A history of computer games, part four: my personal gaming history

So I've been playing games for as long as I can remember. I got a computer when I was 3 for Christmas and my dad bought me a lot of old games to play on it. Some of my earliest memories are of me playing point and click games like 'The Pink Panther's Passport to Peril' and 'Elroy Goes Bugzerk' as well as first person games like 'Barbie Horse Riding Club Adventure'. These were some of the greatest games I've ever played and admittedly I take them out sometimes to replay. They were so simple and clearly made with programmes like Microsoft Paint and VERY simple 3D software (although these kind of games came about when I was older) but the simplicity was what made them so much fun. And I replayed The Pink Panther's Passport to Peril a few months ago and still found it incredibly challenging at some stages of playing it (not too sure what to think about that...) but these were the foundations of my very first gaming experience.

Elroy Goes Bugzerk (Source 1)

Then the glorious series that is Pokemon emerged for the Gameboy. I adored Pokemon so much, it's no exaggeration when I say Pokemon was my life when I was younger and playing the very first Pokemon games (Red and Blue) was like a dream come true to me. I could play those for hours on end, the whole idea of them was just amazing and despite the pixelated graphics, this game could keep any kid entertained for hours on end. I owe a lot to Pokemon and I love seeing how far the series has come to this day.

Pokemon Red and Blue (Source 2)

So I had my experience with PC and handheld gaming at a young age but I think what really brought me into the gaming world was when I was 5 and my dad bought me a Playstation 1 for Christmas. I remember opening it and having no clue what it was, I honestly think my dad bought it because he wanted to play it himself, I doubt he knew what a huge impact gaming would have on me and how I have grown up an avid gamer all because of him. So I opened this oddly shaped device along with two games: 'Bugs and Taz: Time Busters' and 'Spyro the Dragon'. My dad convinced me to play Spyro first. I can honestly say that playing all of the Spyro games has been some of the greatest moments of my life. Spyro was definitely one of the greatest Playtsation games out there and even to this day they are absolute gems, they have to be some of the world's greatest games I believe, countless hours have been wasted playing the original Spyro PS1 trilogy.

Spyro the Dragon (Source 3)

So the PS1 is probably what started off my gaming life and is the foundations of me being a Sony girl. When I was in primary school my parents bought me a Playstation 2. Admittedly, this console is what I probably played the least out of all of my Playstation consoles (although after getting a PS3 in the future I went back to play more PS2 games after this) but the PS2 holds some of the greatest games of its time, one being Ratchet and Clank. I remember playing Star Fox Adventures on my friend's Gamecube but didn't have my own Gamecube so couldn't buy it for myself. In PC World my dad spotted Ratchet and Clank and asked me if I wanted that instead as it was a bit similar. I said no. This was a great mistake. But my dad had other plans and bought it for me a few months later for my birthday. So i ended up playing it. Since then I now own every single Ratchet and Clank game out (aside from the very latest few, which I will buy soon!) and I can tell why I love it so much; the company that made it is Insomniac, the creators of the original Spyro games.

Ratchet and Clank (Source 4)

Another really memorable series for me was the Sonic the Hedgehog series. I started off a bit late in this franchise and started with Sonic Heroes when I was about 13. I remember my dad telling me I'd hate it and not to buy it but I did anyway. And it was the start to the greatest inspiration of my life. After playing Sonic Heroes I pretty much bought every Sonic game I could, Sonic was like my Pokemon obsession all over again and it was what really inspired me to start drawing. All of my drawings today have stemmed from my Sonic obsession. I don't really play Sonic anymore but I owe a lot to it, it's a marvelous series and I hope it does well in the future.

Sonic Heroes (Source 6)

I got a Playstation 3 for my 14th birthday after saving up £200 for half a year (and getting £100 off my parents for it) mainly to get the PS3 Sonic and Ratchet and Clank games but after this, owning a PS3 was what really brought about my favourite form of gaming; shooters. My dad plays my PS3 a lot so he often buys games for himself and he loves shooting games so when he was done I'd often have a go at some of the games he had bought. I remember watching him play 'Uncharted: Drake's Fortune' and 'Fallout 3' and being absolutely terrified of them, I'd never play them alone. But then I got into a competition with one of my friends to see who could win the most trophies on their PS3. I didn't have enough games so I picked up my dad's copy of Fallout 3 to try as I knew this game had trophies in it. I thought I'd absolutely hate it and would leave it after about 5 minutes of playing it. It is now one of my all time favourite games and I've replayed the whole game at least three times and Fallout: New Vegas is the only game I've ever pre-ordered because I was that excited. I also now have an obsession with the apocalypse and 50's music. The same thing happened with Uncharted, I own all the games in the Uncharted series now and have replayed Drake's Fortune six times. The making of Uncharted videos are also what made me decide I wanted to go into the gaming industry when I was older. So this is why I'm sat here writing this blog, because of Uncharted. So this is the point in which I really began to take an interest in shooting games.

