The History of Video Games: An Evolving Community

From their commercial birth in the 1950s as a technological oddity at a science fair, games have flourished into one of the world's most profitable entertainment industries.

The emergence of mobile technology in recent years has revolutionised the sector and opened the doors to a new generation of gamers.

In fact, games have become so integrated into modern popular culture that even grandmothers now know what Angry Birds is , and more than 42% of Americans are gamers and four out of five households in the United States have a console.

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The early years of video game history

The first recognized example of a gaming machine was presented by Dr. Edward Uhler Condon at the New York World's Fair in 1940.

The game, based on the ancient mathematical game of Nim, was played by some 50.000 people during the six months it was on display, and the computer is said to have won more than 90% of the games.

However, the first gaming system designed for commercial home use did not emerge until almost three decades later, when Ralph Baer and his team launched their prototype, the "Brown Box" , in 1967.

The Brown Box was a vacuum tube circuit that could be connected to a television and allowed two users to control cubes that chased each other on the screen. The Brown Box could be programmed to play various games, including ping pong, checkers, and four sports games. Advanced accessories for the time included a light-aim pistol and a special attachment designed for a game of golf.

According to the National Museum of American History, Baer recalled: "As soon as we played ping-pong, we knew we had a product. Before that, we weren't so sure . "

Magnavox-OdysseyThe "Brown Box" was licensed to Magnavox, which released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. This console preceded the Atari by a few months, which is often mistakenly considered the first game console.

Between August 1972 and 1975, when the Magnavox was discontinued, some 300.000 consoles were sold. Poor sales were blamed on poorly managed marketing campaigns in stores and the fact that home gaming was a relatively foreign concept to the average American at the time.

However poorly managed it was, it was the birth of the digital game we know today.

Towards Atari and arcade games

Sega and Taito were the first companies to spark public interest in arcade games when they released the electromechanical games Periscope and Crown Special Soccer in 1966 and 1967.

In 1972, Atari (founded by Nolan Bushnell, the godfather of gaming) became the first gaming company that truly set the benchmark for a large-scale gaming community.

Atari not only developed its games in-house, but also created an entire new industry around the arcade. In 1973, with a retail price of $1.095, Atari began selling the first true electronic video game , Pong, and arcade machines started appearing in bars, bowling alleys, and shopping malls around the world. Technology experts realized this was something big; between 1972 and 1985, more than 15 companies began developing video games for this ever-expanding market.

The roots of multiplayer gaming as we know it

In the late 70s, several restaurant chains in the United States began installing video games to capitalize on the new trend. The nature of the games fostered competition among players, who could record their high scores with their initials and were determined to secure their place at the top of the leaderboard. At that time, multiplayer gaming was limited to players competing on the same screen.

The first example of players competing on separate screens came in 1973 with "Empire" - a turn-based strategy game for up to eight players - which was created for the PLATO network system.

PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operation) was one of the first widespread computer-based teaching systems, originally built by the University of Illinois and later taken over by Control Data (CDC), which built the machines on which the system ran.

At the time, gaming was popular among younger generations and was a shared activity where people competed for the best scores in arcades. However, most people would not have considered four out of five American households owning a gaming system as a likely reality.

Home play becomes a reality

In addition to the popularity of video game consoles in shopping malls and restaurant chains across the United States, the early 1970s also saw the emergence of personal computers and video game consoles. Technological advancements, such as Intel 's invention of the world's first microprocessor, led to the creation of games like Gunfight in 1975, the first example of a multiplayer human-versus-human shooter.

It was a huge hit when it hit the arcades. It featured a new style of gameplay, using one joystick to control movement and another to direct shots, something that had never been seen before.

In 1977, Atari released the Atari VCS (later known as the Atari 2600), but sales were slow , selling only 250.000 units in its first year and then 550.000 in 1978, well below expectations. The low sales were attributed to Americans still getting used to the idea of ​​color televisions at home, the high cost of consoles, and people growing tired of Pong, Atari's most popular game.

