History of Pc Games
History of Computer Games
John E. Laird EECS Department Updated 9/7/05
Derived from The Ultimate Game Developer’s Sourcebook The First Quarter: A 25 year history of video games, S.Kent and sources on the WWW
First “games”
• 1952
– TicTacToe: – A.S.Douglas on a EDSAC vacuum-tube computer
[OXO] T56K [M3] PFGKIFAFRDLFUFOFE@A6FG@E8FEZPF @ !8!7!!!!!!!*NOUGHTS!AND!CROSSES @!5!4!!!!!!!*!!!!!!!!BY @!2!1!!!!!!!*A!S!DOUGLAS#N!*C#M1952 @&@&*LOADING!PLEASE!WAIT#MMM ..PK T45KP192F [H-parm] T50KP512F [X-parm] T46KP352F [N-parm] T64K GKT48KP@TZ [&-sequence] P4FPFP1FP2FP3FP4FP8FP10FP12FP16F P300FP32FAHOFU1FU2FK4098FM1FA2DPF
• 1958
– Tennis for Two:
• Willy Higginbotham on an oscilloscope connected to analog Donner computer
1960’s and Early 1970’s
• 1961-1962 SpaceWar! developed at MIT using vector graphics on PDP-1 • Sega releases Periscope:
– electronic shooting game - first arcade game
1971-1974 Birth of Commercial Games
• 1971:
– Nolan Bushnell [Nutting] develops Computer Space
• • • • First commercial arcade game Based on SpaceWar Vector graphics, but really cool real-time space game Too sophisticated for market. Fails
•
1972:
– Bushnell starts Atari
• Named after a move in GO
– Odyssey by Magnavox – “Hockey”
• First home TV game – analog not digital • 100,000 sold - $100/console –
•
1973:
– Pong in Arcades by Atari
• Sued by Magnavox • A huge hit in bars, pinball arcades, …
•
1974:
– Kee releases Tank
• Fake spinoff from Atari • First game to use ROM
– Atari:
• First racing game (Trak 10) & maze chase game (Gotcha).
1972-1976
• Adventure: The Colossal Cave
– William Crowther and Don Woods – First text-based adventure game – Ran on DEC mainframes (PDP-10)
Late-70’s: Atari Expands
• • 1976: Bushnell sells Atari to Warner for $26 Million
– Warner markets Pong to home as a single game – Breakout designed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
1977: Atari introduces the 2600 VCS
– First home game console
John E. Laird EECS Department Updated 9/7/05
Derived from The Ultimate Game Developer’s Sourcebook The First Quarter: A 25 year history of video games, S.Kent and sources on the WWW
First “games”
• 1952
– TicTacToe: – A.S.Douglas on a EDSAC vacuum-tube computer
[OXO] T56K [M3] PFGKIFAFRDLFUFOFE@A6FG@E8FEZPF @ !8!7!!!!!!!*NOUGHTS!AND!CROSSES @!5!4!!!!!!!*!!!!!!!!BY @!2!1!!!!!!!*A!S!DOUGLAS#N!*C#M1952 @&@&*LOADING!PLEASE!WAIT#MMM ..PK T45KP192F [H-parm] T50KP512F [X-parm] T46KP352F [N-parm] T64K GKT48KP@TZ [&-sequence] P4FPFP1FP2FP3FP4FP8FP10FP12FP16F P300FP32FAHOFU1FU2FK4098FM1FA2DPF
• 1958
– Tennis for Two:
• Willy Higginbotham on an oscilloscope connected to analog Donner computer
1960’s and Early 1970’s
• 1961-1962 SpaceWar! developed at MIT using vector graphics on PDP-1 • Sega releases Periscope:
– electronic shooting game - first arcade game
1971-1974 Birth of Commercial Games
• 1971:
– Nolan Bushnell [Nutting] develops Computer Space
• • • • First commercial arcade game Based on SpaceWar Vector graphics, but really cool real-time space game Too sophisticated for market. Fails
•
1972:
– Bushnell starts Atari
• Named after a move in GO
– Odyssey by Magnavox – “Hockey”
• First home TV game – analog not digital • 100,000 sold - $100/console –
•
1973:
– Pong in Arcades by Atari
• Sued by Magnavox • A huge hit in bars, pinball arcades, …
•
1974:
– Kee releases Tank
• Fake spinoff from Atari • First game to use ROM
– Atari:
• First racing game (Trak 10) & maze chase game (Gotcha).
1972-1976
• Adventure: The Colossal Cave
– William Crowther and Don Woods – First text-based adventure game – Ran on DEC mainframes (PDP-10)
Late-70’s: Atari Expands
• • 1976: Bushnell sells Atari to Warner for $26 Million
– Warner markets Pong to home as a single game – Breakout designed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
1977: Atari introduces the 2600 VCS
– First home game console