Fallout 3 (Source 7)

I have a few favourite series of games that I will love forever, those being: Uncharted, Fallout, Mass Effect, Arkham and Assassin's Creed. My love for Fallout and Uncharted have already been explained but I have yet to explain my love for the other series' I've listed here.

Mass Effect and Arkham came around the same time. I played Arkham Asylum a few years ago, it was a good game, nothing special but I did enjoy it. A couple of years later the sequel to Arkham Asylum came out, Arkham City. At the same time, my best friend became obsessed with the Mass Effect trilogy and tried her hardest to get me into it as well. I bought Mass Effect 1 and 2 at the same time as buying Arkham City. I couldn't get Mass Effect 1 to work for a while so just started with Mass Effect 2 and it confused me a lot so I started playing Arkham City instead. I played that for about three weeks straight, it was such an amazing game, everything about it was just so original and fun, the sneaking around was awesome and using detective mode is always a blast. I bought pretty much all of the dlc content for this game. When I finally grew tired of Arkham City I went back to Mass Effect 2. And I met Garrus Vakarian in the game. The hottest alien I've ever seen. Ever. Garrus has such a massive fanbase and now I can see why. I finally began to understand the gameplay of Mass Effect and stormed through Mass Effect 2, twice and then eagerly bought Mass Effect 3 to play afterwards. I was never really into sci-fi games but Mass Effect was just such an amazing trilogy, it's definitely one of the greatest games out there. The character interactions and different storylines depending on your actions is amazing, it's also brilliant how you can import your character from each previous game so you can stick with one 'Commander Shepard' for the entire trilogy.

Mass Effect (Source 8)

Lastly I want to talk about Assassin's Creed. I have all of the Assassin's Creed games now and even an Altair cosplay, that's how much I adore this series. The whole concept and design of it is beautiful and the characters are just so lovable, I have very strong feelings for the assassins. I remember finding the first game hidden in my dad's room for some reason. I started playing it, nothing special really, then my friend said he'd broken his PS3 and asked if I wanted to buy Brotherhood off him for £10. I agreed, started playing it and was absolutely blown away by everything about the game, I loved it. So I went back and played all the previous AC games, played Brotherhood and then eagerly awaited Revelations. Now I eagerly await for Christmas so I can finally get my hands on Assassin's Creed III. Assassin's Creed is such a well thought out and imaginative series, I don't know what I'd do without it.

Assassin's Creed (Source 9)

So I believe that's pretty much my gaming history. What do I look forward to in the future? Finally getting my hands on Assassin's Creed III of course! I'm also awaiting news on Mass Effect 4 and looking forward to playing Naughty Dog's new series 'The Last of Us'. Apparently Fallout 4 is also being made and I'm dying for some more information on this game. Also the speculations of 'Arkham World' better be true!

What do I hope will be in the future of gaming? It's a long shot but I'd really love a real life simulation where you actually go into the game to play it. It's unlikely but I'd love the gaming industry to get there one day.


Source 1: http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100130193309/elroy/images/9/94/Elroy_Bug.jpg
Source 2: http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Pokemon_Red_Version_GBC_ScreenShot4.gif
Source 3: http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/3957/293694-spyro.jpg
Source 4: http://images.psxextreme.com/screenshots/ps2_ratchet_clank/ps2_ratchet_clank_11.jpg
Source 5: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YQeWq0jw330/T0XEVySrXCI/AAAAAAAAAy4/RC0Ov2r40_4/s1600/Sonic+Heroes.jpeg
Source 6: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YQeWq0jw330/T0XEVySrXCI/AAAAAAAAAy4/RC0Ov2r40_4/s1600/Sonic+Heroes.jpeg
Source 7: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/fallout3_1_lg.jpg
Source 8:  http://gallery.techarena.in/data/503/medium/mass-effect-pc-screenshot.jpg
Source 9: http://www.gamershell.com/static/screenshots/9853/286144_full.jpg

A history of computer games, part three: 2000s

So what's next in our video game history? Current gaming of course! Yes, revolutionary it is the way games progressed so quickly in such a short space of time, it's hard to believe that now it's abnormal to find a home without a video game console in it!

So what happened during the 2000's? Well video games really took off here and home consoles were the highlight as well as excessive addictions to handheld gaming.