Personal computers: Designing games and opening up to a wider community

The video game boom sparked by Space Invaders led to the emergence of numerous new companies and consoles, resulting in a period of market saturation. The overabundance of consoles and the scarcity of new, engaging games ultimately triggered the video game crash in North America in 1983. This resulted in massive losses and truckloads of unpopular, low-quality titles being buried in the desert for disposal. The gaming industry desperately needed a change.

Around the same time that video game consoles began to get a bad rap, home computers like the Commodore VIC-20 , the Commodore 64 , and the Apple II started to gain popularity. These new home computer systems were affordable for the average American, selling for around $300 in the early 1980s (about $860 in today's currency), and were advertised as the "sensible" choice for the whole family.

These home computers had much more powerful processors than the previous generation of consoles, which opened the door to a new level of gaming, with more complex and less linear games. They also offered the technology to allow players to create their own games using BASIC code.

Even Bill Gates designed a game called Donkey (a simple game where you dodge donkeys on a highway while driving a sports car). Interestingly, the game was revived as an iOS app in 2012.

Although the game was described at the time as "crude and embarrassing" by Apple's rivals, Gates included it to inspire users to develop their own games and programs using the built-in BASIC code program.

Magazines such as Computer and Video Games and Gaming World provided BASIC source code for games and utility programs that could be run on early PCs. Games, programs, and code submissions from readers were accepted and shared.

In addition to providing the means for more people to create their own games using code, early computers also paved the way for multiplayer gaming, a key milestone in the evolution of the gaming community.

The move to online gaming on consoles

Long before gaming giants Sega and Nintendo entered the online gaming sphere, many engineers attempted to harness the power of telephone lines to transfer information between consoles.

William von Meister unveiled innovative modem transfer technology for the Atari 2600 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in 1982. The new device, the CVC GameLine, allowed users to download software and games using their landline telephone connection and a cartridge that could be plugged into their Atari console.

The device allowed users to download multiple games from developers worldwide, which could be played for free up to eight times; it also allowed users to download free games on their birthdays. Unfortunately, the device failed to gain the support of the major game manufacturers of the time and was dealt a fatal blow with the 1983 crash.

The real advances in online gaming would not occur until the launch of the fourth generation consoles of the 16-bit era in the early 1990s, after the Internet, as we know it, became public domain in 1993.

In 1995, Nintendo released Satellaview, a satellite modem peripheral for the Super Famicom console. This technology allowed users to download games, news, and cheats directly to their console via satellite. Broadcasts continued until 2000, but the technology never left Japan to reach the global market.

Between 1993 and 1996, Sega, Nintendo, and Atari made several attempts to enter the online gaming market by using cable providers, but none of them truly took off due to slow internet speeds and problems with cable providers. It wasn't until the launch of the Sega Dreamcast, the first internet-ready console, in 2000, that real progress was made in online gaming as we know it today.

The Dreamcast included a 56 Kbps modem and a copy of the latest PlanetWeb browser, making Internet gaming a fundamental part of the Dreamcast setup rather than an extravagant add-on used by a minority of users.

The Dreamcast was a truly revolutionary system, and it was the first network-centric device to gain widespread popularity. However, it was also a massive failure, effectively ending Sega's console legacy. Internet access was expensive at the turn of the millennium, and Sega ended up paying enormous bills as users around the world used its PlanetWeb browser.

The release of Runescape in 2001 was a game-changer. MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) allow millions of players from around the world to play, interact, and compete against other fans on the same platform. The games also include chat features, which allow players to interact and communicate with other players they meet in-game. These games may seem dated now, but they are still extremely popular within the dedicated gaming community.

The modern era of gaming

Since the early 2000s, Internet capabilities have exploded and computer processor technology has improved at such a rapid pace that each new batch of games, graphics, and consoles seems to blow the previous generation out of the water.

