When did game 1 come out? History of online games. Features of computer games

Online games are a very common way to spend free time. Their popularity has increased sharply with the advent of high-speed Internet and modern graphics technologies, which make it possible to achieve mind-blowing beauty (albeit very rarely used, due to the outdated and limited resources of most users).

The first online shooter

The first online shooter was developed by John Dahleske in 1973 year under the first e-learning system “PLATO”, and received a rather meaningful name - "Empire". There were four races in total, and the main task facing each player was to conquer a galaxy consisting of 25 planets. And, of course, this was only possible by defeating all of your rivals.

It was a simple-looking, but quite complex shooter-style strategy with support for up to eight participants maximum. When I talk about complexity, I don’t mean the sophisticated capabilities of the game, but the complexity of the controls: all commands were entered by the players using the keyboard (and this despite the fact that this is a shooter!), the direction of the shot was set in degrees, and if you think that everything happened slowly - you are deeply mistaken: in battles, an experienced player performed 20 clicks per second, and only because the PLATO system could not process more.

However, Empire was not a full-fledged online game; modern concept this word, because in those not so distant, but infinitely distant times from us, there was no Internet yet.

First online game

Since at that time the Internet was a large local network, existing mainly only at strategically important sites and in institutes that were engaged in developing the network for these very sites, it is not surprising that we owe the first online games to American students.

IN 1975 year, Will Crowther creates the first text game, built according to the rules of the very first and popular Dungeons & Dragons universe (which is still alive in modern projects, the last of which is ).

Inspired by this, MIT students 1977 create their own version of this game, and give it the name “Zork”, which was changed to “Dungeon” when transferred to FORTRAN.

IN 1979 European students Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw create a multiplayer version of this game and give it the name Multi-User Dungeon, creating the world's first online game in the multiplayer world (MUD) genre. This genre can rightfully be considered the progenitor of MMORPG, since it is an MMORPG, but only in text form. When transferred to FORTRAN it was called “Dungeon”.

IN 1980 Dungeons of Kesmai was developed by two classmates, John Taylor and Kelton Flynn. It was similar game, but with a great future. Up to six people could play it at the same time.

IN 1985 , when the first PC had already appeared and the TCP\IP protocol had been developed, John and Kelton decided to go further and, having founded their own company, released an expanded commercial version called “Dungeons of Kesmai, Island of Kesmai”, thereby giving birth to a new era of global industry and earning claim the title of creators of the world's first commercial online game.

But technology did not stand still, as did the competitors of the newly formed company, and in the same year Island of Kesmai received a serious competitor from Lucasfilm Games - an online game "Habitat" with full graphics and a convenient graphical interface.

IN 1988 In 2010, Club Caribe was created - the world's first game with a subscription fee, which was $12 per hour (and you complain that you have to pay), and at the same time it was not much different from Habitat.

In the same year, a protocol for modern Internet chats was developed, which later, of course, significantly influenced the online gaming industry.

In the 1990s with appearance modern Internet - WWW – online games have also begun to develop rapidly. Now that the browser and GUI have appeared operating systems, everyone was able to use the Internet - thousands of people joined gamer communities, and dozens of new game projects, entering the market monthly, began to fight for them... and this process continues to this day.

IN 1991 appears the first graphical online role-playing game – « Neverwinter Nights" The game screen is divided into two parts: text and graphic.

IN 1998 appeared first online game with 3-D graphics called "Everquest". After which the real boom of 3-D MMORPG began.

Much water has passed under the bridge since then, and all this time technologies have been improved, which ultimately led to a split in the gaming industry into two segments: classic client-based and new browser-based, while these are no longer the same online games that once made the word “browser-based” has become a dirty word. See for yourself by trying it free games online on the flash games website igrogid.com, where you can easily find something suitable for you.

Originated computer games in the already distant past, their history goes back more than 50 years. The first games appeared not as entertainment, but more for scientific purposes, because the first computers were huge, expensive, and mainly appeared in educational and scientific institutions. Computer games went to the masses with the advent of consoles and the first PCs, when they became more accessible to most people. Only after the popularization of computer games did they become commercial. And now companies make fortunes from developing games.

