GAMES AND SOCIETYHISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES

OXO (1952)

• Sometimes known as Noughts and crosses or Tic-Tac-Toe

• Created by Alexander Douglas in 1952

• First computer game to use a digital display

• “Played” on the EDSAC computer with a rotary telephone controller

• Output was on a cathode ray tube

• Played against an artificial intelligence

Above: An EDSAC computer like the one Alexander Douglas played OXO on in 1952.

Below: A cathode ray tube connected to a monitor.

TENNIS FOR TWO (1958)

• Created by Dr. Higinbotham in 1958

• Output was on an oscilloscope

• Mostly unheard of until late 1970s and early 1980s

• Only played twice. Once on October 18, 1958 and again in 1959.

• Used as entertainment for visitors at the Brookhaven National Laboratory

SPACEWAR! (1961)

• Created by Steve Russell, Martin Graetz, and Wayne Wiitanen in 1961

• Played on a PDP-1 at MIT

• Had two players with a “star” in the middle of the screen to simulate gravity

• Had optional features that were controlled by switches

MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY (1972)

• Created by Ralph Baer in May 1972

• First commercial home video game console

• Powered by six C batteries (included) or A/C power supply (sold separately)

• Did not have sound

• Had screen overlays that were used to simulate color graphics and different games

ATARI’S PONG (1972)

• Created by Nolan Bushnell and Al Alcorn in August 1972

• Bushnell based it on the Odyssey’s tennis game.

• Atari was later sued by Magnavox and lost

• Pong was originally a training exercise

ZORK (1977)

• Created by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling in 1977

• Creators were members of MIT

• Based on the game “Colossal Cave Adventure” game

• Text based game that used prepositions and conjunctions

• Played on a PDP-10

ATARI 2600 (1977)

• Released in September 1977 by Atari

• Popularized the use of cartridges to play games not built into the unit

• Usually bundled with 2 joysticks, a pair of paddles, and a game

• Originally cost $199

SPACE INVADERS (1978)

• Atari purchased the license from Taito Corporation in Japan

• Created by Tomohiro Nishikado

• Produced in the US by Midway

• Had sound effects and continuous music

• The music was not interrupted by sound effects

• Space Invaders impressed Shigeru Miyamoto (Nintendo) and Hideo Kojima (Konami)

ACTIVISION (1979)

• First third-party developer company

• Company was created by Atari programmers

• Wanted to receive royalties and credit for games

• Had credits page in the instruction manual and encouraged players to send in high scores

ADVENTURE (1979)

• Created by Warren Robinett in 1979

• Released for the Atari 2600

• First video game Easter Egg

• Secret room that credited him as the game’s creator

• One of the first games to have a “continue game” feature.

• If the player was eaten by a dragon, hitting the game reset switch rezes the player and all dragons. The items remained in the same place.

Right:The Easter Egg in Adventure giving credit to Warren Robinett.

Left: A screen shot of the Green dragon, the player (red square) and the White Key.

LEADING UP TO THE CRASH

• Two Atari titles are frequently blamed for contributing to the video game crash

• E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial

• Pac-Man

• The Pac-man game was a port of Namco’s Arcade game

• The hardware of the Atari 2600 could not match the hardware of the arcade game and the players and critics hated the Pac-man game.

NORTH AMERICAN VIDEO GAME CRASH OF 1983

• There were too many low quality, copycat games in the market.

• Stores did not have enough space.

• Stores tried to return unsold games and consoles

• The publishers could not refund the retailers

• Most companies abandoned the video game industry

• The companies that survived focused on other projects

• Unsold games were buried in a desert in New Mexico

NORTH AMERICAN VIDEO GAME CRASH OF 1983(CONTINUED)

• The hardware maufacturers lost exclusive control of their platform’s games.

• Several of the new companies rushed the join the market and did not have experience or talent to create good games.

• Ex: Chase the Chuck Wagon funded by Purina

NINTENDO (1985)

• Nintendo avoided the term “console” by calling its console the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

• Nintendo had to authorize third-party developers before they could produce a game on the NES.

• Hiroshi Yamauchi was the president of Nintendo at the time.

• The cartridges used in the NES were made by Nintendo instead of using outside suppliers.

• There were 18 launch titles for the NES.

• Super Mario Brothers, Clu Clu land, Duck Hunt, Donkey Kong Jr. Math, Tennis, Excitebike, and Ice Climbers

• Super Mario Brothers was so popular that it ended up being packaged with the NES and helped drive sales of the system

Below: the Nintendo Family Computer sold in Japan

Above: The Nintendo Entertainment System sold in the U.S.

SEGA MASTERS AND ATARI 5200 (1986)

• SEGA and Atari both tried to release new systems to compete with the NES but both failed to gain the popularity of the NES.

• The SEGA Master system was popular in Europe but not in the U.S.

• The Atari 5200 was the first backwards compatible machine but did not last long.

SEGA GENESIS (1989)

• Created in 1989 by Sega

• Was the first 16-bit console and had better graphics than the 8-bit NES.

• For the first time, the NES had a true competitor

Right: Sega Genesis Model 2

Left: Japanese Mega Drive

GAMEBOY (1989)

• Nintendo released the Game Boy in 1989.

