So the great history of video games... one topic that has strangely never ever grabbed my attention. I don't know why, its interesting I suppose, but for some reason its never crossed my mind to research the first games ever made and it probably wouldn't have done if it wasn't for this blog.
I'm likely to get a lot of this wrong so I apologize in advance and just leave a comment if you can spot any. Things start in the 1950's with experimentation of computers, people studying our interaction with them and what better way to do this than make games. Things were pretty slow some checkers games were created but they couldn't be run due to the amount of data they required which computers at these times just didn't have. In 1962 "Space War" was created, a simple black and white monitor consisting of two white ships rotating around a planet / star trying to shoot one another whilst not crashing into said star planet. This was then used as an arcade game with slight name changes and different versions in the market.
Then we have Ralph H Baer an engineer who developed one or the first video game console the "Magnavox Odyssey." which was released in 1972. It came with a simple "table tennis" created by William Higinbotham, which was then copied by Atari with the well known "Pong" in 1973, the new hit coin, arcade machine. Simply just two rectangles and a circle but still we simple creatures just love this stuff don't we. Then in 1977 we have "Space Invaders" created by Tomohiro Nishitaka a Japanese engineer. It includes the constructs which all games are based on today, lives, levels and increased difficulty with every level.
So thats my summary of it top help me remember. Its quite funny though what started as computer simulations and testing our interaction with computers led to games. Well entertainment runs our life really so there was never any point in testing us with question but with something we could truly enjoy and want to interact with. Also I found it interesting that it was mainly engineers and some university students that were the developers of the consoles and games that followed on from the first computer simulation tests. But its a little sad that William Higinbotham didn't want to be remembered for his contributions in video games but rather in the nuclear field... though I guess the fact I'm talking about him proves hes probably never going to be remembered for what he wants. Ralph H Baer, started off from having to escape from Germany due to the war and making a life for himself in America, creating and helping to develop the gaming industry as we know it. From such a dark history he was able to create an amazing industry, maybe his past influenced him to create something positive and exciting. Tomohiro who could have been influences by "Pong" as he created another version of it in Japan before he went on to create space invaders. Like a chain with table tennis being converted to pong, then pong being recreated around the world and then influencing Tomohiro to create an even greater game. Maybe without those first few simple games, the later games would never have been created. Though since space invaders was also inspired from "war of the worlds" films and culture can aso be considered as a factor. A mixture of money can play a part with Atari stealing table tennis and "remaking" it, but then that being remade by others who then went on to create even greater games.
I'm likely to get a lot of this wrong so I apologize in advance and just leave a comment if you can spot any. Things start in the 1950's with experimentation of computers, people studying our interaction with them and what better way to do this than make games. Things were pretty slow some checkers games were created but they couldn't be run due to the amount of data they required which computers at these times just didn't have. In 1962 "Space War" was created, a simple black and white monitor consisting of two white ships rotating around a planet / star trying to shoot one another whilst not crashing into said star planet. This was then used as an arcade game with slight name changes and different versions in the market.Then we have Ralph H Baer an engineer who developed one or the first video game console the "Magnavox Odyssey." which was released in 1972. It came with a simple "table tennis" created by William Higinbotham, which was then copied by Atari with the well known "Pong" in 1973, the new hit coin, arcade machine. Simply just two rectangles and a circle but still we simple creatures just love this stuff don't we. Then in 1977 we have "Space Invaders" created by Tomohiro Nishitaka a Japanese engineer. It includes the constructs which all games are based on today, lives, levels and increased difficulty with every level.
So thats my summary of it top help me remember. Its quite funny though what started as computer simulations and testing our interaction with computers led to games. Well entertainment runs our life really so there was never any point in testing us with question but with something we could truly enjoy and want to interact with. Also I found it interesting that it was mainly engineers and some university students that were the developers of the consoles and games that followed on from the first computer simulation tests. But its a little sad that William Higinbotham didn't want to be remembered for his contributions in video games but rather in the nuclear field... though I guess the fact I'm talking about him proves hes probably never going to be remembered for what he wants. Ralph H Baer, started off from having to escape from Germany due to the war and making a life for himself in America, creating and helping to develop the gaming industry as we know it. From such a dark history he was able to create an amazing industry, maybe his past influenced him to create something positive and exciting. Tomohiro who could have been influences by "Pong" as he created another version of it in Japan before he went on to create space invaders. Like a chain with table tennis being converted to pong, then pong being recreated around the world and then influencing Tomohiro to create an even greater game. Maybe without those first few simple games, the later games would never have been created. Though since space invaders was also inspired from "war of the worlds" films and culture can aso be considered as a factor. A mixture of money can play a part with Atari stealing table tennis and "remaking" it, but then that being remade by others who then went on to create even greater games.
No comments:
Post a Comment