Let's trace the history of the development of computer games in more detail and note significant games that to some extent influenced the development gaming industry. The world first saw the first semblance of a computer game in 1942. This event happened thanks to two people, Thomas Goldsmith the Younger and Eastle Ray Menn, who created a rocket simulator. Since that time, the era of computers and video games began.

The main stage of development of the first computer games occurred in the 50s - 60s. last century. These games were not developed for entertainment, but as scientific research. The game OXO (analogous to Tic Tac Toe) was the honor of A. S. Douglas's doctoral dissertation. But despite this, games have become very popular among students and visitors to educational institutions. For example, such a game is Tennis for Two (analogous to Ping Pong for 2 players), created in 1958 by William Higinbotham. Games of those times were developed specifically for each computer and were little like modern ones, because text terminals and vector graphic displays were used as screens.

The next period is 1961 - 1970. notable for the fact that the SpaceWar game was created for PDP-1 computers and the first prototype of a computer mouse. It was created by Douglas Engelbart and called it: system X-Y indication positions on the monitor. This made a big step in the development of computers, and as a result, the evolution of computer games followed.

1971 – 1980 – in this decade, humanity has made a huge step in the development of computers and, on top of everything else, people have realized that game development is a huge source of income. At this time, personal computers and game consoles appeared, a prototype of a local network and the Internet appeared. Players can now play in groups by joining groups using the network. Main events:

• 1971 - the first commercial Galaxy game(modified SpaceWar), as well as Computer Space (another modification of SpaceWar) - the first computer game released to the general public in the amount of 1,500 arcade machines.
• 1972 - Atari is founded, releasing the world's first arcade game Pong, which enjoyed great success. In the same year, the world saw the first game console - Odyssey from Magnavox.
• 1973 - The world's first first-person shooter Mazewar appears, with the ability to play over the network.
• 1975 - The adventure genre is born thanks to the game Colossal Cave Adventure.
• 1976 – Death game Race based on the film Death Race 2000 causes outrage among people due to its cruelty, which is why it is banned in many places.
• 1977 - With the advent of the Apple II, the first graphic games are released.
• 1979 - The first multiplayer game of the MUD (Multi User Dungeon) type is created, where players walked around, explored the world and communicated through the first analogues of chat. Such games are becoming very popular.
• 1980 - the game Pac-Man appears, which later entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most popular game in the world. Rogue game being created RPG genre, which gives birth to a new type of game: rogue-like games. Roguelikes (from Rogue) are text-based games where the world, character, artifacts, and enemies are represented by symbols.

In the period from 1981 to 1990, consoles experienced a crisis, because... personal computers are becoming available due to low prices. Text and character graphics games are gradually dying. They are being replaced by games with more complex graphics as the first graphics cards appear, thereby relieving the processor of graphics processing. For the first time, games appear in series that later become famous, for example, Metroid, Adventure Island, Space Quest, etc... Significant dates:

• 1983 - the beginning of the era of 8-bit consoles. Some experts also consider this year to be the beginning of the modern era of electronic entertainment. Such well-known consoles as Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, PC Engine, Atari 7800 appeared. A large number of two-dimensional games with a side view appeared. First appeared final game Fantasy, the continuation of which is still played today.
• 1984 - the first one appears space simulator with elements of trade - Elite game. The game King's Quest is also being released - the world's first animated quest.
• 1985 - the famous game Tetris, created by Alexey Pajitnov, is released. The Commodore company creates the Amiga personal computer. This year the world meets the Mario brothers ( Super Mario Bros).
• 1986 - appearance Dragon games Quest gave birth to the JRPG genre. The company Ubisoft Entertainment (its original name was Ubi Soft) was founded.
• 1987 - the appearance of such cult arcade fighting games as Street Fighter and Double Dragon. The Amiga 500 personal computer appears. Graphics with 256 colors appear on the PC, thanks to the development of the VGA standard.
• 1988 - Game Developers Conference - the world's first conference for game developers, held in San Jose.
• 1989 - Intel 486 processors appeared, thanks to which personal computers transitioned to a graphical interface. Such well-known games are released as SimCity, Prince of Persia, Solitaire Solitaire, which began to be present in all versions of Windows, starting with the third. Nintendo's first handheld console with Game Boy cartridges appears.

