The Evolution of Videogame Technology and its Impact on Gamers

The Evolution of Videogame Technology and its Impact on Gamers

Brian Fitzsimmons

IB Extended Essay

3,902 words

Abstract: This essay examines how the development of technology has changed the videogame experience, and how it will continue to change in the future as new technologies appear. Research investigated recorded histories of videogames, personal accounts of videogame experiences, the gaming industry’s impact on society, and specifications for particularly technologies. Predictions for future gaming experiences were based on the increasing rate of technological developments and current prospects of videogame tycoons such as Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Personal knowledge and speculation were included as well. This study demonstrated that as videogame technology grew more sophisticated, gamers found themselves in more personal, immersive, emotionally titillating, morally challenging, and free-ended worlds. The increase in processing power and available memory led to photorealistic visuals, longer storylines, broader gameplay, and socially interactive games that have become second nature to most teenagers today. This second life will only become more influential in our physical and mental states as the scope of modern gaming increases, and new technologies provide for a longer, more poignant, and more immersive gaming experience.

Technology, the “practical application of knowledge,” dates back millennia. Even pre-historic man used rock, wood, fur, and fire to better his existence. Then, as Neanderthals gave way to Homo sapiens and the first civilizations appeared, technology blossomed. The Sumerians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese, Romans, Aztecs, and others created the abacus, alphabets, bridges, mills, hydroponics, aqueducts, and more. With these new technologies, humans’ lives changed dramatically. The pulley and counterweight, for example, allowed for heavy lifting in construction, new irrigation techniques yielded higher crop production, and the alphabet spawned writing and the transfer of knowledge. Needless to say, technology can alter anyone’s life experience. This holds true even more today. Without computers, telephones, cars, televisions, and other technological wonders, modern civilization as we know it would not be the same.

An irreplaceable part of today’s civilization is entertainment, which is rampant with technology. Ever since the first radio broadcast and silent movie appeared in 1915¹, modern entertainment has developed along the paths of technology. After AM radio came FM, after black and white TV came color, after vacuum tubes came the microprocessor, and so on. As with all technology and science today, entertainment is advancing at a much more rapid rate than in the past. As a result, the consumer’s experience is affected in numerous ways. Perhaps the most progressive entertainment technology today is video games. Starting with classics like Tennis for Two, Pong, and Pac man, video games have evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry. And with the advancements in technology, the videogame experience has been altered dramatically. The question of this essay is: as gaming technology has developed, how has the average video gamer’s experience changed, and how will it change in the future as the technology develops further?
Gaming Technology

First, what kind of technology influences video games? It is more than just computers and televisions – video games also incorporate user-interfaces (how the gamer interacts with the game), memory storage devices (CDs and hard drives), the internet, and of course, gamers themselves. Perhaps the most important piece of equipment, however, is the central processing unit (CPU). This literally is the brain of the console. It translates your actions through the controller into motion on the screen while keeping within the laws of the game. The Odyssey 2, one of the earliest consoles released in 1978, housed a 1.79 MHz Intel 8048 processor with 64 bytes of random access memory (RAM) – the current Xbox 360’s has three 3.2 GHz processor and 256 megabytes of RAM.² Obviously, more power allows for more gameplay options, better graphics, and increased speed of controller translation. Televisions also have a major impact on video games. While video arcade games like Galaxy Game had screens of their own, the home-based consoles needed external televisions. Today, the issue of TV-video game compatibility is much more selective due to the introduction of High-definition and 3D. Many TV manufacturers now produce TVs to suit video games more than movies or cable, such as Mitsubishi’s Digital Light Processing TVs. Next, the user-interface of a videogame can range from a joystick (as with the earliest arcade games) to full-body motion sensors (such as today’s Xbox 360 Kinect). The most traditional interface, however, is the ubiquitous “controller,” which comprises two joysticks for each thumb, trigger buttons, four action buttons, and a directional pad. This technology was first introduced with the Sony Playstation in 1994 and is still in use today (albeit wireless). Memory storage devices are perhaps the most important part of video games, for they store the actual data of the game. When consumers buy a new game, they are buying a disk imprinted with the game data. And thanks to the Internet, gamers can now download games directly to their consoles’ hard drives, or main memory unit. Online gaming has become a crucial factor to any game. Most now support online via the console (such as the Xbox 360’s Xbox Live or the Playstation Network). This literally allows gamers in the United States to play with gamers in Japan in the comfort of their homes. All of this technology aims to enhance the gaming experience, either through advanced artificial intelligence or new interfaces. But how will the continual growth of gaming technology impact future players? Let us look at how the first video games shaped consumers.

