The History of Video Gaming
Video gaming has become a major part of many of our lives, with hundreds of games to choose from spanning many different platforms and consoles. The industry has become one of the biggest in the world, but when and where did the modern day practice of video gaming originate from?
Pong Video Game Canvas Art Print
The first officially recognised video game was developed in 1948, which was called the “Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device”. The game involved using buttons and knobs to control the cathode ray beam in order to simulate firing at airborne targets. Many other games were produced throughout the 1950s and 1960s (such as ‘OXO’ and ‘Tennis for Two’), however these were created more as a hobby and so were not commercially available, partly due to the lack of computers.
The 1970s brought upon the first generation of arcade video games – the first of which was created and installed in Stanford University. The game, which was called the ‘Galaxy Game’, was the first ever game that required the insertion of a coin in order to be played. Only one of these was built. A short while later in 1972, Atari was founded, allowing the hit video game ‘Pong’ to be born. Pong was the first commercially successful video game; it achieved sales of over 19000 units.
The 1980s gave us the second and third-generation consoles, allowing gamers to own consoles in their own houses rather than having to travel to an arcade. The late 1970s and early 80s were known as the ‘Golden Age’ in video gaming, where famous titles such as ‘Space Invaders’, ‘Asteroids’ and ‘Pac-Man’ entered the scene. In the late 1980s, many more home consoles and games were developed, including Nintendo and their Nintendo Entertainment System – this finally allowed the ‘Super Mario Bros’ to break into our homes. Other well-known faces appeared with the introduction of ‘The Legend Of Zelda’ and ‘Metal Gear’. The end of the ‘Golden Era’ was marked in 1995 after the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was discontinued.
The 1990s saw Handheld LCD Games rapidly increase in popularity with the introduction of the Game Boy, while the arcade video games began to decrease in popularity due to the increasingly widespread availability of home consoles. Technological advances in 3D graphics saw the creation of other game genres such as the First Person Shooter and Real Time Strategy. These advances also saw three new consoles enter the stores – these were the Sega Saturn, the Playstation and the PC-FX. Another notable game created in this decade is ‘Alone in the Dark’ (1992) which was one of the first successful survival horror games – it was not the first game in the genre, but it set the tone for the future ones to come. Other successful franchises hit the market in the 90s, such as the ‘Sims’ series. Also, Nokia became the first phone developers to include time-killing games on their phones when they introduced snake to their range in 1998.
The 2000s saw the creation of sixth and seventh generation consoles, the most notable being the Playstation 2 (followed by the PS3), Xbox (followed by the Xbox 360) and the Nintendo Wii. Many popular games were produced for these consoles, such as Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty. While these modern day games seem popular, the best selling game ever was actually Pokemon Red, Blue and Green for the Gameboy while the best selling franchise is the Mario series, which has spanned 200 games since 1981.
At Modern Canvas Art, we fondly remember the childhood days of Pong and latterly the Sinclair ZX Spectrum with its “massive” 48K ram pack, where we would spend our childhood days playing Jetpac and Jet Set Willy. Check out our Classic Canvas Art Prints and our Classic Pop Art Canvas Paintings now!
