People take their technology for granted. The PC Museum notes that the 5.25-inch disk drive was introduced in the early 1980s with 10MB of storage. People thought that was way too much storage for a person to use. Compare that to the 500GB drive on your laptop or your tablet with 32GB of memory. Video gaming has grown up with the expansion of technology. Revisiting the timeline of gaming reminds you where it’s come from and where it might be going.
It Begins with the Arcade
People were developing different directions for computers in the 1970s, but others were already considering how to create standalone gaming systems. In 1972, Atari Inc. was founded and the first arcade version of “Pong” was released (Center for the History of Electronic Games).
“Pong” was a simple black-and-white game based on table tennis. A small white ball bounced back and forth between two paddles. Two people played against each other. Looking like a basic computer programming class exercise now, this was an innovative game for its time. It used computer technology to allow people to interact with each other.
The success of “Pong” leads developers to create one of the first home-gaming consoles by Atari. The “Pong” home console had three controls on it and only played the one game. Lack of support from major distributors lead to the game being sold through the Sears sporting department. But, its significance is that it spawned the successful home video gaming market.
In 1977, Atari released the first cartridge gaming device for the home, according to Time. The Atari 2600 was now sold through mass markets due to the support of Warner Communications. Games such as “Space Invaders,” “Breakout” and “Missile Command” took over home gaming and the contest to create the best cartridge game was on.
Graphics and Sounds Evolve in Home Systems
In the early 1980s, Mattel released Intellivision with individual game pads and improved graphics and synthesized voices. But the big leap occurred in 1985 when a Japanese playing card company released the Nintendo Entertainment System. Nintendo soon took over the video gaming market with titles such as “Super Marios Bros.” and “The Legend of Zelda.”
Soon after, in 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy with “Tetris.” The first major hand-held game, Game Boy came with a black and white LCD screen. But it’s what kids and families wanted, so it and the console gaming system soon became the best-selling systems in gaming history.
The Ups and Downs of Gaming
Video gaming experienced two major collapses, first in the mid-1970s and later in the mid-1980s, due to poorly designed games and systems flooding the market. During this time, Japanese gaming developers took over the market with their offerings, such as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was much later that American and European developers were able to get back into the game.
Gaming Goes 3D
In 1995, the Sony PlayStation was released. This home video console was a 32-bit machine providing much more power than the previous 16-bit consoles. Games could now be written in 3D. With the addition of cheaper-to-produce CDs, gaming console prices went down. Games such as “Resident Evil,” “Crash Bandicoot” and the Electronic Arts (EA) sports titles took over the market.
With the introduction of games on CDs, home computers became a popular platform for gaming. Desktop computers were the first to see these games formatted for them. As laptop technology advanced, and because laptops are much thinner and lighter than desktops, gaming became mobile as people took their laptops and CDs with them on business, to school and on vacations.
Computers and Gaming Merge
In 2001, Microsoft released the Xbox, which uses PC technology to drive this 128-bit system. Other gaming systems began to include more computer technology that would let them connect to the Internet and broadcast TV and movies.
From 2005, a focus has been on mobile gaming, wireless controllers and motion-based devices, such as in Wii. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were looking more like multifunction computers with gaming capabilities.
There are a number of advances that gaming can now take advantage of. Mobile devices with GPS track the location of a person. Google Glass is a new source of input and control. Smartphones with air touch technology let you wave your hand over the screen to control it. These are just some of the features that may show up in your next video gaming console.
Image by Rob Boudon via Wikimedia Commons