What is it about video games that makes them so fun? Is it the captivating storylines, pulling you in like a good book, or is it the immersive technology that makes the game seem so life-like that it’s like you’re playing someone else’s life?
Today, video games are a big part of pop culture and play a major role in the average teenager’s life. But it wasn’t always this way. Early video games were obviously not as detailed and fulfilling as GTAV (Grand Theft Auto Five), but the release of them would soon revolutionize the way we entertain ourselves.
The first video game to ever be invented, often mistaken for Pong, was Tennis for Two, a slower, more basic version of Pong. Created in 1958 by physicist William Higinbotham, Tennis for Two was played on an oscilloscope, which is a type of electronic test instrument that allows observation of constantly varying signal voltages.
Many today don’t consider this to even be a video game, but for the sake of technicality, we’ll say that it is because you are using a computer to play a game. However, this sparked the imagination of many other scientists, inspiring them to build their own inventions.
After many generations of game-making, the gaming industry became more organized and orderly. Games stopped being played on giant machines and began being played in wooden cabinets, hence the dawn of the arcade.
In 1972, Pong was finally created, and with it, several competitors. By that time, entire companies had been constructed singularly for the production of video games.
Large corporations such as Nintendo, Atari, Midway, Namco, Williams Co and countess others began to dominate the market on teenage entertainment with games like Donkey Kong, Pacman, Centipede and Defender. Teenagers quite often found themselves spending excessive amounts of money at arcades in order to top the highscore and reign supreme over games that now seem silly and basic. But with the expansion of arcade games, came the idea of a new kind of game. One you only had to pay for once.
Later in 1972, Magnavox created the very first console video game station, the Magnavox Odyssey. But console games wouldn’t become popular until Atari would preach it’s answer to the Odyssey, with it’s release of the Atari 2600 in 1980. From that point, video games would begin to evolve into more than just something to do after school. Game stations like the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and the Sega Genesis began molding video games into something much more intriguing with new stories and graphic advantages. Games like Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog and Megaman were released with new and improved graphic functions and gameplay outlines. This helps to better capture the player in the in-game universe and protrude the ideas and meaning behind the game.
In 1983, Nintendo released the first ever portable game device, the GameBoy. This small yet ingeniousl new creation allowed players take their games with them wherever they went, making their connection with the game much more intimate and personal. Nintendo would later release several other handheld systems such as the GBC (GameBoy Color) and GBA (GameBoy Advance), dominating that spectrum of the market with game series like Pokemon and The Legend of Zelda. Sony would later enter the competition with its PSP (Playstation Portable), and bring a new playing field to the market. This would allow Sony to sell knock off versions of their original PSX, PS2 and PS3 games like the Crash Bandicoot reboot, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines, increasing their popularity as a game company and putting them ahead in the game.
At this point in time, video games were seen as pretty flipping awesome, so not many people expected any kinds of major improvements. With so many consoles made and each with an entire arsenal of games, what more could people ask for? Well how about the ability to play games over the internet with far away friends through their consoles (Microsoft’s Xbox Live)? Or what about touch-screen game play abilities (Nintendo DS)? Or maybe even motion sensing controls (Nintendo Wii)? Don’t like having a game controller or having push buttons? Microsoft can fix that too (Xbox 360 Kinect). Granted these aren’t major components of gaming, but it’s the little things that make the biggest differences. With such improvements, video games would soon grow to become the amazing and incredibly detailed works of art that they are seen as today.
