Playing with video game systems is one of the most popular forms of entertainment around today, and this has been the case ever since game consoles were first developed. With the advancement in graphics and sound technology, you will see that video games today can really take you inside the game itself and makes you feel as if you were actually the character you are playing.
Before all the state-of-the-art, realistic, 'real-time' graphics and sound effects that you see in today’s latest video game systems, games had much more basic, simple graphics. In its time, however, a game with sound and simple graphics was considered totally state-of-the-art! This basic stuff was too good to be true in its day, and was very exciting!
You should realize that the evolution of video game systems is actually quite amazing in that the differences and astounding improvements have taken place in a mere 30 years or so, from beginnings to where we are now. Thanks to the advancement in communications, graphics, and also sound technology, many video games today offer first class entertainment (not to mention education and other benefits).
The very first video games system that appeared on the market was a coin operated arcade video game created by Nutting Associates. This game was called Computer Space. It was invented in 1970 and is considered to be the very beginning of the evolution of video games.
The next company to release a video game system was Magnavox in 1972. Magnavox named their system, The Odyssey 100 Video Game System. Unlike the Computer Space arcade video game, the Odyssey 100 was playable from home! The system apparatus could be attached to a standard television, bringing gaming conveniently right into our living rooms. This feature allowed everyone to play video games right at home, amid the comforts of home and with various family members. Video games were suddently available as a family activity once The Odyssey 100 Video Game System became available. Consequently, almost 100,000 units of the system were sold for 100 dollars each.
During the same year that Magnavox released Odyssey 100 video game systems, Atari also released Pong coin-operated arcade video game system.
In 1976 Atari released the Breakout arcade video game. During its lifetime, 15,000 units of this arcade video game were sold. In this same year, Fairchild Camera and Instruments of California introduced Channel F home video game system. This was the very first system that used plug-in cartridges for games. Another feature of this game was that it utilized color and sound through a TV connection.
In 1977, Atari released the Atari Video Computer System (VCS). Later, this unit was named the Atari 2600. This video game system developed by Atari also used plug-in cartridges, had color graphics and sound through a TV connection.
In 1978, Taito introduced the Space Invaders arcade video game in Japan. This arcade video game sold over 350,000 units world-wide throughout its lifetime.
In 1981 Nintendo released the Donkey Kong arcade video game in the US. And, in 1985 Nintendo released their version of home video game console called the Nintendo Entertainment System. This video game console is still considered to be the best selling video game console of all time.
During this time, Nintendo slowly resurrected the video game industry and, very plainly, initiated a huge video game craze.
Between 1985 and 1995, a lot of video game systems were released. Between these years, Nintendo Game Boy video game systems, Sega Genesis, NEC Home Entertainment TurboGrafx, Lynx, Super Family Computer, Panasonic REAL 3DO, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo, and Sony PlayStation were all released.
As you can see, the video game industry has evolved very fast. Graphics technology were becoming more and more real that violence, even during the late 80's. Blood and gore have been integrated into many games and this isn't always an attractive thing for many gamers, but luckily, the presence of unwanted gore also initiated a need for a censorship and ratings board. Because of blood and gore integrated with some of the games, the ESRB was created to rate the games that are being released.
Because of the competition in production and distribution of gamings systems, really, only 3 major video game companies have survived in the video game industry today. These 3 major players are Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. These 3 companies are still developing the latest video game systems.
Starting out with crude and simple graphics and sounds, people have developed amazing video games in just a short period of time. If you try and imagine the future, you will see that the video game systems that you play with today will just even get better and better.
Video games today are even equipped with modems to let them connect to the internet and play with other people from all over the world. So, the next time you buy another latest video game system, try to imagine what it was like during the first release of the video game systems.
Above all else - just KEEP PLAYING!! Inevitably, more games are on the way, more consoles, systems, etc. The next games will be more real, harder, require more skill, gameplay will be faster, and boy, if you don't keep playing, you'll be left in the dust.
Evolution is still in progress!
The Evolution of Video Game Consoles
No comments:
Post a Comment