History of Games 1950's

I vaguely remember the first console I owned but I do remember feeling extremely exited the time I hastily unwrapped my Sega Mega Drive which was released in 1990. Obviously at the time I thought it was literally the best thing ever invented but looking back now I can see the console is just another more advanced replication of all the other consoles based around that time. I think it’s amazing but scary how much technology has evolved in such a small amount of time, amazing because there are endless possibilities with the growth of games industry but scary because of the effect it will have on its whole audience, will people become less sociable and will games eventually influence behaviours in the future? Some theories believe that technology will determine cultures but I would like to think that the influence of technology will only inspire cultural developments.  

The early history of computer games started on January 25^th 1947 when Thomas Goldsmith and Estle Mann requested for an invention they called ‘cathode ray tube amusement device’. This machine basically allows a person to use knobs and buttons to manipulate a cathode ray tube beam to simulate firing at targets. This was the very beginning of games to come. In 1947-1950 Charley Adama created a ‘bouncing ball’ programme for MIT’s Whirlwind computer at the time this wasn’t much of a success as the programme was not yet interactive.

Another game said to be the ‘first’ ever made is Spacewar, developed in 1962, again at MIT. This programme originally ran on a PDP-1 computer the size of a large car! This game consists of two players that each controls a spaceship circling a planet. The players can shoot each other, turn their ships and accelerate, the goal is to destroy the enemy before being hit yourself. I think this programme defines the word game as it’s something created as a fantasy, you can’t run around in spaceships shooting each other but the programme can offer that entertainment to anyone who wants to play.

The next significant video game introduced 11 years after Spacewar is ‘Pong’. This is very simple concept with white rectangles on a blackboard. Pong was placed at entertainment venues, markets and fun fairs so we can already see how quickly the community took to like the programme. In a typical action game like any other Pong gradually becomes harder but provides a high score list making the player want to achieve his/her best. A score is always kept, the game is real-time and requires fast reflexes and the programme provides a fixed amount of lives. I think this very basic idea is how addiction to games first came about later on, although at this time they were simply for everyone’s amusement but not that easy to access in comparison to now where you could go as far to say most households have owned a console at some point. I’m interested to find out and compare the years from 1950’s to 2011 and see what influence game production has had in the world.

The DMU Rookie

Hello my name is Marc Pinkney, I’m 23 and studying Game Art Design in my first year at DeMontford University. I’m not sure if you would class me as a mature student but I guess I am a little older than everyone else on my course. I’m a very outgoing person who enjoys any type of social and my two biggest passions are sports and Art! I’m from the small city of Southampton on the coast. From the age of around 6years old I have always been a very keen swimmer and found to have a great technique, talent and ability. This progressed through the years and I found myself competing at club, county and national level.  During this time I gained a NVQ level 2 in a plumbing apprenticeship. Although this trade taught me a lot in the 4 years I worked I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

After a lot of hard saving from plumbing I finally had enough money to go travelling around various countries I wanted to see. I started in the very hot east coast of Australia, setting off in Cairns and making my way down to as far as Sydney. My next stop was Bali, Indonesia. To me, visiting Bali changed my life, I experienced a whole different culture, learnt how surf which is now a sport I am very passionate about, met so many interesting people, learnt how to manage and organise myself as well as money and found out what I really wanted to do in life.

 Whilst travelling I had a lot of spare time on my hands and decided to start drawing. I would sit on the beach or hotel an draw random things I found of interest. I really enjoy drawing, it relaxes me so I find myself scribbling away for hours, this is when I knew I needed to find a career in art. After travelling around a few more countries for example Africa and Asia I managed to enrol myself into my local college so I could study an Art Foundation as I knew I couldn’t get straight into Uni.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Foundation course and gained a lot of inspiration from my tutor who also attended DMU. I learnt new skills and techniques from life drawing classes and knew what direction I wanted to end up in. As soon as I researched DeMontford and the gaming course I didn’t want to go anywhere else, in comparison DMU offered exactly the right combination of things I needed as well as being a skillset accredited course.

I love being a student at DMU, I enjoy the Visual Design, Game Production and Critical Studies. I guess I like the prospects that are available from the course when graduated as well, this is definitely the right course for me and I can’t wait to see what exiting projects we will be given!