Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Video Game Industry

When was it started?
The history of video games goes as far back as the early 1950s, when academics began designing simple games, simulations, and artificial intelligence programs as part of their computer science research. Video gaming would not reach mainstream popularity until the 1970s and 1980s, when arcade video games, gaming consoles and home computer games were introduced to the general public. Since then, video gaming has become a popular form of entertainment and a part of modern culture in most parts of the world. As of 2015, there are eight generations of video game consoles.

Who? Where?
It is popularly believed to have been pioneered by Ralph Baer a German Born American who was an Engineer and inventor also. He is known as “The father of Video Games” Thanks to his many contributions to the industry throughout the latter half of the 20th century. In the 1960s he came up with the idea of playing games through a television screen. Following many prototypes he eventually created the first home gaming system the “Magnavox Odyssey”.

How big is it?
From a 2008 article we can see According to the third annual Game Developer Census by Game Developer Research, which covers North American game companies, the games industry employed 44,806 people in 2009. This is an increase of 406 jobs over the 2008 estimate (44,400). Other key points include.

Key Milestones in the industry
- First computer games (1940–1970)

- Ralph Baer and the birth of home consoles (1966)

- Early arcade video games (1971–1977)
- Golden age of arcade video games (1978–1986)

- Early online gaming (1980s)

- Handheld LCD games (1979)

- Video game crash (1983)

- Transition to 3D (1992)


4 comments:

  1. The content was okay though you could have expanded on what you wrote about the size of the industry and other key people involved in the birth of the industry. You also missed key information on the critical debates of representation and the audience of the games industry. However the context was good as you gave a background on Ralph Baer. Due to few examples, it allowed for little contrast and you also missed out including your opinion and the examples had a lack of detail. Over all, you applied some knowledge and understanding but to make analyse in more depth.

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  2. The content was okay though you could have expanded on what you wrote about the size of the industry and other key people involved in the birth of the industry. You also missed key information on the critical debates of representation and the audience of the games industry. However the context was good as you gave a background on Ralph Baer. Due to few examples, it allowed for little contrast and you also missed out including your opinion and the examples had a lack of detail. Over all, you applied some knowledge and understanding but to make analyse in more depth.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nick, you have used a incredibly wide context range using examples that informs me about how the industry came about. I think that you could have included more content that was not about the historical side. You have not compared anything which would have been useful perhaps you could have compared the representations in games. You could add your opinion at the end and you could have used some pictures to split up your information.

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  4. This is good Nick. You demonstrate a clear knowledge of how and when the games industry started and your use of dates helps to put everything into context. However, I think you should have included more content, e.g. representations and audiences and comparisons and opinions should have been used as well. I also think you should have used images to break up the text but overall it is good.

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