Timeline of Video Games Development

Video games have been around since the 1970s; since then the quality of graphics and play has improved greatly. From the first home system in the early 1980s; the Atari 2600, to the playstation things sure are different.

Home video games entered everyday life in the 1980s. Atari, Nintendo, and eventually Sega were the favorites. Atari was the first to make an arcade game, and eventually a home video game system called the Atari 2600. Pong was their most popular game; was their most popular game; it was played by sliding a rectangle up and down to hit a ball back and forth. The Nintendo NES was a home video game system that was first released in Japan in 1983. It did not make it to the United States for 2 more years. The NES was the best selling game system of the 80s.

One of the most popular games was Castle Vania. In the game players try to defeat Count Dracula. Video games changed very quickly in the 1990s. Graphics became better and even 3D games became possible. New styles of video games were also released. These included first person shooters, and survival horror. Doom was a popular first person shooter. It was one of the first games to have a multiplayer mode. Resident Evil is a survival horror game that includes puzzle challenges as well as monster fighting. The Gameboy was Nintendo's first truly portable game system shoppers could buy the system itself or buy a bundle that included the puzzle game Tetris. When it was released in the United States it sold out in a few weeks.

Video games in the 21st century have better graphics, environments, and artificial intelligence. Gamers do not have to deal with blocky, blurry graphics. The goal for most creators is to make the game as realistic as possible. They do this with high definition graphics and realistic looking scenery. Better artificial intelligence has made the environments interactive instead of just pictures in a background. Some games even learn as you play them which makes survival horror even scarier. Some of the games even include warnings for heart conditions because the game learns how to scare you.

Modern video games are nothing like they were when our parents were young. From hitting a pixel back and forth to fully interactive environments there has been a lot of change. What do you think video games will be like in 2040?