The first commercial arcade video game was Computer Space, released in 1971. Housed in a futuristic fiberglass case, the game was the first in a long line of space combats. The player had to destroy alien UFOs while dodging incoming fire for 90 seconds, and if the player’s score was higher than that of the alien’s, he/she was allowed another 90 seconds. Of course, while this seems absurdly simple for today’s standards, it was considered overwhelmingly complicated back then. This, in addition to its astronomically high price tag, led to its commercial

demise. Programmers took note and changed their games Computer Space display³

to better suit the players of the age: young children and teenagers. As a result, subsequent classics like Pong, Space Invaders, Pac man, and Donkey Kong, all of which used simple integrated circuits, were so popular because, unlike Computer Space, they were straightforward (Pong’s instructions were “Avoid Missing Ball for High Score”).⁴ In addition, kids did not have many places to go after school in the 70s-80s; the arcade was the perfect gathering place.

In 1972, arcade games took a new direction, allowing more personal involvement from the player. That year, Will Crowther created Colossal Cave Adventure, which used text-based commands to direct characters. It was considered to be the first truly immersive video game experience⁵, and it became the basis for all future text-based games, such as Gregory Yob’s Hunt the Wumpus.⁶ At the same time, programmers were moving into multiplayer games such as Atari’s Pong and Astro Race⁷. This was an early leap forward, for it increased competition between players and put emphasis on the scoring of videogames (something that has survived to this day). No longer were videogames just for fun– the ranking system determined who was “worthy” or not. Many arcades even held competitions to see who could score the highest.⁸

Within its first few years of life, video gaming became more personal and more intense. Player action was more personal and they regarded their ranks as definitive of their abilities. This created another world which led to the steady increase of the video gaming industry. And by then, the masses had shown enough interest to spark new companies, such as Atari, and renew old ones with video game sectors, such as Mattel Electronics and Coleco.

Arcades were not the only places targeted by the videogame tycoons. Very soon, videogames made their way into people’s homes as well. In 1972, Ralph Baer invented the Magnavox Odyssey – the first home-based video game console. The Odyssey had 12 different “cards,” or different gameplay selections, that allowed gamers to alter appearances on screen, thus creating new gameplay experiences.⁹ The fever of consoles soon caught on, and companies like Atari and Fairchild began making consoles of their own, complete with exclusive games like Super-Pong, Doubles Pong, and more.¹⁰ However, these initial consoles were basically home-arcades; they revolutionized nothing in terms of gameplay save for proximity – that is, until the incorporation of the new microprocessor in 1976.¹¹ The power of the microprocessor allowed for external memory devices to house separate games that could be plugged into the consoles. In essence, it meant that a single console could play multiple games, thus broadening the range of videogames played by one person. Fairchild Semiconductors first introduced such a console with its legendary Channel F, which housed its new F8 processor. The Channel F, released in 1976, and its cartridge based system was so revolutionary that at first, many consumers did not know how to operate it!¹² These cartridges were the predecessors of modern day CD-ROMs. Following closely behind were consoles like RCA’s Studio II and the famous Atari VCS 2600 (which would go on to lead the gaming industry for years despite its increasing age). This expanded the gamer’s experience considerably, allowing him to choose what he wanted to play. Eventually a repertoire of games emerged ranging from shooters to driving simulators. The Atari 2600 console¹³

In addition, the microprocessor improved graphics. 1972’s Magnavox Odyssey came with screen overlays that supposedly enhanced the visuals, but the F8 processor did away with such encumbrances – its power gave birth to improved visuals and color. As Tomohiro Nishikado, a renowned Japanese video game programmer, aptly puts it, “with microprocessors, the animation is smoother and there are so many more complex physical movements that can be reproduced, so the category of games that [programmers] could now create was so much more.”¹⁴ For example, microprocessors encouraged the use of vector graphics (first used in 1978 by Cinematronics), which drastically improved textures and sharpness of visuals.¹⁵

