taking note of arcade games and their initial success, game developers began to place their focus on the newest form of entertainment. Companies such as Nintendo, Sega, and Sony learned from the success of arcade entertainment and set their sights on creating home gaming consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega

Video games are the wave of the future. Video games have been apart of american culture just as long as tv or computuers have; and just like everything else in life video games have adapted and changed with the times.

Atari pioneered the video game industry in 1971 with a title called Pong, which was sold as an arcade game for $1,200 each. The console market did not take off until 1977, when Atari 2600 was launched (Lipson, 2009) and this became the first generation of consoles. In the videogame industry, consoles are primarily stationary “boxes”, which require a monitor or television set for use. Known as consoles or platforms, these devices are standardized computers tailored for gaming and produced by a single firm. The term “generations” is meant to define “chapters” in the industry denoted by a series of console launches with significant technology improvement compared to the previous launches (Exhibit 1).

For over 50 years, video games have been around the entertain men and women of many different ages. Many of the original gaming consoles have changed or evolved over the years. From first person shooters or 3D adventure roll-playing games, it has changed over the decades through their consoles. In October of 1958, a man by the name of William Higinbotham, created the first video game system, so it has been told. It was a simple game of tennis, like the 1970s game of Pong. This is what started this video game craze

Video games have been a favorite pass time for Americans and people all over the world for many centuries. I have always loved video games ever since I was introduced to the Nintendo 64 when I was a little girl. I found Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong very addicting when I began playing it. However, a new level of game addiction has been introduced into the era of technology. Games on our phones have been a new popularity in recent years. Usually when I hear the words “video game,” I think of a console, like the Wii or PlayStation. I don’t consider games that are on the app store like Flappy Bird or Temple Run a legitimate video game. Even though they don’t fall under that category, these games are downloaded over a million times. A

Video games have progressed immensely in price and technology over the past thirty years making them more popular then ever. Video games were originally for arcades, then came the first home console. The graphics have changed a lot since the first console game. Games colors were originally just black and white now they have more colors then you can think of. Not all businesses made it through competition of other businesses.

As any child whose dream it was to play video games as their future career, most parents would say that, playing games won’t pay the bills or put food on the table. Instead of having dreams of playing video games for the rest of their lives, they should aspire to become a scientist, a teacher, some kind of engineer, or the all time favorite a doctor, the only people who make money off video games are the lucky ones who can make them not just play them. But how much of this statement is true? If only these parents knew that there are people making six figure incomes by playing video games, they might change their minds before telling their child that their dream is just that and no, it is not only the lucky one or two people in the world