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What was the very first game. The history of the development of computer and video games. Formation of gaming companies

The history of the development of computer games (1 part)

The first copies of the games

1952 year.

The first logical computer game "OXO" was created - a computer implementation of "tic-tac-toe" (a field of three by three cells, the user made his move, after that the computer made a return move). The game was created by A.S. Douglas during his PhD studies at the University of Cambridge (UK). Douglas wrote his dissertation on the topic of human-computer interaction, and used the game as a visual illustration. The game existed in a single copy on a large computer - the EDSAC mainframe.

1958 year.

The first tennis simulator was created. Creator - William Higinbotham - one of the scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory (New York, USA). The game was named "Tennis for Two". In this game, two people controlled movable platforms to hit the ball. The computer did not participate in the game, but only in real time rendered the result of the players' actions on the oscilloscope. This game existed in one single copy.

1962 year.

The computer game "SpaceWar!" The creators are Steve Russell and a group of students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MTI) (Cambridge, USA). The game consisted of the following: two small spaceships flew across the screen, fired at each other and dodged the only movable star-shaped obstacle. Controllers were created specifically for the game, remotely similar to modern joysticks. "SpaceWar!" became the first truly computer game, because the two previous games were only a computer implementation of already existing board games. This game existed for a long time in one single copy.

(In fact, MTI started making games a little earlier. From 1959 to 1961, three games were created on the TX-0 computer, before SpaceWar !. and a piece of cheese (point), and a computer in the form of a mouse (one more point) tried to go through the maze to the cheese. "HAX": controlling the sound device using a computer. "Tic-Tac-Toe": another computer version of the game "crosses -faces. ”Unfortunately, these games were not captured in the photo, the fact of their existence was confirmed only in words).

Game distribution begins

1962 year.

In April 1962, DEC began selling relatively small PDP-1 computers. The basic set of these computers included the SpaceWar! Game as a test program. Thus, "SpaceWar!" became the first game released in circulation.

1966 year.

Ralph Baer, learning that his idea of interactive television, announced in 1951, was already being implemented in the form of computer games, began to develop new game prototypes. He created 7 experimental games.

1968 year.

Ralph Baer is developing his experimental console called "Box Brown". All the games he had invented could be played on it. There were also simple arcade games - "Chase Game": two squares chase each other on the screen; and games of a completely new type of "Target Shooting games": you had to shoot a light pistol at the screen.

1969 year.

Programmer Ken Thompson created a video game called Space Travel for the Multics operating system (OS). This game simulates the movement of all planets Solar system, the player controlled a spaceship and had to carefully land the ship on one of the planets. The peculiarity of this game is that when it was ported to assembler, the author began writing a new OS "UNIX".

1970 year.

The computer mouse is invented. Douglas Engelbart received a patent for the "X-Y position indication system on the monitor". This system looked like a square wooden mouse with large wheels. But in computer games, the mouse began to be used much later.

1971 year.

Launch of the first arcade machines. In September 1971, Stanford University (California, USA) installed the first experimental arcade machine with the Galaxy game (the Spacewar version reworked for the PDP-11 computer).

In November 1971, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney create Computer Space (a modification of Spacewar for slot machines). Nutting Associates buys the rights to the game and releases 1,500 arcade machines with this game (but a little more than a third of all machines were sold). Computer Space was the first computer game in the world to be published to the general public.

A baseball simulator game "Computer Baseball" was created for the PDP-10 computer. The creator is Don Daglow. The computer processed the player's actions and output the results to the printer.

Created text game "Star Trek" for minicomputer Sigma 7. Creator - Mike Mayfield. In the game, the computer described the game situation in text, the player also answered with the help of the text what actions he wanted to perform.

The game "The Oregon Trail" was created for teletypes. The creators are Don Ravitsch and two more students from Carleton College.

1972 year.

The first home game console is created. On May 24, Magnavox began producing and selling its first console, the Magnavox Odyssey. All the developments of Ralph Baer created in 1968 were used as games for the console.

First successful sales. Due to the poor return on investment of Computer Space, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney leave Nutting Associates and start their own company, Atari, together. (The name of the company comes from one of the moves in the board game "Go"). That same year, on November 29, Atari released its first game, Pong (a greatly improved version of Tennis for Two). 19,000 slot machines were sold. A resounding success and world fame awaited the game. Pong was the first commercially successful game.

