The gaming industry was always connected to the growth and improvement of technology. It was always a big part of it and it was changed as the technology grew and improved. This is most noticeable in how the internet has changed over the years.
This is our attempt to showcase a brief history of how those changes took place and how the internet and the changes in how we use it can further develop the gaming industry.
Before the Internet
The history of gambling starts far before the internet was an idea let alone a real thing that impacts people’s lives. Gambling games such as cards and roulettes have been around far before, while what may consider video games have been around since the 1940s.
In the World Fair of the 1940s, a game based on an ancient Egyptian board game was introduced and it was played by hundreds of thousands of players. The computer won more than 90 percent of matches and it was a huge hit that captured the imagination of the media at the time.
The Brown Box
Another important milestone in the history of gaming came in 1967 when a game called Brown Box was first introduced. It became a smash hit since it was connected to the TV set and there were more TV sets than ever before.
Ping pong was the most popular game you could play by connecting the brown box to your TV set and using the system of vacuum tube circuits that powered it. About 300.000 consoles were sold within the five years. It was an important milestone in the history of gaming and the first game many future developers have seen.
Arcade Gaming
Atari was founded in 1972 and it was another important breakthrough in the history of gaming. The importance of Atari was in the fact that they didn’t only invent games that you could play in-house, but also the devices on which the games are played, and that created a whole new arcade game industry.
The first of these games was pong and it was sold to bars at first and then arcades were created as the place you can visit specifically to play games and spend time with others that do so. It became a billion-dollar industry.
The Start Of Multiplayer Games
The games we’ve mentioned before aren’t played online or with other players that aren’t physically present. The next step in the evolution of gaming has introduced online and multiplayer games. It started in 1973 when the PLATO system was used. It’s a network and it stands for Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operation.
The game that was first played on this system is called Empire and players have logged in over 300.000 hours of gameplay in this game. The Empire shut down in 1985. It was a space shooter with simple enough graphics.
The Rise of Home Gaming
The next phase of the gaming industry started in 1976 and that was the beginning of home gaming and the start of the arcade game decline. The tech has improved so that everyone with the proper device can play at home without the need of going to the arcade.
Atari was again at the forefront of this development since they started producing the console Atari VCS that was later known as Atari 2600. The sales weren’t good at first since color TVs were new and you needed them to play. There were ten simple games and pong was my favorite.
Personal Computers
Personal computers have become the norm in the early 80 and all the way through the 90s. Commodore and Apple II were the first of these that found their place in many middle-class homes. This was where the games were played both offline and online until the consoles took over again.
Over the years the processors have become stronger and more and more complex games become available. Even Bill Gates has designed a game that became a hit briefly in this period. The game was called Donkey and it was a platformer.
Online Gaming on Consoles
Sega, Nintendo, and Atari were the most popular consoles in the 90s with Sony and Xbox that followed along. This was the final stage of the home gaming trend. The games were played at home and the consoles provided more games and better gameplay than PCs could.
Over the years these three consoles have fallen out of favor even though Nintendo is still around. The consoles offered games of all kinds and for a variety of different players. They have also offered online and subscription services that allow you to play in a network and get a variety of bonus features from it, as well.
To Sum Up
Games have been around before the internet but they are specially shaped by it and its possibilities. Playing in a group and with other players was also popular before the internet and that’s why the arcades played such a big role, but the internet allowed it on a big scale.
Arcades were replaced with PCs and then with consoles and that’s still the landscape of modern gaming that allows the players to connect with others across the world and enjoy the gameplay together. Chances are that the games and consoles will change as time goes by.
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