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History of video games


I must admit. I was scared before I wrote this text. Well because in the end, the fifteen can write anything about the history of computer games, when he goes back to memory only the first part of GTA? But still. I tried. Did I succeed, they assess openly. I invite you ...

Have you ever wondered what it really meant by "game"? Well, this man is niezajmujący probably wyjaśniłby after his "simple, interactive application, built on some graphics engine. He is right, but for us, players of lesser or greater length of this "simple application" is not just a patchwork of texture, sound okraszonych. It is something more ... Games allow us to break away from reality and go to the "second world," limited only to our imaginations ... Somewhat better, because free from problems and worries that plague us constantly in our real life. Various types, so that everyone can find something for everyone. We must now ask ourselves: What decided the game's success and why but they are also bitter enemies? And perhaps most interesting: What was the beginning? Answers to these and other nagging questions you will find in the reading of this text. The truth is there ... Enjoy ...

A.D. 1947

Ludziska! I say unto you, let everyone remember who called himself played this date! Why, you ask? Well, in that year was probably the first "game"! Yes! Do not confuse you eyes! Over sixty years ago! I am not sure whether they would know of its existence, even the parents of your parents ... :)  Created her Thomas Goldsmith and Estle Ray Mann. Fajne Tapety .It was a simulated missile strike on any target. Developers do not even realize that his proposal moved the stone from the top of an even greater advance. Since monentu for us players began a new era ... era of computer games ...

The next title does not have to wait too long, because already in 1952 a professor at Cambridge University - AS Douglas created OXO, interactive version of the popular game "notebook" or "tic tac toe." It had to justify the thesis of Douglas for human-computer interaction.

Oh, and one (that was not the prints here:]). In nietórych circles, the first game it is Tennis for Two, William Hinginbothama. It arose quite late - eleven jat the missile simulator. The purpose of the game I will not explain, the title tells all ... However, I will try to unravel the problem of those who believe that the size of today's controllers are "large". Well, to play himself in the TFT, needed a joystick (actually two), with a size roughly half of today's small computer box (!). Thus, it was not too handy controller. :) TFT has been shown for one more year, then was dismantled.

The following examples of games were not to raise any gains, they were treated as projects ONLY. The situation changed dramatically, however, already in the sixties ... Details? Read on ...

Crazy 60's!

Most of the amateur game, was only created in the universities, because the computer at home, not everyone was on the stand and held the whole room. It is therefore quite weak access to the hardware limit "production" for one game for a few years. A small breakthrough occurred in 1961 when a small group of enthusiastic students from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology - one of the most prestigious technical universities in the world), has created a game called Spacewar! - A simple shooting for two people, taking place in the cosmic reality. The person who played had a spaceship, which was designed to shoot down the enemy. But the producers that it was not too easy, put the gravity field in the middle of the board. Thanks to Spacewar! was very grywalnym title and became the first play of the public that profitable (and it is considerable).

Five years later, a man called Ralph Baer enrolled in the annals of computer games, with its patent for playing games on regular TV. At the beginning it was one of the title, named Chase, moreover, created by him. But over time (read: two years later) Baer had been patent for more than a dozen service games. Soon the author and his ideas became interested in the company Magnavox, which it bought from him a prototype and in 1972 released the first video game console. I think that this is what we have entered the third decade of the history of computer games. How To Windows 7 Well, it gets more interesting ...

70's and the famous "INSERT COIN"

The seventies started so. "Game of the machines." At the beginning of the players came up to quite skeptical of this novelty, since in 1971 was barely one type of these razors. It included the game Spacewar! the sixties, called Computer Space. As the control version of the premiere has a big change and it was extremely uncomfortable, the idea is not sold. The creators of the first "machine to play for coppers" were Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. About that first it is worth mentioning if only because in 1972 he founded his own company, the aptly named ... Atari, which works dynamically as we know today). The first game released by these studios was Pong ( "simulation" of table tennis) in the automatic version, which was a great success. Sold around 19 000 machines with Pongiem. This event started a frenzy on the machines. Began to build gaming establishments, often temporary (in the cellars of houses, and even in your own room!). However, the small number of titles still gave itself felt (you can not continually play Pong for a few years ...).

