The Evolution of Video Games

1
The Evolution of Video Games

• A Brief History from the 1800s-Present

2
Ancestors of Video Games

• The beginnings of the video game industry can be
  traced back to the pinball machine industry.
• Pinball itself can be traced back to the 1800s
  game Bagatelle, a form of billiards in which
  players used a cue to shoot balls up a sloped
  table, hoping to have the ball land in a pocket
  on the way down.

3
Ancestors of Video Games

• In 1931, Automatic Industries introduced the
  first real pinball machine, Whiffle, which used a
  plunger instead of a cue. It was also one of the
  first devices that was coin activated.
• Later in 1931, David Gottlieb introduced the
  hugely popular Baffle Ball, which launched
  pinball into a serious industry.
• At this point, there were no flippers, bumpers,
  or scoring device.

4
Ancestors of Video Games

• Harry Williams introduced Contact in 1933, the
  first electric machine.
• Around this time, pay-out machines were
  introduced that combined pinball and gambling.
• Many states passed laws prohibiting gambling and
  these pay-out machines.
• In New York, pinball was ruled an extension of
  gambling and was made illegal (until the
  1980s!). Many states followed this precedent
  and the gaming industry was tainted.

5
Ancestors of Video Games

• In 1947, Gottleib introduced Humpty Dumpty, the
  first game to use flippers, to establish pinball
  as a game of skill and not a game of chance.
• Some states relented, but the gaming industry
  was still tainted and linked to gambling.
• Other innovations followed, and the pinball
  industry grew with companies like Gottleib,
  Williams, Bally, and Midway.
• Many of the founders and innovators of the video
  game industry had their starts in pinball.

6
The First Video Game?

• Early computers could only play simple games like
  tic-tac-toe.
• Most historians agree the first video game was
  invented in 1958 by Willy Higginbotham at the
  Brookhaven National Laboratory.
• It was an oscilloscope and analog Donner computer
  to play Tennis for Two as a demonstration for
  the annual visitor day.

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The First Video Game?
Rebuilt in 1997
Original Game
8
Spacewar

• In 1961, Steve Russell built Spacewar on a DEC
  PDP-1 at MIT.
• It took 6 months and 200 hours of programming.
• Using toggle switches, two players could control
  dueling ships firing torpedoes at each other.
• Additional effects like gravity, hyperspace
  (teleporting), and unreliable weapons were
  eventually added.
• Due to its eventual influence on the industry and
  its well-known history, many people consider this
  the first true video game.

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Spacewar
The Spacewar PDP-1
Steve Russell and the Original Spacewar
Spacewar Screenshot
10
The Magnavox Odyssey

• In the late 1960s, Ralph Baer began work on a
  video game system while working at Sanders
  Associates.
• The game was a form of ping pong using a moving
  ball and player controlled paddles.
• The system consisted of a game box containing the
  logic, two simple controllers, and used a
  standard television for a display.
• Magnavox struck a deal, and the system became the
  Odyssey, launched in 1972.

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The Magnavox Odyssey

• Other games were also supported through the use
  of coloured screen overlays and accessories.
• Magnavox, unfortunately, overpriced the system
  and marketed it as only working with Magnavox
  sets.
• The system nevertheless sold reasonably well for
  being the first home video game console.
• It also had great influence on the first major
  arcade video game Pong.

12
The Beginnings of Atari

• Nolan Bushnell was first introduced to gaming
  through the pinball industry.
• At the same time, Bushnell attended the
  University of Utah, where he first saw and played
  Spacewar.
• He went on to create Computer Space, a coin
  operated version of Spacewar using custom
  hardware and a television for a display in 1970.

13
The Beginnings of Atari

• With help from Bill Nutting of Nutting
  Associates, 1,500 Computer Space machines were
  manufactured in 1971.
• Due to poor marketing and complex game play (it
  needed several pages of instructions to explain),
  the game did poorly.
• Not to be deterred, Bushnell went on to form
  Atari in 1972 as the first video game company.

14
Atari and Pong

• Ataris first commercial success was Pong.
• It was test marketed at Andy Capps Tavern in
  Sunnyvale, California late in 1972.
• It was a huge success.
• Forgeries and copies appeared on the scene to
  cash in on the new craze.

15
Atari and Pong

• Magnavox sued Atari for patent infringement.
• Since Bushnell had seen the Odyssey at a trade
  show months before Pong was made, Atari was in
  trouble.
• They settled with Magnavox and became the sole
  licensee for this technology.
• Magnavox prosecuted all of the imitators, leaving
  Atari back on top of the industry.

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More Early Home Consoles

• Ataris Home Pong in 1975
• The Connecticut Leather Company (Coleco) and
  Telstar in 1976.
• Fairchild Camera and Instrument releases Channel
  F, also in 1976, the first programmable home
  game to use cartridges.

