Week 3- The history of computergames: 1980s-90s

The 80's was a decade of growth for computer games. Home consoles started to become available such as the Commodore 64 and the ZX spectrum. At the beginning of the decade, the first truely 3D games were created using sprite based technology, the first of which being Battlezone (1980).

One of the most iconic games of this era was Pac-Man (1979) which went on to become the first game character to gain mainstream popularity as a character. I do not remember the first time I played this, but it is so widely recognised that I doubt there are many people out there in western society who do not instantly know how to play.

During this period, many genres of games were created that still remain today and still influence the way that games are created. Also network gaming became possible and precursors to multiplayer games like quake started to appear (Mazewar, Spasim).

In around 1985, the console market was revived after a considerable crash. This was achieved when the Nintendo Entertainment System (or Famicom) was released along with the classic platformer "Super Mario Bros". This is one of the earliest games that I have played and it is obviously one of the most famous games ever created. I think that the great thing about Mario is that the formula has not really changed since it started, it has just been improved upon and he is still popular today. The simple idea of trying to reach a goal whilst overcoming difficult obstacles is such a challenging idea it drives me to complete the levels and try something harder on the next.

In 1986 "The Legend of Zelda" was relased for the NES. This began my favourite series of games. This game was revolutionary for its sence of adventure and discovery, the player could explore the world in any order he wished gaining weaponry as he went. After playing this game as a port on the GBA, i can see a whole range of things that are wrong with it, but it was the starting point for a great storyline and formula that continues to excite me more than any other series to this day.

The NES was the first console to use a "gamepad" in replacement of a joystick or keyboard. The "D-pad" then became standard amongst consoles. I think that Nintendo are always coming up with innovative ideas for gaming like this and are constantly pushing the boundaries of how we play.

In 1989 the Gameboy was released. Created by the same people who made the "game and watch" systems, the Gameboy came with the classic puzzle game Tetris. The Gameboy continued to dominate the handheld games market with its succesors until only recently.

In the 90's arcade games became fewer and the home console market started to take over. Consoles around at the begining of the 90's included the Sega Megadrive (1989) which sparked competition from Nintendo's new console The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1991. This to many was the start of the "console wars".

1994-95 saw the rise of the Sony Playstation and the Sega Saturn. The Playstation dominated the market throughout the 90's. In 1996, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 and alongside it, Mario 64 and Goldeneye: two games which would majorly influence both the platforming and first-person shooter genres in the future. The 90's saw such great games as Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII and Zelda Ocarina of Time which are all considered some of the best games of all time.

1999 saw the beginning of the end for Sega consoles when the Dreamcast was released. Although the console hosted some great games, Sega realised that they were no longer able to competitively stay within the console market. However, they did continue to make games and are now making games across all platforms.

My Personal Experience of Games in the 90's

When I was about 4 (in 1993) I remember playing Sonic the Hedgehog at a friends house and this was my first real experience of computer games. Following this I remember constantly begging my parents to get me a computer for Christmas even though I knew we could not afford one. Up until I was about 12 (2001) my main experience of games was playing them with friends at their houses. My most treasured memories of games at this time were playing Zelda- A Link to the Past, Street Fighter, and Sonic the Hedgehog. It was always great to be able to go out and play until we were exausted and then come in and relax in front of games.

When I was 12 I got my first home console. For my birthday I received a Nintendo 64 with Goldeneye and found great pleasure in beating my sister's boyfriend at the multiplayer whenever he was round: my sister was not so impressed. I then discovered Zelda: OOT and that's when my passion for games started. This fantastic world was there for me to discover and I genuinely felt like the "hero of time". I then found myself saving up lunch money everyday to buy the sequel, Zelda: Majora's Mask, and it did not dissapoint one bit.

I found a love of multiplayer when Super Smash Bros first came out on the N64. I would often have 3 other friends over to play this as well as F Zero X, another one of my favourite multiplayer games. Games also offered a way for me to spend time with my sister: we would often come home after school and have a game of F Zero together. We would realy enjoy just laughing and joking together.

