DMUGA Assignment #1 - History of Video Games 1850's to 1970's

The history of video games... This topic is far too large to cover in detail. Therefore, this blog will just share my thoughts on some topics, hopefully picking bits out of the timeline that I feel are significant enough to mention; I'll see where it takes me!

The difference Engine

Firstly, I'd like to share my very quick overall thoughts on the presentation of the history of video games by Mr Powell. A big part of the presentation involved the "Difference Engine" and how it is an automatic mechanical calculator for tabulating polynomial functions. Alas, I've never heard of this amazing wonder and mechanical genius! Everything on it works in harmony; I was in awe of how precisely it functioned - to say that I found it astonishing is an understatement. This was not a game, but a mechanical computer, so it was a step towards automated programs.

In addition, I think it was the "Jacquard Loom"? Which was the first loom to run automatically using a pre-written program using punched card (1801). I found this particularly interesting due to the ingenuity of it.
Furthermore, I knew that technology had gotten much smaller in a short period of time, but it was intriguing to see that we've gone from taking up entire rooms for one computer, to filling entire rooms with hundreds of computers, all within 1 century. Another interesting point to note was the vast range of products created by Xerox; including the Xerox Ethernet, and the 'ergonomically designed' mouse... (I say that sarcastically of course). Michael then went on to show us the very first first person shooter called "Maze War", released in 1973. This was developed by 'Steve Colley', and it was first played on the "Xerox Star"; being the first multiplayer game due to the creation of the Ethernet. To some it up quickly, I loved to hear a swift run-through about the development of games in technology, and I felt proud to potentially be part of the next generation to create video games.

Schematic - Cathode-Ray Amusement Device

Starting with the very first patent for a video game in 1948, the "Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device", which was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr & Estle Ray Mann. Thomas was very interested in the electronic radar systems they used for WWII, and thought it would be a good idea combine the cathode-ray tube with it to create a 'sort of' computer game, where the player can interact and control what is happening on-screen. However, this was never released to the public as an actual game, as it just wasn't commercially viable. - Ref 5.

A.S. Douglas & "OXO" Game

A company named 'Loral'; In 1949, developed and manufactured complex military airborne electronics, instructed a young engineer 'Ralph Baer', to "build the best TV set in the world". So, Ralph, had the idea of including some sort an interactive game with it and advised them to do so, therefore, it would be a unique selling point and distinguish themselves from other TV sets. - Ref 4. Unfortunately, the management discarded that idea, thus, for now there still was no commercially available video game. Ralph's vision of a video game in homes became a reality a little further on in the timeline, 18 months after this. By this time, Claude Shannon created the foundation for computer controlled chess. Then, in 1952 Alexander Shafto Douglas, a British professor of computer science, created the first ever graphical computer game called "OXO". - Ref 5.This was Tic-Tac-Toe, and even though you can play this with just a piece of paper & a pen, this advancement was another step towards the entertainment we have today.

1954-1957 included: The first blackjack program, crated on an IBM-701 computer, "Hutspiel" was designed by the US military whereby blue and red players (Soviet and NATO commanders) battle it out, Arthur Samuel shows off his checkers program on national TV, and Alex Bernstein scripts the first chess program on an IBM-704 computer, capable of evaluating four half-moves ahead. However, none of these released to the public as actual games. In addition, David Rosen, former US Korean war veteran notices the rise in interest of mechanical coin-operated games on US military bases in Japan, and went on to start "Service Games" to export them to Japan. It wasn't until the 1960's that he made his own coin-operated games and adopted the name "SEGA", derived from the original "SErvice GAmes". - Ref 5.

Tennis For Two

Slowly but surely, 1958 crept up, and this was the year that would impact the greatest and influence more people than ever to be a part of this new technology. Willy Higinbotham Invented the "Tennis for Two" game, played on an oscilloscope, in order to keep visitors to the Brookhaven National Laboratories in New York entertained. This was improved a year later with a bigger, 15-inch screen, although, this was not actually patented as he didn't think he invented something. 1959 involved students at MIT creating "Mouse in the Maze" on a TX-0 computer. The player draws a maze using a light pen, and the mouse goes through it looking for cheese.

Space War

It wasn't until the 1960's that games became more graphically advanced than this. 1962 was groundbreaking, MIT student "Steve Russel", designed a game called "Space War" which was the first interactive computer game, created on a Digital Programmed Data Processor-1 minicomputer. This was amazing because you could have two space ships on a starry backdrop, fighting it out in an environment with varying gravity, which affected how the player would have maneuver the ship. Recreations of this game included "Asteroids" & "Galaxy Wars". - Ref 4.