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More Early Home Consoles

• Atari released the Video Computer System (better
  known as the 2600) in 1977. Immensely popular.
• Magnavox and Odyssey2 in 1978.
• Mattel Electronics introduced the Intellivision
  in 1979.

18
The Early Arcade

• Arcades did not exist at first video games were
  largely installed in bars and were not seen as
  childrens amusements.
• Bushnell saw the huge potential and Atari
  introduced the Pizza Time Theatre (Chuck E.
  Cheese) to help establish video games for
  children in 1977.
• Arcades for the whole family began to spring up
  as video games grew in popularity.

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Early Arcade Developments

• 1975 Midway imports Taitos game Gunfight the
  first to use a microprocessor.
• 1976 Exidy Games releases Death Race, in which
  players drive over stick figures. Protests
  ensue.
• 1978 Atari releases Football and Midway
  releases Space Invaders. Both set records.

20
Early Arcade Developments

• 1979 Atari releases Lunar Lander, its first
  vector graphics game. Atari later released
  Asteroids, its best-selling game.
• 1980 Namco releases Pac-Man, the most popular
  arcade game ever world-wide.
• 1980 Atari releases Battlezone, perhaps the
  first true first-person video game.

21
Early Arcade Developments

• 1981 Relative newcomer Nintendo releases Donkey
  Kong, with the first appearance of what would
  become Mario, later Nintendos main mascot.
• Other classics followed
• 1981 Galaga, Frogger, Ms. Pac-Man, Centipede
• 1982 Dig Dug, Burger Time, Mr. Do!, QBert, Pole
  Position, Joust, Zaxxon, Moon Patrol (first game
  with parallax scrolling), Time Pilot
• 1983 Dragons Lair (first laser disc game),
  Mario Bros., Spy Hunter

22
Meanwhile, Atari at Home

• 1979 Atari designer Warren Robinett introduces
  Easter Eggs to video games, hiding a room with
  his name in a 2600 game called Adventure.
• 1980 Atari ports Space Invaders to the 2600.
  The practice of porting arcade hits to home
  begins.
• 1981 Atari ports Pac-Man to the 2600. Still
  ranks 4 on the Top Ten most Shameful Games of
  all time. Really, really bad.
• 1982 Atari rushes E.T. for the 2600 to market
  for Christmas. Millions of cartridges are
  reportedly dumped and buried in the New Mexico
  desert. Even worse!
• 1982 Atari releases the 5200 game console. It
  also did not do very well. Atari in big trouble.

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Also at Home

• 1980 Sensing Atari was in trouble, several
  developers left and formed Activision, the first
  third-party game publisher.
• 1982 General Consumer Electronics produces the
  Vectrex.
• The first vector graphics home console.
• It was monochromatic, but used coloured plastic
  overlays like the first Magnavox Odyssey.
• 1982 Coleco releases the Colecovision.
• Both consoles faltered in 1983 and died off in
  1984, when the rest of the industry crashed.

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The Crash of 1983-1984

• After the golden age up to 1982, the video game
  market collapsed with several companies
  abandoning the industry or totally out of
  business. Why?
• There was no new technology able to sustain and
  drive growth of the industry.
• There was a huge over-supply of game cartridges.
• Atari believed they were unstoppable and could do
  anything. Turns out they were wrong.
• Home computers arrived on the scene, and people
  began to panic at the new threat.
• People lacked faith, and many felt video games
  were a fad. Retailers, distributors, the press,
  and good portions of the public turned their
  backs on them.

25
The Advent of the Home Computer

• In the early 1980s, home computers began to grow
  in popularity.
• Some did not do very well, like the Coleco Adam
  (1984), but some proved popular as a gaming
  platform.
• Commodore, with the VIC 20 (1981) and Commodore
  64 (1982) and again later with the Amiga.
• Apple with the Apple II and later generations.
• IBM and various PC clones, which has become the
  predominant home computing gaming platform.

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The Advent of the Home Computer

• Several new companies began developing for these
  new platforms
• Accolade
• Origin
• Infocom
• Epyx
• Broderbund
• Sierra
• Microprose
• Electronic Arts
• Lucas Arts
• And many, many others

27
Nintendo and Sega

• In 1984, Nintendo released the Family Computer
  (Famicom) in Japan. It was rebranded in 1985
  as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) for
  North America.
• In 1986, Sega (once known as SErvice GAmes)
  released the Sega Master System.
• These two new home consoles begin to revitalize
  the sagging game market.

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Nintendo and Sega

• Sega lagged behind Nintendo in sales.
• In 1989, Sega introduced the new 16-bit Genesis
  console, but it still lagged behind as people
  awaited the Super NES.
• When the Super NES was introduced in 1991, Sega
  had a surprise its new mascot, Sonic the
  Hedgehog.
• In 1992, Sega shipped the Sega CD peripheral for
  the Genesis, which did not fare very well.

