The History of Video Games

[ChaosVortex]

I'm telling a speech about in Speech class. I need to compile as much info as I can. Anyone wanting to contribute, please post here along with citations of course, and I'll improve the research. I need as much as I can by Sunday, since we'll be starting on them Monday.

I'll compile as much as I've collected here in the meantime.

GRAPHICS AND STUFF I'LL BE USING:
[spoiler]
Objection Image:


Wii + PS3 Sales graph:


Objection SFX: http://www.finalturnabout.com/music/sfx/pobjection.wav

Other game SFX: http://www.digitpress.com/dpsoundz/soundfx.htm (Thanks, Edgecrusher!)

[/spoiler]

What I'll be saying in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Arcade gaming begins with Jukeboxes dating in the 1930s, and Pinball machines in 1954. Computer games were being developed after universities got ahold of computers of their own and game software emerged in the 1950s. Simple programs consisted on games like Tic-Tac-Toe and Tennis with pixelated graphics.

True video games arrived in 1970s. The first video game to date was Spacewar!, created by Steve Russell.

"If I hadn't done it, someone would've done something equally exciting if not better in the next six months. I just happened to get there first."

It was a popular hit in the 1970s. It has undergone several different names since then, such as "Galaxy Game", "Computer Space", and "Space Wars". The game consisted of playing as a space ship shooting another player's ship while avoiding plummeting into the sun. A Honolulu-based company in 1940 called Standard Games branched off into Japan, known as Service Games of Japan (SEGA). They produced coin operated games such as the Periscope after merging with Rosen Enterprises. It was a submarine simulator that became a worldwide hit. In 1972, The Magnavox Oddysey is the first home video game console. It uses white and black pixelated graphics, knobs and switches, and no sound. Since the technology wasn't advanced enough, games came with overlays, cards, chips, and dice. One of the most popular games of the console was "Table Tennis", a basic game that develops with your electronic coordination. The console sold well, but would've sold better if customers weren't confused about the fact that the console didn't have to run on a Magnavox TV. Atari releases Pong in arcades in 1973. In 1974, Home Pong was released. However, Magnavox files a lawsuit against Atari and wins, arguing Table Tennis is the original over Pong. This is the first video game lawsuit in history. Magnavox also continues to win lawsuits over different game companies such as Nintendo, Mattel, and Activision for copyright infringement. In 1976, Steve Jobs creates a single-player Pong game called "Breakout". Midway produces Space Invaders, the first arcade game to involve a high score. In 1977, there's a crash in the market and many game developers go bankrupt. Even then, Atari releases a cartridge based console in 1977 called the VCS, later dubbed the Atari 2600.
A jukebox and repair business named Konami joins the market, as well as Namco who also used to be a machanical rocking horse manufacturer. Space Invaders becomes redistrubuted under Namco as Galaxian in 1978. Later, a colorful improved version known as Galaga one year later. However, Namco stops making military-esc games and looks for a game that appeals to both sexes. Puck-Man is released in Japan, and dubbed Pac-Man in the US to avoid vandalism. It is the most popular arcade machine to date. Nintendo pops into the scene, from making cards, to toys, to electronic games. Nintendo clones Space Invaders and makes "Radar Scope". The game wouldn't sell, and Nintendo was left with 2,000 unsold units in a warehouse. To quickly stay in business and salvage their loss, Shigeru Miyamoto was placed in charge of developing a new game using the unsold units. The result was the 1981 release of Donkey Kong, starring Jumpman. When it came to dubbing names in the states, Jumpman's name was argued over when the landlord of the warehouse, Mario Segale, demanded overdue rent payment. The staff renamed Jumpman "Mario", after he left. Nintendo uses Mario in many games, including the Game & Watch handheld series. The Game & Watch handheld games were liquid crystal display games, a concept that Tiger Handheld games use to this day. In 1982, the market crashes again when little games are bought and retail stores are flooded with games on the shelves.
The Atari ST enters the 16-bit era in 1985. In this same year, the Famicon (Dubbed in the US, NES) is bundled with Super Mario Bros. and becomes a great hit. The Sega Master system is also released. Sega's main market character was Alex Kidd, who was later replaced by Sonic The Hedgehog. Nintendo and SEGA became rivals.
In 1989, Nintendo releases the Gameboy handheld system. SEGA releases the Game Gear, and Atari releases Lynx. SEGA produces the Sega Genesis. In 1991, Sonic The Hedgheog is released on the Sega Genesis and becomes a popular hit. Nintendo works with Sony to create their new console, but depart ways. The SNES is released in 1991 without help from Sony. 1994-1995, The Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation is released. The Playstation becomes the best selling game console, entering the 32-64 bit era. A year later, Nintendo releases the Nintendo 64 with the populat title, Super Mario 64. In 1998, PokeMon becomes popular. The Gameboy Color is released. SEGA releases the Sega Dreamcast. In 2000, the Playstation 2 hits the market. 2001 - The Nintendo Gamecube, Gameboy Advance, and Xbox release. Halo becomes popular, and Sega discontinues the Dreamcast and becomes a 3rd party developer.
2003, The Gameboy Advance SP is released. Nokia creates the N-Gage. 2004 - Halo 2 is released, along with the Nintendo DS, and PSP.
2006, Nintendo DS Lite. PS3 is released, and chaos ensues. Nintendo Wii is released.
2007 - Sony discontinues the 20 GB version of the PS3, and reduces their console price to $499 USD. Halo 3 is released and becomes a wide craze worldwide.
Present Day: Super Smash Bros. Brawl[/spoiler]