I also owned a Game Boy Pocket, although I can not remember when I bought it. I spent most of my time playing the Mario games on it as well as Pokemon (as most children my age were). Mostly, my experience of games has been a social one. I do not enjoy playing a game unless I have someone to show it to or go through it with. I would often run across the road to see my best friend and share what I had discovered but if he did not like the game, I often found that the lack of competition soon made it a lot less interesting.

Week 2- The history of computer games: 1950s-70s

Computer-games have a very surprising history. Getting their roots from missile computers and the technology surrounding radars, the first games were very different to the ones that we are playing today.

Argueably, the first interactive elecronic game was a missile simulator created by Thomas T Goldsmith Jr and Estle Ray Mann in 1947. The game operated on a cathode ray tube and was inspired by radar displays from World War 2. It used analogue circuitry to control and position a dot on the screen.

Following this, in 1952, a game was created by a man called A.S Douglas and was written for the EDSAC computer. This game was a game of naughts and crosses called OXO that did not become very popular due to the EDSAC computer only being available at Cambridge. This was probably the first game to be played against the computer.

Then, in 1958 "Tennis for Two" was created. It played on an oscilloscope and was a game based around tennis or pingpong. Again, based on analogue computing, it was created by a physicist, William Higinbotham. Higinbotham created this game as a form of entertainment for visitors to his Brookhaven National Laboratory, in which he worked. Following this in 1962 "Spacewar" was created.

Having played none of these games, I find it hard to comment on any of them. However I have played games that I am sure will have developed based on these first few. Pong, the most famous early game was realeased in 1972. I remember one of my best friends getting out his old Atari when I was about 11 and the ridiculous amount of fuss getting the machine to work: blowing into the machine to fix it for a good 5 minutes seemed to work! There was something special about turning a dial to control the paddle. It was a lot more physical than, for instance, pressing a button. Although a very simple game, it offered alot of competitive atmosphere when playing with a friend, something alot of modern games lack.

Throughout the 70's the common gaming community were university students who were using expensive computer equipment to make their own games. Games such as "Star Trek" were then later published for a wider audience. Home computers became available and these games that were created by students began to become available.

Following a minor crash in the industry, cartridges became a common way for games to be published, allowing for gamers to collect a library of games. The Atari 2600 was a cartridge based console that was published in 1977.

Hello Halo!!

Fiiiiinally got a chance to play Halo 3 today for the first time properly. To be honest... not sure what to think. What is all the hype about? Sure, it's great! Yea, it's pretty!! But "the perfect game"? Umm.. no. I think theres a bit too much hype obiting it's giant ego for everyone to notice the problems with it.

I played through the first chapter of the campain and then went on to play A LOT of multiplayer (what I was looking forward to the most!).

For someone like me, who was looking for an expansion on the fantastic Halo 2 multiplayer, it ticks all the boxes. New maps, weapons and vehicles! However nothing really innovative or new is offered. I expect that I will have many hours with friends having a laugh just like with Halo 2: but that is the problem. It is just another Halo and besides the outstanding multiplayer there is very little to see that is exciting or inspirational.

As for the multiplayer: many changes have occured to the weapons that already existed in previous editions, obviously for "balancing" issues. For example, the rocket launcher no longer has a "lock on" feature and this is instead assigned to some kind of anti-aircraft gun. One word... WHY!!! There is a great deal of satisfation gained from swerving a rocket into a warthog full of your friends whilst they excitedly head back to their base with your team's flag. Now, all you can do is plod along; carrying what appears to be an entire tank on your arm hoping to come across a stray. Although this can be fun, it's just not the same! Also the brute shot does not bounce around corners anymore! But don't get me started on that!

As harsh as I am being, I do love the new multiplayer. All these changes surprisingly seem to work when applied with all thats new to offer, including some of my favourites: radar jammers, gravity hammers, improved invisibility and the oppertunity to drive an entire base! Very cool.

I hate to admit it. It's going to take some getting used to... but I like it. Alot. If it were a new, fresh game, then I would adore it. I think I may just be clinging on to the nostalgia of many gaming nights on Halo 2, eating pizza way too quickly so we could all start the next game. Looks like Halo 3 is just going to mean more pizza, and a bit of learning.