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Other Contenders

• 1987 NEC introduces the hybrid 8/16 bit PC
  Engine in Japan, later releasing it in 1989 in
  the U.S. as TurboGrafx.
• 1990 SNK introduces the new 24-bit NeoGeo game
  console in the U.S.
• 1993 Panasonic releases the 32-bit 3DO system, a
  CD based system.
• Despite their technical innovations, none of
  these systems fared as well as Nintendos or
  Segas.

30
Arcades Fight Back

• In 1987, CAPCOM introduced Street Fighter, but
  hardware lacked the power to really drive the
  game.
• In 1991, that was fixed with Street Fighter II,
  and new life was breathed into the arcade.
• CAPCOM followed with many more fighting game
  classics.
• In 1992, Midway followed suit and introduced the
  gory Mortal Kombat series. More protests.

31
Arcades Fight Back

• Though fighting games brought life back to
  arcades, it was never the same as before the
  crash.
• Arcades became testing grounds for next
  generation hardware and games for home consoles
  for Nintendo, Sega, and Sony.
• Arcades also came to house specialized hardware
  unavailable to the home console, or the classic
  games that once defined the industry.
• Despite the boost in popularity, arcades were not
  able to revive their glory days. But, this was
  not the end of the arcade either

32
Hand Held Gaming

• Early hand helds were primarily LED based, single
  game machines.
• New hand helds changed that
• Atari Lynx (1989)
• Nintendo Game Boy (1990)
• NEC TurboExpress (1990)
• Sega Game Gear (1991)
• NeoGeo Pocket (1998), Colour (1999)
• Game Boy Colour and Advanced (2001)

33
Home Computer Advancements

• 1989 Maxis releases SimCity and begins the line
  of Sim games.
• 1993 7th Guest becomes the first big CD-ROM
  hit. Myst follows shortly.
• 1993 Id Software publishes Doom, firmly
  establishing the first-person shooter, and
  introduces multiplayer gaming.
• 1995 3D acceleration hardware introduced.

34
A Three Horse Race

• 1994 Sega releases the Saturn in Japan (1995 in
  the U.S.).
• 1994 Sony releases the Playstation in Japan
  (1995 in the U.S.).
• 1995 Nintendo releases the Nintendo 64 in Japan
  (1996 in the U.S.).
• This time, all three consoles enjoy reasonable
  success.

35
A New Three Horse Race

• 1999 Sega releases the Dreamcast.
• 2000 Sony releases the Playstation 2.
• 2000 Sega introduces Internet access to the
  Dreamcast.
• 2001 Nintendo releases the Gamecube.
• 2001 Microsoft releases the Xbox.
• 2001 Sega discontinues the Dreamcast, and
  announces it will no longer produce hardware.
• 2002 Both Sony and Microsoft introduce Internet
  connectivity to their consoles.

36
Portable Developments

• 2003 Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advanced
  SP.
• 2003 Gamepark releases the GP32 with wireless
  support, Internet connectivity, USB, and Smart
  Media cards.
• In addition to its own games, it can play Game
  Boy and Game Boy Colour, NES, Super NES, Atari
  2600, NeoGeo Pocket, and other console titles
  through emulators.
• 2003 Nokia releases the N-Gage with wireless
  connectivity through Bluetooth and cellular
  networks for games, e-mail, and so on.

37
Arcades Fight Back Again

• Arcades have seen a recent revival, starting at
  the turn of the new millennium with games with
  new controls and innovative twists best suited
  for the arcade.
• Dance Dance Revolution (and at least 12 sequels)
  ...
• MoCap Boxing, MoCap Golf, ...
• And quite a few others.

38
Arcades Fight Back Again

• The arcades resurging popularity is highest in
  Asia, particularly Japan.
• Some arcades and arcade machines are reappearing
  in North America, more so in the United States
  than in Canada.
• But, it is still not the same as it once was.
• The focus still appears to be more about
  introducing new technologies.
• The gameplay almost seems secondary without the
  gimmicks, the games would not be nearly as much
  fun to play.

39
The Latest ...

• Nintendo released in late 2004 its latest
  handheld, the dual-screenNintendo DS, with
  morepower than the N64, andlots of bells and
  whistles.
• Sony also released in late2004 its own feature
  rich hand held, the Playstation Personal (or
  PSP) in Japan and will bring it to North America
  early 2005.

40
Coming Soon ...

• Infinium Labs plans to soon release its Phantom
  console, based on PC hardware and strict
  copyprotection mechanisms.
• The DISCover console is another PC based
  console, that will ship in low end and high end
  models.
• Of course, Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft all
  have new consoles under development, for release
  in 2005 or 2006.