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Different Controlelrs

Defining Videogames

Videogames are a form of enternainment that appeared in the 80's in a form of big boxes in now old spaces called Arcades that are still quite popular in some parts of the world like Japan. The discussion of who invented videogames has always been a topic of discussion; even more now that its success is outstanding and all people are playing more and more games every year. Some of the oldest games are Pong and Tetris, but the eldest one is Pong created by an American Physicist in October 1958. [1] Since then, the path of videogames could have never been foretold.

Expansion of Games

Since that first inclusion of games back in the fifties, some time had to pass to include the industry into the mainstream media and common population to enjoy the joy of playing them. There were some prototypes of certain arcade machines in the 70's, but it was not until the decade of the 80's that more and more arcade machines were arriving to different communities so more pepople could stay in touch with them and have fun. By this time, a small cards company named Nintendo was taking interest in the industry and they started some projects in Japan so they could ship them to America, one of its first arcade machines was Donkey Kong, with its main character being Jumpman, now is known by the name of Mario. [2]

Different Game Companies

Different Companies Enter the Market

Once the market was well established and more money was coming in from part of the consumers more people wanted to go in the business. Luckily for everybody, quite talented persons started working in great and innovative new projects that would see the light in the next decades, the 90's. There were lots of stable companies in the 80's that wanted to follow the same structure and model from that time, but soon enough they started to notice that the market and the industry was quickly changing and it would be hard to keep up with the demand. In addition to this, the consumers were also changing, they were not children anymore and new projects were to be made in order for the market to keep growing and the companies making money. Nintendo knew what to do and it has been a solid enterprise since then, however, others like Atari or Sega have struggled a lot and found difficulties to adapt, to the point of bankruptcy. [3]

Constant Innovation From Developers

During the early 90's the world was an ongoing changing place that suffered and benefited from the different technological goodies that were coming in every week, from new computers, new softwares, and one of the most important aspects that changed human life forever, the internet. Thanks to all these changes, the videogame industry had to change as well, and arcades were suddenly losing power and presence in the communities, now there were more consoles that were more friendly and the new computers could also play games. Some companies like ID Software knew how to exploit the new hardware that was getting into the life of people from all over the world, and one of their early games Doom, proved to be a revelation for everybody. [4]

With technology getting more advanced video gaming companies and developers can now create a much more immersive video game playstyle. With gaming PC having almost no limit in terms of upgradability and with new systems coming out such as the PS5 these machines can handle games with much more better quality in sound, design, and visuals. These innovations are being constituted making it easier for everyone to be a gamer and make it more acceptable to any age group.

Old Games Versus New Games

Some of the companies that could not adapt to the modern times of games were those who were at their peak thanks to the genre of platform games, but all changes are for good. Thanks to the 90's and games like the previously mentioned Doom, the industry and the developers changed their way of making games drastically. From platforms, the landscape of games changed to more mature ones like shooters, RPGs, and real time strategy. Some of these games required a lot of reading and patience from part of the players, also some skill and critical thinking had to be put in to practice in order for the game to be fully enjoyable. In comparison to old consoles and games were everybody could have a good time without thinking too much, where every kid could play any Zelda game, any Metroid game, any Atari game, but the industry changed much and a heavier challenge was put in the hands of players by the developers. Fortunately, these changes helped players to create and explore different cognitive areas that were not as common before.

New Half Life

Future in Games

As videogame companies in the late 80's and early 90's, the landscape of current games is constantly changing and the consumers have a stronger voice than before because of the social media. Thanks to this inclusion in out lives, some videogame companies have started noticing that their scam practices will not be tolerated and that the clients are always right, seeking quality and great experiences to be lived throughout different systems and new technologies. Some of these new technologies is the virtual reality headsets that have become so popular nowadays, the start of these headsets was uncertain and not many people knew what to do with them. Nevertheless of this, there was one company that wanted to explore this new technology and worked in a great and groundbreaking game using virtual reality, this game was released in March of 2020, its name is Half-Life: Alyx.


VR/AR Technology

Technology has been exponentially advancing with time. In the modern era for gaming, VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) has become extremely popular. Although the technology is still in its early stages, many games have used such technology to further advance the future of gaming. VR technology is used in many games, but is most populated in the genre of horror. AR technology hasn't been implemented as strongly as VR technology because of its difficult in integration. PokemonGo is one of the few games to implement AR technology by using the actual world as a map setting. Since such technology is still relatively new, there are still many improvements to be made before attempting higher end usage of it. Hopefully in the near future, the norm for videogames will adapt an efficient form of VR/AR technology.

References

1 https://plarium.com/en/blog/the-first-video-game/
2  https://www.museumofplay.org/about/icheg/video-game-history/timeline
3  https://www.si.edu/spotlight/the-father-of-the-video-game-the-ralph-baer-prototypes-and-electronic-games/video-game-history
4  https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/history-of-video-games