The game "Hunt The Wumpus" was created for mainframes. Creator - Gregory Job. It was an adventure text game.

Formation of gaming companies

1973 year.

The emergence of gaming firms in Japan. On March 19, Kagemasa Kozuki, the owner of Konami, a company that manufactures and repairs jukeboxes, simultaneously starts production of arcade machines.

In May, the company "Hudson Soft" (Sapporo, Japan) is founded. The founders are the Kudo brothers. The firm initially sold telecommunications devices, but quickly switched to video game development. (Thus, Atari and Magnavox had their first overseas competitors).

Atari makes Gotcha, an arcade maze game.

The first online game- "Empire" on "PLATO" computers. Creator - John Daleske. It was a strategic turn based game for a maximum of 8 players. Players controlled spaceships, developed industries, produced goods, and bought new ships.
1974 year.

The first civilian computer network, Telenet, is inaugurated (the commercial version of the US Department of Defense's experimental ARPANET).

The network game "MazeWar" was created on computers "Imlac PDS-1". This is also the first first-person game. In MazeWar, several players walked through a pseudo three-dimensional maze and fought each other.
The game "SpaSim" was created. The ideas are the same as in MazeWar: up to 32 players simultaneously fought among themselves over the network, but now not in a maze, but against the background of space.

The game "Tank" by "Kee Games" was created. It was the first game to use a ROM with a program. (Immediately after this release, Atari acquires Kee Games).

The first magazine dedicated to arcade machines is published. The name of the magazine is "Play Meter".

The Magnavox Odyssey begins shipping worldwide, not just in the US.

Namco acquires Atari Japan and formally enters the arcade video game market.

1975 year.

By 1975, the original market for consoles and arcade machines in the United States is taking shape. The market was occupied by four large companies "Atari", "Sears", "Coleco", "Magnavox".

The first text-based role-playing game (RPG) "Dungeon" was created.

The first interactive fiction game, Colossal Cave Adventure, was created for PDP-10 computers. Creator - William Crowther. This game set the main direction for the development of the adventure genre.

The first Japanese game was created. Taito employee Tomihiro Nishikado releases Western Gun. There were silhouettes of people on the screen that you had to hit using two levers on the controller. A little later, this game was redesigned for the Intel 8080 microprocessor (the first game on a microprocessor) and released by Midway in the United States under the name Gun Fight.

Atari and Tele-Games launch the Pong home game console.

1976 year.

In April, Atari launches Breakout slot machine. In the game, you had to hit the ball with a board so as to break all the blocks in front of you. Developed the game at Apple. It is possible that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had a hand in the development of the game. (A little later, the Japanese firm Taito released its own version of this game called Arkanoid).

The first violent game "Death Race" based on the movie "Death Race 2000" is released. The game sparked public outcry over video game violence and was banned.

The Coleco company creates its own analogue of the Pong prefix called TelStar.

A prefix with removable media has been created. In August, Fairchild Semiconductor released the Video Entertainment System (later known as Channel F). This attachment was the first to use replaceable cartridges. Prior to that, consoles had only standard unchangeable sets of games that were included in the production.

Prefix boom.

Second generation of game consoles

1977 year.

The Atari 2600 game console goes on sale. It is thanks to this console that the popularization of computer and video games has moved to a completely new level. The Atari 2600 was on sale from 1977 to 1983 and has sold over 40 million units during that time!

The first Apple II home computer goes on sale July 5. Together with a computer designed for the general public, computer games.

Created a text quest "Zork" (also known as "Dungeon"). This game existed in computer network mainframes, and contained a huge number of gaming locations at that time. (A little later in 1980 this huge game came out on home computers, but for this it was divided into several independent parts).
1978 year.

A game "Space Invaders" for slot machines has been created. The author of the game is Tomihiro Nishikado from the Japanese firm "Taito". With the advent of this game, the arcade industry entered its golden age: arcade machines in the USA and Japan were literally on every corner, they began to write about games in magazines, talk about it on television, and make films about it. More than 360,000 Space Invaders arcade machines have been sold.

1979 year.

The company "Activision" was founded. The company was founded by several people from Atari.

The first Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) text game was created. The creators are two students from the University of Essex - Roy Trubshow and Richard Bartle. Interaction with the game world took place with the help of text commands entered manually by the players. All subsequent online games with a text interface began to be attributed to a separate genre - MUD.

A slot machine with the game "Asteroids" has been created. Firm "Atari". 70,000 of these arcade machines have been sold.

