A history of computer games part three: 2000s - now

We live in the future. The future that was shown in classic now sci-fi movies, future that was only a strange fantasy to our grandparents. Well, we still don’t have flying cars and personal robots, but we have 3d movies, rover on Mars and computers that can be fitted into a pocket. However, what have changed in the game industry? What are the differences between 80’s, 90’s and now?

The main difference made the influence of the Internet. Apart from big, official news portals, many games have their own fan pages where one can find game related articles and tips. In many cases, they also offer mods – usually fan-made game modifications that introduce changes to already installed game. It can be small addition such as a new weapon, character or big as an entire new world. Game developers make creating mods easier by adding creation tools to original games and it often pays off with game popularity.

Another difference regarding the Internet is playing games itself. MMORPGs, like World of Warcraft, engage millions of players spending many hours in virtual worlds every day. People love to play with their friends, so no wonder that social portals like Facebook and MySpace offer their own games. Most of them are free to play, although, they tempt players to buy additional points or items. The most popular of them is FarmVille, which has over 70 million active users worldwide.

The first console that allowed players to play on-line was Dreamcast. Released in 1998 by SEGA, it was the first entry into the sixth generation of video game consoles. It was followed by Sony PlayStation2, which enabled not only playing new games but also old PS1 games and DVDs. One year later Nintendo released GameCube – their first disc-based console. In spite of generally positive comments it was criticised for its silly design and lacking the mature games.

In 2001, Microsoft entered the console market with the Xbox – device that used much PC technology. Microsoft sold Xbox console with quite a loss and at the same time scooping money from games. The most significant one, which decided about Xbox success, was Bungie Studio's Halo: Combat Evolved. It was the first of the series that became one of the most successful console shooters of all time. Another influential game released in 2001 was GTA III. It contributed to popularization of open world games where players could decide where they want to go. Also, mobile games become more and more popular since early 2000s.

The seventh generation started in 2004 with Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable handheld consoles. In 2005, Microsoft released Xbox 360 followed by Sony’s PlayStation 3 a year later. Both were characterized by great graphic, large hard disc-based secondary storage and Internet connection. Still, PlayStation was more expensive as it came with Wi-Fi and Blu-ray disc. Nintendo decided to go in different direction and released Wii – motion controlled console with lower-definition graphic. Although Wii was underestimated by hard-core gamers, it became the fastest selling console in most of the world's gaming markets.

It’s hard to guess how game industry is going to look in the next 10-20 years, but we can be sure that it’s going to be exciting.

A history of computer games part two: 1980s - 1990s

In 1978 Tatio released Space Invaders which is accredited as an initiator of the golden age of video games. Its success inspired many other manufactures to create new titles (often clones of already popular games), one of them was legendary Pac-Man. Video gaming was established as a mainstream hobby, arcade machines could have been found on every corner and revenue generated by them was enormous. Video games' golden age lasted up to 1986.  

Another important thing that occurred in 80' was severe video game crash. I would call it an irony of fate as it was, in a way, caused by success of games: they became more and more popular, manufactures saw the potential profit in games industry so they quickly produced lots of low quality, poorly designed games. That made customers lose their confidence, so they stopped buying them and that led to bankruptcy of several video games companies. 

Among most significant of those cheesy games were movie-inspired E.T. and Pac-Man version for the Atari 2600 console. Atari rushed them to be released for the holiday season and expected to be bestsellers. In the reality, they turned out to be financial flops, and now they are believed to be responsible for Atari bankruptcy. Also, E.T. is considered to be one of the worst video games ever.

The video game industry was revitalized in 1985 by Nintendo. Their new console Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) became huge success instantly, mostly because of a quick recognition of the Italian-plumber-eating-mushrooms-and-saving-princess-game Super Mario Bros. NES was the first third-generation video game console and was characterized by 8-bit graphic and gamepad in place of joystick.

Another worth to mention fact about 80's is the spring of new game genres: action-adventure, role-playing video games, beat 'em up, real-time strategy, survival horror just to name a few. Game franchises such as The Legend of Zelda, Prince of Persia, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter were initiated at the time and nowadays, they are still significant and popular. In addition, the release of Game Boy in 1989 made handheld gaming more popular. 

One of the most important developments in games' history of 90's was introduction of 3d graphic, which made them a bit closer to what we know them as today. 3d technology gave rise to some genres such as first-person shooter and real-time strategy. Multi-User Dungeons (MUD) games gained popularity in 90's as well. Typically, they were text-based computer equivalents of Dungeons & Dragons kind of games and can be called the ancestors of MMORPG games, such as World of Warcraft. 

The interesting thing about gaming in early 90's was shareware distribution - people could have, for small amount of money, bought and tried trial versions of games before purchasing them. At first, they were sold on floppy discs but as games became more advanced and space consuming, they were replaced by free CD demos distributed with magazines and over the Internet. 

 

 People started to prefer enjoying games on comfy sofas at homes over stuffy bars and crowded shopping centres. In that way, home consoles became more common and little by little started displacing arcade games. One of new consoles was Sega's Mega Drive which at a fast rate, thanks to releasing Sonic the Hedgehog game, it gained mainstream popularity. Sonic quickly became as popular as Nintendo's Mario did. Three years later, in 1994, Sony introduced to the world their 32-bit, fifth-generation video game console - PlayStation. 

The last thing about late 90's I want to mention in this post is the introduction of mobile gaming. I believe it's quite significant as nowadays it's the most common form of gaming. The first played on phone game was 1998 Nokia's Snake.

Catch up

It's my eighth week at the uni so I guess it's good time to write some thoughts on the course and share my experience. I wanted to write that kind of post a few weeks ago, but I felt it was too early; I preferred to wait and have a closer look at the course from wider perspective. Also, as English is not my first language I feel a bit intimidated when it comes to writing so I was putting it off...

Till now my biggest (and in a way most obvious) progress regards 3d modelling. I felt quite worried about modelling because I didn’t use any 3d software before the course but now, after 2 months, I do things that look like an actual (cheap) game asset and I feel I'm on the right way. Long way.

I would not call it easy, but even the new projects are getting more complex and complicated, the things that we learned at the beginning became easier and more natural, so I guess the thing is to keep practicing.

My second biggest improvement is in the place where 2d meets 3d - sketching from life. My pieces of work may not look better in terms of mark making but I can tell the difference in a way I approach drawing. Now, as I've got better understanding of perspective, I almost subconsciously draw horizon line and try to fit everything in. Also, thanks to working with 3ds Max, breaking objects to simple shapes became much easier which makes drawings more accurate.

In spite of lack of any progress, in any way at all, I like Critical Game Studies the most. No, not because I can sit and literally do nothing for an hour, in comparison to freezing my butt off for 6 hours in Bradgate Park. No. The reason for that is that it keeps reminding me why I'm on this course, why it is right course for me and it makes other two modules more coherent. I just need to start uploading this blog more often...