One main step forward in the gaming industry was the amount of people that were enlisted in making video games. When Pac-Man was released one man designed, programmed and released the whole game in a few months. In 2004 the hit game 'Halo' was created and 190 people were involved in making it and it took 3 years to complete. (Source 1) Halo sold millions and is one of the top selling games to this day and has a whole franchise now but it just goes to show how much of a serious step the gaming industry took by employing such a mass amount of people to create amazing and new games.

Halo 1 (Source 5)

So speaking of Halo, lets talk about the drastic improvement of graphics during the 2000's. 3D technology was coming into play and more or less all games are now made in 3D, 2D is old school gaming these days. With the introduction of High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI) TVs and games get more and more realistic as the days go by. It is said that with HDRI this means that "we will have a feeling of being even better immersed in the game action with all good and bad consequences of this unprecedented experience." (Source 2) So what does this mean? Realism in games is the key point of the gaming experience and the graphics will help to include aesthetically pleasing qualities in the game as by now, graphics are one of the key points of making a game worthwhile. With the introduction of 3D televisions recently, the prospect of playing games in actual 3D has revolutionised the gaming industry once again, providing gamers with the best graphics possible.

Uncharted 3, a game with 3D capabilities (Source 6)

The three big 'next generation' consoles of this time are Nintendo's Wii, Sony's Playstation 3 and Windows' xBox 360. Wii is considered the straggler of this group and the games for it are aimed more towards younger kids but there is a constant battle as to whether the PS3 or 360 is the 'better' console. 'While Sony focused on the future, Microsoft looked at the recent past.' (Source 3) Sony aimed to make the PS3 1000 times more powerful than the PS2 whilst xBox looked at their previous consoles and realised that they developed too slowly in the past and if they wanted to keep up to date with Nintendo and Sony then they had to get the xBox 360 right on the first go. So extensive research was put into the technology developed for 360 and making it powerful enough to stand up to Sony's PS3 upon release. One main failure in the past had been the xBox chunky controller so the 360 controller was scaled down and made slimmer which pleased game consumers greatly.

The next generation consoles (Source 7)

Along with the new consoles came new technologies to improve the gaming experience. Cutscenes exploded onto the scene and having an extensive story to tell became mandatory for a good gaming experience. Cutscenes were originally done by regular animation skills but new technologies have made movement in cutscenes more accurate in movement. What are these technologies? Motion capture. Motion capture is when actors wear a body suit with spots on joints and are then filmed recording their scenes with incredibly accuracy and then 3D textures and models are put over the filmed joints. It makes the animation process easier and incredibly accurate (Source 4) so motion capture has been a revolutionary step up in cutscenes and telling the story of a game. Games that extensively use motion capture are games like Uncharted and LA Noire that used facial motion capture to recreate perfect facial expressions on the characters.

Motion capture used in Uncharted (Source 8)

So home consoles were the big thing about current games, this leads on to the rapid increase in handheld gaming. There hasn't been a release of a new console in a long time (aside from the Wii U and the developement of the Playstation Orbis and the new xBox) so handhelds have really flown into the picture. The Nintendo DS is the most popular handheld and has had over 5 different releases of DS so far. Sony continues to make new releases of their PSP but the DS has stormed over the handheld gaming industry.

The first three Nintendo DS' (Source 9)

So we've had a look at current gaming but what are the significant developments facing gaming at the beginning of the 21st Century? There are many, this is probably the biggest jump the gaming industry has had so far because it happened so rapidly from the jump from arcade 2D to home 3D consoles. Cutscenes have become an important part of the industry and the now hundreds of people behind a single game is what really gives potential to the industry and individual companies and accuracy is very important, as seen from new technology such as motion capture.  But what pressures does the industry face? There are many, specifically for the console part of the industry. The massive step up in handheld gaming has left the consoles dragging behind. Are we the last generation of console gamers or are we just the beginning? Only time will tell.









Source 1: http://arstechnica.com/features/2005/11/crossplatform/2/
Source 2: http://www.idw-online.de/pages/de/news149909
Source 3: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040-866288.html
Source 4: http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/135143/gaming/motion_capture_in_game.html
Source 5: http://images.wikia.com/halo/images/6/66/Halo-combat-evolved.jpg
Source 6: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ccwh8lLipVM/TQEdDz7X8OI/AAAAAAAABc0/ejktpm-Egog/s1600/Uncharted+3_2.jpg
Source 7: http://static.skattertech.com/files/2007/12/wii-ps3-xbox360.jpg
Source 8: http://mimg.ugo.com/200810/7343/unchartedcompare.jpg
Source 9: http://www.wiinintendo.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/ds-evolution.jpg

A history of computer games, part two: 1980s - 1990s

So we've had a look at the first video games, now it's time to have a look at the 1980s-1990s, the 'golden age' of video games.

