Gaming Over the Years
Gaming has grown over the years originating from a digital replication of table tennis or a small triangular ship navigating an asteroid field to a story of might and magic in a 3D generated world or gearing up for war in an environment that is almost completely realistic. In 1952 what was widely considered as "the first video game" Pong was made by Willy Higinbotam which was one of the first to kickstart the concept of gaming. Fast forward 20 years to 1972 with one Magnavox who, after seeing the potential of video games created the first home console named "Odyssey" and had "Pong" be the first released game, and highly successful at that. Arcades rose in popularity during 1978 when "Space Invaders" brought the concept of high scores to the table, and "Asteroids" improved the idea with the three letter addition to the scores. The first 3-D game, "Battlezone" was created and immediately caught the attention of the U.S. Government and was modified for training purposes. The rising levels of violence in gaming and it's marketing lead to concerns that eventually created the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). In the more recent years of 2006 and 2007 the Nintendo Wii revolutionized the controller system designed to mimic physical movements, and that same year had the release of Sony's most sophisticated console the Playstation 3. One year later has the release of Apple's iPhone which has the ability to play games and along with the App store being released in 2008 designing games on smartphones became a new niche.
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Next we will be looking at the growth and usage of story and other writing elements in gaming. While the hardware continued to improve and increase the quality of gaming another aspect had been growing over time; storytelling and other writing elements that were being incorporated into the growing virtual phenomenon. Story in gaming has been an element that has been being used more commonly in recent years and in kore varying means depending on genre. It would be more common to find story in a Role-Playing Game (RPG) or an Action-Adventure Game as apposed to a First Person Shooter (FPS) or Sports Game. Some of the videos on this page will show examples between games that revolve around story and ones that don't rely on it at all. Example A is "Life is Strange" a episodic game that details the strange event's surrounding Max Caulfield, her ability to rewind time, and other antics occurring in Arcadia Bay. Example B is "Civilization V" which is a game that's sole purpose is to allow the player to pick a country and leader and build a civilization and aim for the top either by conquering the opposition, advancing the furthest in science or being the most cultural. The main differences between both examples is that with "Life is Strange" the game is railroaded on a specific journey to a destination allowing the player to make changes on occasion that will have small or large consequences on the path; on the other hand "Civilization V" is more of a sandbox that drops you into a randomly generated world and leaves you to your own machinations,
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Art has constantly been a ever growing concept in video games. From visuals to music, gaming has been there and despite the differences between visual art and music have went through the same "eras" together. In the beginning when the technology was heavily basic, visual arts appeared first in the style of Vector Graphics. Vector Graphics utilized an electron beam to create images based on lines, points, and curves. Music came in later on with technology that created sound by using computer chips to change electric impulses through the speaker; This was also when sound effects were introduced. During this time graphics had evolved to technology that used printing and drawing technology which consisted of typography, cartography, technical drawing, etc. This method is called 2D Computer Graphics. The third dimension is added later on along with three specific phases to making 3D Computer Graphics: First, is 3D Modeling - the process of using computer models to make an object's shape. Second, Layout and Animation - revolves around the movement and placement of objects within a scene. Third, is 3D Rendering which generates images based on calculations on light placement, surface types and other qualities. At this time we now have cd quality pre recorded music which allows composers to use any instruments desired and record them straight to the disc.
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Look at Super Mario Bros. several years and graphical updates later and he is still doing the same thing.