The history of videos games dates as far back
as the 1940’s,
when in 1947 Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. and Estle Ray
Mann filed a United States patent request for an invention they
described as a "cathode ray tube amusement device." 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.
However the first program to be classed
purely for entertainment purposes was produced in 1952 by A.S. Douglas, the
game itself was the first graphical computer game, being a version of
Tic-Tac-Toe and programmed on a EDSAC vacuum-tube computer, which had a cathode
ray tube display.
The first Video game ever was created in
1958 by William Higinbotham
called “Tennis for Two” and played on a Brookhaven National Laboratory
oscilloscope.
From that the first game intended for
computer use was created in 1962 by Steve Russell called “Spacewar!”.
The first video game to use a television
set for a monitor
was
made in 1967 by Ralph Baer and was named chase.
The first arcade game was created in 1971
by Ted Dabney and
Nolan Bushnell and was named computer space. The duo went on to start Atari
computers the same year, re-releasing the game Pong as a home video game.
The first video game console, Odyssey was
released in 1972 by Magnavox and came programmed with 12 games.
In 1976, Fairchild released the first programmable
home game console called the Fairchild Video Entertainment System, and later
renamed Channel F. Channel F was one of the first electronic systems to use the
newly invented microchip.
Between 1978 and 1986 arcade games hit a
golden age with the release of space invaders, Galaxian and asteroids, as well as this home
computers began to appear in the late 70’s and rapidly evolving into the 80’s,
this eventually forming PC game software and games such as Frogger, Pac
Man and Donkey Kong.
In 1989 Nintendo released the game boy,
the first handheld console since the Microvision of the late 70’s.
Here is where I begin my history of video
games, well not specifically here, but the game boy was the first ever game console I used with
the main games being ones of the Pokémon franchise, I feel that the success of
this game related to children’s (and adults) fascination with collecting things
and the cool and odd appearances of these creatures.
Many, and many Pokémon
games later my next big game was on the game boy advance colour, with
Spiderman, with the appeal this time being that, well Spiderman is feckking
awesome, and the fact that he possesses superhuman abilities that I feel is one
of the main successes of the game itself, letting players control these amazing
powers at their whim as oppose to watching from behind a screen.
My first non handheld console in the form
of the PS2 introduced me to my next big game, being Jurassic park: operation
genesis. A construction
and management simulation
game
captivated my love for dinosaurs and my favourite film as you can probably
guess, being Jurassic park. What I loved about the game was the ability to
create and house all my favourite dinosaurs and see how they behave in their
surroundings.
After this I took a turn from this genre
of game and thanks to my cousins became addicted to car games being introduced
to the Need For Speed franchise and starting with my personal favourite: Most
Wanted. A racing car game, need for speed allowed me too access and drive
amazingly expensive cars and well, crash them together in a mix mash of racing
and police pursuits.
From the racing genre to yet another,
this time to one of the most highly played today, being the first person
shooter. After being introduced to the Halo 2 at a friends house I became
enticed by all the action and excitement of the style of play, being able to
better NPC’s by shooting them was quite appealing to a 12-13 year old kid, and
now I’ve written that I feel sorry for my parents..
Swiftly moving on, with Halo being only
on Xbox I eventually gave in and made the big switch between consoles, although
by this time the Xbox 360 had been released so I opted for the newer model,
gaining Halo 3 and Mass Effect with the console, both games being shooters I
played both though rally,
although found a dislike to mass effect and the third person style, however
this has been redeemed by mass effect 3 it put me off the third person style
for a long time.
Back to dinosaurs now with the game Turok,
again a first person shooter combining my love for Jurassic park also in a
sci-fi setting This game ticked all the boxes for me providing hours of play
time sneaking around the many levels of the game. One feature I particular I
found brilliant was the idea of being able to hide in the tall grass like the
raptors from the films, enabling the player to plan stealthy assaults on
particular unaware targets.
From this I changed genres yet again with
the release of Portal 2, being hugely anticipated by a few of my friends I
thought I would try it out. The puzzle based game is highly frustrating and
greatly rewarding as you try and escape Apeture laboratories. I
loved the laid back approach I could have to the game, being able to solve the puzzles as your leisure
whilst still containing a storyline.
Any finally,: Dead Space. I am a huge fan
of the franchise and the fact that after 2 games I can still being scared
shitless walking down an empty hallway. Dead Space was my first proper horror
game and an introduction in to the genre I won’t soon forget. The game itself
was highly regarded upon release for it gameplay and atmosphere. But the
striking thing for me was the sci-fi appearance and the necromorphs,
being a different take on the zombie, a more revolting mangled mess of spikes
and limbs to create a disturbing visual image.
A new recent edition to this list would
be Dishonored. A
first person stealth action adventure game, dishonored reminded me of Turok
however with the added magical abilities that allow the game to create much
more challenging and interesting levels.
Reference material from:http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcomputer_videogames.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games
