Technological Advances In Video Games Research Paper

Technological Advances In Video Games - Research Paper Example 2000s – A virtual universe F. Future technological developments of the video game industry G. Conclusion Technological Advances in Video Games Through the Years The video game industry has evolved into what it is now through the advancement in technological developments. This essay aims to present the technological advances that the video game has undergone spanning more than 50 years of constant innovations. A. The early beginnings (1947 to 1960s) In January 1947, a patent was filed by Thomas T. Goldsmith Junior and Estle Ray Mann for the first electronic video game, the Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device, where the players hit targets printed on overlays through light beam missiles by just adjusting knobs (Polsson , par 1). Later in 1952, a tic-tac-toe game, Noughts and Crosses, became the first known computer game which was created by A. S. Douglas (KCTS Television 1). It ran on the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), a big Cambridge University computer. T his game enabled a person to play tic-tac-toe against a computer player. Six years later, Tennis for Two, an interactive game which uses an analog computer and an oscilloscope as a screen was created by American physicist Willy Higinbotham to entertain visitors of the Brookhaven National Laboratory (KCTS Television 2). A milestone was achieved in 1962 when Steve Russell created the Spacewar! which ran on a PDP-1 computer and uses a vector-graphics screen. The game consists of two small flying spaceships which are controlled by two players with joysticks and buttons (Polsson , par 4). The â€Å"Brown Box†, the first console that works on a standard television was created by German-born television engineer, Ralph Baer in 1967. This marked the birth of the first television ping-pong video game system (Polsson , par 9). Baer later applied for a patent for his invention. B. 1970s – The video game empire is born a. Home game console The 1970s was the start of the video game empire. It was in the year 1971 when Nolan Bushnell created Computer Space, the first coin arcade-style game and first commercial video game (Polsson , par 19). This game did not gain much popularity though, as that of the Magnavox Odyssey, which was the first home game console which contains 12 different games, including Ping-Pong (KCTS Television 6). This console was also the first to use a light gun for target shooting. Cards are inserted to select the games. The Odyssey however only used â€Å"simple black and white graphics enhanced by plastic overlays for the television screen† (Miller , par 4). In 1975, Atari sold a home version of Pong whose â€Å"unique feature is the single chip that produces both an on-screen score and the sound the game makes when the paddle hits the ball† (Time Inc. 3). In August of 1976, Fairchild Camera and Instrument introduced the first programmable home video game system (Miller , par 11). Moreover, it boasted of 16-color graphics and a variety of games as programmed by removable ROM cartridges. A year after, Atari launched the Atari 2600 which is the first multi-game home console which had cartridges that store game information (KCTS Television 9). It included the famous games Space Invaders, Breakout, Missile Command and Combat. It was during this decade that home computers were released in North America such as the Apple II, the TRS-80 and the Commodore PET, along with the famous Atari 400/800. b. Arcades Aside from home computers, arcade games rose in popularity because consumers could just