Launched the first Microvison handheld game console. The authorship belongs to the American firm "Milton Bradley", previously engaged in the development of board games. The console looked like a small rectangle with a 16x16 pixel monochrome LCD screen.

1980 year.

The first Rogue-like game was created. The game was called "Rogue", which gave the name to the whole genre of games. Created by Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman and Ken Arnol. The game was full-screen graphics with a top view, the player moved through the maze and destroyed monsters.

On May 22, a slot machine with the PacMan game was created. The creator is the Namco company. One of the first color games (16 different colors). 350,000 PacMan machines were sold. At the time of Pacman's creation, video games revolved around two already bored topics: sports games and space shooters. Pacman has introduced a completely new arcade genre into games, filled with speed and drive. PacMan remains the most recognizable character in video games to this day. This game has become synonymous with video games.

Created the first graphic quest "Mystery House" for computers "Apple II". Creator - Roberta Williams. Despite the existing graphics in the game, the commands still had to be entered in text. (A little later, Roberta Williams and her husband Ken founded Sierra On-Line).

The Japanese company Nintendo makes small pocket consoles with batteries and LCD screens called Game & Watch. (A little later, in the USSR, they create their own copies of these consoles under the name "Electronics IM". The most famous of these games is "Well, wait a minute!", Where a wolf collects chicken eggs).

The "BattleZone" slot machine has been created. The player controls a tank with a first-person view from the cockpit. The game uses vector graphics (only lines, no polygons and textures).

The first computer game was created in 1952 by A.S. Douglas. Douglas created his first game at the University of Cambridge (one of the most prestigious universities in England). The world's first computer game was programmed on an EDSAC computer, the image on which was formed using cathode beams. Another computer scientist, William Hijinbasam, created his first video game around 1958. His video game was titled Tennis for Two. In 1962, Steve Russell invented SpaceWar! It is worth saying that this game, SpaceWar !, was the first computer game that was intended specifically for playing on a computer, that is, for computer use. Steve Russell used a mainframe computer to design his game. But, just five years later, in 1967, Ralph Baer first wrote a video game that could be played on TV. The game that Ralph Baer managed to write is called "Pursuit".

The fact is that during that historical period, Ralph Baer worked in an organization dealing with military electronics. In 1971, Bushnell, together with Ted Dabney, created their first game - a maze, a gallery. This game was called "Space". "Cosmos" was based, that is, when it was created, it was based on Steve Russell's earlier game Spacewar !. Just a year later, in 1972, the Pong needle was created. Pong was created by Nolan Bushnell in collaboration with Al Alkorn. In 1975, Atari released Pong as a home video game.

It is worth saying that Larry Kerekman was one of the first to create video games. In 1972, the first commercial video game console was released. Thanks to such a remote control, it was possible to play video games at home, that is, there was no need to go anywhere. Also, it should be said that such a commercial remote control for video games was quite an expensive pleasure, which, however, is not surprising. Any thing that appears for the first time is always very expensive, because in this case such a thing practically claims to be exclusive.

Today, any child cannot imagine their childhood and adolescence without computer games. Today, a computer and everything that is necessary for a full-fledged and exciting game is quite accessible to any, even not very well-to-do family. However, it is worth reminding our little computer scientists that it is not worth playing computer games for a long time, as this may deteriorate your eyesight. Some games are capable of causing cybernetic gambling addiction - as psychologists call addiction to computer games. It is much more fun to play outdoor games with your friends, to run in the yard, to do any kind of sports.

The history of the development of video games goes back over 60 years. The first games were primitive, but they set the vector for the development of the entire gaming industry.

The evolution of video games is directly related to the progress in the field of "gaming hardware". And at the initial stage, this concerned, first of all, game consoles, tk. PCs became available to most users much later. Let's take a look at how it all began and how long video games have gone to become what they are now.

Origins: 1947-1970

The creation of the first video games was preceded by some developments and inventions, thanks to which the "progenitors" were born modern games... This includes a patent for the use of a CRT (cathode ray tube) for gaming purposes (1947), the creation of an algorithm chess game for a computer (1948), and then writing the first such program called "TUROCHAMP" (there were no computers capable of running it then) in 1950-1951.

Officially, the first video game is considered "OXO" - the famous "tic-tac-toe", which were transferred from paper to the computer screen of A.S. Douglas in 1952.