1991 – 2003 – this decade saw a revolution in computer games, thanks to the development of computer technology. Now it is possible to create worlds with three-dimensional graphics using complex multimedia tools. ID Software has released the legendary Doom game, which remains popular even now. This game became unique, it was not like all previous games: new system first-person player control, three-dimensional world, network play (every man for himself in a team). Later, the equally famous game Quake was developed on the Doom engine. At this time, gaming clans began to be created for the first time, and such a concept as e-sports arose. At this time the game appears Half Life- the first multiplayer game that allowed you to create mods - modifications. Players could now change the environment themselves game world and the hero himself. The gaming industry is beginning to generate huge income, which has begun to be compared with the income of the film industry. Main dates:

• 1991 – famous games are released: Lemmings and Sonic the Hedgehog. The blue hedgehog later becomes the symbol of Sega.
• 1992 - Bloody Fighter appears for the first time Mortal Kombat, which spawned a whole series of not only games, but films and cartoons. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss appears - the world's first 3D role-playing game first person. Game Alone in the Dark marked the beginning of the gaming genre survival horror. Dune II became the template for real-time strategy games.
• 1993 - Id Software releases the cult game Doom - the world's first 3D shooter. Concept turn-based combat V X-COM game: UFO Defense, which was released this year, is not outdated to this day. Atari Corp. Released the first 64-bit Jaguar console.
• 1995 – release of the first parts famous games Need for Speed and Heroes of Might and Magic. BioWare founded. The first exhibition of the computer and video game industry - Ei Media and Business Summit - took place.
• 1996 - 3dfx Interactive releases the world's first graphics adapter (Voodoo I) with support for 3D acceleration, which revolutionized the gaming industry. In the same year, the Quake game was released with a completely three-dimensional world. Release of the first parts popular games Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Diablo. The world's first MMORPG appears - Meridian 59.
• 1998 - the release of the famous game Half-life, on the engine of which many more games were developed. The Unreal game marked the development of the popular Unreal Engine. It turns out StarCraft game from Blizzard, championships for which are still held today. Aliens Online was the origin of the MMOFPS genre. Available cult game Wangers from the Russian company K-D LAB, which attracted the attention of the West.
• 1999 - Intel releases the Pentium III processor with the ability to handle 3D graphics and streaming media. Unreal Tournament is coming out - a new hit in the gaming market and one of the first e-sports shooters.
• 2000 - in game engines elements of artificial intelligence appear.
• 2003 - the first World Cup in electronic sports took place with the participation of about 150 thousand players from all over the world.

Since the onset of 2004, the world has overcome another step in the development of computer and video games. This time can be considered the beginning of the appearance modern games. Thanks to the widespread use of the Internet, a huge number of MMORPGs and MMOFPS are appearing. Coming out this year Far game Cry is the first game to support 64-bit systems. The most popular (even today) portable console, Nintendo DS, goes on sale.

In subsequent years until today, there has been a huge number of releases of computer and video games of various genres and for all platforms. The development of computer technology also does not stand still.

What trend in the development of games can be predicted for the future, knowing how things are with the gaming and computer industries? Reduction or complete disappearance of games on PC platforms due to piracy. All more games video games are being released, and in America, on June 17, 2010, a service such as OnLive was launched. With its advent, users will no longer need to have powerful personal computers at home. It is only necessary to have high-speed Internet, because... it will transmit processed graphics from a remote server to which the user will connect to play. What I also want to say is that developers and publishers have begun to forget and want to extract as much money from players’ wallets as possible by making paid additions to games. Price reductions for the provision of gaming services are not expected in the near future.

This is how computer and video games developed rapidly, and the trend of their evolution does not stop. Perhaps in the near future we will be able to completely immerse ourselves in a game world that will be more than realistic.

The games and entertainments of modern man are very diverse, and many of them most likely came from antiquity. And here one cannot help but be interested in the question of how the very first game in the world appeared. If we go deeper into history, we can say that one of the first games is called Senet.

