GAMES AND SOCIETY HISTORY 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 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 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 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 SOCIETY IMPORTANT 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 SOCIETY IMPORTANT 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