Video games started as a hobby for many people but it started in 1947. Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. patented his cathode ray tube amusement device. His machine would start the road for all video games, consoles, and all other video game machines. Goldsmith's first game used knobs and buttons to fire at air-borne targets.
MIT students made the game Spacewar in 1961 on a PDP-1 computer where 2 players flew spacecrafts that fired missles at hazards. The MIT students made the game more popular by distributing it over the internet. That same year John Burgeson made a baseball simulation game on an IBM 1620 computer where you could pick your lineup and see the game results printed out by that computer.
Galaxy Game was made on a DEC PDP-11 computer in 1971 by Stanford University that became the first coin operated game that allowed 4 to 8 people to play at one time. Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney made the game Computer Space in that same year that was bought by Nutting Associates. They made 1500 machines of Computer Space which made it the first mass produced video game and the first game that was commercially sold. Bushnell and Dabney founded Atari, Inc. in 1972 and released Pong that year. Pong was the first successful video game that sold over 19,000 copies. Gun Fight was an on-foot multi-directional shooter game made in 1975 by Tomohiro Nishikado. Players used dual-stick controls for hand-to-hand combat. It was made on an Intel 8080 computer and was the first video game to use a microprocessor. Nishikado also made Space Invaders in 1978 that was a popular game around that time. Ralph Baer made the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972 that was the first console video game system. It allowed players to play more than one game on the same machine with plastic overlays over their televisions. They sold over 2 million of the Odyssey consoles. The University of California made a Star Trek game based on the television show on a Sigma 7 minicomputer. 1972 Gregory Yob made a hide-and-seek game called Hunt the Wumpus for the PDP-10 computer that was a text adventure. 1974 Maze War & Spasm were made on a Imlac PDS-1 at the Ames Research Center which was a 3D first-person shooter. 1974 Brand Fortner made Airflight which was an educational flight simulator that later had weapons to shoot down other players’ aircrafts. 1975 universities used CRT screens to draw graphics on the screen. 1975 Daglow made the first role-playing game called Dungeon that used line-of-sight graphics where players could only see areas that they explored that became lite up while unexplored areas were dark. 1978 Multi-User Dungeon was made by Roy Trubshaw & Richard Bartle which was the first MMORPG. Paito’s Space Invaders game came out in 1978 for the Atari VCS or Atari 2600. 1976 the Fairchid Video Entertainment System allowed plastic cartridges to be plugged into a console so consoles could play multiple games instead of just one. The Video Computer System or Atari 2600 was released in 1977 by Atari. The Intellivision was made by Mattel in 1980. The ColecoVision was made in 1982 which had the popular game Donkey Kong. 1979 Activision was the first third-party developer of video games. 1982 the video game market made approximately $8 billion dollars every quarter. 1978 Space Invaders sold over 360,000 units. 1978 video games made $50 million and in 1981 they made $900 million.
1980 Pacman was made that sold 350,000 units. The Legend of Zelda came out in 1986 as an action-adventure game with puzzles, adventure, action, and RPG elements. Zork came out in 1980 as an adventure game. Karateka came out in 1984 as a Beat’em Up game with side scrolling fighting. 1989 Prince of Persia was made as the first cinematic platformer. Karate Champ was made as a Fighting Game. Golden Axe was a Hack and Slash game. Donkey Kong was made in 1981 and Mario in 1983 as platform games by Nintendo. Scramble was made in 1981 as a side scrolling shooting game with multiple levels. Duck Hunt was made in 1984 as a light gun game for the NES. 3D Monster Maze was made in 1981 as the first 3D game for a home computer. Metroid fused platform, action-adventure, and RPG elements together that started a trend for other games like Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link in 1987 and Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest in 1987. Turbo was made in 1981 by Sega as the first racing game with a third person persepective. Dance Aerobics was made in 1987 as a rhythym action-action game with Nintendo’s Power Pad. Metal Gear was made in 1987 as a stealth, action-adventure game that was the first commercially successful stealth game. 1974 Maze War started the trend for networked multiplayer games like 1987 MIDI Maze and Doom in 1993. 1985 the Nintendo Entertainment System was made. It was sold at $90 for the console and 2 controllers. It was also sold at $100 to include the game Super Mario Bros. Then it was sold at $200 that included ROB, a light zapper, 2 controllers, the game Gyromite, and the game Duck Hunt. More accessories came out like gamepads, joysticks, paddles, and keypads. 1987 Final Fantasy came out to start the most successful RPG series. The 1990’s started trends of first-person shooter, real-time strategy, and MMO games. 1989 The Game Boy came out as a hand held video game console. Multi-user Dungeon games started MMORPG’s like Ultima Online, Everquest, and RuneScape.