Complementing the video game consoles were the new home computers such as the Apple II and Commodore 64. Beforehand, computers were reserved for large corporations, but the advent of the microprocessor again proved invaluable. Now ordinary people could afford computers. In fact, industry visionaries like Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak first created these computers with gaming in mind.¹⁶ The Apple II’s success came as a result of its colored graphics, sound capabilities, connections for game controllers, and its ability to plug into a TV.¹⁷ With video games effectively in the household now, programmers focused on the actual design of the games, looking to create new experiences. Luckily for them, technology continued to develop, and in 1978, Magnavox released its new console with the state-of-the art 8244 graphics card chip. Graphics cards could handle all the visuals and audio, letting the main processor focus solely on running the game.¹⁸ This meant that game designers could delve more deeply into the stories and subplots of the games, making for a far richer experience. As Nina Huntemann, a writer for Game Over magazine, said, “You know what's really exciting about video games is you don't just interact with the game physically -- you're not just moving your hand on a joystick, but you're asked to interact with the game psychologically and emotionally as well. You're not just watching the characters on screen; you're becoming those characters.”¹⁹

Such an experience was evident in Tomohiro Nishikado’s Space Invaders. Considered to be the pioneer of “human-versus-machine action” in which the ultimately doomed player had to hold out as long as possible against an invading alien army, Space Invaders took emotion in video games to the next level. Players described it as “exhilarating, stressful, adrenaline-pumping, and intimidating.”²⁰ Its high-resolution vector graphics, colored visuals, and raw emotional response presented a new bar for video game designers. Throughout the 80s and 90s, games that could surpass this bar would become the most successful. Another gaming revolution was the introduction of “Easter Eggs” (hidden prizes within a game) in Warren Robinett’s Adventure. With microprocessing power, Robinett pioneered putting such prizes (which became characteristic to each designer) in video games. For example, within Adventure, Robinett had placed a secret room that could only be accessed by finding a specific dot within the game’s maze and bringing it to a wall. Only then would the room open and the player would see the words “Created by Robinett” in all the colors of the rainbow.²¹ Easter Eggs gave players even more reason to fully explore the game, thus adding to the sense of completion that they now demanded of themselves – another side-effect of increased game size.

The 1980s continued to develop the video game experience as technology advanced. Perhaps the greatest leap forward was the advent of 3D graphics (not in the sense used today, but merely objects on screen with dimensionality). Introduced with Atari’s I, Robot, 3D graphics “baffled the game-playing public” and set a new standard for video games.²² As the director of Opera Soft said, “a videogame is a visual experience and some spectacular graphics can make up for a game that is not particularly good.”²³ Even today, game reviewers have their own criteria for presentation. This is not to say, however, that visuals stultified story and gameplay – on the contrary; graphics were mainly used to enhance the story telling effect, especially with cinematics. In fact, many Japanese games have cinematics over an hour long! 3D visuals also led to the rise of the politically infamous first person shooters, such as Galaxian and Doom.

The feeling of being immersed in this dimensional world “cranked up the intensity of [the players’]… challenge” and led to the development of new interfaces.²⁴ No longer was the standard two-button set enough – with the increased gameplay options presented in first-person shooters, the joystick and five-button set became customary.



Doom gameplay²⁵

The 80s and 90s saw three more revolutionary advances in video gaming experiences.

