There have been home video games for about 45-50 years. I remember plugging a video game console into our TV via the aerial socket; the screen went blank; you switched the machine on and the screen would go green and black. In tennis mode, you had to move a paddle up and down your side of the screen to hit the ball back
In a later version, you could challenge an opponent other than the computer and there were other games as well, such: as shooting 'deer' in the form of small oblongs with a gun; 'Space Invaders' and 'Break Out'. Cafes were full of the larger video games in the early Seventies and you literally had to line up to be able to put your 10p into the console.
We are currently on the Seventh Generation of games machines. The first of this new generation was Microsoft's Xbox 360 and that was closely followed by Sony's Play Station 3 (or PS3) and Nintendo's Wii, all of which have proved to be highly popular. Gamers have their favourite machines and type of game.
It is amazing though how fast a favourite video game machine may become replaced by a better model and left to collect dust at the back on a cupboard. Three-Dimensional (3D) games are already on the market such as the latest version of Mortal Kombat, also called Mortal Kombat 9. Mortal Kombat first came out in 1992 - twenty years ago!
The first home computers for which games were written were Clive Sinclair's ZX80 and ZX81. They had tiny memories and poor graphics, but they were very popular. However, they were soon obsolete by the Sinclair Spectrum and the Commodore 64. These were real computers but with idiosyncratic operating systems.
As the cost of chips fell, powerful, devoted gaming consoles were brought out like the Atari 2600 and later the Atari 5200. These were dedicated gaming machines although there was also the Atari 256 and Atari 512 and later the Atari 1024 which were computers that would play games.
These Atari gaming machines had the reputation for being difficult to program games for because of their limited technology. However, they were popular amongst gamers in the late Seventies and early Eighties until they=y were replaced by the Atari 7800 Prosystem in June 1986. The Atari 7200 Prosystem was intended to win back market share from the machines of Colecovision and Intellivision
The Atari 7800 was an unusual hybrid, because it could be upgraded to a real home computer by inserting chips and memory. Atari went bankrupt not long after this and gamers were disappointed by the shortage of games obtainable for their purchase. The Atari 7800 was soon withdrawn as a hopeless case.
There have been dozens of other gaming machines, but none of them lasted long. It seems that in the Eighties and Nineties, gamers preferred to have a computer that also played games instead of paying lots of money for a games console.
However, the pendulum appears to have swung to the other extreme now because all the best 7th Generation video machines will go on line and read and send email.
In a later version, you could challenge an opponent other than the computer and there were other games as well, such: as shooting 'deer' in the form of small oblongs with a gun; 'Space Invaders' and 'Break Out'. Cafes were full of the larger video games in the early Seventies and you literally had to line up to be able to put your 10p into the console.
We are currently on the Seventh Generation of games machines. The first of this new generation was Microsoft's Xbox 360 and that was closely followed by Sony's Play Station 3 (or PS3) and Nintendo's Wii, all of which have proved to be highly popular. Gamers have their favourite machines and type of game.
It is amazing though how fast a favourite video game machine may become replaced by a better model and left to collect dust at the back on a cupboard. Three-Dimensional (3D) games are already on the market such as the latest version of Mortal Kombat, also called Mortal Kombat 9. Mortal Kombat first came out in 1992 - twenty years ago!
The first home computers for which games were written were Clive Sinclair's ZX80 and ZX81. They had tiny memories and poor graphics, but they were very popular. However, they were soon obsolete by the Sinclair Spectrum and the Commodore 64. These were real computers but with idiosyncratic operating systems.
As the cost of chips fell, powerful, devoted gaming consoles were brought out like the Atari 2600 and later the Atari 5200. These were dedicated gaming machines although there was also the Atari 256 and Atari 512 and later the Atari 1024 which were computers that would play games.
These Atari gaming machines had the reputation for being difficult to program games for because of their limited technology. However, they were popular amongst gamers in the late Seventies and early Eighties until they=y were replaced by the Atari 7800 Prosystem in June 1986. The Atari 7200 Prosystem was intended to win back market share from the machines of Colecovision and Intellivision
The Atari 7800 was an unusual hybrid, because it could be upgraded to a real home computer by inserting chips and memory. Atari went bankrupt not long after this and gamers were disappointed by the shortage of games obtainable for their purchase. The Atari 7800 was soon withdrawn as a hopeless case.
There have been dozens of other gaming machines, but none of them lasted long. It seems that in the Eighties and Nineties, gamers preferred to have a computer that also played games instead of paying lots of money for a games console.
However, the pendulum appears to have swung to the other extreme now because all the best 7th Generation video machines will go on line and read and send email.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is at present involved with Mortal Kombat Trophies. If you have an interest in gaming, please go over to our web site now at Mortal Kombat 4.
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