1940 - In 1940 Edward U. Condon designed a computer that played a game called Nim, this is a game in which players have to avoid picking up the last matchstick. Thousands of people played this game and the computer won 90% of games played. In 1947 Thomas T. GoldSmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann create a "cathode ray tube amusement device." this was a game which used a cathode tube hooked to an oscilloscope display, this allowed the user to fire a weapon at the target.
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1950 - Claude Shannon lays out the basic guidelines for programming a computer which plays chess, later that year both him and Alan Turing created the program which would play chess. In 1952 A.S. Douglass created a game called OXO (known as naughts and crosses or Tic Tac Toe). This game was created on Cambridge's EDSAC computers as part of the research on Human-computer interaction.
In 1954 programmers in New Mexico's Los Alamos laboratories created the first Blackjack program on an IBM-701 Computer. In 1955 war gaming entered the gaming industry then the U.S. Military created a game called Hutspiel, this game had both red and blue players to represent each side of the war. In 1956 Arthur Samuel showed the world his computers checkers program on national TV, this was written on a IBM-701, 6 years after the program was made the program defeated a checkers master. In 1957 Alex Bernstein wrote the first ever successful computer chess program, he writ it on an IBM-704, this program was so advanced they evaluated the computer to be 4 halfmoves ahead of the average user. In 1958 Willy Higinbotham created a tennis game on an oscilloscope and analog computer, this was made for the public to demonstrate at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Although this was taken down and almost forgotten about two years after its creation, it had a huge part in the infamous game known as 'Pong' which was created for home video consoles. In 1959 a group of students at MIT created a game called Mouse in a maze, it was created on MIT's TX-0 computers. The user first drew a maze using a light pen, then the mouse would navigate the maze to find the cheese, in a more updated version of this game the mouse seeks out Martinis and still remembers the path it took. |
1960 - In 1960 a programmer named John Burgeson stayed home from work and began developing a baseball simulator. A month after this he runs this program with the help of his brother and he runs the first known baseball computer program on an IBM 1620. In 1961 a company called Raytheon created a simulation of the cold ware conflict the the US joint chiefs of staff, although it was an amazing simulator even the models had the benefit of arms control, but sadly the simulation seemed to be too much for the unfamiliar computers so they had to create a more accessible analog version called Grand Strategy.
In 1962 an MIT student called Steve Russel created 'Spacewar!", this was the first computer based video game and it spread over the country in the following years. In 1963 US Defense Department completed a computer war game known as STAGE (Simulation of Total Atomic Global Exchange), this game showed the US beating the Soviet Union in a thermonuclear war. in 1964 John Kemeny created the computer time-share system and BASIC programming language at Dartmouth. Both make it easy for students to write computer games, shortly after this a lot of games were created. In 1965 a Dartmouth student programed the first computer football game. Before this John Kemeny and Keith Bellairs had created the first computer game using BASIC. In 1966 Ralph Baer writes down ideas while waiting for a friend in the bus station, this idea is to be able to play games on a television, On September 1th he made it the basis of a new project. In 1967 Ralph Baer developed the 'Brown Box' which allowed users to plat Tennis and other games. |
1970 - In 1971 Minnesota college students Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger create Oregon Trail which is a text base game and generated many fans as it was distributed nationally. In 1972 the infamous 'Pong' was created by Atari, while this was being tested in California it stopped working, this was because it was played so much it became jammed with quarters. in 1974 before Doom, Maze Wars introduces the first-person shooter by taking players into a Maze of passages made from wire-frame graphics.
In 1975 Atari created the Pong machine but they couldn't fine any partners so they sold the first unit to Sears Roebuck sporting goods. In 1977 the Atari 2600 was released which made millions from the home video game players. in 1978 Space Invaders got released in Japan and sold over 60,000 cabinets within the first year. in 1979 Mattel releases its handheld electronic games, this was called the Intellivision, this gad better graphics and controls than the Atari 2600, it sold roughly 3 Million units |
1980 - 1981 saw the release of Donkey Kong which got users going crazy with characters qhich would become world-famous like Jumpman or as he is better known as 'Mario' which is the name he takes later on when the game is produced. 1982 saw the release of Tron which is an arcade game which became a huge hit along with the movie. in 1983 Multiplayer play takes a huge step forward with the release of M.U.L.E. In this game the players compete to gather the most resources while saving their colony.
In 1984 a Russian mathematician called Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris which is a simple but highly addictive puzzle game, this game was later bundles with Nintendo's Game Boy. in 1986 an educational software was released, this was called 'Reader Rabbit' but this unfortunately crashed with the rise of the internet. In 1987 Shigeru Miyamoto created Legend of Zelda, the SSI won the video game license for Dungeons and Dragons and the release of Leisure suit Larry gave players a different kind of role playing game. in 1988 John Madden football was released bringing realism into computer games. in 1989 the Nintendo Game Boy was released and became very popular by charming the users with its good games, ease of use and also the long lasting battery life. |
1990 - In 1990 Microsoft bundles a game with the release of Windows 3.0, this game was called Solitaire and attracted a lot of players as it was quick and easy casual gameplay, these key features made this one of the most popular electronic game ever. in 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog is released and many gamers snap up the Sega systems and love Sonic's attitude and super speed. In 1992 Dune II because a very popular Real-time strategy game that required the users to act like a military leader and gain resources and forces to defeat the enemy team.
1994 saw the release of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, this was a real-time strategy game which introduced millions of users to the world of Azeroth. In 1996 the famous game known as Tomb raider was released and became a huge hit, the players loved the character but many critics say that she is the example of sexism in video games. In 1997 Machine beats man as the IBM chess program beats the world champion of chess in a match. In 1998 Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released, this game took players to a whole new world with provoking puzzles and engaging characters, this game also brought some of the most memorable musical instrumentals to appear in a video game. in 1999 Everquest is released which leads many players through guild full of monsters and as they defeat more they become a higher level. |
2000 - in 2000 The Sims was released, this game modeled real life, this wasn't the first simulation game but it quickly became the best selling computer game ever and also the most popular game with female gamers. In 2002 Valve energized PC gaming with the release of Steam. Steam allowed players to download, play and update games all online. in 2008 with more than 10 million users worldwide the game World of Warcraft become the most popular MMO, MMO's allow the user to create a virtual character and the player they create is redefines as they play, learn and relate with others.
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2010 - 2010 was the time for the Indie games to have their spotlight, with the release of Minecraft bringing the Indie community alive, the addictive block building game was created by one man, his name was Markus Persson. in 2012 there were websites like KickStarter which is a crowd funding website which allowed game creators to raise millions in order for them to create their platforms, this was used to create Oculus Rift. In 2014 free to play games became very popular with games such as League of legends and World of tanks, these games get their money through micro transactions in the game.
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Limitations - A huge limitation which the PC had is that it wasn't small enough to take around with you. Most of the time PC's cost much more than mobile devices or games consoles, this makes gaming on PC's a much more expensive experience but the graphical and hardware difference is worth it. Here are a few more:
- Not fair playing online, this is because some people have much better computers allowing them to run the games better therefore not getting any lag like some people would with lower budget PCs