Truely AWESOME!!!

Had an amazing day at home today for the first time in a month and was shown this guy Andy Mckee on the internet. I absolutely love everything about this guys music, exactly what I hope to acheive and love to see and listen to!! This tune sums up the happiness of seeing my best friends again for the first time in a month perfectly.

Week 1- the world of blogging

After now starting my blog I've been trying to get a bit of insight into how other people do it and what they enjoy writing about (or indeed what people enjoy reading about). Whilst randomly searching "blog" on google hoping to find a glimpse of insight, I came across Stephen Fry's blog and thought to myself "he's clever... he must know something i should know!!".

I then started reading one of his entries titled "I Give Up". It immediately occured to me that this man really loves to ramble; scrolling down the page I found a good 15 minutes of reading! Instantly his style is obvious; intelligent, witty and with a dose of silliness. His extremely well developed vocabulary is part of the fun of reading his blog; seeing words such as "admixture" and "hedonistic degradation". However, whilst reading this I started to wonder how many people read this and why?

His blog doesn't seem say anything new about the world or indeed anything original: the purpose of the majority of the text seems to be just so that others can have an insight to a celebrity's life. In spite of this, it is actually very well written. Fry uses quotes from popular culture to illustrate his point with phrases from Macbeth to Basil Faulty.

I think when writing my blog I wish to do something similar but with a different subject material and alot less content. I want to be able to express what I am interested in and show a little of who I am, as much for me, as for my audience. Almost like a kind of "self discovery". I do want to do it in a quicker "snappier" fashion than Fry therefore making it alot more of a pleasure to read. At the moment I am not confident or fluent in writing a blog, but with time I hope to be able to have something that people like myself can enjoy.

Myself!

Welcome to my blog!! Im very new to "expressing myself". So basically i thought id start putting little things that I love onto this page.

Im a bit of a gamer... surprise surprise!! I have always loved games and got over excited when talking about them. I am a major Nintendo Fan-Boy and to be honest i'm proud! Nothing ever beats a good Zelda game or a blast on Metroid for 3 hours in a row.

For a long time i've been a massive fan of martial arts and martial arts films. Growing up myself and my friend from across the road would always try to learn to fight in new and over-the-top ways often kicking each other to a pulp (it was all good fun until one of us broke our ribs!!!). We both joined a Thai Boxing club when we were about 16 and I've loved it ever since and have become interested in any form of self defence available and I'm always looking to learn new things. Love it!

Finally, one of my great passions is playing acoustic guitar. Personally I've never found a better wat to relax. Recently I have been trying to think of the perfect music for a game and have become interested in what music works in different situations and what hasn't really been done before.


I may be writing a lot more about these topics in the future!

The Games I'm Currently Playing

Recently, I have developed an interest in older, "retro", games: Since owning a Nintendo Wii, I have started to become facinated in what made them good back when they were released and what makes them still playable today. Games such as Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2 on the megadrive and Kirby's Adventure on the NES are new discoveries for me as I started my gaming career in the latter days of the N64.

It had never really occured to me until now, but the transition from Sonic 1 to Sonic 2 is quite a jump. Although graphically the character does not change much between games, the environments gain layers and a sence of depth. Also the audio improves dramatically; the music becomes much more complicated (and addictive) whilst still maintaining the classic ring-collection and jump sounds.
Furthermore, the second game manages to introduce mechanics that the first game did not offer: In the first game you would need to take an extra run up to get up a steep slope, the second game had this new idea of having sonic spin on the ground to gain speed. This made the whole game pacing alot better and made you feel the speed that Sonic has become known for. I have found that small tweaks like this often make games alot more fun to play as you do not end up with moments of frustration and shouting "WHY!!!" so often.

Kirby's Adventure has been a real surprise to me. Although it was made for the NES, the animation of Kirby is full of character! He bounds around and trips if he falls a great distance (which is not so much annoying.. as just cute!!). I had never played it until a friend recommended it, but "the little pink ball of goo" is actually great fun to play as!! I think the idea of being able to suck up your enemies and absorb their powers is genius!! I think the reason it is so satisfying is that you become as powerful as the monsters you have just beaten. Magic!