Archaeologists excavating ancient Egyptian burials witnessed such finds as peculiar boards on which lines and various designs were carved. Such objects were even placed in the tombs of great people - pharaohs and princesses.

Studies of ancient civilizations have confirmed the hypotheses of the scientific world that people from the distant past played board games. This allowed them to develop their thinking and create a special strategy, to find a way out of the situation not only in the game, but also in reality.

In scripture" Book of the Dead"There is mention of a game called senet. This word translated means passing. Not only noble people, but even the poor were fond of the board game senet. On the walls of the pharaoh's tombs one could find an image of this board game, the working field of which was made of ebony and elephant bones, and the dice were made of colored glaze or earthenware.

The Senet playing field consisted of thirty squares, as well as a dice that helped determine the player's move. There is another version of the board game with twenty squares. Among the boards that are found during excavations, there are also those that have different versions games.

There is another ancient game that is still popular today: mancala, which originated in Africa. Also, some archaeological excavations have become proof that Mancala was also known in Jordan, where a limestone slab with a field with holes suitable for playing was found in one of the houses.

Some scientists are confident that mancala is much older than the ancient senet. To play a game of the game, you need to take a handful of pebbles or seeds, which are laid out in the recesses of the field. The winner is the one who captures as many of his opponent's chips as possible.

Tafl, which became the prototype of modern chess, was very popular among the Vikings. Pieces were placed on the playing field, among which was the king. The goal of the game was to bring the main piece to the opposite edge of the board, while other figurines were supposed to prevent this.

Among the games of antiquity, one can highlight the mill, the game boards of which were in Sri Lanka in one thousand four hundred and forty BC. They were made of stones, but in Ireland and Troy such boards were made of bronze. On the playing field, each participant had three chips, from which they had to build a line. If this was possible, then the opponent lost one chip, and the game was over when the participant could not build a mill due to the inability to make a move due to the lack of a game coin on the field.

One of ancient games Also is the royal cheer, in which the rules have been preserved in the original to this day. Very old play sets were in Iraq in nineteen twenty, and were similar to Senet. The essence of the game was to throw dice and move the game pieces to the finish line. For a long time, this entertainment was considered the prototype of today's backgammon.

Among the ancient games, one can also highlight chaturanga, which was played by both Koreans, Indians and Thais. According to its rules, it is very similar to chess. The game Mansion of Happiness, which was invented in Great Britain as a way to teach Christians virtues, has also gained great popularity.

Initially, the computer was conceived as an electronic computing machine. Only later did people think about equipping the car with additional functions. And, since humanity cannot do without games, including developers software attempts were made to create computer games.

History of computer games

The first attempt to turn smart technology into a gaming device was made in 1952. The breakthrough was one of the simplest board games– “ ”, with the minimum possible field of 3 x 3 cells. It may seem funny now, but at the time it was a revolutionary innovation.

After 6 years, programmers pleased users with a new prototype. It was the video game “Tennis for Two”. The virtual tennis player had to be controlled not step by step, as in previous analogues, but in real time. Despite the simplicity of the functionality, this game became another breakthrough in the emerging world of gamers.

However, the real virtual explosion occurred in 1962. DEC developed a game controller and, together with the PDP-1 computer, began distributing the previously unparalleled game SpaceWar as a test program! It was the first computer game to become truly popular.

However, computers at that time continued to be bulky. It was still oh, so far away from affordable personalization... Almost 10 years passed before compact boards based on transistor circuits appeared. Thanks to this invention, the game moved from a computer to a coin-operated arcade machine under the name Computer Space. And in May 1972, the Magnavox Odissey was introduced - the first game console for TV.

From that moment on, the computer gaming world began to advance by leaps and bounds. Development proceeded in four main directions:

• computers directly;
• television game consoles;
• electronic slot machines;
• pocket electronic games.

In 1979, the American company Milton Bradley released the first pocket game console, which included 12 games at once. In 1980, Japanese Nintendo, having modernized games on a calculator, mass-produced simple monochrome consoles with a series of Game&Watch games. In the Soviet Union, these consoles became the prototype for the Elektronika company’s products—the games “Secrets of the Ocean” and “Well, Just Wait!”, which literally everyone was captivated by.