Douglas wrote his dissertation, and used the game as a visual material for the latter. "OXO" existed in a single copy.

In fact, the first video game was the simulation of launching enemy missiles, which was created in 1947 on the basis of military equipment (the game was launched on a radar monitor).

In 1958, scientist William Higinbotem created the first tennis simulator called "Tennis for Two". Two people could play it: they controlled movable platforms with which they hit the ball.

In 1962, Steve Russell and a group of his students from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) created "SpaceWar" - the first independent computer game (the previous ones were a kind of "port" of existing board games).

MIT began making the first games back in the 1959-1961 period: Mouse in the Maze, HAX and Tic-Tac-Toe were created here. However, this has not been documented in any way: scientists, apparently, were too lazy to even just photograph them.

The beginning of success: 1971-1977

In September 1971, the first slot machine with the Galaxy game was created. updated version the aforementioned Spacewar. In November of the same year, the game goes through another rebirth: it gets the name "Computer Space" and becomes the first video game in the world intended for the mass user (1,500 slot machines were released, though only a third were sold).

On May 24, 1972, the first game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, was released for home use.

In the same year, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney (creators of Computer Space) found their own company Atari and released an improved version of the game "Tennis for Two" called "Pong". With 19,000 slot machines sold, Pong was the first commercially successful game.

In 1972, Stanford University hosted the first SpaceWar esports tournament. This date can be considered the starting point of the birth of E-sports.

In 1973, John Dalesk created the first multiplayer game, Empire, a turn-based strategy game in which 8 players controlled a space empire, trying to occupy a dominant position.

In 1974, Maze War was created - the first first-person game in which gamers, wandering through a pseudo-three-dimensional maze, fought with each other. In the same year, the Kee Games company created the prototype of the legendary "tanks" - the video game "Tank". Immediately after its release, Atari takes over Kee Games.

In 1975, the first text role-playing was created Dungeon game... In the same year, "Colossal Cave Adventure" appeared - the game that marked the beginning of the "adventure" genre.

1976 saw the release of Breakout, the world's first arkanoid, and Death Race, the first game to be banned due to the violence and cruelty that were used in its gameplay.

It also created the Video Entertainment System (later renamed Channel F), the first game console with replaceable cartridges. Prior to that, such devices were shipped with "factory" preinstalled games, the set of which could not be changed in any way.

Second generation of game consoles: 1977-1981

In 1977, the Atari 2600 went on sale, a second-generation video game console that marked the evolution of video games to a whole new level. For 5 years, 40 million devices were sold, which was a record figure for that time.

In 1978, the legendary game "Space Invaders" was created, which users liked so much that slot machines with it were installed in the USA and Japan on every corner. They started writing about games in newspapers, making films - this industry was rapidly spinning the flywheel of its popularity.

1979 saw the appearance of Atari's Asteroids slot machine on the market. In addition, the first Microvision handheld game console was released.

In 1980, a new game genre, Rogue-like, appeared (after the name of the original Rogue game), where the player had to navigate through dungeons and fight monsters.

On May 22 of the same year, slot machines with "PacMan" on board appear on sale. The game is receiving rave reviews and is becoming a symbol of the arcade genre and video games in general, even today.

Development of handheld consoles with batteries and LCD screens continues. Nintendo releases Game & Watch, and then in the USSR they create copies of them under the name "IM electronics" (the famous "Well, wait a minute", for example).

3rd generation of consoles vs PC: the beginning of the 1981-1986 confrontation

In 1981, sales of the first PC from IBM began, and the following year, users have the opportunity to purchase 8-bit Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum computers, which could already boast a color image. Due to the competitive price point, home PCs are starting to squeeze out second-generation gaming consoles from the market.

As a result, in 1983, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), known to us as Dendy, appears on the market. Following the NES, other consoles appear to compete with the desktop.

On June 6, 1984, the world saw the legendary Tetris game, developed by the Soviet programmer Alexei Pajitnov.

1985 was an extremely rich year in game masterpieces that had a significant impact on the industry. " Super mario Bros. ”,“ Battle City ”, and“ Habitat ”- an online game that became the prototype of the modern Sims series.

In 1986 the legendary adventure game “ The legend of Zelda ", which is considered one of the three best game series of all time. At the same time, an interesting genre was born - "Japanese role-playing games" (jRPG), which are radically different from Western RPGs. The first jRPG is Dragon Quest.