The cost of technology, servers and the internet has dropped so much that lightning-fast internet access is now commonplace, and 3.200 billion people worldwide have access to the internet. According to ESA’s 2015 Computer and Gaming Industry Report, at least 1.500 billion people with internet access play video games.

Online sales portals, such as the Xbox Live Marketplace and the Wii Shop Channel, have completely changed the way we buy games, update software, and communicate and interact with other players, and network services, such as Sony's PSN, have helped online multiplayer gaming reach incredible heights.

Technology enables millions of people around the world to enjoy gaming as a shared activity. ESA’s recent gaming report showed that 54% of frequent gamers feel their hobby helps them connect with their friends, and 45% use gaming as a way to spend time with their family.

At the time of the Xbox 360 's launch , online multiplayer was an integral part of the experience (especially the deathmatch games played against millions of players worldwide in games like Call of Duty : Modern Warfare). Today, many games have an online component that greatly enhances the gameplay experience and interactivity, often overshadowing the importance of offline game objectives.

The movement towards mobile

Since smartphones and app stores arrived on the market in 2007 , gaming has undergone another rapid evolution that has not only changed how we play but has also integrated games into popular culture in an unprecedented way. The rapid evolution of mobile technology over the last decade has created an explosion in mobile gaming.

This massive shift in the gaming industry towards mobile, especially in Southeast Asia, has not only broadened the demographics of gaming, but also brought it to the forefront of media attention. Much like early gaming enthusiasts who joined niche forums, today’s users have clustered around mobile gaming, and the internet, magazines, and social media are abuzz with talk of new games and industry gossip.

The gaming industry was once monopolized by a handful of companies, but in recent years, companies like Apple and Google have climbed the ranks thanks to revenue from game sales in their app stores. The time- consuming nature of mobile games appeals to so many people that basic games like Angry Birds earned Rovio $200 million in 2012 alone, and surpassed two billion downloads in 2014.

The most complex massively multiplayer mobile games, such as Clash of Clans, are bringing in huge sums every year, connecting millions of players around the world through their mobile device or League of Legends on PC.

The future

The shift to mobile technology has defined the recent history of gaming, but while mobile gaming is well-suited to the busy lives of millennials, mobile gaming also has its limitations. Phone screens are small (well, at least they were until the iPhone 6s came out), and the speed of processors and internal memory in most phones limits gaming possibilities.

According to a recent VentureBeat article, mobile gaming is already experiencing its first slump. Revenue growth has slowed, and the cost of doing business and distribution costs have risen dramatically in recent years.

Although mobile gaming has led to the demise of handheld gaming devices , consoles continue to thrive, with each new generation ushering in a new era of technology and capabilities. Two industries that could well play a key role in the future of gaming are virtual reality and artificial intelligence technology.

There have been many advances in the world of language processing artificial intelligence in recent years. In 2014, Google acquired Deep Mind; this year, IBM acquired AlchemyAPI, a leading provider of deep learning technology; in October 2015, Apple made two AI acquisitions in less than a week. Two of the fields that are developing are the accuracy of voice recognition technology and open dialogue with computers.

These advancements could mean an amazing new chapter for gaming, especially when combined with VR, as they could allow for interaction with characters within games, who would be able to respond to questions and commands with intelligent and seemingly natural responses.

In the world of first-person shooters, sports games, and strategy games , players could give commands to the computer to complete game tasks, as it would be able to understand the commands through the headphones thanks to advances in the accuracy of voice recognition.

If the changes that have occurred over the last century are anything to go by, it seems that gaming in 2025 will be almost unrecognisable from what it is today. Although Angry Birds has been a household name since its release in 2011, it is unlikely to be remembered as fondly as Space Invaders or Pong.

Throughout its progression, gaming has seen multiple trends fade and fade, only to be completely replaced by another technology. The next chapter of gaming is still unclear, but whatever happens, it's sure to be entertaining.

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