• Game Boy is successful because Nintendo packaged it with Tetris.

• Atari releases they Lynx (first handheld to feature a backlit color LCD screen) but it was not as popular as the Nintendo Game Boy

OTHER MOMENTS

• SEGA Game Gear (1990)

• SNES (1991)

• Neverwinter Nights (1991)- One of the first MMOs

• Wolfenstein 3D (1992) Id Software – popularizes FPS

• Sega CD add-on for Genesis (1992)- first CD-Rom console

• Panasonic 3DO (1993) – first self-contained CD-Rom console

• Atari Jaguar (1993) – final attempt for Atari- used CDs.

• Doom (1993) Id Software– overtakes Wolfenstein 3D as the most popular FPS

• Sony Playstation (1994) – 32 bit graphics – targets casual gamers

• SEGA Saturn (Japan 1994) – 32 bit graphics – targets hardcore gamers

• SEGA Channel (Japan 1994) – first video game download service- connects to Sega Genesis

• ESRB (1994) – created out of concern with violent and explicit content. ESRB bases ratings on content and interactive experience.

• Saturn and Playstation (America 1995) – Saturn releases first. Sony holds off to make more games and drops the console’s price. Sony took a loss on the console but made up in game sales.

• Virtual Boy (1995) – first 3D graphics – Nintendo

• Nintendo 64 (1996) – cartridges – twice the capabilities of CD-Rom but no loading time

GAMES AND SOCIETYIMPORTANT PEOPLE IN GAME HISTORY

SHIGERU MIYAMOTO

• Donkey Kong

• The Legend of Zelda

• Star Fox

• F-Zero

• Pikmin

• Super Mario Brothers

HIROSHI YAMAUCHI

• Took over Nintendo presidency (1947). He was 20 years old.

• Soon after taking over, the factory employees went on strike. He fired anyone that questioned his authority

• Was the only one deciding which games were to be released.

• Created 3 research and development groups to compete against each other.

• Died on September 19, 2013

HIDEO KOJIMA

• Metal Gear Series

• Zone of the Enders

• Worked on Solid Snake and Snake’s stage in Super Smash Bro. Brawl

GAMES AND SOCIETYIMPORTANT COMPANIES IN GAME HISTORY

NAMCO (1970)

• Founded on June 1, 1955

• Originally made children’s rides

• Name from “Nakamura Amusement machine Manufacturing Company

• Merged with Bandai in September 2005

• Notable Games: Pac-Man, Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man, Tekken, Dig Dug, Soulcalibur

ATARI INC (1972)

• Founded on June 27, 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney

• First design engineer was Al Alcorn

• Company was originally going to be called Syzygy

• Company closed and its assets split in 1984

• Notable Game: Pong

KONAMI (1973)

• Founded on March 21, 1969 by Kagemasa Kozuki

• Originally started as a jukebox rental/repair business

• Started making arcade games in 1973

• Started making PC games in 1982

• Notable Games: Bomberman, Yu-Gi-Oh, DDR, Frogger, Metal Gear, Castlevania, Silent Hill

NINTENDO (1974)

• Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi

• Started as a card company

• Started making video games in 1974 by distributing the Magnavox Odyssey in Japan

• Name roughly translates to “Leave luck to heaven” or “in heaven’s hands”

• Notable Games: Pokemon, Donkey Kong, Mario, Cruis’n, Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Kirby, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing

ACTIVISION (1979)

• Founded on October 1, 1979 by David Crane, Alan Miller, and Bob Whitehead

• Name was chosen so that it would appear before Atari in the phone book

• During the Video Game crash of 1983, Activision made games for PCs

• Notable Games: Pitfall!, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Spyro the Dragon, Destiny

CAPCOM (1984)

• Founded on June 11, 1983

• Originally made arcade machines

• Name came from “Capsule Computers” referring to arcade machines

• Notable Games: Mega Man, Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and Street Fighter

MIDWAY (1988)

• Originally made Arcade games and distributed arcade games

• Went bankrupt in 2009

• Assets sold to other companies

• Notable Games: Mortal Kombat, Cruis’n, NFL Blitz, NBA Jam, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man

BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT (1991)

• Originally focused on creating game ports for other studios

• Started making own games in 1994 with “Warcraft: Orcs and Humans”

• Notable Games: Diablo, Warcraft, World of Warcraft

SONY (1993)

• Founded on May 7, 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita

• Focuses on Electronics, Games, Entertainment, and Financial Services.

• Started making Video Games in 1993 as Sony Computer Entertainment

• Name derived from Latin word “sonus” meaning sound and “sonny”

• Notable Games: God of War, Ratchet and Clank, Infamous, Knack, The Last of Us, Uncharted, Q*bert

MICROSOFT (2002)

• Founded on April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen

• Originally made personal computers

• Microsoft Game Studios started in 2002

• Later renamed Microsoft Studios in 2011

• Notable Games: Halo, Forza, Fable, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Viva Pinata, Kinect

SQUARE ENIX (2003)

• Merger of Square (1986) and Enix (1975) in 2003

• Also owns Taito Corporation and Eidos Interactive

• Notable Games: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest

• Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex, and Thief developed by Eidos