4th generation consoles and further evolution of computer hardware: 1987-1993

In 1987, computer graphics cards began to support the new VGA standard (256 colors), which made video games colorful and increasingly similar to modern ones. At the same time, the first computer sound card "AdLib" was created, which is another qualitative step in the evolution of games.

The game "Maniac Mansion" appeared - the first adventure where a computer mouse (point-and-click interface) was used for control, rather than text commands as before.

The first " Final Fantasy", Which became the progenitor of a series of one of the most popular jRPGs in the world.

1988 - the beginning of sales of the Sega Mega Drive, a 4th generation game console that supports 16-bit graphics and sound, which was in line with the achievements of the latest PCs of the time.

In 1989, the popular Gameboy console came out and the first city building simulator"SimCity" by the famous Sid Meier.

1991 was marked by the appearance of the legendary "Sonic the Hedgehog", which became the symbol of the Sega platform. Also a new genre has appeared - "global strategy", which was pioneered by the famous Civilization.

The next significant milestone in the evolution of video games was the three-dimensional first-person shooter Wolfenstein 3D, released in 1992. The standard of fighting games "Mortal Kombat" appeared, as well as the first real-time strategy (RTS) "Dune 2" and the first horror game " Alone in the Dark ".

In 1993, the Wolfenstein 3D business was continued by the cult shooter Doom, which became a trendsetter among games of the same genre.

Fifth generation of consoles and Voodoo 1: 1994-2000

In 1994, the fifth generation consoles appeared, the best of which was Sony playstation... At the same time, Blizzard creates its first masterpiece "Warcraft: Orcs and Humans" - RTS, which became one of the leaders of the genre.

1995 was also rich in new items: the popular turn-based strategy Heroes of Might and Magic appeared, the racing series Need for Speed ", the legendary quest" Myst "was released on the PC.

Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods pioneered motion capture technology previously only seen in films.

1996 year. Voodoo I was released, the first graphics card to support 3D acceleration, which gave a powerful impetus to the development of 3D games such as Duke Nukem 3D, Command & Conquer: Red alert», « Tomb raider», « Resident evil"," Diablo ".

1997 year. The first truly massive and successful online multiplayer game Ultima Online is gaining popularity (the milestone of 100,000 players was reached the following year). It was 1997 that can be considered the starting point in the popularization of network games. At the same time, the cult RPG Fallout was released.

1998 year. Half-Life was the first game in which the story was presented directly within the gameplay without cutscenes or text. Starcraft and Grand Theft Auto (GTA) were also released this year.

Sixth generation of consoles: 2000-2005

year 2000. The Sony Playstation 2 game console is taking over the world.

year 2001. Microsoft releases gaming Xbox console... Tough competition begins between Sony and Microsoft in this area (the victory ultimately remains with Sony PS).

2002 year. The third installment of the cult RPG series titled "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind ", which sets new standards for role-playing games: a huge open world, a well-developed character leveling system, an interesting story line... Dota, a game that is a modification of one of the Warcraft III maps, is beginning to gain popularity.

Later, this map took shape as a separate game, and in 2013 it was continued and became a popular esports discipline called "Dota 2".

2003 year. In connection with the release of the Nokia N-Gage smartphone, "sharpened" for games, phones are beginning to look like gaming platforms, although the quality of such content is much inferior to computer video games.

2004 year. During this time, "Far Cry" was created - the founder of the legendary series of first-person shooters in the open world with great graphics and some unique gameplay features, as well as the most massive MMORPG "World of Warcraft".

Seventh generation of consoles: 2005-2013

2005 year. The game was released Xbox console 360. The programmers created "PhysX" - a module (it did not gain popularity directly) and software that allow increasing the performance of video cards in games, which significantly increased the quality and realism of the latter.

Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy, a game-masterpiece, which is an interactive film with many endings and scenarios, saw the light of day.

At this time, sales of games in digital form (service Steam) begin to gain popularity. Developers began to pay great attention to cross-platform games: exclusive projects continue to be released, but in much smaller volumes.

2006 year. The Sony Playstation 3 went on sale, and a little later - the Nintendo Wii. Included with the latest console was the revolutionary Wii Remote, which made the gameplay fluid.

Agree, computer technologies are marching widely into the future, and it is safe to say that in a few years we will be able to fully immerse ourselves in virtual reality and we will begin to wonder if the surrounding world exists in reality or is it just a mind game. Remember the movie "The Matrix". Maybe its creators were close to the truth?