The next stage was the appearance of the Tetris game in 1989. Officially, the authorship of the “cubes” belongs to the Nintendo corporation, although debate continues over who the true creator is.

Features of computer games

As technology developed, the virtual world was filled with sound, graphics were improved, and video was added. Today, anyone can download games to their computer for every taste:

• shooting games, fights;
• race, sport games, simulators;
• arcade, strategy, adventure;
• logical, educational, educational games.

You can choose a game for an adult, a teenager, or a child who has barely learned to sit. There are both pros and cons to this.

On the one hand, play is necessary for humans. This is a way of understanding the world, psychological release. The ability to create your own game world is a way to express your aspirations and fears, complexes and ideas about a “perfect” world in the virtual space. Computer games are an opportunity to throw out aggression and get the necessary dose of adrenaline.

Educational and developmental games are favorable for children and are often used by conscious parents, educators and teachers. Both downloaded games and an Internet connection help remove physical boundaries and freely explore the space of the planet. Today, educational and educational games for adults are becoming more common. They are used by the military and businessmen, becoming an effective tool for improving personnel skills.

On the other hand, psychologists and teachers say that it is observed everywhere, especially in adolescents. As they say, “too much is good and not good either.” Often, immersion in the virtual world becomes an obstacle to real life– communication, personality development. If a child’s passion for computers can be controlled by parents, then for an adult, dependence on the “constructed world” can become a real problem. Here, the result of passion depends only on a person’s ability to manage his consciousness, to control his behavior through volitional effort.

And yet the process of development of computer games is unstoppable. They are becoming more diverse and exciting. For changing personal games Browser games have arrived, where you can communicate online and jointly solve virtual, but important tasks. Such games, in addition to entertainment, provide an opportunity to master and develop communication and socialization skills, and broaden their horizons. The world of computer games still gives more positive effects, rather than negative. It is only important to choose the right games for yourself and correctly dose the amount of time spent in front of the monitor.

In this article I will tell you, as you understand from the title, the history of its origin, formation, and development. computer video games from and to, from 1947, when a patent for the use of a cathode ray tube was registered, to the present. Let's capture the history of the creation of the first most popular gaming consoles, the first mega-games of all times. Young people aged 25-35 will be especially interested in plunging into such a recent childhood. And if you want to get a sea of ​​positivity from your favorite games along with this article, you can click.

1947 - The first patent was filed for the use of a cathode ray tube (oscilloscope, the first type of computer display) for gaming purposes. The patent was filed by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Astle Ray Mann on January 25, 1947, and received on December 14, 1948. The patent described the idea of ​​a controller controlling the position of luminous dots on a screen.

1948 - Algorithm created chess game for computer. The authors of the algorithm are Alan Turing and his colleague D. G. Champernow. (An algorithm is not quite a program code, but just a logical verbal description of actions, divided into separate lines).

1952 - The first logic 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 which the computer made a counter move). The game was created by A.S. Douglas during his doctoral 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 - The first tennis simulator was created. The creator is William Higinbotham, one of the scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory (New York, USA). The game was called "Tennis for Two". In this game, two people controlled moving platforms to hit a ball. The computer did not participate in the game, but only displayed the results of the players’ actions on an oscilloscope in real time. This game existed in one single copy.

1962 - In April 1962, DEC began selling the relatively small PDP-1 computers. The basic package of these computers included the game “SpaceWar!” as a test program. Thus "SpaceWar!" became the first game to be released into circulation.

1966 - Ralph Baer, ​​having learned that his idea of ​​interactive television, voiced in 1951, was already being implemented in the form of computer games, began developing new game prototypes. He created 7 experimental games.

1968 - Ralph Baer develops his experimental console called “Box Brown”. It was possible to play all the games he invented. There were also simple arcade games - “Chase Game”: two squares chasing each other on the screen; and a completely new type of “Target Shooting games”: you had to shoot at the screen with a light gun.

1970 - The computer mouse is invented. Douglas Engelbart received a patent for “display system X-Y positions on the monitor." This system looked like a square wooden mouse with large wheels. But the mouse began to be used in computer games much later.

