Arcade games: A Brief History

Gaming has been a part of our society and culture since ancient times. It is not a recent discovery but initially came in the form of board games in ancient Egypt and Samaria. So it is no wonder that as time passed and technology cam about and slowly began improving, gaming took an electronical shape. It was not too long ago (sometime in the 1950’s) that the idea of arcade gaming came about, and today people around the age of thirty or above can barely remember a time where arcade games didn’t exist. Everyone remembers the famous Pac-Man and Mario Brothers, which though are games of then but still are played and enjoyed today. Though a more improved and innovative version of these games asre now out. One thing is for certain, the good old games will never be forgotten so easily by the people.

Soon after the creation of computers came the creation of electronic games. The computers of back then were very slow and were very prone to malfunctions or failures. The most that the early programmers could do, after using (or wasting?) a lot of their time was to get the computer to manage a game of tic-tac-toe. It was with the end of W.W II that computers became a more standard device in laboratories and soon large companies, establishments and corporations too got their hands on these equipments. However, as far as games are concerned, the first game programmers could be said to be the university students who explored their dreams and sci-fi ideas and made them into digital applications. It is thanks to their imaginations that gaming turned into a digital or electronic wonder.

It was Ralph Bauer in the 1950’s who got the idea of setting up an electronic gaming system to the television or the screen and it was thanks to this that the first game was made possible. Soon, his ideas were presented and introduced to a T.V company called Magnavox. His ideas and inventions were liked and soon, in 1972, a better version of his "Brown Box" sample was made and this was called the Magnavox Odyssey. Although according to us the Odyssey is an ancient and prehistoric game that displays on the screen dots of light and a translucent plastic overlay has to be used to copy the look of the game.

Atari 2600 was the first ever famous console system and was released in the year 1977. Plug-in cartridges were used so as to play a number of these games. Another game that was a break through in the gaming industry and also became a best seller was Space Invaders.

So now you know a little about how arcade games came about and how they grew from a simple electronic game of tic-tac-toe to the now online multiplayer gaming console, and though it was not very long ago that these arcade games came up, but ever since its invention the growth of this industry has never stopped or even slowed down. Infact with time, its progress and innovativeness too has increased.