Nowadays, most people prefer only 3D games with decent graphics, and few remember that the first video games looked simple and looked more like primitive computers. Consider 15 old breakthroughs in the gaming industry that were the main impetus for creating games as they are now, because it was the past that created the game, gave it shape and directed it into the future.

15. Interactive game. 1947 year

When talking about the humble beginnings of video games, the word "pong" is usually mentioned. Pong is one of the earliest games and was released in 1972. The game quickly gained popularity, and already in 1975 its home version appeared. Of course, there were other video games before Pong.

In fact, the first interactive electronic game was created 25 years before Ponga, in 1947, two years after the end of World War II. Rocket demonstrations during the war inspired Thomas T. Goldsmith and Astle Ray Mann to create a CRT rocket simulation game. The game used analog circuits designed to control the tube's light beams and to control the position of the target points on the screen.

14. The game that influenced the entire game world. 1961 year

In 1960 the company Digital Equipment Corporation released its first minicomputer PDP-1 (Programmable Data Processor-1). A year later, a group of MIT students developed a game for the PDP-1 called Spacewar!

There were two players: each of them controlled his own spaceship and, maneuvering between the stars, tried to knock out the enemy. The game spread over the Internet (of course, it was then primitive), and also served as the basis for many other video games.

13. Public play. 1971 year

For many years, it was possible to try your hand at a video game only in those places where it was installed (usually in universities), and only in the 50s and 60s of the last century, home versions of slot machines appeared. Usually they had an electronic game of tic-tac-toe.

Two arcade versions were released in 1971 Spacewar!. In September of that year, the world's first arcade arcade was installed at Stanford University, California. Galaxy game Game is a coin-operated video game.

Two months later, in November, 1,500 Computer Space arcade machines, the first brainchild of Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, the future founders of Atary, a computer game production and publishing company, were available for commercial sale. Their second and more successful attempt to enter the international video game market was Pong. Nolan even earned the nickname "King of Pong" as the acclaimed founder of the American video game industry.

12. The first home game console. 1972 year

As the very first interactive electronic game, the home version of Ponga (most often called Home Pong) was supposed to be at its height for a long time. But this did not happen. Three years before the advent of Home Ponga, the world's first video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, was released by engineer Ralph Baer. Unfortunately, the novelty did not live up to expectations: sales of the console suffered greatly due to ill-conceived marketing policies, moreover, many believed that the game console worked only when connected to Magnavox TVs.

Atary (then still called "Nolan Bushnell") quickly found their bearings, benefited from a competitor's mistakes: Ponga boxes were painted with the words: "Suitable for any TV, black and white, and color." Obviously, the success of Ponga did not please the developers of the Magnavox Odyssey console at all, which, perhaps, served as the impetus for filing a lawsuit against Nolan Bushnell due to the close similarity between Ponga and playing tennis on Magnavox Odyssey. Later, lawsuits were filed against other companies: Coleco, Mattel, Seeburg, Activision, with an unsuccessful outcome for those cases.

The game console from Magnavox, in addition to all the standard manipulators, showed customers the world's first light pistol, which, to the annoyance of the players, did not always work.

11. Arcade game on a microprocessor. 1975 year

In 1975 the company Midway games released the Gun Fight arcade machine, the first video game based on a microprocessor rather than traditional TTL electronics. The slot machines were built with 8-bit Intel 8080 CPU chips, which are considered by many to be the first microprocessors to actually work. The success of machines based on microprocessors was guaranteed. New technologies were called upon to significantly improve video games: graphics improved by an order of magnitude, became more traced.

10. First portable pocket video game. 1979 year

The first handheld game console was Microvision, released in 1979 by Milton bradley... The console had an LCD screen and several replaceable cartridges. One of them (Space Hunter - 1981) demonstrated the ability to move in all directions using only 4 closely spaced buttons. This system of arrangement of control buttons can be considered an early version of the D-Pad (cross-shaped button with arrows). The D-Pad was (and is still in use today) in many subsequent types of game consoles, such as the GameBoy.

9. 3D games for home use

3D Monster Maze (three-dimensional maze with a monster) - the first computer 3D game, created by Malcolm Evans in 1981 for machines on the Sinclair ZX81 platform. The player must overcome a randomly generated maze of 16x16 cells and not fall into the clutches of a hostile monster - Tyrannosaurus Rex.