So after the video game crash of 1977, a new wave of video games came out, namely Space Invaders. This was solely the game that brought the industry out of the crash. It was designed by Tomohiro Nishikado and was released in 1978 in Japan and was then licensed in America by Bally and released there. It was a revolutionary game and one of the first shooters out there, taking inspiration from popular media of the time such as The War of the Worlds and Star Wars, hence the space and shooting scenario. The aim of Space Invaders was to kill a whole wave of aliens that would move across the screen simultaneously and get closer towards the player as the game went on. In 1980 the Atari 2600 version of the game quadrupled the sales of the system solely because of Space Invaders which is why it was what ended the video game crash with its revolutionary system sales.

The hardware used for Space Invaders was developed solely for the game itself as microcomputers in Japan weren't powerful enough to run a game like Space Invaders so Nishikado had to make his own hardware to create the game, thus creating the arcade board but even after this he couldn't programme Space Invaders exactly how he had intended it to be as he couldn't get it to display colour or get the enemies to move as fast as he wanted them to. (Source 1)

The revolutionary Space Invaders (Source 5)

So we've established how awesome and revolutionary Space Invaders was and how it pretty much brought the industry out of the video game crash but there must be other reasons as to why this is known as the golden age of video games. Well Space Invaders inspired many other companies and people to step into the video game industry and inspiration was given for more games to be produced, along with the influx of new consoles as well and major companies that we still know of today. Arcade games exploded into the market as more and more were created, they were the highlight of the golden age of video games but even as this was all happening, the idea of bringing games into the home was looked into more and more, thus creating the second generation consoles such as the Atari 2600 by Atari,  the Intellivision by Mattel and the ColecoVision that allowed people to play the award winning arcade game 'Donkey Kong' in their own homes. Disgruntled former Atari programmers also got together and created the company 'Activision' a well known video games company even to this day. Activision was the first third-party developer of video games.

Donkey Kong (Source 6)

By the early 1980's, 8 million American homes had a video game console and home video gaming was totalling to $3.8 billion a year, almost half of what the arcade video game industry was making. (Source 2) This was a marvelous achievement and when the idea of bringing video games into the home really took off.

So what were the main video games that were well-known for being in the golden age? Well alongside Space Invaders, we also had: Pac-Man, Ultima, Zork, Flight Simulator, Wizardry, Pitfall!, Lode Runner and King's Quest (Source 3). These games were revolutionary and were some of the foundations for establishing the main genres of games we all know today:
Ultima, Wizardry: Roleplaying game (rpg)
Zork, King's Quest: Adventure
Flight Simulator: Simulation
Pitfall!: Platformer
Lode Runner: Puzzle
Pac-Man: Maze

A puzzle genre game, Lode Runner (Source 7)

Some major companies made their very first appearances during this time as well, for example Nintendo, originally a card game company in Japan who released the world-wide selling and symbolic even to this day console, the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and it went on to play ground-breaking games such as Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda and Metroid, some of the biggest sellers in the history of video games, even going on to selling new games in the series even today. Nintendo went on to make the Gameboy, revolutionary for being a handheld console and playing some of the most well known games such as Pokemon. (Source 4)

The ground-breaking NES (Source 8)

So as we can see the 1980s-1990s was a great time for video games, major developments were made with the formation of new major companies within the industry, the end of the video game crash with ground-breaking new game genres and consoles and the increase of gaming at home. The favored way of playing a game today, i.e at home was finally being seen at this stage and in part three of my history of video games I will have a look at how this idea developed even further.


Source 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Invaders
Source 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computer_and_video_games
Source 3: http://armchairarcade.com/neo/node/2975
Source 4: http://www.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2029221,00.html
Source 5: http://static.onemansblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Space_Invaders.jpg
Source 6: http://www.cpcgamereviews.com/d/donkey_kong.png
Source 7: http://www.fileguru.com/images/b/lode_runner_games_arcade_style-17487.gif
Source 8: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NintendoEntertainmentSystem

Eurogamer

On the last weekend of September I attended the Eurogamer convention in London on Saturday and Sunday. This was the perfect opportunity to play some of the latest games in the industry.