After the success of Atari, the young developers began to take an example from Bushnell. So four years later, in 1976, the company's unprecedented Exidy sailed title called Death Race. This was the first title of causing controversy about violence in video games. Why? Well, its main purpose was "confident" control cars, so that as much as possible "ludków (like pedestrians) wpadało under our wheels. But the game was accepted and placed on the sale (including slot machines, of course).

However, the best was yet to come. In the late seventies, the Japanese studio, Taito released Space Invaders game, which proved to be great (with a capital "w") hit. Since this event began in earnest "Golden Age" games automatowych lasting until the late nineties of the twentieth century! We come back to this period, but in its time ...

Atari, however, did not give up and their next title (just released, the creators were Namco) outclassed all rivals ... Wondering about what game is it? Nothing simpler. Those days was a hit ... Pac-Man! Yes! This simple arcade'ówka consists in directing a smiley, consuming everything it encounters, while avoiding the evil fairy, has become the bestseller of all time! How is it possible that this ... hmmm ... though it now be called ... trivial (?) game beat all sales records? The answer is only one: Pac-Man owes its success to the simplicity of implementation, and thus - great gameplay, which has survived to this day. In the few years since release the game became so popular that every person who, though little has been interested in games, he knew what was going on. Note, we are approaching with great strides to the eighties ... We are going on!

Najntin ejtis!

The money earned through gaming machines, have allowed the most influential companies to grow, and thus also to recruit new, talented developers. In the eighties, the industry "growy" has become more powerful than ever. How the earth began to exit from various publishing companies, some of them have survived to this day (an excellent example of this is at least Electronics Arts). Started to appear in a new home computers, has already engaged the entire room, or the Commodore, and ZX Spectrum. So time to go to the examples of games ... Already in 1980 appeared in the titles containing the bold moves in the fields of graphics and gameplay itself. The first of these was the Defender - a simple space shooter, actually no different from its predecessors. With one exception. Well, this was the first title, which as one of the interface elements have a radar showing the whole of the game to date. In those days, it really made an impression ... But that's nothing ...

Still in the same year, Atari has issued another hit with disguised as 3D vector graphics (image was saved using geometric figures), virtually inaccessible to other manufacturers. It was Battlezone - a simple simulator tank commander. Purpose? Rout the enemy. On the winding and bumpy road to full trójwymiaru in games, and put signs Pole Position - ścigałka also developed by Atari. First used in the so-called. sprites (two-dimensional images, which, after przesunięcu and przeskalowaniu, were transferred to the screen). This gave the impression of a 3D, but everything began to tend toward the good. But talk about this later.

By the end of the eighties created a lot of games (the most interesting mention Maze War, Elite, King's Quest), but not so significant as to "deserve" to a greater place in the text. So I invite you to (in my opinion) the most interesting decade in the history of the game, or ...

Shareware, Intel 486, CD-ROMs - the nineties!

Video game industry continues to grow in strength, so producers began to slowly peel strategies for maximum profitability and reduce risk in the event of a possible lower sales. The world has begun to appear on various news, not only games, but new technologies that are developed in those years is mercilessly quick. The first and probably the most important news was the introduction for sale (pioruńsko if expensive) CD-ROM discs and readers to them. From that moment came the quantum leap in game production. Developers' zachłystnęli the "capacity and capabilities of a small CD'ka. In order to fill the entire plate, "stuffing" him a lot długaśnych film sequences. The new productions are watching more than playing! At that time, has grown considerably Adventure game genre - that adventure. All were created on that principle, and away they went to oldschoolu ... :) This meant that on this: the player was available for a small interface, occupying about 1 / 4 the entire screen. The rest of the occupied area of the ... movie sequences precisely. Playing was not too great "dominion" over the course of action, but only chose the correct answer among several alternatives i. .. ended the game in one evening, having as a dozen clicks and swollen eyes. Examples of games that have benefited from this technology have been here include The 7th Guest (worth mentioning that it was one of the first games on CD), follow-up - The 11th Hour - a more extensive, located on four discs (released in 1995!), SWAT (to this day I wonder how on earth can move the action game was for such a conversion ...) and many other clones of prototypes, but no longer can carry a lot of news to the same species.