1977 - The Atari 2600 game console goes on sale. It was thanks to this console that the popularization of computer and video games moved to a completely new level. The Atari 2600 was sold from 1977 to 1983, and during this time more than 40,000,000 copies of this console were sold!

On July 5, the first home computer, the Apple II, goes on sale. Along with the computer intended for the masses, computer games are also spreading significantly.

1981 - IBM begins selling its first personal computer.

1982 - The Internet (global network) was created. More precisely, a unified network data transfer protocol has been created - TCP/IP. This standardization made it possible to unite disparate local networks into a single global network - the Internet. (The very idea of ​​a single TCP/IP protocol appeared back in 1974).

1983 - The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console was created. (In the USSR this prefix is ​​known as “Dendy”). In Japan, and then throughout the rest of the world, a new console boom began. Following the NES, other third-generation consoles began to appear.

1985 - the legendary game “Super Mario Bros.” was created. The game was released on the NES console, created by Shigeru Miyamoto. Main character games - Mario becomes the official symbol of Nintendo. Although Mario as a character had previously appeared in two more games (Donkey Kong 1981, Mario Bros. 1983), real fame came to him only in the third game Super Mario Bros. Games about the plumber Mario have over time turned into the most popular game series.

1985 - The game “Battle City” (better known as “Tanks”) was created.

1989 - The GameBoy pocket game console from Nintendo is released. One of the most famous games becomes "Tetris" on this console. It was thanks to GameBoy that the Russian game Tetris gained worldwide fame and fame. “GameBoy” sold a huge number of copies around the world – more than 120,000,000 copies of the console were sold.

1994 - Sony releases its first, but very successful gaming console, PlayStation. She became the best console 5th generation. Games for this console were distributed on CDs. Most games on the PlayStation had 3D graphics. Console sales exceeded 102,000,000 units.
The strategy “Warcraft: Orcs and Humans” from Blizzard has been created. Series Warcraft games Over time, it began to occupy a leading position in the real-time strategy genre.

1995 - The first specialized exhibition of the computer video game industry was held - Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

1998 - The game “Half-Life” is released. Despite the fact that the game was made in the 3D-Action genre, it had a full-fledged plot that developed as the game progressed. The game was filled to the brim with plot events and colorful secondary characters. Before the advent of Half-Life, the plot existed only in quest and role-playing games, where it was most often presented in the form of text. With the advent of Half-Life, games have become much closer in content to movies. This game created a precedent, after which everything more or less big games began to be created with a plot.


Created strategy game StarCraft by Blizzard. The game was made so well that it continues to be played to this day. StarCraft has hosted many global e-sports competitions.
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The game is coming out Grand Theft Auto" (GTA). The game created an entire living city with a top view, where people walked peacefully and traffic flowed through the streets. The player had complete freedom of action, but the main story missions were associated with stealing cars and working for bandits, because of this, the game received angry criticism from society.


The game “Unreal” is released in the 3D-Action genre. A little later, in 1999, the game “Unreal Tournament” was released, focused on multiplayer battles between players.

2000 - The PlayStation 2 console is released. The console has the ability network game and access to the Internet. To date, this console remains the most popular in the world. “PlayStation 2” sold 140,000,000 copies worldwide.

2005 - The new 7th generation console, Xbox 360, was released.

2007 - The most popular Russian-language game “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.” is released from the Ukrainian company "GSC Game World". The game tells about the life of adventurers in the Chernobyl radioactive zone. Available in game open world and many factions fighting among themselves.
Revival of the classics

2008 - The role-playing game “Fallout 3” is released. The reincarnation of the great is taking place role-playing series games, but now in three-dimensional form. (After this resounding success, developers from other companies are starting to revive many old forgotten game series and characters).

Also coming out this year is the game “Grand Theft Auto IV". Imitation game city reaches a new qualitative level.

Of course, several volumes could be written about the modern gaming industry - this is the emergence of latest games, and the creation of XBOX-One, and PS4 and much, much more. But these are modern realities, and what I wanted to talk about, to reveal the history of all this, it seems, I brought to you.