 Saturday's cosplays: Trainer Red and Rival Blue from Pokemon

 Sunday's cosplays: Altair Ibn La-Ahad and Malik Al-Sayf from Assassin's Creed

So what did I play? More like what did I want to play but couldn't because of the extortionate ques. I was all decked out in my Altair cosplay, ready to play Assassin's Creed 3 but there was a two hour waiting line...So no, I didn't get to play the game I am most excited about but I guess this just means I have something to look forward to for when it comes out right? Wrong. Assassin's Creed 3 came this week and I figured out that if I bought the special edition (which is the one I want!) I'll be living off -£30. So not the best of ideas, looks like I'll have to wait till Christmas to play this gorgeous game.

 It looks amazing, right? And this is just a poster!

Eurogamer wasn't all disappointment. Not in the slightest. No, most of Eurogamer was absolutely amazing! I got to spend the Saturday with my best friend in our Pokemon Trainer Red and Pokemon Rival Blue cosplays along with our other friend who cosplayed Professor Layton and on Sunday got to meet up with a lot of old college and childhood friends as well as cosplaying ones which was nice. And we got to play a lot of the latest games which gave me a greater insight of what's going on in the industry at the moment! So, what did I play?

Formula 1 Race Stars

So remember I went to a Codemasters concept art talk a few weeks ago? Well I actually got to play the Formula 1 Race Stars game at Eurogamer so it was a real privilege to meet some of the people behind the game after playing it myself. It was a very interesting game and a good laugh. I can see what Mitch Small was saying about it being similar to Mario Kart though because of all the bright colours and just the general way the characters looked. I had a laugh playing it though. Especially when my car broke down right before the finish line because I didn't realise you had to go into pit stops. Yeah, so it's not EXACTLY like Mario Kart then. But still fun nevertheless, and so colourful!

Assassin's Creed Liberation

Playing this dressed as Altair and Malik was probably the best thing about this game hehe. I'm a die hard Assassin's Creed fan and have been for a while now (what, you couldn't tell from the fact I was patrolling around as Altair Ibn La-Ahad?) so Liberation is a new AC game on the PSP. Well my PSP doesn't work so I can't buy it but it was nice to try it out. The best part about this game was that it started off with you having to canoe across a river and then fight crocodiles. It was amusing to watch Malik canoe backwards and then give up and just swim across instead. Now this AC seems to be set in some sort of swamp area (hence crocodiles) so it was a very different approach to AC! Looks interesting, I'd like to play it properly one day but unfortunately can't right now due to the lack of a PSP.

Malik canoeing in Liberations

Just Dance 4

Just Dance is a favourite past time of mine. Ever since me and Siti cosplayed Howard Wolowitz and Leonard Hofstadter from The Big Bang Theory and danced to 'Beautiful Liar' by Shakira and Beyonce and my wig flew off mid-dance. That was a glorious day. We even caught it on film! But yes playing the latest Just Dance game was amazing as always. I will never not tire of it. It's just so much fun, the whole idea of dancing in cosplays to really silly dances is right up my alley!

 

Epic wig fail whilst playing Just Dance 3

Dance Central 3

So honestly I didn't even know there was a Dance Central 1 and 2. But there you go. This was a lot like Just Dance, it was dancing. But that's ok because I love it! It was a bit more hard to control compared to Just Dance and the camera couldn't pick up a few colours of clothing which was annoying (I had to take my jacket off and it became oblivious as to who I was cosplaying) so yes, I still prefer Just Dance, but dancing is awesome anyway so I was happy to give Dance Central 3 a try!

Rival Blue and Professor Layton dance it out

Playstation All Stars Battle Royale

This was probably my favourite game to play, most likely because of the mix of all these characters I love all in one game! I managed to beat a bunch of people as Jak and Daxter. That was a glorious feat! So this is a fighting game where you can play with up to four players. It was so much fun (It's better than I make it sound, I promise!). I never really like fighting games but this was an exception as I got to play as so many characters I love like Ratchet and Clank and Cole from UnFamous (I mean inFamous). Definitely would recommend buying this game!

Rival Blue and Trainer Red team up

Old School Mario Kart

 So we got to play a really really old school Mario Kart game. The graphics were hilarious. Oh how far we've come in gaming! Well I didn't get to play but I watched Siti and Aiden play it and the controls looked incredibly difficult! I'm glad we've figured out easier controls since the first games.

Red and Layton play some old school goodness

So this was my time at Eurogamer. Among the playing old and new games, meeting many awesome people and cosplaying with my friends, it was one of the most enjoyable weekends I've had in a while! Can't wait for next years Eurogamer, Garrus cosplay, here I come! Oh and I couldn't leave without picking up some goodies could I?

A Garrus t-shirt? Yes!

And Mordin and Thane figures? Double yes!