Work Cited:
[spoiler]1. http://members.aol.com/rusjensen/myfirst.htm
2. http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bljukebox.htm
3.  http://www.sega.com/corporate/corporatehist.php?item=corporate_history
4. http://www.touchgenerations.com/enGB/discover_nintendo/nintendo_timeline.php
5.  http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/spacewar.html
6.  http://www.marvin3m.com/arcade/sperisc.htm
7. http://www.pong-story.com/odyssey.htm
8. http://www.heartbone.com/comphist/Atari.htm
9. http://www.mameworld.net/pacman/history/p1_01.htm
10. http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Articles.Detail&id=249
11. http://www.themushroomkingdom.net/mario_history.shtml
12. http://www.sonic-club.com/sonic/history.htm
13. http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_playstation.htm
14. http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=70244
15. http://www.bynkii.com/archives/2007/07/june_npd_game_console_sales.html
16. http://www.touchgenerations.com/enGB/discover_nintendo/what_nintendo_means.php[/spoiler]

Note: This research was for the purpose of just a grade therefore some of the information displayed may be innaccurate due to rush.

[Panda]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games

You're done.

[ChaosVortex]

Barely.

That article leaves out a few popular game icons. I just searched the whole article for "sonic", and nothing came up. I intend to mention the birth and doom of famous VG characters.

[preventerWIND]

If you watch some of the Angry Video Game Nerd's videos, you can see a lot of the history being told, like the 16-bit wars.. and even Atari-porn games.

[NovaMan XP]

Make sure you mention how MegaMan kicked ass on the NES and for a while until he died of cancer when MMBN4 happened.

[Edgecrusher]

Perfect example of why you shouldn't trust Wikipedia

Check the last sentence of the first paragraph.

Yes, I know it has since been revised, but my point remains valid.

[ChaosVortex]

Oh yes, I'm aware to take Wikipedia as a grain of salt, not to mention I'll probably be burned at the stake just for citing it. I'll be needing websites cited off of the Wikiarticles or otherwise googled.

Also, that gave me a good laugh.

[Speed Racer]

How long do you plan on talking about video games? 'Cause you're going to have to go all the way back into the late 1960s...a speech could end up taking a few class periods.

[Edgecrusher]

Agreed. You'll have to chose:

Breadth or Depth?

[ChaosVortex]

I don't believe she's set a limit yet, but I was supposed to get a packet on how to research and what she's looking for, but whoever copied the packets royally messed up so I'll probably be getting the correct ones tommorow.

My last speech was supposed to be a minimum of 3 minutes, so it's most likely going to have to be either just that or longer. Length doesn't bother me with a topic like this, and I'm not exactly going to go into every knick and cranny of the subject. I'll just be stating the rise and fall of the industry, introduction to familiar icons, and so forth leading up to today.

Basically, imagining the length of the speech, I'll probably just be naming facts and history, go into a little explaination as to why, then move on.

[Mikero]

Know that Nintendo started with Hanafuda cards in  late 1800's. I did a whole N project for Japanese class in high school.

Nook. Nook and cranny. Not "knick".

Perfect example of why you shouldn't trust Wikipedia

Check the last sentence of the first paragraph.

Yes, I know it has since been revised, but my point remains valid.

That is spectacular.

[ChaosVortex]

Oh, Nook my b- OH NOOK AND CRANNY ##### I GET IT NOW AC IS FUNNY

Wow, I feel really dumb right now.

[Majikn]

Perfect example of why you shouldn't trust Wikipedia

Check the last sentence of the first paragraph.

Yes, I know it has since been revised, but my point remains valid.

That is spectacular.

That is my new display name on MSN.

Just thought you all should know that.

[Captain Sanoguchi]

Tell 'em how Nintendo started during the Meiji Era!