1991 Sonic the Hedgehog game was made for the Sega Genesis to rival Nintendo’s Mario franchise. 1992 had lots of real-time strategy games like Dune 2, Warcraft, and Starcraft. They had mini-maps that showed armies attacking other players. Alone in the Dark came out in 1992 as a survival horror game that inspired other games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Myst came out in 1993 as a point and click puzzle-based adventure game. The 1990’s has the SimCity games to control everything with games like SimCity 2000 and The Sims. 1996 the game Quake allowed players to play first-person shooter games over the internet. Java and Adobe Flash web browser plug ins allowed browser based games. Those internet games were downloaded without having to be installed on a computer. Third person shooter games were created like Grand Theft Auto 3, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Enter the Matrix, and Hitman. Arcade games like Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, Virtual Racing, and NBA Jam were around in the 1990’s. The Game Boy came out in 1989 to be followed by the Sega Game Gear, & Atari Lynx. The Game Boy also had the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and then the Nintendo DS for a portable video game console. 1995 the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation consolses were made. 1996 the Nintendo 64 console was made. PaRappa the Rapper made music video games popular in 1996. 1996 Capcom released Resident Evil which was the first popular survival horror game which sold over 2 million copies. Final Fantasy 7 came out in 1997 where games were priced at $30 to $50 for used games. Goldeneye came out in 1997 made first person shooters more popular with scopes, headshots, and objective based missions. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time came out in 1998 was highly acclaimed for its start of Z-targeting that continued with other Zelda titles. Cd’s replaced cartridges for games because they were cheaper to manufacture even though they weren’t as durable. Capcom made Mega Man which was a 2D platform shooter. 3D video games became more popular with games like Virtual Racing, Star Fox, Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Nights into Dreams. Cell Phones even added games like Snake to entertain an individual for a moment while waiting for something.
The 2000’s had modifications for games like Counter-Strike, Half-Life, and Unreal Tournament. The Dreamcast came out in 1998 which was the first to have a built in modem for online play. 2004 the Playstation 2 came out to be followed by the Nintendo Gamecube in 2005. 2001 the Xbox was released by Microsoft. The Xbox also released its signature Halo game to start its Halo series of games. 2001 Grand Theft Auto 3 was released and it popularized open world games with a non-linear story. Konami made a mat for foot controls for the Dance Dance Revolution game in 1998. RedOctane made a guiar controller for the Guitar Hero game in 2005. MMORPG’s became more popular with broadband internet spreading with games like RuneScape, World of Warcraft, Everquest, & Ultima Online. More games were made for cell phones with the iPhone and other smart phones as people wanted a bigger variety of games to pass the time. Portable video game consoles became more popular with the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable(PSP) in 2004. The Xbox 360 came out in 2005 followed by the PlayStation 3 in 2006. The Xbox costed $300 to $400 while the PS3 costed $500 to $600. The Nintendo Wii came out in 2006 that started the motion-capture games. It had a golf club, tennis racket, baseball, sword, and steering wheel for extra controllers. 2009 the PSP Go was released for $249 for a slimmer version of the PSP. Sony competed with the motion-capture games with its PlayStation Move with games like Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. The Nintendo Wii also made extra controllers like the Wii Zapper, Wheel, and the Balance Board. Casual games became more popular with games like Bejeweled Diner Dash, and The Sims. ocial networks like Facebook made more casual games like Happy Farm, Mafia Wars, and Café World.
2010 Microsoft released their Xbox Kinect to join the motion capture game market. 2011 the PlayStation Vita was released with Wifi connection capabilities. The Wii U was released in 2012 as another portable console. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox 1 were released in 2013 to continue their rivalry in the video game market.