Chapter 1.1
A Brief History of Video Games
PPT content from “
Introduction to Game
Development”
Robert Bakie (Chapter Author)
Editor Steve Rabin
(Jon A Preston)
Maria Hybinette, UGA
2
Overview
●
Filmaker history study Orson Welles & Citizen
Kane,
»
Film more successful but Video Games are catching up.
●
Shigeru Mihamoto’s
»
Donkey Kong
»
The Legend of Zelda
●
Time Line Approach
●
Other:
»
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games
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First Patent & TV History
●
1947 – Thomas Godsmith, Jr. & Estle Ray
Mann filed a patent described as
»
“Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device”
–
Interactive, simulate firing of air-borne
targets
●
http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/
a/Television_Time.htm (television history, 1831
electronic communication, 1862 first
transmission of a still image, 1880 Bells
photophone to transmit sound, 1900
“television”, 1924 moving silhouette images)
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Early History
●
1949-1950 First Bouncing Ball program, not
interactive.
●
1952 Graphical Tic Tac Toe by AS Douglas to
demonstrate human computer interaction.
»
EDSAC computer, player competed against a
computer.
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The First Video Games
●
William Higginbotham and Tennis for
Two
»
Created in 1958 for the Brookhaven National
Laboratory’
s annual visitor day
»
Display was an oscilloscope (side view)
»
Game ran on an analog computer
»
Sound effects were a side-effect of the relays
that made the game run
»
No one realized its significance
»
Knob for trajectory & button for
»
gravity controlled ball.
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First Video Game …
●
Steve Russell and Spacewar
»
Created in 1961 at MIT for the DEC PDP-1 computer
»
2 player, maneuver spaceship while trying to shoot
other player with torpedoes
»
Switches to control game
»
Hugely popular within MIT
»
Required prohibitively expensive equipment ($120K)
»
Eventually shipped as a diagnostic program with PDP-1s
»
1969 ARPANET
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Games for the Masses
●
The Advent of Home Video Games:
Ralph Baer and the Magnavox Odyssey
»
1966, initial idea for a game machine that
would work on home TVs
»
Created a shooting game and ice hockey
game
»
Sold to Magnavox in 1972
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Games for the Masses
●
Breaking Into the Amusement Business:
Nolan Bushnell and Atari
»
Engineering major at the University of Utah
»
Background in coin-operated amusement
devices
»
Tried to bring Spacewar to arcades as
Computer War
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Games for the Masses
●
Bringing Games to the
Masses
»
Atari founded by Nolan
Bushnell in 1972
»
Brought Pong to arcades
»
Sued by Baer and
Magnavox
»
Paid a one-time license
fee of $700,000
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The Console Kings
∎
Atari and the 2600
∎
Atari VCS (1600) released in
1977
∎
Not quite the first cartridge-
based home system
∎
Open architecture allowed
easy development
∎
First to introduce licensing of
a system
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The Console Kings
●
Nintendo and Shigeru
Miyamoto
»
Released Donkey Kong
arcade machine in 1981
»
Released Nintendo
Entertainment System in
1985
»
During late 80’
s Nintendo
owned 90% of the market
11
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The Console Kings
●
Sega
»
Created in 1952 in Japan to
sell amusement games on US
army bases (Service Games)
»
Released the popular Sega
Genesis in 1990
»
Final console was 1999’
s
Sega Dreamcast
»
Now dedicated to software
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The Console Kings
●
Sony’
s PlayStation
»
Created out of an aborted
attempt to launch a CD-ROM
based system with Nintendo
»
Released PlayStation in 1994
»
PlayStation 2 released in 2000,
maintaining backwards
compatibility with hugely
popular PS1
»
PS3 and PSP current
»
(ATARI Jaguar (1993)
cartridges, stick in CD into
cartridge
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The Console Kings
●
Microsoft and the Xbox
»
Xbox released in 2001
»
Based on a PC-like architecture
»
Initially significant money lost on
each console sold
–
Foothold in living rooms
world wide
»
Halo and Halo 2 are its most
popular games
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Home Computers
∎
Apple Computer
∎
Founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Mike Markkula in 1976
∎
Apple II was released in 1977
∎
Revolutionized the home computer market