[Edgecrusher]

And that Mario was originally 'Jump Man'

and that Birdo is video gaming's first transvestite!

[Captain Sanoguchi]

Tell 'em that Poison was video gaming's second transvestite.
Oh, and tell 'em Samus is really a girl.

[Mikero]

Tell 'em how Nintendo started during the Meiji Era!

I already said that.

[Lunchebox]

This is how you start it off...

"In the beginning... There was PONG."

[White Shadow]

And it was good.

[Panda]

But... Pong wasn't the first game in any respect...

[preventerWIND]

Oh, and tell 'em Samus is really a girl.

That HAS to be concluding sentence.


"Oh, and did you know Samus is a girl? WTF?"

[Speed Racer]

This is how you start it off...

"In the beginning... There was PONG."

Yeah, it was actually some sort of space game.

[Lunchebox]

But Pong sounds funnier.

[ChaosVortex]

I'm thinking about mentioning Pong first, but the space game is the first one apparently.

Also, I knew about Jump Man in Donkey Kong, but I thought it was "Jumper Man".

[Fatso]

That just sounds like a Robot Master.

[ChaosVortex]

Oh yes. The speech will be 5-7 minutes long.

I didn't get the packet though. I just straightup asked her.

[ASR]

You'll have to decide what's important and what isn't. Only include the relevant stuff.

[Speed Racer]

Your research is complete.

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-History-Video-Games-Pokemon/dp/0761536434/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204072432&sr=8-1

The only problem that I had with the book is that it just stayed with the major companies (in other words, most companies that released a console), and never really talked about any third party companies. I was really annoyed that it completely passed over the rise and fall of SNK...I'm not sure if it even mentioned the Neo Geo.

[Edgecrusher]

*laughs* Best review of that book ever:

       
2 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Too much Conversation Text & Less photos, July 11, 2006
By    P. Pornprasertthavorn (Yannawa, Bangkok Thailand)

this book always showed up while i search about "Games History". no inside sample. too much text. i prefer more photos

[Vinchenz Rock]

Power-Up is a very good book that explains the history of video games. It even goes in-depth on video game series like Dragon Quest and that Detective game on the Famicon.

[Winged Warrior]

G4, Before it became a channel obsessed with the parts of japan that japan itself wants to forget, was a very informative. Even X-play was awesome until it became a trap for all those who are on the internet way too much... *cough*

You tube may be able to help you...

though probably not.

[Edgecrusher]

Do your entire project about the history and evolution (or lack thereof) of one of video games most beloved characters:

Leisure Suit Larry

[Mikero]

YES. But not like... Magna Cum Laude. Which I heard was really crap.

I'm thinking about mentioning Pong first, but the space game is the first one apparently.

Also, I knew about Jump Man in Donkey Kong, but I thought it was "Jumper Man".

It was Jump Man.

[Edgecrusher]

Do your entire project about the history and evolution (or lack thereof) of one of video games most beloved characters:

Leisure Suit Larry

And make a powerpoint presentation.

With pictures.

[Lunchebox]

I think I'm the only person in existence who has never played Leisure Suit Larry.

[Edgecrusher]

I'd say you're missing out, but I'm not exactly sure what it would be that you're missing out on.

[ASR]

I've never played it either, but I hear they're making a new one again.

[Edgecrusher]

Yup.

Box Office Bust.

*Phil Ken Sebben Laugh* Multiple entendre!

[yuri]

This is how you start it off...

"In the beginning... There was PONG."

I vote Tetris.

[NovaMan XP]

Actually, I think Pong was earlier.

[yuri]

You lie.

[preventerWIND]

Pong was earlier.

[Slugkid]

Just wikipedia'd it.
Pong->1972
Tetris->1985
Also, you could have worked it up on your own, since pong is much simpler than tetris...

[NovaMan XP]

Exactly.

[Mikero]

You'd have to be an idiot to think Tetris came before Pong.

Oh right.

Well, everyone knows Pong is 70's. Hell, they even played it in That 70's Show.

[Panda]

Well, technically Tetris came first, as it was traditionally played in the 17th century using twigs and square rocks.

[preventerWIND]

That'd take FOREVERRRRR!

[Edgecrusher]

Well, technically Tetris came first, as it was traditionally played in the 17th century using twigs and square rocks.

Either you're putting together a piss poor lie to sound worldly, or someone told you a piss poor lie and you believed it.

[Vinchenz Rock]

Or he's being sarcastic.

[Voulnet]

Well, technically Tetris came first, as it was traditionally played in the 17th century using twigs and square rocks.

Cavemen played pong with two slabs of stone and a ball made of animal skin, what's your point?