"The Brown Box" Sketch

The words of John Kemeny from "Everyone is a programmer" - 1964. Himself and Thomas Kurtz created the computer time-share system and BASIC programming language at Dartmouth college. This was an amazing leap forward because it meant that now, anyone who learnt it could program games, and they did; a large number of games were now being spawned into the world of computers through many creative minds. Right after Dartmouth beats Princeton 28-14 in American football, a student from the college programs the first football game. 1966 was the year that Ralph Baer pops up again, this time with designs for his vision of playing a video game on a television set, he drew concepts on September 1st, which became the foundation of his development in TV video games - This one became patented.

More than a decade later from his initial idea, Ralph Baer invents the first video game console that works on a television set - "The Brown Box". The game that was played on it was called "Chase" and it consisted of two squares controlled by two players, chasing each other on the screen. Ralph and his team then add a light gun, and developed a total of 12 games for the 'Brown Box'. This was patented 1 year later in 1968. Baer & his team showed their work to a company called "Magnavox", who then released "Odyssey"; the first economically viable console in 1972. However, many dealerships failed to see its potential and turned it down, plus, a rumor spread that it only worked on Magnavox TV's, damaging potential sales.

Tele-Games - Pong

Furthermore, Nolan Bushnell tried out Odyssey, and informed Dave Nutting that he found it uninteresting in comparison to "computer space" (His version of space wars). However, this is did not sell well at all because of its complexity for the user to play. Bushnell idealised that if a simpler game was made, they could be on for a winner. When Bushnell doesn't get the third of "Nutting Associates" he asks for, he leaves the company to start anew with Ted Dabney, called "Syzygy" - Later to be renamed "Atari". I few years on, the game that everyone knows "Pong", was released to the public for home use on their consoles in 1975. - Ref 1. It was so simple and easy to play, that it soon became a household name, and was a massive hit.

space invaders - Atari 2600

A couple of years later in 1977, Atari then went on to release the "Atari 2600", which included many more things i.e. Joystick, interchangeable cartridges, difficulty setting changes, and coloured graphics! This went on to play host to games such as "Space Invaders", "Breakout", and "Missile Command". In fact, in 1978, there were approximately 60,000 Space Invaders arcade machines flooding the US; It was so popular in Japan, there were 100-yen coin chortages! Finally, in 1979, Atari also develops the "Cosmos" - A handheld machine which has holograms within the graphics. - Ref 3. Although, this was never released as they didn't add to the gameplay, it was just for cosmetic reasons.

A little extra thought I'd like to explore are the factors that drive the technology to advance and become better. Before all of the video games we've come to know and love, people lived their lives without the entertainment we have access to now. We as human beings don't need computer games, and consoles etc, however, ever since the popular games hit the market (i.e. Pong, Space Invaders, Tennis for Two), the demand for these types of games has risen massively. As always, as demand rises, development rises, and over the years, they have become such a big part of our lives, we almost need it in order to get away from daily stressors in life. As a side note, a big factor driving the technology is money, everything is about making money, making the next best selling thing to generate profits. However, you can't make the next best seller is it doesn't improve on what has already been done, or is something original...

As computers became more apparent for almost everything, it is only in our nature to improve on it and make it better & faster. The better the computers, the more popular, the more people could contribute to development. "A true creator is necessity, which is the mother of invention" - Ref 6 The republic, book II, 369c, Plato. People started to rely heavily on computers, and so we need them to be reliable, efficient, and fast. This lead to a huge improvement in the physical technology; chips, circuit boards, resistors have all gotten smaller and more efficient. In addition, the constant need to improve on what has been done before, inspires others to do better - Thus, driving improvements not only on graphics, gameplay, storyline etc, but the power of the electronic components we're using. These kind of changes are only going to continue, and it's happening faster than ever, who knows what the games we play in 20 years time will be like? Would it make today's graphics look like Space Invaders?

Thank-you for following along up until this point, I will continue the timeline at a later date :)

References:
1-http://content.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2029221,00.html
2-http://www.make-video-games.com/make-video-games-articles/a-brief-history-of-video-games.htm
3-http://www.icheg.org/icheg-game-history/timeline/
4-http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcomputer_videogames.htm
5-Leonard Herman, Jer Horwitz, Steve Kent, Skyler Miller. (2002). The history of video games.
6-The republic, book II, 369c, Plato.
Image Ref:
http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/186w2tvup4yuupng/original.png
http://iasl.uni-muenchen.de/links/GCA_ill193.png
http://www.gamerobs.com/geekames/fichiers/2010/7/6/1278426382.jpg
http://www.bnl.gov/coreImages/D2231008_TENNIS4TWO-300px.jpg
http://img.bhs4.com/C0/1/C01F477814B746ACA2C015152DA1DD82F9920A95_large.jpg
http://www.ralphbaer.com/video_game_history.htm
http://atariage.com/forums/uploads/monthly_06_2010/post-17711-127736023296.jpg
http://nodebox.net/node/documentation/concepts/subnetworks-space-invaders.png