A history of computer games: 90’s – 2000’s

The 90’s was the decade that created the video games industry to the level of success that it is today. So many familiar titles were created and also the format of games we are familiar with today were born. CD Rom games were being made for a range of consoles. It was also the decade which hosted the rise of the handheld games consoles. Despite the huge successes in the 90’s, there were still several flops that came onto the market. There were still instalments from Sega, but the real competition began in 1995. This was the year that brought us the Nintendo N64, but more importantly in my opinion, the Sony Playstation. This was the beginning of games as we know them today. This was the decade of 3D gaming, games that could do more, in a much more realistic way. So many well-known titles were released; Sonic (1991) Doom (1993) Resident Evil (1996) Final Fantasy 7 (1997) Legend of Zleda: Ocarina of Time (1998) Silent Hill (1999). These all played part in forming the modern gaming identity. www.unikgamer.com/tops/top-games-of-the-90s-12.html This website lists hundreds of popular games released in the 90’s. Many genre’s were explored throughout these titles. Resident Evil created the benchmark for survival horror. Using a range of unusual camera angles to create a uniquely terrifying atmosphere.

Being fairly young at the time I couldn’t really play, but I was still exposed to its horrors, that still make me feel uneasy to this day. My older brother played, while I watched looking away on the odd occasion if something particularly terrifying occurred. This opened the door for other survival horror games, such as Silent Hill. This game had a rather more disturbing quality. Something that I don’t think has quite been recreated ever since. These series in particular still have regular releases and a loyal fan base to this day. I feel Playstation and the games that were made for it, gave us the idea that computer games can be cool, a glimpse into the modern day game world. My very first memories of games were on the Playstation, never playing but just watching. As we move over into the 2000’s we see graphics greatly improving at a fast rate. Many game series are starting or producing sequels, as well as the next generation of popular consoles. 2000-2001 saw the return of playstation with the playstation 2 being released. With this release came the next instalment of the well-known game series, Grand Theft Auto 3.

This was the first game in the series that used the 3D format. Players were left in awe at a new, realistic world, something that took some getting used to. Being able to cause trouble and start car chases in this new format made it all the more exciting. We also saw the birth of its future rival in 2001, Microsoft jumped on the games bandwagon and with a tonne of cash, and introduced the Xbox. With the Xbox came Halo, again desperate to get a piece of the games market they put a huge sum of money into releasing a game that would create a hysteria and frenzy for the Xbox. Halo was the main selling point for the Xbox, a futuristic first person shooter that was like no other game on the market. It immersed players in an unique environment with an action packed storyline and a new concept of enemy, leaving players struck with awe with what Bungie actually achieved, creating a global fan base from just one game.

Over the next few years more game series were released spread across the different consoles and platforms. With each passing year, games had greater graphics and also the age of new gimics in gaming. In 2005 the game Guitar Hero was released. A role playing game with a difference. Players could physically feel like they were playing lead guitar in a rock band. This became a worldwide phenomenon, with a couple of spinoff idea’s. A year later Nintendo returned with a radical new way of gameplay. An interactive wireless controller that allows the players movements to control the game. The selling point was multiple players, physically getting involved with game play. Playstation and Xbox, the main competitors joined in after just releasing their next generation consoles (PS3 and Xbox 360) they also decided to go interactive, with the Xbox releasing the Kinect and Playstaion releasing Move. Both allowing the player to physically be part of the game. Another area of gaming that begins to thrive in the 2000’s is online gaming. Huge communities spanning across the globe all playing together.

Games such as World of Warcraft became another gaming phenomenon, which paved the way for other gaming communities to emerge and thrive in an ever changing technological world. With greater graphics and new technologies for long running, well-loved series, the games industry is set to create more milestones in history. I personally, wanting to be a game artist, cannot wait to see where the gaming world is heading. To be a part of such a thriving industry which is always changing with new exciting idea’s. We can only imagine what the games world has to offer us. Me being not the most hardcore gamer, I much prefer to sit back and see the developments, with the occasional

A history of computer games: 70’s – 90’s

Looking through the history of games and research and lectures that I’ve had on the subject. I’m amazed to find out just how far back it spans but even more so, how quickly ideas were developed and the pace of the entire idea of video games, shifted and altered quicker then any invention or idea I’ve heard of. In 1971, the game ‘Computer Space’ was created. It was based on Steve Russell’s game ‘Spacewar!’ and was created by Nolan Bushnell together with Ted Dabney.