The first was the advent of open-world gaming, in which “players decide what to do and where to go, rather than being required to complete pre-decided goals in worlds that restricted their choices.”²⁶ This new level of freedom was unprecedented, for it achieved one of the holy grails of the programming industry: virtual realities. In virtual realities, the game is what the players make of it. For example, in Grand Theft Auto, one can choose to shoot his target or make a deal with him and backstab your employers. The freedom was exciting for players who had been running through linear games for a decade because it made the game unique to each individual, in some cases even bringing the individual’s morality into play.²⁷ Now people could differentiate between gameplay. Another game, Mass Effect, not only has multiple characters to play as but even has different endings based on the decisions gamers make!²⁸ The second important advance was online gaming. First introduced with Doom in 1993, players could connect their consoles or computers via telephone lines and fight each other from miles away (later, games would connect via the Internet).²⁹ This took multiplayer to a whole new level; instead of fighting the computer, now gamers were fighting their friends. Online gaming also became the new social interaction fad, for players could now talk over the Internet. Kids no longer met at the candy bar – they met online with intent to mutilate each other…and they loved it (so much, in fact, that the Senate held a hearing on the negative effects of violent video games).³⁰ The third and most important advance in video gaming was the release of the CD-ROM in 1989. The CD-ROM was cheaper to make and could hold 300 times as much data as a cartridge. This led to the development of bigger games, and a “radical transition for game audio.”³¹ Music became so important to storytelling because whole tracks could be added. If one were to watch Star Wars without music, then a second time with, the difference in emotional response would be great. The difference was the same with video games: soundtracks made them so much more immersive and expressive. More storage also meant more detail within the game – better graphics, longer campaigns, more gameplay options, and more audio.³² Thanks to CDs, video games went from a 2-hour experience to a 30 hour experience.

As years passed, no new revolutionary technology developed; the existing ones, such as graphics and size, were simply improved as successive consoles and game sequels were made. This generation holds the best technology so far, which makes for stellar video gaming experiences. The level of detail has surpassed even that of books and movies, so it comes as no surprise that the video game industry is now bigger than both.³³

Now we move beyond the realm of the past and focus on the future of gaming technology, and how new advancements will change the gaming experience.

Over the past 50 years, the raw power of the processor has multiplied ten-fold. According to Moore’s Law of processing power, within 20 years, game systems could boast processors with speeds of over 500 GHz.³⁴ This would lead to an amazing array of video game capabilities. Entire countries could be recreated in digital form; games could span hundreds of hours of gameplay; the amount of customization would be indefinite; and the artificial intelligences that control the computer simulations would be smarter than the players. Increased processing power would also lead to photo-realistic graphics in all dimensions. For example, today’s high-

definition televisions have 2.07 million pixels to project light from.³⁵ The eye, on the other hand, can see 14.83 million pixels, and as a result, Japanese researchers are working on an ultra-high-

The dimensionality of videogame visuals will change as well. Today, games are at the cutting edge of 3D technology, where characters and scenery literally jump out of the screen. Tomorrow may hold more immersive 3D equipment, where the gamer is surrounded on all sides by holographics. Such an experience would take virtual reality to a whole new level, putting the player inside the game.

Online gaming will undoubtedly play a bigger role than it does even today. For example, many games are restricted (by processing power) to a maximum number of online players per map or game mode. Halo: Reach, for example, allows only 16 players to fight each other at once. Strides have been made, but in the future, entire battlefields will be recreated purely online, along with hundreds of gamers to inhabit them. With a 500 GHz processor, like the one mentioned above, a game could pit thousands of Nazis against an invading Allied force at Normandy. The social interactions involved will also have to be developed to allow the hundreds of gamers to communicate with each other, even coordinate their attacks. Downloading games from the Internet will increase in popularity as well. As bigger hard drives come out, and more memory can be stored, gamers will simply buy games online and put them directly on the console. In fact, this is already in practice today.

Next, the future of gaming will lie in motion control – a future already in development thanks to Nintendo’s Wii, Microsoft’s Kinect, and Sony’s Playstation Move. Motion controlling will revolutionize user interfaces, doing away with the standard analog stick and button controllers of today, and replacing them with the gamer himself. Of course, this opens up a much broader range of games to be developed, such as fitness games, more direct shooters, and anything else a developer can dream up. Microsoft’s motion-controlled Kinect gameplay³⁷

This technology will not limit itself to the living room – eventually, scientists and researchers will use motion controlled holographic displays to perform experiments and analyze data. It truly will be a new era of technology.

Already, game companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo are pushing the bounds of technology. The rate of development is like nothing seen before, and it will only continue to increase. With new technology, gaming revolutions will occur yearly and more consumers will flock to the videogame industry. Just as the jump from cartridges to CD-ROMs added so much more to games in terms of graphics, story, settings, and social interactions, so too will faster processors, bigger hard drives, and new displays transform the way we play games. It is not a matter of if, but when.