(2) HISTORY OF COMPUTER GAMES

Introduction
History of Computer Games
The People and the Industry Today

Introduction

Since its first appearance thirty years ago, the computer game has captivated the public. In three decades, it has become an indispensable part of our culture. Hardly any other media can claim such an instant success. By conquering our living room in the mid seventies, the computer game has permanently changed our perception of the computer technology. The fascination with the computer game is passed on from generation to generation. To dismiss it as a plaything for children is misleading. People play computer games, regardless of their age, gender or education. The computer game offers much more than entertainment. It reflects, and in many cases, actively influences the direction our culture takes. While playing, humans learn to master the environment they live in. In the computer game, our world manifests itself.

History of Computer Games

In 1972, Magnavox released the first at- home computer game (Ping-pong).
The game had two vertical rectangles that the player would maneuver to hit a “ball” across the screen akin to ping-pong or tennis, an idea invented by Ralph Baer. Magnavox was one of the few companies dealing with games at that time, and employed notable game pioneers such as Nolan Bushnell, who later resigned from Magnavox and, with Ted Dabney, started Atari. After a few years in development, Atari released a home video system based on the same ping-pong type games. This was the start of the commercial games industry. For a number of years, Atari had a strong hold on the market, and licensed the rights to build Pong consoles to Coleco. Sega then entered the gaming industry and also licensed Atari’s products. About this time, Namco and Nintendo also entered the arcade gaming market.
During the early 1980s, Atari’s success inspired new people to start up companies to produce games on their own consoles, including Electronic Arts, Lucas Film Games, and Activision.

Nintendo released its NES console nationwide in 1986 with ‘Super Mario Brothers’, which became an instant success. With strong brand names and lovable characters, Nintendo’s games gained wide popularity. Sega entered the hardware scene after being a third-party game developer to create its own console, and released the Sega Master system. Although Sega’s machine was superior to NES, Nintendo’s gameplay and strong characters won over the market. In the mid 1980s, Atari lost its monopoly to Nintendo. Atari’s former third-party developers moved over to create their main titles for Nintendo’s NES console, and today, even Atari is following in these same footsteps. At that time, Nintendo was outselling Sega and Atari by 10 to 1 in United States.

Commodore had been a strong competitor with its C-64, and released the Amiga in 1985. With the Amiga came easily accessible computer paint programs, and the platform for which many of today’s 3D programs such as NewTek Light Wave ® 3D and Maxon ™ Cinema 4D released their first versions. The Amiga made it possible to create art and 3D at an affordable price, thereby offering many hobbyists the ability to explore and create art on their own home computers

At the time, PC computers were mainly aimed at business and office use, and did not have the graphical power, the market opened for PC text-based adventure games. Later, when graphics cards evolved, these games turned into graphical adventures that we today call “point-n-click.” At this time, LucasFilm Games became LucasArts. The Windows PC breakthrough into the gaming industry came when Id software developed the first 3D engine for the game ‘Wolfenstein 3D’, and later the earth-shattering game DOOM in 1993. This changed the way we create art for games and brought us into the 3D era for which most of today’s games are created.

Sony Electronics, which worked with Nintendo for several years creating their CD drives, music chips, and so forth, discontinued their partnership in the early 1990s. Nintendo by this time had full control of the game console industry, but Sony Interactive Entertainment developed and released its PlayStation in 1994 in Japan and in 1995 in the United States. It was an instant success with players and an easily accessible platform for third-party developers. In 1999, the Sega Dreamcast system was released based on Microsoft ® Windows ® CE to support easier game production. During 2000-2002, Sony released the hugely popular PlaysStation 2. Later both Microsoft and Nintendo released Xbox and Nintendo Game Cube, respectively.

Today, the PC is a major part of the gaming industry in the game playing where the most advanced technology is developed, and the boundaries are pushed for every new graphics card released. The PC technology is constantly upgrading, and the gaming titles are larger and more open. One example of this is ‘Battlefield Vietnam’ as seen in figure which with its memory requirements makes its impossible to create on any of the same period consoles. The PC with Windows ® is also the most common development environment. Both Photoshop ® and the major 3D programs have migrated to Windows and are adopting their workflow toward game production. The Xbox, PlayStation, and Game Cube have been in the market for four + years. The next generation gaming consoles are in development, and so are the games that will be available at release date.

THE PEOPLE AND THE INDUSTRY TODAY

Many of us who work in games industry have the same experiences- the love for games we grew up with, the games we are playing today, and a spirit of community among the people involved.