The theme of games at this point were strongly based on the idea of space travel. I feel they probably did this due to this new technology they were creating. To them it was space age, so what perfect subject matter for a game then space travel and battling aliens. The most far out, high tech idea’s and interests around at the time. In the same year, Nolan Bushnell and ted Dabney started Atari Computers. Then to put a twist in the tail, along came Pong. It was basically a table tennis simulation game. It was highly popular I think due to its simplicity. Also up until this point, all video games were arcade versions. But in 1975, Atari re-released Pong as a home video game. One of the first ever home gaming console. It had the same affect on people as big releases we have today. There were reports of people waiting outside stores for hours to get one. This is a very small glimps into the impact games will have on people in the future. The frenzy and desire people have for games in the present day, is what drives the game industry. The idea to entertain a mass audience, to create something everyone can be a part of. But this frenzy, in my opinion, only comes with much loved running series of games. A sequel to long running series, a much loved one, that it creates so much hysteria, that its success is because everyone is and can talk about it. In 1977, manufacturers of older, obsolete consoles and Pong clone sold their systems at a loss to clear stock, creating a glut in the market and causing Fairchild and RCA to abandon their game consoles. Only Atari and Magnavox remained in the home console market, despite suffering losses in 1977 and 1978. This led to a crash in the video games market with companies going bust after too many clones of the original games were being released. These swamped the market causing sales of the originals to plummet. This shows that many games companies and the idea of video games, just hadn’t quite reached out to the public enough. Games needed to do more and be more accessible to the public in order for their popularity to grow. As ‘Wikipedia’ puts it, the 80’s were when the industry experienced its first major growing pains. Role playing games became highly popular in the 80’s huge releases that we are familiar with today and have sequels which are still being produced today. Titles such as Legend of Zelda, Prince of Persia, Final Fantasy, Mario and so many more that we recognise and see to this day in the present games market. There was a genre innovatoion. Games no longer depicted space travel and table tennis simulations new types of games were being released. Action adventure, role playing, survival horror. These genre’s gave birth to many of the games we see today. Personally, the 80’s gaming market was the jumping point, for things to begin to evolve into the games we see today. This obviously led to the 90’s which began the revolution of modern gaming. But the 80’s I feel was a genre in itself for video games. All of which were 2D based platform games, it’s a style that we link to the early days of gaming. This was the decade that gave birth to countless games consoles, varying in success. These were all cartridge games consoles. Even though the amount of manufactured games consoles was increasing, none of them were never hugely successful. http://njarb.com/2011/07/game-consoles-of-the-80s/ This website shows a wide selection of game consoles which I found fascinating. The amount of unsuccessful creations is staggering but these were all mere experiments. The most popular I think, was the Nintendo NES, released in 1983. Having 800+ games made for it, and like Sega, which in 1989 releaseed Sega Genesis, they are both recognised and still successful games company today, it was the beginnings of the modern age of gaming.

Game History: An Art Comparison

I recently had a thought. Whilst wondering through an art gallery, admiring  that span across multiple art movements and mediums. I compared several pieces, from impressionist to the Neo-classicism and realism, and wondered, why an art movement always seemed to challenge the last. Things appeared too realistic, and when photography was born the craftsmanship of creating the world in a 2D form, died to complete the art world circle of life. Such beauty in the human form was only truly shown in works by great artist such as Michelangelo (La Dotto Mano) This to then be challenged by things like the impressionist movement years later, it shows a huge shift in the dynamic of what we consider art.

I feel that the game industry has already shown a very similar transition in its short history, in comparison to the history of art that it. This is where I began to compare the two. After briefly looking up video game history, it turns out that the idea of video games was conceived as far back as the 1940’s. According to Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games - it was patented in America, but didn’t reach mainstream popularity until the 1970’s – 1980’s. In 1971 a game called ‘Computer Space’ was considered a landmark as the first mass-produced video game and the first offered for commercial sale. In 1972 ‘Pong’ was released and was far more successful. This lead to a game company in japan called Taito in 1975, releasing a game called ‘Gunfight’ Tree years later, in 1978 ‘Space Invaders’ was released and became known worldwide. After these arcade classics, the idea of the home game console arrived and things began so snowball from there. As time passed and new technology was being developed, we ended up with classics like ‘Mario’ and ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ At the time of their release technology had come a long way, but was nowhere near today’s standards. This got me thinking back to fine art and how we went from incredibly detailed and skilled, realistic creations, to impressionist, surreal pieces of imagery that are beyond our world. The game industry has done exactly the same development, but in reverse in terms of it content.

Let me explain. The limitations of early gaming, the lack of high performance technology to create realistic visuals, brought out the most imaginative creations for the game world. A super-fast hedgehog with a two-tailed, flying fox sidekick? An Italian Plummer who eats mushrooms to get really big and strong to save a princess from a big turtle crocodile creature? It’s all madness! As time went by and technology progressed, we have characters with human characteristics in realistic settings. With a much more in depth and complex story line. With the growth of advanced technology to create the visuals in games, we choose to make things far more realistic. Games such as ‘LA Noire’ that use real people, in a real time, doing relatively normal things, such as investigating crime. We have in-game cinematics that show complex scenes, were characters have near perfect facial expressions and body language. We are using the available technology to create realistic, organic things in games. Like how Michelangelo used marble to carve human form and flesh all those hundreds of years ago. Games design has made near exact transition, except art challenged the available materials to still create realistic outcomes. As mediums developed, such as photography, which captures realistic images in a 2D form, quickly and effectively. We decided to abandon making realistic imagery by hand and craftsmanship. We decided to create surreal imagery, unrealistic mark making that resemble nothing we see in the real world.

The game industry is using its new technological discoveries, to their advantage. By making a realistic world and characters to completely conjure a near simulated world where by the player feels part of the visuals seen before them. This also resembles the idea of the uncanny. Whereby, human characters are put in a complete fantasy worlds. The idea of the uncanny is something that is familiar to the viewer and yet there’s still something not quite right. Therefor, in games, a realistic landscape, with human characters, fighting dragons and trolls. Quite an odd concept but one that makes the gamer, feel one, with the game.