The history of computer games up to the 80's

Astonishingly computers had been around for about 20 years before anyone had unearthed their true potential of creating computer games. There is one machine however that was produced many years before in 1849 and is arguably the first ever computer. The 'Difference Engine' (depicted left) created by Charles Babbage, was a hand powered mechanical computer that printed out precise decimal numbers of up to thirty digits, to prevent human error. Though it doesn't conform to the typical aesthetics of a computer it did the same job computers a hundred years later were doing, which is what makes it so spectacular. There were a few similarly significant computers that were produced after this such as the first Hewlett Packard computer in 1939 'HP Audio Oscillator 200a', which unlike its future generations just produced a noise changeable in pitch. Also there was the 'CNC' computer, which despite the fact it was hand powered had features that were influential to the typical modern computer such as screen and keyboard. later in 1946 a computer called a 'Enaic' was dubbed as the first commercial machine, another in 1950 called an 'NBS Seac' was the first computer to use transistors in its circuit board to speed up its processing, in 1951 'Univac' introduced the concept of recording programmes onto a tape so you could re-run them, in 1956 the small computer 'MIT TX-0' was build in an attempt to achieve the execution of a compact office computer, and lastly in 1958 a computer called 'Sage', used by Americas military to target and destroy missiles, featured a gun like pointer that you used to aim at the screen to target a missiles, which to me sounds possible to be to source of influence for remote controllers seen with consoles such as the Nitendo Wii. All of these small incremental additions to computers over the years are what have led us to produce the typically stylized computers we see today.

The first glimpse of the games industry was seen in 1957-58 in the minimalistic games 'Bouncing Ball' and 'Tennis Programming' (featured in the Youtube video). Utilizing the technology behind the oscilloscope, it was man's first attempt at creating a computer game. However the first fully evolved computer game didn't emerge until 1961, an era in which computers five times the size and ten times the price as the ones we are blessed with today dominated the technological world. These monstrous machines were primarily used by lab dwellers and the military for calculating vast amounts of information. In 1961 a similar computer called a PDP1 was obscenely, yet innovatively manipulated by a revolutionary man named Steve Russell to create a basic two dimensional two player game called 'Space War'. The game was played by using a number of ugly looking switches beneath the monitor and was programmed on the computer by feeding a strip of paper depicting patterns of dots into it. The game play consisted of two space rockets that were able to fly around in an outer space and shoot each other. The concept for this game is understandable, subsequent to the fact that America in the early 60s was infected with an obsession of space exploration. Though the aim of the game was somewhat simple, merely to destroy the other player before he destroyed you, and the aesthetics weren't exactly enticing, the execution of the game as a whole was mind blowing for its time and highly influential. To me it symbolises the start of an infectious plague that caused billions of people to misspend hours of there lives staring at a screen having incomparable fun for the last 50 years. Which dubs it an important milestone in my history book.

In 1972 the famous games company Atari was founded by Nolan Bushnell, a man who utilized the invention of the first computer game seen from Steve Russell and not only made it more affordable but also made the computer generated line drawings more appealing to the public eye. Bushnell was notorious for creating the worlds first video arcade cabinet 'Computer Space'. However, though his creation was magnificent to his engineer friends the people who attempted to play it in the pubs that bought these machines were alien to the technology. To solve this dilemma Atari decide to make the classic game 'Pong' 1972, which was a proved a success as everyone knew the concept of table tennis, drunk or not. As the notoriety of the company increased, the iconic Atari was bought by Warner Brothers for thirty million dollars, and bearing in mind Bushnell only made an initial two hundred and ifty dollar investment into the company it shows just how much the world went mad for computer games.

Also in 1972 the 'TV Typewriter' was introduced which under analyses echoes similar traits seen in the modern day games console, as it comes in a compact box that plugs into the back of your TV, this is perhaps where the idea spawned from. Just as significant, in 1973 the computer 'Superpaint' was produced which was the first computer to feature a graphics pack. People where starting to see computers as more than just machines for calculating numbers, you could now achieve different outcomes from them, altering them for pleasure purposes rather than business.

'Space Invaders' (depicted right), made by Tomohiro Nishikado and realised on the Atari 2600 in 1978, gave birth to many key aspects that we see featured in modern games, such as the adoption of a high score board, the progression of destroying waves of enemy's and the introduction of fully animated characters. The popularity of the game is subsequent to these intelligent additions, making it so addictive that the police ordered arcades to close earlier,as the obsession was getting so sever one girl even ran away from home because her parents stopped her from playing the game. 

 

Images and information sourced from:
www.computerhistory.org (Useful for any technical information on computers)
www.giantbomb.com (Useful for reviews and descriptions of classic games)