As constructive as this work is, many of us gave it a chance because we wanted to do what we love- create games and make it our career, with or without university education in art, music, programming, design, or production. With a common goal, we have joined together to create something we find inspiring, something we strive for, whether for the love of games, design, music, programming, or just being an artist who loves to model and get paid for it. This sense of community and friendship is what will keep you in the office late when things need to be done. Even if you start out not loving games, they and the industry you are about to enter will probably draw you in.

Of course, not everything is gold and glorious – everything in life comes at a price. The game industry has many issues in its process that we hope will be handled better in near future. However, as with any industry that grows so fast, it needs to catch up with itself.

The International Game Development Association (IDGA) concentrates on the subject, ‘Quality of Life within the Game Development Industry ’. They provide the industry with an open forum, and their research shows that it’s a tough industry.

The games industry is less than 30 years old, and the people working in it are young, with an average age of 27. Seventy five percent have been in the industry less than eight years, with two to five years being the most common level of experience. Compared to many other industries, these numbers are very low.

The games industry is suffering from the long hours and hard crunch time required to meet deadlines. Stories of people working 80- hours/ week to create the quality art needed to meet the deadlines before the final shipment are not uncommon. Working such long hours every week is difficult both personally and physically.

With the overtime and social disadvantages that come with the job – and the insecurity that many studios suffer while waiting for the next project – it is very common for people to resign from the gaming industry and move on to a more stable income, or to the movie industry, making the gaming industry lose many of its best talents and most experienced people.

AN INDUSTRY ON THE MOVE

The game industry began with only a few hundred people, and games were created with “teams” of one or two persons. Today, the games industry is a multi-billion dollar industry with teams of hundreds and multimillion –dollar budgets. It’s an industry that has seen, and will continue to see, exponential growth. Due to this growth, smaller studios are having a harder time surviving because of a lack of funding, failure, or being consumed by bigger companies. There are, however, smaller independent studios opening up, so people within the industry should have a wider base of selection with time. Games are always created at a hectic pace, but the goal is always to include the best possible content and to make the games more simulating to satisfy today’s consumers. These consumers expect more content from every new release, so a new game needs to come with huge improvements over its predecessor. This requires us as developers to keep up to date and learn new things. This demand to always innovate and be creative creates stress and pushes us to the technology limits, which of course is a trend on which the games industry is built and why is it so simulating and interesting.

However, with all this overtime and demands from the public, is there a future within computer/console games? Yes!

Statistics and revenue dollars show that people spend more time playing games than they do in theatres watching the new blockbusters. This game playing results in the game industry today generating more revenue each year than Hollywood movies do, and more people are being hired within the games industry every day. It is definitely a growing industry.

With higher market demands, companies demand more from the employees today than ever before, and they have raised the raised the bar for the applicant, which in turn means that the expertise within the studios will also increase over time. With more highly educated people entering the industry from other industries, the acceptance of extremely long hours may tend to fade, and perhaps some of the glow between the people that exists in the current game development studios may be lost. However, the industry will also be taken more seriously, become more organized, and mature with these changes. Many studios have started to require that the applicant have an education within the subject and a university diploma. You still have a chance to start in the industry without one, if you are a good artist or developer. This industry relies heavily on creative, young, eager people of whom there are many ready to get started. And, if you are qualified and can do the job, companies will hire you.

ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

The computer and video games has existed for approximately 30 years. Originally a hobby of a few, it is now a widespread international phenomenon and a multibillion dollar business. Thanks to the rapidly growing number of households with PCs, playing computer games has become an essential part of our leisure-time activity. Utilizing the latest technical developments, it has evolved into an autonomous media, transferring complex information similar to books or films. As a result, this media generates interest for many more than children and teenagers. With the introduction of the computer game, the popularity of the computer grew enormously. Today, it is also a widely used and recognized tool of entertainment. Indeed, the computer game has played a very significant role in transforming the computer from a rare scientific instrument into a common household appliance. The rapid rise of phenomena such as "New media" and "Multi media" would hardly be possible without the computer and video games.
Therefore, it could also be seen as a powerful catalyst for technological and cultural development. Each and every game is a comprehensive reproduction of social patterns we follow; each game is a symbolic representation of a segment of our life. Not only urges and necessities, desires and dreams, but social realities also govern both creation and reception of these games.
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1. Write a Brief History of Game.