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World War 2 gaming
The computer games of the 1950s can generally be divided into three categories: training and instructional programs, research programs in fields such as artificial intelligence, and demonstration programs intended to impress or entertain the public -
Origins of Gaming
The first game created solely for entertainment was Tennis for Two, by William Higinbottom and Robert Dvorak. The game was created on an analog computer with the graphics being displayed with an oscillioscope. It was later dismantled the next year. -
The Influence of SpaceWars!
Thanks to Dartmouth College's encouragement in their students for computer use, students Steve Russell, Martin Graetz, and Wayne Wiitanen and with programming help from Dan Edwards created Spacewars! The game was a massive hit with the students on campus and the program began to find its way around the country. -
Commercialization of Video Games
Thanks to technological advances, such as the MIT and the TTL circuits in a single microchip, allowed the creation of the minicomputers. The coin-operated gaming industry took interest and in 1971 Ted Dabney, inspired by Spacewars!, created Computer Space making it the first commercially released video game. In 1972 Ralph Baer releaseed the Odyssey for home use. Neither did have a big impact on the market, but the Odssey did create a spark to a new industry. -
Odyssey
The First commercial video-game console. -
New Generation of Gaming
With the formation of Atari and the relase of Pong the idea of home consoles started to take formation. Not many consoles could reach ther popularity that Atari had reached, but the one thing that did take off was computer gaming, From 1971 to 1979 computer gaming was on the most popular way of gaming at the time, due to the less limitations of the computer more variety of games could be produced and at a higher quality. -
Pong
The system helped catapult Atari to household-name status and introduced at-home video games. -
Atari 2600 VCS (Stella)
Atari began working on a cartridge-based system (known as Stella) that can play multiple games. -
The Popularity of Arcades
From 1978 to 1982 coin-operated gaming was a big uindustry in the US and Japan wanted to get a piece of the action. Games like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Q*bert, Defender, Galaxian, Ateriods, and many more all were revelutionary in the coin operated industry. -
Intellivision
Atari had its first challenge from Mattel with the release od Intellivision. The Intellivision had slightly better graphics than the Atari 2600. -
Early 80s console war
Atari had its first challenge when Mattel released the Intellivision. -
Crash of 83-84
Atari 5200 and Vectrex lead to a major video-game industy crash in 1983-1984 in which many companies went bankrupt. -
The Rise of Nintendo
After the crash of 1983 the video game industry was suffering greatly, until Nintendo stepped into the field. With the rlease of NES and it's hit game Super Mario Bros, Nintendo started an new era of videogames the 8bit Era. Nintendo poirneered a new era with game like Metal Gear, Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Sweet Home they ruled and fought to compete against Sega until 1995 when the NES was discontinued. -
nintendo entertainment system
Nintendo marketed this after the video-game crash. Many were skeptical of this. -
The 16bit Era
By the late 80s technology in gaming started to get more advanced and the TurboGrafx-16 came out, with huge success in Japan, showing off all it's 16bit glory. Nintendo and Sega were quick to counter with the release of the SNES and Genesis. With the birth of the Genesis came the borth of Sonic and the competeion between Nintendo and Sega grew to a large scale Console War. -
Game Boy
Nintendo had came out with its second successful gaming system. This was also the first major handheld game console. -
The Contraversy in the 90s and the creation of the ESRB
The 90s brought about new games like Mortal Kombat, street Fighter, NightTrap, and many more, but it also brought about many contraversies NightTrap and Mortal Kmobat especially. These two games were apart of a large contraversy due to the violence (in NiightTraps cause violence against women) lead to the creation of the ESRB rating system we have today. -
PC Gaming
Thanks to the advances of the 90s, computer gaming was allowed to experience a new wave of gaming. Games like the Sims helped to revolutionize a market that was being taken over by the rise of home consoles. -
playstation
The launch of Sont's Playstation marked the arrival of the most popular gaming console. -
Nintendo 64
This was the last mass-market system to use cartridges. -
Gaming on the Mobile Phones
The fist known mobile phone game was snake on the Nokia. Now thnaks to advancements mobile gaming have taken on a whole new life with games like Angry Birds entertaining millions of people all around the world. Though most gamers frown upon mobile games, one can't deny that mobile games make up a lot of the gaming market. -
Gaming in the 2000s
By the late 90s and early 2000s innovations had taken the gaming world by storm. Computer games got a new life with games like Doom and Half life and consoles were experiencing new more graphical adavncements with consoles like the Gamecube, Playstation 2, and Xbox. -
The Rise Of Online Gaming
During the early 2000s the online gaming world rose in prominence. Since computers were so accessable to the general public the creation of online games took off. Games like Runescape, World Of Warcraft, Dota, and many more are ever growing and still find fans even now. -
Xbox
Microsoft makes its first independent foray into the console market. -
Nintendo DS
Nintendo released this in an attempt to integrate more computing functions into its handheld gaming consoles. -
Playstation portable
in a direct challenge to Game Boy's dominance of the handheld console market, Song released the playstation portable. -
Consoles of the mid 2000s
While handheld consoles like the Ds and PSP were riding on their success, Microsoft stepped up and rleased the Xbox 360 which was followed by Sony's Playstation 3 in 2006. The two consoles were more graphically superior and added features such as Xobox Live and the playstation Network. Nintendo created the first motion control console, the Wii, and like with the Ds it expercienced great success. -
Wii
Nintendo created the wii in 2006. The Wii was origionally names Ravolution but the creaters changed it. -
Dsi
Nintewndo releases the Dsi. It added a camera feature and the store where you were able to buy and download games onto your handheld instead of going out and buying the game. -
PSP Go
An updated version of Sony's PSP that recieved poor sales and was dicontinued in 2011; -
3DS
Nintendo releases the 3DS. Like the Dsi it had the play store and camera functions while also adding a street pass, 3d, mii creation, and system to chat with your friends. -
PS Vita
Sony rleases the Vita to compete with the 3ds. It added new features such as a touchscreen and the ability to play mobile games whihc gave it a big market of indie games. -
Wii U
Nintendo releases the Wii U allowing it be the first eighth gen console released. It added the feature to play games without tv compatibility. -
Wii Mini
Basically a much smaller wii that held majority of the same compenets as the Wii. -
2ds
The 2ds is virtually the same to the 3ds except for having no 3d and no clamshell design. The reason it was created so it could be targeted towards the 7 and younger crowd who couldnt use the 3d function due to eye health concerns. -
PlayStation 4
Sony released the PlayStation 4 to positive reviews. The system has a higher processing power than it's predecessor and added touchscreen tech to their controllers. -
Xbox One
Microsoft was the last to join the eight gen consoles with the release of the Xbox One. The console went back to using x86 architecture of the original Xbox combined with a higher processing power. Due to the controversy surrounding the system, it received mixed reviews among critics. -
New 3DS
As the name suggests, Nintendo's new 3ds is an upgraded version of their 3ds. With an upgraded processing power, improved RAM, and amiibo compatibility the system received positive reviews from critics. -
Gaming Today
Gaming has come a long way with new innovations such as the Oculus rift being one of the leading pioneers towards virtual reality in gaming. Consoles have updated greatly from when they started with the Ps4 and Xbox One having much superior processing and graphics than their previous versions and Nintendo with handle held like the 3ds bringing 3D into gaming without the need of glasses. As technology advances so does video games and we have a lot more to look forward to in the future.