The next major event was the premiere of the game, entitled ... Note ... Quake! If anyone deemed to be a player, it is a sin not to know about this game. Absolute classic FPS genre. Question why I remember about him? Well, Quake was the first game, which had a fully three-dimensional environment! No sprites, no illusion - the true 3D. But unfortunately for the appearance of the pay, it is not missed anyone who wanted to see the game in all its glory. " Quake had HORENDALNE hardware requirements for those times, including besides the graphics card was still a need 3D accelerator ... And when all this is compared with contemporary hardware prices ... the hair stood on end on the head.

Creators Quake (id Software) first came to the serious issue of multiplayer (multiplayer). Refined it almost to perfection - complete freedom of movement and excellent dynamic gameplay, Quake'owi prolonged "life" of kliknaście years ahead (what you see today). So it was worthwhile to risk and to introduce new technology, zaowocującą in the future.

It is worth mentioning that at that time created a few "pearls", still have fans around the world. About the titles mean?Tetris Game Already mention: Age of Empires - a great strategy in real time (two continuations), Thief - "simulation" thief living in the Middle Ages (also two continuations), Heroes of Might & Magic - Turn-based strategy in a fantasy world (FOUR sequels), and much, many others.

An interesting thing was also made available by the authors of the source code of their own games, so players could take matters into their own hands, creating the so-called. fashion. These are simple or more advanced modifications, usually in the graphics engine, more rarely in the same game. From then on began to create all sorts of costumes and weapons for their "pupilków, living on hard drives. However, people more understanding of a topic, they began to look deeper and deeper ... the source code. Thus arose hacks, or various "help" to the game, giving such immortality. While the singleplayer game, to use the hacks could afford to play a multiplayer game already in such a stroke was (and still is) unacceptable. To put it briefly - a simple deception. On most servers, therefore, began to emerge antycheatowe security and anti-hacks. This meant that more or less, that if the game included a person with some "easier" is not a long pograła ... :) Of course, the beginning of its activities, these applications often untested protect up too much, because sometimes "clean" players were immediately disconnect from the server. Now, too, it happens, but it is very rare. Well enough przynudzania, we return to our time!

DirectX 10 and next-gen - Present!

After (or just until ...) two thousand words, we are finally to the present, in which the industry "growy" is well developed and highly influential. Who would have thought ...

Occasionally I will begin now on the novelties of the department firmware. Now the most interesting and most controversial was the release of ... The newest version of Windows, or Vista. Why controversial? Because together with another installment of the system on the horizon appeared a set of libraries needed to uruchmiania game, called DirectX 10, dead in an older version of Windows, or XP. It was obviously another way to Gates and company for another considerable Sumki stealing from outraged players. Time to go to the sales statistics, which are ... hmm ... look the same. On the first day of sale, barely exceeded the number of copies ... 300 pieces! Not 3000, not 30000, and from 300 It's quite ridiculous number. Those who bought, also were not happy, because Vista is more in case of emergency, and besides a new, more dopieszczonego interface, not rise to the heels XP. Dear God punished for publishing such a strategy ...

Another news release was to sell dual-core processors and graphics cards is compatible with DirectX 10 Performance veritable monsters, but prądożerne. Here the prime ministers of those born in the quality of the new generation of computer games ... One of the first titles to fully benefit from the "benefits" DX 10, was Crysis from Crytek. Beautiful graphics, advanced AI, and the minimum requirements ... Began to compare with the first Crysis Quake'iem, precisely because of the qualitative leap forward, and this unfortunate, the minimum configuration komuterów. But if someone was wealthy and could properly afford to kompa, where he would see Crysis in all its glory, did not fail to .*

Finally, write a very trivial formula, but the match here like a glove. So ... Sixty years after the release of the first "game" computer technology (the console) has evolved so much that the graphics in games is almost fotorealistycza (and started from the coarse 2D ...), highly developed artificial intelligence, ht not to mention gameplay. But for many players, especially the more "seniority" and age:) probably tear in the eye rotates when odpalają Pac-Man, or the River Raid. Oh, the years of youth ... Well, and what was at that time for us-cztenasto, piętnastolatków, born between Quake and now playing in a variety of super-titles, crunching computing power of our PCs? Sex FacebookIn my opinion, the answer is one: anyone who considers himself a player should know the history of the game, "from the cradle," because if it was not a small group of people who make up the first game, there would be no Need for Speed, Bioshock, and even more to this article. So I silently hope that after reading all of this text, it will be so much news, so in the future does not shine before the eyes of their children, "They'll ask you a question:" And how did it all begin? ".