The Evolution of Entertainment: Do the classics ever die? (part one)

Pong, 1972 vs Modern Warfare 3, 2011. A bit of a difference.

As video games continue to improve in both form and function they are being used in ways the founders of the video game industry could not have foreseen, or possibly even have imagined. Video games are blurring the lines between art, entertainment, science, and even education; not to mention applications in both physical and psychological therapy.

When looking at titles from the early industry, with many being literally only a handful of lines or dots on a screen, it’s easy to see how much games have progressed in the past forty years. But beyond recognizing that video games have changed interfaces and looks, have the core components of video games really changed that much? While most modern games may seem to have only passing similarities to their primordial counterparts, they may be more similar than one would think. From Colossal Cave Adventure to God of War, video games have continuously used common themes, tropes, stories and influences harkening back not only to the beginning of the electronics industry, but possibly to the very beginnings of civilization itself. 

Many of the base concepts from the earliest interactive electronic games ever made still have deep influences over the video game industry today. Dig a little deeper into specific genres and titles and you’ll find many modern games aren't just influenced by the same source material as their "Golden Age" counterparts, but many have been directly inspired by them.

Nearly every genre we play today was available in some form or another during the formative years of the video game industries development. Shooters, strategy, action, adventure, platform, sports, racing, fighting, beat-em-ups, side-scrollers, role playing games and even first-person shooters were all first developed in the early days of the video game industry.   

Today I would like to delve into some of these influences, and what they mean to the game industry, past, present, and future.

14 sided Roman dice, and a depiction of a known Egyptian "chess-style" game.
Clearly the Romans did not mess around when it came to Dungeons and Dragons.

First we have to go back to the primordial ooze of gaming, and even culture itself. Games and entertainment have been with mankind since we first walked upright, and likely even before, considering playing and entertaining each other has even been observed among animals. Looking back over the thousands of years of human history many types of games, including dice, card, and board games, can be found in nearly every ancient society. The remnants and/or descriptions of which are often found in archaeological ruins. Fast forward to the present day and we are still playing some of the same games that were played over 7,000 years ago. It should come as no surprise then that video games too have stuck to similar styles, genres, and concepts over the past forty to fifty years.

From the Computer Lab to the Arcade

Pictured: The NIMrod Computer, 1952 (left) and Tennis for Two, circa 1958 (right).
Before rock music and Atari people would wait in line for literally hours to play these. 
Seriously.

It seems natural that the first video games ever created, if they could even be called video games, mostly sought to emulate forms of entertainment that existed at the time. While the title of  The First True Video Game is hotly contested, the list of contenders for the first video game, or even just the earliest approximation of what could be defined as a video game, would arguably include the following: Missile Simulator Game (also referred to/patented as Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device) (1947), Bertie the Brain (Tic Tac Toe) (1950), Chess (1950-51), NIM (1951), Noughts and Crosses (aka Tic-Tac-Toe) (1952), and Tennis for Two (1958). 

Due to the limitations of technology and hardware at the time these early games were, of necessity, based on simple and well known concepts. That doesn't mean these early concepts and demonstrations of games were without merit though. Chess and Tennis for Two, for instance, are particularly notable for being the first recorded chess, and tennis (or "Pong-type”) programs ever made. Two styles of gameplay that are still popular in video games to this day. 

It’s also worth mentioning that most of these early games were designed and used as demonstrations of computational power and capability, rather than as forms of entertainment. Usually in laboratory or educational settings. Most were intended to capture and garner attention to the fledgling computer industry. Some were used to increase sales of computer equipment to governments and education systems. In the end though, due to public and private interest, these programs have had a lasting and significant impact on the industry to this very day. 

Spacewar!, circa 1961-62.
A time when even playing video games required a suit coat and tie.

As computers grew more powerful, so did the complexity of interaction that they were capable of. This increase in power and complexity quickly lead to the creation of new and more exciting interactive games being created. One of these early games, Spacewar!, developed in 1962 by Steve "Slug" Russell and fellow student hobbyists at MIT, is of particular interest and importance. 

