Anyway, The history of computer games. After reading through the links provided, (and a few of those leading from those pages) it would seem as though the question, "Who decided to use computers to have fun?" isn't quite as straight forward as I had originally thought.
Although from what I've read I've come to think that the first people to actually use the computer game for fun was a chap named Steve Russel and his fellow MIT students in 1961. The game that they conceived was called Spacewar!. In this two player game, each player controls a spaceship and must be the first to destroy the other person's ship to win. It seems as though he was the first to actually develop a game for fun and not just as an experiment or a demonstration such as William Higenbotham who, in 1958, created a game called Tennis for two.
This game wasn't played on a TV like today's games, oh no, no, no, it was played on something with a complicated name...*Looks back into the web pages* Oscilloscope...*ahem*...yeah, the screen on this thing was tiny, probably no bigger than the mouth of your average glass.
He had prepared this "game" as part of a demonstration that was meant to show locals visiting the nuclear power station in which he worked at that everything inside was safe etc etc. Apparently, it was particularly popular with children even though it was only invented to show the effect of gravity. Many believe that Higinbotham is the father of computer games but I'm personally not so sure.
Anywho, I'm drifting off a bit here =P. Steve Russel, as I mentioned before, was a student at MIT. A computer scientist to be a little more specific, with a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Engineer degrees in EECS.
Although Spacewar! was the program that Steve became famous for, he also created Lisp, a computer programming language.
I feel that his obvious prowess with computers is a bonus here and without this knowledge it would have been dang-near impossible to create a game.
Crikey, look at how games have changed since back then. I can only imagine how far they will advance in the next 20 - 30 years!
My own gaming history started maybe eleven or twelve years ago with the purchase of our family's very first PC ( a gateway 2000 with windows 3.1! woo!) on which, one of the first games my dad bought was T.F.X (http://members.aon.at/wunger/pics/TFX.JPG) and mario is missing. These were soon followed up with probably my all-time favourite game, Little Big Adventure. It's such a good game for a young child to grow up with!
A few years later I got a Game Gear for my birthday. That was great until I managed to melt it a few years on =P
In 1997, I bought an N64 with super mario 64 the day it came out. Man, the rush I got standing in that queue, waiting anxiously with a hundred or more people for my precious console was an awesome feeling and, although this will sound REALLY pathetic, (put yourself in the mindset of an 11yr old boy for a second) it was probably one of the most exciting moments in my life ^^
Over the following years, many chunky pieces of expensive plastic were slotted into that machine and most housed brilliant software such as Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, Banjo Kazooie, F-Zero 64, and of course The Legend of Zelda; Ocarina of Time. I was almost as happy as I was getting that game as I was getting the console. I don't know how many remember the shortage of Zelda as it was released just before Christmas but I certainly do. I remember the shops that my dad and I went to trying to find this blasted game but with no luck. The final shop loomed, it was closing time on Dec 23rd and a tiny games shop was all that remained. We ventured inside, and being the last customers of the day I thought there was no hope in the world this little place would have the cartrage that we had seeked for. Inside the shop, my dad had come across the second to last copy of Zelda available and snapped it up. Damn, did I get a nice surprise on Christmas morning!
Right, I'm gonna leave my gaming history there for now as it seems as though it's meant to span over three weeks!
A screenshot of Little Big Adventure. Not too shabby for a game released in 1994, eh? =)
2 comments:
Little Big Adventure! Yaay! I'd forgotten all about that beauty. I moved swiftly on to Alone in the Dark 1 which was great apart from a camera system which changed viewpoint just precisely when you were about to be attacked... bastards!
Haha, I remember that game too! Unfortunately my PC couldn't take it, but my neighbour had it and it made him that terrified he ended up throwing it away! (Stupid really, he could have atleast given the game and his pc to me!)
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