∎
Commodore
∎
Commodore Vic-20 Released in 1981
∎
Low price and shrewd marketing lead to success
∎
Commodore 64, released in 1982, became the best selling computer
in history
∎
IBM
∎
IBM PC introduced in 1981
∎
Moderate pricing helped it gain a foothold in the business world
∎
BIOS licensing model backfired on them, allowing cheap clones to
enter the market
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The Designers
●
Maxis and Will Wright
»
SimCity released in 1989
»
Other Sim games
followed (SimAnt,
SimCopter)
»
Maxis becomes part of
Electronic Arts
»
Released The Sims in
2000
»
The Sims has sold more
than 6 million copies so
far
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/
will_wright_makes_toys_that_make_worlds
.html
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The Designers
●
MicroProse and Sid Meier
»
Founded by Sid Meier and
“
Wild Bill”
Stealey
»
Concentrated on strategic
simulations in early years
»
Sid Meier’
s Pirates! in
1987 was Sid’
s first
signature game
»
Genre-defining Railroad
Tycoon and Civilization
followed
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The Designers
●
Sierra and Ken and
Roberta Williams
»
Created first graphical
adventure game, Mystery
House in 1980
»
Great success followed with
King’
s Quest series, Police
Quest series, and Leisure
Suit Larry series
»
Published Half-Life
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The Designers
●
Origin Systems and
Richard Garriott
»
Created the Ultima series
»
In 1997 created Ultima
Online, one of the first
Massively Multi-Player
Online Role-Playing
Games
»
Studios disbanded in
2000 by EA
19
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The Phenomenons
●
Space Invaders
»
Introduced to the US in 1978
»
First big Japanese success
»
Introduced the “
High Score”
list
to video games
●
Pac-Man
»
American debut in 1981
»
Attempt to create a completely
non-violent game
»
Generated $100 million in sales
during its lifetime
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The Phenomenons
●
The Tangled History of Tetris
»
Created by Russian programmer Alexy Pajitnov
in 1985
»
Became a pop culture sensation
»
Helped drive the success of Nintendo’
s Game
Boy
●
Capcom and Resident Evil
»
Capcom founded in 1979
»
Created Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident
Evil
»
Resident Evil has spawned 15 variations and
sequels as well as two Hollywood movies
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The Phenomenons
∎
Square and Final Fantasy
∎
In 1987 released Final Fantasy as a last-ditch effort to
stave off bankruptcy
∎
15 games have been released since then, selling more
than 40 million copies
∎
Computer-animated Hollywood movie released in 2001
∎
Cyan and Myst
∎
Created by Rand and Robyn Miller
∎
Released in 1993 on the Apple Macintosh
∎
Helped popularize the CD-ROM drive
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The Phenomenons
●
Pokémon
»
Created by Japanese video game enthusiast Satoshi
Tajiri
»
Pokémon Red and Green released for Nintendo Game
Boy in 1996
»
Movies, TV series and multiple sequels have followed
●
The Rise and Fall of the Video Game Mascot
»
Early mascots helped sell game systems
»
Mascots are seemingly less popular now
»
Over-exposure and an aging audience may be
explanations for this trend
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The Studios
●
Activision and Infocom
»
Activision founded
by former Atari
programmers
»
Lawsuit by Atari created
the “
royalties”
system still
employed by console makers
today
»
Merged with Infocom and
gutted it
»
Still a strong player today
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The Studios
●
Electronic Arts (EA)
»
Created by Trip Hawkins in
1982
»
Revolutionary business plan
did three things
–
Creative talent treated like artists
–
Creation of in-house tools to aid
cross-platform development
–
Handle own distribution
»
Now the largest game software
company in the world
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The Studios
●
Interplay
»
Formed in 1983
»
First big hit was The Bard’
s Tale in 1985
»
Famous for their CRPGs, including Wasteland,
Fallout, Baldur’
s Gate, Baldur’
s Gate II: Shadows
of Amn
»
Since de-listed from the NASDAQ
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The Studios
●
LucasArts
»
Formed in 1982 as
an offshoot of
LucasFilm Ltd.
»
Released Maniac
Mansion in 1987
»
Created strong
history of
adventure games
and
Star Wars universe
games
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The Studios
●
Blizzard
»
Started in 1991 by
Frank Morhaime, Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce.