8. Online game. 1983 year

The progenitor of online games was a small company called SuperSet software, founded in 1981 in Utah. Two years later, the first ever multiplayer network game took place, it was called Snipes and was based on text symbols, which, of course, cannot be compared with the bright graphics of modern video games. The game was originally created with a demonstrative purpose: to show the society the fantastic capabilities of IBM personal computers for that time, but more importantly, it marked the beginning of the so-called era of online games.

7. 8-bit game consoles, a new generation of gaming systems. 1985 year

For computers and other hardware, a "bit" is a unit of measure for the power of a processor. That is, an 8-bit processor at one time can operate with only 8 bits of information, while a 16-bit one gets access to 16 bits of data, and so on. Each subsequent generation of n-bit game consoles has improved the quality of graphics and sounds, and therefore, in the modern world, games on an 8-bit console look very outdated and primitive.

The first popular 8-bit system was the Nintendo Entertainment System (1985), with sales exceeding 62 million units. Nevertheless, the popularity of "NES" in the world market did not prevent other companies producing and selling game consoles - Atari ST and Commodore Amiga - to achieve success. Also in 1985, these companies paved the way for the 16-bit video game era.

6. The first bloody game. 1986 year

People like cruel games, is not it? Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid; all of these games are incredibly popular, because they thrive on cruelty and the desire to break the prohibition. Сhiller Is the first video game "splattered with blood".

Released in 1986, it offered the player armed with a light pistol to shoot everyone who appeared on the screen (including a person, a zombie, a ghost). All that was required was to be creative in dismembering the victims. The picture looked so unacceptable for a respectable citizen that in Great Britain the game became forever banned. Although, if you think about it, Chiller looks unseemly funny compared to modern Gta or Manhunt.

5. The first 16-bit gaming system. 1987 year

The TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem, also known as the "impressive" PC Engine, was released in Japan in 1978 by NEC. The console had an additional CD module or, more simply, CDs.

With this new acquisition, TurboGrafx-16 boasts more memory, improved sound performance and a lower price point. Among other things, according to the Guinness Book of Records, PC Engine received the title of the smallest game console, its dimensions are only 14 cm x 14 cm x 3.8 cm. 10 million copies sold.

4. The first 32-bit gaming system. 1993 year

The first 32-bit game console was actually the Amiga CD32, released in September 1993, but sales did not exceed 100,000 units. Similarly, the sales of the Atari Jaguar (released in November 1993) failed - they sold only 500,000 copies. Between them squeezed the first Panasonic console - 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, enjoying a little more success among customers. But it is difficult to call it the first 32-bit set-top box: the release until 1994 was limited, and the cost of $ 700 left a negative imprint on the console's purchases.

In late 1994, the development of the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation, game consoles that surpassed their predecessors, ended in Japan. The PlayStation became the first console in history to sell over 100 million copies.

3. Game console displaying "real" 3D graphics. 1995 year

In 1995, Nintendo released a home video game console promising to show "virtual reality to the virtual world." Virtual Boy is a console on a thin stand with an eyepiece that resembles red and blue glasses. Such a "projector" transmitted a three-dimensional image to each eye, and you can call it a simplified or unfinished version of a modern 3D film.

True, the console was inconvenient to use and posed a considerable danger to eyesight, not to mention the fact that all games were displayed in red. As a consequence, sales of the Virtual Boy ceased the following year. However, the first experience of 3D reality was quite successful, do you think?

2. 64-bit and 128-bit gaming systems. 1996 - 2002

The Nintendo 64 gaming system, although it was developed in the era of 32-bit consoles, is actually a 64-bit system (hence the 64 in the name), it was just slightly ahead of its time. The era of 128-bit systems began in 1998 with the introduction of the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox and Sega Dreamcast consoles two years before the development of PlayStation 2, which holds the title of "best-selling game console of all time."

1. Control without a controller. 2004 - present

EyeToy was the first video camera to use pattern and color recognition technology, allowing players to communicate commands using their own movements. The camera was intended to be used with the PlayStation 2. The technology is certainly good, but the games with which EyeToy was used did not differ in variety, the camera did not always react to the player's movements.

Yet EyeToy has revolutionized the interactive entertainment world. Another innovation: Project natal... Microsoft employees announced an accessory for the Xbox 360 that allows you to play without a controller, control the game using gestures, various subjects, even voices and facial expressions. You can decide that these are all empty words and lies (which company does not want to attract buyers), but the video provided above will confirm all our words.

Read the second part of the top.