A pixelated timeline

The the history of video gaming

By James McDonald and James McDonald

1947-1950 Precursors to modern computers, the Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device and MIT's Whirlwind Computer for graphic simulations of missiles and bouncing balls, created using vacuum tubes and manual overlays. They are known as the first electronic games.

1958 To some, Tennis For Two is known as the first video game, though it was not commercially available. The two-player side-view tennis game is showcased in the Brookhaven National Laboratory and garners hundreds of participants per day.

1961 Spacewar!, a game involving two spacecrafts and a black hole in the centre as the players' main obstacle, is released via the internet to DEC computers—normally found in select universities at the time.

1971 An upgraded version of Spacewar called Computer Space — the first coin-operated video game — is installed in Stanford University's students' union.

1972 Atari Inc. is founded and the big daddy of video games, Pong, is released, selling about 19,000 units.

1976 The first text-based computer game, Colossal Cave Adventure, is released. D&D nerds rejoice.

1977-1982 Three consoles are developed in a five-year period: Atari 2600, Intellivision, and the ColecoVision. As the first commercial console rivalry, consumers are inundated with different games and prices for video games for the first time.

1980 Pac-Man is released in arcades. Pac-Man is one of the first popular and recognizable character in video games.

1981 Donkey Kong — another iconic arcade game — showcases an ape throwing barrels at Jumpman who is trying to climb ladders and beams to save the lady Pauline. The three characters would later be named Donkey Kong, Mario, and Princess Peach.

1983 Due to an oversaturation of low-quality games and consoles in the early '80s, many prominent gaming companies shut down or stop producing games. Business analysts doubt the longevity of the video game industry.

1985 Nintendo, based in Japan and previously known for many ventures from producing trading cards to owning love hotels and cab companies, releases the Nintendo Entertainment System to the world in 1985. The console's release is known as the turning point in the video game industry. Seven hundred to 800 games are produced and 62 million systems are sold worldwide. Super Mario Bros., which was the best-selling video game for 24 years before Wii Sports in 2009, was released this year.

1986 Sega, one of the victims of the crash earlier in the decade, releases the Sega Master System to take advantage of the vacant video gaming industry, on which Nintendo currently had a monopoly.

The first widely successful RPG (role-playing game) The Legend of Zelda is released on the NES. Link and Zelda, the game's two central characters, would go on to perform in a franchise of 15 games as two of gaming's most distinctive figures.

1989 Nintendo produces the first cartridge-based handheld, Gameboy, which sold nearly 120 million units. The system was commonly sold with game giant Tetris, the most widely sold puzzle game in history. Gameboy would instigate the production of other handhelds, such as Sega's Game Gear to follow two years later.

1991 Sonic The Hedgehog is unveiled as Sega's new mascot, creating yet another video game franchise.

Nintendo releases the 16-bit Super Nintendo.

1992 Alone In The Dark, one of the first horror games to have widespread success, is released for home computers. The game spawned many similar game series, such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

1995 Arcades begin to close en masse as home consoles become the norm in the majority of North American households.

1996 To further enhance gaming past seemingly 3-D first-person shooters like Doom and Duke Nukem, 3dfx Interactive releases the Voodoo video cards, the first affordable video cards of their kind. This development would propel video games into a new three-dimensional era.

The Nintendo 64 is released worldwide along with Super Mario 64, a groundbreaking 3-D title with multiple camera angles and over a dozen worlds of “living” creatures.

1997 Sold on the PC and the Sony Playstation, Squaresoft's Final Fantasy VII breaks records as the best-selling turn-based game of all time, due to its focus on character development and its extensive gameplay.

1998 As cellular phones become more common, companies begin to make games for them as well. Snake, one of the first, is sold with many Nokia phones, beginning an existing trend of time-waster games on cellphones.

Regarded as one of the best games of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is released for the N64. The game receives much acclaim due to its in-depth storyline, its use of 3-D graphics, and the complex world in which Link explores to save Zelda.

Sega releases its final console, the Dreamcast. Despite its success of 10 million units sold, it could not compete with the more powerful processors to come, and is discontinued three years later.

1999 Dance Dance Revolution, a game where the participant uses his/her feet to play, revitalizes the arcade industry and lays the groundwork for other games with unconventional controllers, such as Karaoke Revolution in 2003 and Guitar Hero in 2005.

2000-2001 The sixth-generation consoles, all CD-based, compete for consumers' dollars. The Sony Playstation 2 eventually comes out on top, over the Nintendo GameCube and the Microsoft Xbox—the latter of which sells at a loss to stay in the gaming market.

2004 Following Blizzard Entertainment's massive success in strategy games such as Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo, the company focusing solely on computer-based gaming releases World of Warcraft, the most successful MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) with more than 11 million gamers worldwide.

2005-2006 The seventh (and most recent) generation of consoles is released, brandishing more realistic graphics and a wide array of games. Despite speculations of the contrary, the Nintendo Wii—utilizing full-body motions and more interactive gameplay—outsold Microsoft's Xbox 360 andSony's Playstation 3. All three systems include online play with honed, worldwide communities.

2007 Wii Fit is released for the Nintendo Wii, capitalizing on the North American gym culture. The game includes a platform which is used for balance and various exercises.

2008 Breaking the previous record set by Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 of $170-million, Grand Theft Auto IV earns $310-million on its first day of release. The game continues the best-selling GTA series, focusing on vivid crimes and humour. The series marks the shift from stomping goombas to taking part in more adult situations.

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