»
Released one of the seminal Real-Time Strategy
games, Warcraft, in 1994
»
Their latest release, the MMORPG World of
Warcraft, has become the fastest selling PC game
in history
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The Studios
●
id Software
»
Formed on February 1, 1991
»
Successfully utilized Apogee’
s shareware
formula
»
Created the defining first-person shooter
with DOOM
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Genres
●
Adventure
»
Sub-genres include text-based adventure and
graphical adventure
»
Zork by Infocom
»
King’
s Quest by Sierra
●
Action
»
Superset of all other action-oriented genres
»
Typified by fast-paced combat and movement
»
Spacewar, Pong, and Space Invaders helped
define the genre
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A Genres
●
Action-Adventure
»
Adventure games with action elements
»
The Legend of Zelda was first break-out hit
»
Jak 3, Metroid Prime 2 Echoes, and Resident
Evil 4 are modern examples of the genre
●
Platformer
»
Typified by a character running and jumping
in a side-scrolling playing field
»
Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog,
Pitfall! and Super Mario 64 are examples
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Genres
●
Fighting
»
Players typically fight other players or the computer
using swordplay or martial arts
»
Double Dragon is an example of a side-scrolling
fighter
»
Virtua Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter are
examples of versus fighters, where the players fight
each other
●
First-Person Shooter
»
Action game where player is “
behind the eyes”
of the
game character in a first-person perspective
»
id Software’
s Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM are the
earliest popular examples
32
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Genres
●
Real-Time Strategy (RTS)
»
Typically, a game in which the goal is to
collect resources, build an army and combat
the other player or computer
»
Popularized by Westwood’
s Dune 2 and
Command and Conquer and Blizzard’
s
Warcraft
●
Turn-Based Strategy
»
Like real-time strategy games, but turn-
based
»
Civilization, X-COM, Master of Orion, and
Jagged Alliance are standouts of the genre
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Genres
●
Role-Playing Game (RPG)
»
The video game counterpart to pen and pencil games
like Dungeons and Dragons
»
Final Fantasy, Baldur’
s Gate and Wasteland are
some popular examples of the genre
●
Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game
(MMORPG)
»
An RPG set in a persistent virtual world populated by
thousands of other players
»
Ultima Online in 1997 was the first popular one
»
World of Warcraft is currently the most popular one
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Genres
∎
Stealth
∎
Characterized by a focus on subterfuge
and planned-out, deliberate play
∎
Metal Gear in 1987 was one the first
∎
Popular modern series include Metal Gear,
Splinter Cell, and
Thief
∎
Survival Horror
∎
An action-adventure or first-person
shooter where survival elements and a
fight against the undead are stressed
∎
Resident Evil is easily the most popular
series in this genre
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Genres
●
Simulation
»
Based on the simulation of a system
»
SimCity and The Sims are example of “
God”
simulations where you control the lives of a
town or a family
»
Wing Commander and X-Wing are popular
space combat simulation games
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Genres
●
Racing
»
Games that involve competing in a race in a
vehicle
»
Typically try to re-create a real-world activity
»
Pole Position was first popular racing game
●
Sports
»
Games that simulate the sporting experience
»
Breakouts include John Madden Football and
Tiger Woods’
Golf
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Genres
●
Rhythm
»
Gauge player’
s success based on the ability
to trigger the controls in time to the beat of
music
»
Sometimes require specialized controllers
such as dance pads or bongo drums
»
Konami’
s Dance Dance Revolution is the
pre-eminent title of the genre
»
Rock Band & Guitar Hero
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Genres
●
Puzzle
»
Games that combine pattern matching,
logic, strategy and luck with a timed
element
»
Tetris is the breakout hit of this genre
●
Mini-Games
»
Short, simple games that exist within the
context of a larger game
»
Mario Party and Wario Ware are popular
examples of this genre
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Genres
∎
Traditional
∎
Computerized versions of board, word, and card games
∎
Battle Chess and the
Hoyle series are standouts of this
genre
∎
Educational
∎
Games designed to teach grade-school concepts to
children and young adults
∎
Oregon Trail was the first popular game in this genre
∎
The Carmen Sandiego series and Mavis Beacon
Teaches Typing are more modern popular examples
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Genres
●
Serious
»
A game designed to teach real-world events
or processes to adults
»
Most are privately funded
»
Popular with the US
Government and the
medical field
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Chapter 1.2
Games and Society
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Why Do People
Play Video Games?
●
Goals
●
Stages
●
Real-Time Interaction
●
Facilitating Community
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Audience and Demographics
●
What good are demographics?
