The Oxford English Dictionary defines a Video Game as: A game played by electronically manipulating images displayed on a television screen.
Many people believe the first Video Game is the classic “Pong” on the Atari 2600. However, there are a few people and companies who developed what could be considered a Video Game before that. The first public game was made by William Higinbotham in 1958. The game was called “Tennis for Two,” and was able to be seen on an oscilloscope screen. This is credited to be the first patented visual game that involved screen, controllers and a game idea (Anderson). However, even before that there were claims to the title of the first Video Game. In 1952, A. S. Douglas creates a tic-tac-toe game called “Noughts and Crosses” that ran on a Cambridge computer that could be equated with a calculator. Alternatively, the “father”of Video Games is considered to be Ralph H. Baer, who designed the first Video Game system for Magnavox, which, in years to come, would lead to the development and release of other systems that would each compete or improve upon previous designs. Although, to put my first point into its proper perspective, 1977’s “Pong” and the Atari 2600 was the turning point to begin the proliferation of Video Games to come. Much of this information can be found on an interactive time line courtesy of: http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/timeline_flash.html
Video Games take on many forms as well in the past years. They can be found in Arcades, which are places that house coin or money accepting machines to play games on, in homes on personal systems and computers, or on the go with hand held game systems.
What makes Video Games into the phenomenon it is today? There is no denying the fact that it has taken on a life of its own, fought its many controversies and yet is still around strong today. As early as 1973, Business Week magazine had this today about one of the companies selling Video Games: “The astonishing ability of the Video Game to lure quarters from the public and the electronic techniques used in its design are forcing major changes on the coin operated game business” (Nov 10). Likewise, when “Space Invaders” is released to Arcades in Japan 1978, it causes a national coin shortage. Today, the Video Game industry is worth $7 or $8 billion dollars, says Bill Gates reporting on how “It’s bigger then the movie industry” (Simmon). What sets Video Games apart, and is perhaps why it is so popular and growing, is the key factor of manipulation and interaction.
Let’s briefly look at some of the other types of games that have existed in the past before Video Games. Take board games for example. Board games required pieces, parts, a board, rules and a very good understanding of the way to play. Likewise, many board games are focused around a manipulating variable, dice. Video Games however, do not require a board, pieces or honestly a good understanding of the rules. Of course knowing the rules help but they are not required in order to start. Most Video Games today are self contained and you play within the set rules that are programmed in. This means much stronger variability other then in numbers. A participant could find their self in a difficult puzzle, timed to over come an obstacle, or simply to defend ones own “life.” These are not elements you can find easily in the concept of board games and dice. Many games would revolve around the luck of the throw or a lucky stroke with a pulled card or move. This brings Video Games up to a whole new plateau. The random situations and real life feel to games, in the perspective of situations, is something board games can only “suggest” or try to capture, not show.
The few exceptions to this idea are board games like Chess, Checkers, the more common place Battle Ship and alike, do not focus around dice. They focus around another key point, intelligence. In these games, it is not the rules that create the challenge, but the opposition of another fully thinking player to overcome. These games can not really be played alone, although extreme boredom can sometimes cause a person to attempt such a feat. This is another area Video Games excel at. Video Games provide a constant nemesis whose abilities can be set to be easy, competitive or just plain frustrating. A computer’s ability to plan and think may not be the same as ours, but it can most certainly be said it is thorough, fast and objective. So with the ability to create a visually stimulating, realistic, situational game that can think, we now have the Video Game and its popularity at least partly explained in a society that loves entertainment and variety.
We’ve seen the past and present of what makes a Video Game, but what about the future? The two points stressed earlier, simulation and human variability, are still the focus of Video Gaming in the future. However, what will be the difference between then and now is how well these two areas are exploited. On the side of simulation, the optimal goal is a virtual reality. To take the participant in almost every respect, out of their current world and into a new, fabricated one. The ability to see, hear, feel, smell and maybe even taste our simulations will be the final step in pulling a person into a game; literally, creating a separate but false reality for enjoyment. We can see the beginnings of this in the newly released Nintendo Wii. With the innovation of its new interface, a person now has to swing their arms, turn their hands and stand up, now getting off the couch, to play. The physical integration of movement is just one step in the many to obtain the Video Games most advanced form. And, in this innovation we need to keep the second idea with it. Since we interact with people in our everyday lives, including this ability in Video Games will be a key factor. Today we have the internet linking players throughout the world. You can hop onto your computer or game console and play someone next door or around the world. Online gaming is becoming a huge industry. Players want to interact with other players to achieve the best performance from the game and themselves (Video Game Revolution). In essence, the final form of Video Games will be what Video Games starting intention was. A controllable, entertaining, challenging and fantastical reality that we may dream about but not have, and be able to perhaps realize more of what makes us who we are in the realm of the impossible.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)