Video (aka “Digital”) Games – March 27, 2014- Brief history of digital gameso The term “digital games” is better because this can also refer to computer games and games on other types of electronic media. o First computer game: Spacewar, 1961. Developed by some graduate and undergraduate students at MIT in a club called the Tech Model Railroad. Three orfour guys who met and were looking to see who computer technology, which was still quite new at the time, might be used for a variety of purposes. o Spacewar started with their mapping the stars and then sticking some little spaceships in it. It was not meant to be sold, just for educational purposes and to see what computers could achieve. o These guys shared Spacewar with some of their friends at other universities – they had to take the code, write it down, and mail it so that the other people could input it into their computers.o Spacewar created the first joystick/game pad to be used to control the game. o Nolan Bushnell at the University of Utah was one of the people who received access to the game. He loved it. He was working at an arcade (with mechanical games) to pay for college, and he had the idea that digital games could be added to the arcade. He and some friends each took out $250 each and put it into a pot and started a company called Atari. o First home gaming system Odyssey, 1972.o Atari and Magnavox were the forerunners in the gaming industry. Magnavox also sold other things, though, and Atari developed games and made them more popular and economically viable through their systems, which were more affordable. (Atari developed a game called Pong and sold it through Sears Roebuck and Co., so it was much more popular and was easily accessible.)o First handheld games: Mattel Electronics, 1977o 1981 – a very important year for the development of video games because DonkeyKong was introduced. This game was important because it introduced the idea of having characters in a game and having a game take place in the narrative. This matters because it introduced subsidiary rights into the gaming industry. With characters, things like stuffed animals, t-shirts, etc. could be made, allowing a secondary market to open in the video game world. Eventually, video games developed into motion pictures and vice versa. o 1986 – Another important year with the introduction of the Legend of Zelda. This game allowed you to wander and go where you wanted to in the game – the idea of open-source play. You did not have to remain on one screen until you made it to the next level. With the introduction of open-source play, you had to be able to save where you were in the game, so this also was introduced with Zelda. Open-source play and being able to save games is how the industry works today. o 1993 – Doom released. One of the first first-person games – specifically, a first-person shooter game. This caused outcry and argument among parents that it wasstill realistic, and these complaints have not gone away. Doom was also the first game in which you could play with other people who were not physically with you – could connect to a local area network (LAN) and play with others who had the game. This was before the introduction of commercial internet, so it was a groundbreaking idea.o Because of public outcry in regards to games, the same thing that happened to the radio, film, TV industries happened – Senate hearings were held; the government said that it would regulate games if the industry needed it to. Like the others, the gaming industry said that it could handle itself, and the ESRB ratings were established in 1994. Major criticism of the ratings system – not always enforced, not too effective. Kids can play games that their older friends, parents, siblings have purchased and thus are still exposed to violence and other negative things in these games meant for older people. o 2006 – Important year with the introduction of Nintendo Wii. The ability to be completely emerged in the gaming environment – mapping of all body movement.- Digital games today o 58% of Americans, 72% of American homes play (but who knows what kinds of games they are playing)o 135 million Americans regularly play; 1.5 billion globally.o Average age of a gamer is 37 years old – gaming is not necessarily a young person’s industry. o 82% of the gamers are 18 and up. o The gaming industry has historically been male-dominated. o Women are beginning to play more – female gamers, specifically those over the age of 18, are the fastest growing game demographic. This demographic (females over 18) currently makes up 37% of game playing. (Compare this to males under the age of 18 – 13% of game play) Women over the age of 18 own more than half of the Wiis and PS Portables. o Family gamers 45% of parents play games with their kids 80% of families say that gaming brings them closer together 52% of families say that gaming plays a positive role in a child’s life o $72 billion industry worldwide ($36 billion in the U.S. alone)o Best-selling video games: Action and first-person shooter games are the most popular genres, making up more than 40%. o On the other hand, best-selling computer games: casual games (games played just to pass time on PCs, tablets, phones – Angry Birds, Candy Crush, etc.), role-playing games, and strategy games are the most popular genres.o World of Warcraft – people were paid to do menial tasks in the games so that the people were paying them could advance in the game without having to do all of the work. o Trends in gaming are like those in the film industry: franchise games, sequels, remakes of older games. o Top 20 selling video games of 2012: all are part of a series of a sequel. For example, COD: Black Ops II, Madden NFL 13, etc. o The same is true for the computer game side of the industry as well: top 20 sellingcomputer games of 2012 include Diablo III, Guild Wars 2, The Sims 3, etc. o Criticisms of this: No creativity, very easy for developers, limits the type of games that exist (although apps and the ability for individuals to create games is mediating this), customers will take fewer risks – leading to loyal buying because they know what they’re getting in to. This also makes it more difficult for new gamers to break into the business because there are already several games in a franchise. It may make it more difficult for new game developers to break into theindustry, too, at
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