Video Games - A Short History

From its simple yet optimistic beginnings in the early 1980's through to today's state of the art consoles the computer game sector has grown exponentially and will freely continue to do so.

In the 1980's Sinclair and Commodore were the innovators of the gaming industry. It was required to squander innumberable hours of your free time typing in Programming script out of a book to allow a low quality character to creep around the monitor one painful square after another. After that video games started being sold on magnetic audio tapes. You had to link up your tape recorder to your console via a delicate connector. Also the RAM pack was delicately attached to the console. One slight wisp of air in the incorrect angle would sever the connection free and you'd lose all of your hard work. You'd use up 25 minutes entering a game into the thing only for the hateful 'Syntax Error' to show up and you'd need to begin again. Everything was so time-consuming, so lengthy and so fiddly yet WE WERE IN HEAVEN!

We didn't worry that our machines resembled wedges of cheese. We didn't worry that you had to press vigorously on a cold, deceased flesh type of keyboard for it to work. We even didn't mind that all of the video games we played looked like they were constructed out of LEGO bricks. We were producing our own video games and that was fantastic stuff.

These giants of video gaming were quickly replaced by far More advanced versions featuring audio, Loads of colours and even a pre-installed tape recorder! The best even had 64K of RAM. After that came machines with joysticks and a few even had floppy drives for quicker loading periods. This additionally opened the door for superior, more complex games. The titles for these machines were, by comparison, enormous leaps forward in visual appearance and audio yet they still had tons of gameplay.

Next the console battle started. Home computers as we knew them were about to expire and be taken over by one hundred per cent gaming technology. Nintendo and Sega were to release various versions with always increasing technical specs. Nintendo were to be victorious in the long run but they didn't constantly have it easy. A number of poor decisions by Sega and maybe some over ambitious plans Paved the way to their final departure from the video game hardware marketplace. A real discredit in my view as their final console, the Dreamcast, was an exceptional console with particularly prophetic stuff incorporated.

A new Player was to enter the enormous console market and was about to transform things forever. Sony introduced their Playstation. A CD based console with mind blowing graphics, a magnificent controller and an exceptional collection of games which blew the Rivals away. This console was to Take over the market until a fresh player was released, the Playstation 2! The PS2 (as it was called) Incorporated a DVD drive which increased the volume of the Discs games could be stored on hence Raising the size and complexity of games.

Shortly following this, yet one more brand new competitor entered the market. Microsoft Showcased their Xbox to the planet and, after a sluggish start, proceeded to do extremely well.

This leads me onto today's consoles. The Business these days is dominated by three Big companies: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Consoles at present are more powerful and innovative than anyone could have Imagined back in the era of the ZX81 and BBC Micro.

Nowadays gaming has been focused on the multiplayer aspects and in particular, internet based multiplayer. The power to link up with people all over the planet and take part in games with them freely as though they were Next to you has enlightened the games industry but has also brought with it a additional array of problems and dangers.

But what of the future? Well, the possibilities are Limitless. The technology Used is Growing and increasing faster than ever. The only limit will eventually be our imagination. I for one can't wait!

Trevor Mayhew