●
Are they always accurate?
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Audience and Demographics:
ESA 2003 Survey Results
●
Provides broad brushstrokes
●
Snapshots of a particular place and
period of time
●
What information stands out?
»
50% of all Americans play games
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Audience and Demographics:
ESRB
●
EC
(Early Childhood)
●
E
(Everyone)
●
E10+
(Everyone 10+)
●
T
(Teen)
●
M
(Mature)
●
AO
(Adults Only)
●
32 different “
Content Descriptors”
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Audience and Demographics:
ESRB 2003 Statistics
●
57% of games received an E rating
●
32% of games received a T rating
●
10% of games received an M rating
●
1% received an EC rating
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Audience and Demographics:
ESRB 2003 Statistics (2)
●
70% of best-selling console games
were E or T rated
●
90% of best-selling PC games were
E or T rated
●
Buying habits or development
habits?
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Societal Reaction to Games
●
Misleading perception of games as
being child’
s play
●
Violence in video games drawing
parental attention
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Societal Reaction to Games
●
Legal Issues: Night Trap (1992)
»
Undue attention given quality of
the game
»
Content comparable to a B-grade
slasher movie
»
Misleading press reports about the
player’
s role
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Societal Reaction to Games
●
Legal Issues: Mortal Kombat
(1992)
»
Featured quasi-realistic violence
»
Virtual gouts of blood
»
Home release drew attention
where the arcade release was
largely ignored
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Societal Reaction to Games
●
Legal Issues: 1993 Senate hearings
»
Industry was called to the carpet
»
Threatened with government regulation
»
Created a 12-point plan for self-
regulation
»
Birth of the ESRB
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Societal Reaction to Games
●
Legal Issues: Doom (1994) and the
1999 Columbine Massacre
»
Shooters were known to play Doom
»
Lawsuits were initiated against the
industry, but eventually dropped
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Societal Reaction to Games
●
Legal Issues: Grand Theft Auto: Vice
City
»
Haitian-American Rights Groups protest
game content, launch Federal case
»
Rockstar Games changes game content
»
Lawsuit moved to Florida courts in
hopes of a stringent ruling
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Societal Reaction to Games
●
Legal Issues: St. Louis County
Ordinance
»
Ordinance was passed regulating game
access
»
Lawsuit filed by the ESA
»
Judge upheld ordinance specifying that
video games did not contain speech
»
Ruling was over-turned
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Societal Reaction to Games
●
Games and Youth Violence
»
Current studies on games and youth
violence are not flawed and not
definitive
»
How does one define “
violence”
in the
context of video games?
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Societal Reaction to Games
●
Root of All Evil, or Good, Old-
Fashioned Fun?
»
Games are seen as meaningless fun
»
Games are also seen as a troubling
source of youth violence
»
Are these views contradictory?
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Cultural Issues
●
Worst…Stereotype…Ever
»
Shadow Warrior (1997) lampooned
Asian cultures and stereotypes
»
Japanese-American community wasn’
t
amused
»
Risk of offending market
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Cultural Issues:
Foreign Diplomacy
●
Germany
»
The Index – List of banned games
»
Partial list of controversial elements
–
Nazi Iconography
–
Red Blood
–
Extreme violence
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Cultural Issues:
Foreign Diplomacy
●
China
»
Controversial elements
–
Changing Historical Facts
–
Recognizing the sovereignty of
disputed territories
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Cultural Issues:
Foreign Diplomacy
●
Japan
»
Controversial elements
–
Sex
–
Violence
»
Surprisingly, not controversial
–
EA’
s Medal of Honor: Rising
Sun, a game that depicted the
Pacific campaign in WWII
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Cultural Issues:
Cultural Acceptance
●
The rules are . . . there are no rules
»
Violence and sex may lead to a game
being banned
»
. . . Or they may not
»
Past bans may be the only accurate
predictor of what game types are truly
objectionable to a specific culture
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Society Within Games:
Online Behavior
●
The Good
»
Everquest Weddings
●
The Bad
»
Addictive properties
»
Online rivalries becoming offline rivalries
»
Can games contribute to erratic offline
behaviors?
●
The Ugly
»
Disinhibition and deindividuation occur
because of perceived anonymity.
»
Crimes
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Society Within Games
●
Tools
»
Moderators
»
Communication tools
»
Fan sites to discuss gameplay and
community outside of the game
