Game History 101

Charlie Breindahl

Overview

•  Games hardware early history •  The mother of all modern games… almost •  Spilkanon.dk and other Best Of-lists

Quiz time: Who is the Muse of Games?

1.  Clio, muse of History –  Civilization (1991)

2.  Urania, muse of Astronomy –  Spacewar! (1963)

3.  Melpomene, muse of Tragedy –  BioShock (2008)

4.  Thalia, muse of Comedy, –  Leisure Suit Larry (1987)

5.  Terpsichore, muse of Dance, –  Dance Dance Revolution (2001)

6.  Calliope, muse of Epic Poetry, –  Fable (2004)

7.  Erato, muse of Love Poetry, –  ICO (2001)

8.  Euterpe, muse of Lyric Poetry –  Super Mario Bros (1985)

9.  Polyhymnia, muse of the Songs to the Gods –  Age of Mythology (2002)

Yes?

•  All of them, of course! •  Computers are extremely versatile, which

is perhaps their distinguishing characteristic; simulation may be the core logic of game design

•  It also indicates that any attempt at arriving at a game canon must wrestle with questions such as – game demographics –  technological achievements – game genres

Demographics

•  Gamers’ age – Available income

•  Gaming platforms sold –  IBM mainframe – SEGA Dreamcast

•  Game’s language – Singleplayer – Multiplayer

Technological achievements

•  Atari VCS: The first platform open to third-party developers

•  DOOM (1993) and the smooth vertical scroll on pc’s

•  PlayStation: The CD-ROM as game storage

Game genres

•  Arcade games after the arcades – a genre? •  Puzzle games ’real’ games? •  The ”complete gameworld” game genre

–  GTA III –  The Getaway

•  The linear single-player (rail shooter) –  Painkiller –  Call of Duty

Period 1: Pre-history (-1972)

Please notice: Joysticks

Period 2: Ancient history (1972-1977)

Magnavox Odyssey (May 1972)

Atari Pong arcade console poster (November 1972)

Atari Pong

Quiz time: When were these arcade games produced?

Period 3a: Home consoles with cartridges (1977-)

Atari VCS (1977)

Period 3b: Home computers (1977-)

The most succesful brand

IBM 5150 Personal Computer (1981)

C64 ad

Commodore 64

Atari VCS joypad

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

The King of Gaming Machines

•  Sales figures end 2008 – PS2: 135 million – Wii: 45 million – Xbox 360: 29 million – PS3: 21 million

Nokia N-gage

The “media hub”

Nintendo DS

Nintendo Wii

Will Wright on M.U.L.E.

•  "Ask most game designers what their favorite computer game of all time is," says Wright, "and you'll get M.U.L.E. as an answer more often than any other title."

Will Wright cited in Salon Magazine, March 17, 2003.

Sid Meier on Dani Bunten

• Meier was "blown away" by the final product, he says, not only because of its friendly interface design -- "Amaze the Natives," "Drop Stuff Off" -- but also because it made him realize the vast historical scope possible for a simple game.

Sid Meier cited in Salon Magazine, March 17, 2003.

M.U.L.E.

• Named for the stubborn electronic beasts ("Multiple Use Labor Elements") that players haul out to plots of land on the planet Irata ("Atari" spelled backward), it took advantage of the Atari home computer's four-joystick setup to let players cooperate and compete in an artificial economy.

The Danish Game Canon •  Adventure •  Civilization series •  Computer Space •  Death Race •  Donkey Kong •  Doom •  Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty •  Elite •  Final Fantasy series •  Gauntlet •  Grand Theft Auto series •  Madden •  Maze War •  Microsoft Flight Simulator

•  MUD1 •  M.U.L.E. •  Myst •  Neverwinter Nights •  Pac-Man •  SimCity •  Soul Calibur •  Spacewar •  StarCraft •  Tetris •  The Elder Scrolls series •  The Sims •  Ultima Online •  World of Warcraft