The Evolution of Video Gaming: From Pixels to Hyperrealism

People have always loved games.  Variants of chess have been found in archaeological digs throughout Europe and the ancient Chinese used to kick back by playing MahJong and other simplistic games.  Indeed, on e of the oldest games in the world is an ancient variation of mankala. 

But humankind is never complacent.  As technology advanced, the games we played became evermore complex.  With the birth of modern electronics, engineers and programmers have truly opened Pandora’s box and we are lucky enough to be the ones to reap the fruits of their labor.

Think about it, did any of the visitors to the Brookhaven National Laboratory ever think after playing Willy Higinbotham’s Tennis for Two on an oscilloscope back in 1958 ever imagine that fifty years down the road they would be able to play games like Mass Effect or Fallout 3, games that are bordering on photorealistic?  Would any of them have ever thought that humanity’s insatiable appetite for interactive electronic entertainment would survive the death (and subsequent rebirth) of Atari? 

It’s simply amazing to look back and see where the modern games that we all love to play came from.  Even some of the most recognizable characters started as 8-bit renderings on an arcade screen.  Take Mario for instance.  Before he was leaping around his fantasy land atop his faithful mount Yoshi or smashing it up in Super Smash Brothers he was jumping over barrels trying to rescue his girlfriend from a big, hairy ape named Donkey Kong.

To truly get a feel for just how far games have come, you first have to understand that the gaming industry isn’t like other high tech industries.  While the movie industry could easily capitalize on the scientific advances of the music industry and boost optical disc hardware to the next level (giving birth to DVDs and later Blu-Ray) the gaming industry has always had to rely upon itself for the hardware necessary to transport its loyal fans into alternate realities.  Way back in 1949 when Ralph Baer thought it would be neat to implant some sort of game into a television, there wasn’t anything out there comparable.  Sure there were arcades but they consisted of purely mechanical inventions (many of which didn’t even rely on electricity—think skee ball.) 

No, gamers were often outsiders whose ideas were too radical even for their contemporaries.  Indeed, Baer was basically laughed at when he told his employer of his plans for a TV with a game in it.  The perfect example of the outsider making it big time is MIT student Steve Russel and “hacker” who created the first interactive computer game, Spacewars, on a Digital PDP-1 minicomputer in his spare time in 1961.  Russel’s game was later “ported” by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell to a primitive game-box and later to the first mass produced electronic arcade game--manufactured by Nutting Associates in 1971 under the name Space War.  Yes, even back in the beginning game developers where releasing multi-platform titles.

In 1972, Bushnell began a little homegrown company called Atari.  Atari floated around in the background for a while, waiting for the just the right moment to conquer the world.  That moment came in 1977 after Fairchild Camera & Instruments introduced game cartridges on its system (eventually known as Channel F).  Bushnell took the idea of cartridges and ran with it.  Shortly thereafter, the Atari 2600 was born and became the vanguard for personal home gaming.

For years Atari was the king boasting the first appearance of Mario (King Kong), the first platformer (Pitfall), and held the record of most units sold (although Intellivision offered a more authentic home arcade experience.)  The 2600 was also my first gaming system—my parents bought one in 1985.  You can still find the sleek retro-futuristic Atari consoles for sale today (I still have mine), Just remember to blow on the cartridges before you put them in. 

However, it was not smooth sailing for the company.  Because of a monumental copyrighting oversight, third party game developers were allowed to create games for the system (many of which were outright rip-offs of other, more popular games) and the market became flooded with crap.  Gamers revolted, and Atari very nearly went belly-up.

Along came the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986.  Nintendo, founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi, had started as a playing card company in 1951 and may have come to the gaming world late but they came with a vengeance.  They picked up Mario and gave him a makeover (changing him from a carpenter into a plumber and his girlfriend into a princess) and stormed the world with Mario Brothers.  The Mario franchise has gone on to become the number one selling game franchise in the world with Mario appearing in over 220 games on consoles ranging from Atari to Wii and everything in between.

However, the gaming industry was not as one sided as it had been and large companies were starting to see the dollar signs.  Nintendo had to compete against several rival systems including Sega’s Master System and the ailing Atari.  With the subsequent release of the Super Nintendo (1991), Gamecube (2001), and Wii (2005) Nintendo cemented its place in the hearts of gamers and outlasted its longtime competitor Sega.

However, software developers Microsoft and Sony launched themselves into the gaming market in 2001 and 1995 respectively with the original Xbox and Playstation.  These two software developers turned hardware manufacturers have pretty much cornered the modern market, pushing gaming so close to photorealism that the players are left drooling with the “next generation” releases of the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3.

But gaming is more than just hardware.  It’s more than just prettier graphics and faster load times.  Gaming is about the quality of the games as well and developers have been keen to give their prospective clientele what they want.  Games have come a long way since Pong and feature a wide range of genres, categories, and maturity levels to entice an ever-wider consumer market.  Many of us around 30 are astounded by new games like GTA and Mass Effect when we think back to playing Frogger on our Ataris.  It something that the younger generation of gamers (such as those who grew up playing SNESs just can’t comprehend.)  Never before has technology allowed games to come so close to totally immersion or realism. 

All the way from bouncing lights on an oscilloscope to Fallout 3 in just sixty years!  Imagine what technological advances like Blu-Ray optical technology and online interconnectivity through Xbox Live and Sony’s PlayStation Network will bring us!