Spacewar! was the pinnacle of interactive electronic game design for its time, and would remain an incredible feat for many years to come. It featured advanced controls that utilized homemade controllers, player-versus-player combat, multiple game modes and rules, backgrounds accurately recreated from real astronomical maps, and even advanced in-game physics that mimicked the real gravitational pulls and effects of stars and planets. Features that not only continue to appear in games to this day, but still directly influence the industry, and are often expected by modern gamers. The code for Spacewar! was also released into the public domain, which allowed it to be modified and spread freely. It was eventually modified and even played throughout the world over one of the early predecessors to the internet, PLATO. This makes Spacewar! the first interactive electronic game to ever be played in more than one location at a time. Not a small accomplishment for a small group of friends who got together in order to make a game in the early 1960's. 

Even with so many other incredible firsts under its belt, Spacewar! is also arguably the most influential video game of all time. Just one example of this is that Spacewar! inspired Computer Space, the first arcade video game to ever be commercially released in 1971. To say that Computer Space was inspired by Spacewar! is probably a bit of an understatement, as Computer Space was based directly on the design of Spacewar! That said, Computer Space was not only the first arcade video game ever made, but also the first game ever designed and released by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. The team who would later go on to found Atari, the video game company that would forever change video games and the entertainment world as we know it. 

While Spacewar! had proved wildly popular in computer labs on the college campuses that had access to it, Computer Space was a commercial and critical failure. Its complicated controls and steep learning curve proved to be too much for the fast and intense arcade environment. The majority of players who stumbled across it struggled to understand or enjoy the game, and most avoided repeated attempts at play. Very few Computer Space machines were ever produced, and the few that were sold mostly ended up as an object to draw the eye, rather than as a game to be enjoyed. 

Strangely Computer Space's biggest success may be the fact that it was featured in the 1973 dystopian thriller, Soylent Green. Outside of Soylent Green, however, most of the public would never even get a glimpse of this machine, making it fall rapidly into obscurity. However, despite being a critical and commercial failure, the lessons learned from Computer Space lead Bushnell and Dabney to the idea of simpler, more user-friendly games. The simple game they came up with to start their new post-Computer Space endeavor would become one of the most universally recognized and successful games in the world: Pong.

Pong, Circa 1972.
Imagine this being a game so popular that it literally broke,
due to the fact it was jammed with too many quarters.
That’s a true story. The Seventies: almost as boring as the Fifties.

Controlling the Future

Once games moved out of computer labs and demonstration booths, and into arcades and homes, game design and genres rapidly expanded and changed. In order to keep players putting more quarters in machines, and buying new games for their consoles, gaming quickly went beyond space battles and tennis approximations to encompass a wide array of genres, interactivity, and storytelling. These early arcade and home console games would go on to lay the foundations for nearly every genre of video games that we recognize today. The influence of "Golden Age" games such as Maze War, Battlezone, Robotron 2084, Spy Hunter, 1942, Pac Man, Donkey Kong, and Star Wars: Arcade, and many, many others cannot be overstated. While audio and visual components of video games are leaps and bounds ahead of where they started, the mechanics and core features of games haven't changed nearly as drastically. 

Clockwise,beginning at upper left: Robotron 2084, Spy Hunter, 

Star Wars: Arcade, 1942, Battlezone, and Maze Wars.

All circa 1982-84

In-game mechanics like destructible environments, realistic physics, multiplayer interaction, and even unique player input devices, such as rudimentary microphones and digital camera interfaces, have all been around since the earliest days of video game development. From dual-stick controls to double-jumps, light guns to button-pressing combos, the pioneers of video games went wide and wild in their creations. Some of which have stuck around, many of which didn't; some just being too far ahead of their time to work reliably on the technology available at the time. Others just being evolutionary dead ends in interactive entertainment.

Furthermore while physical interfaces (IE controllers) for games may have increased in accuracy and complexity, the methods of input have seemingly changed very little, or in many cases, not at all. We still use sticks and pads to move, and press buttons to attack, shoot, jump, and more. It's not a bad thing when you think about it, but it does showcase how many aspects of gaming were conquered early on, and how those initial developments will be hard to surpass. That's not saying modern games are derivative, but rather that the basis for growth comes in improving and innovating on what has already been laid down by their predecessors. After all cars still use wheels, windshields, and doors, even if our modern vehicles are wildly different than their early ancestors with many of the same features.

Mega Man 10.
Precision control and retro gaming action in one package.

While some modern games have retro visuals, paying homage to their roots, even the most advanced games retain the same basic principles of control and interface as their early counterparts. Because most popular game series require precise and accurate control, the way a game handles is usually the first thing a person notices when picking up a new game. Story and graphics are both incredibly important, but without well designed and intuitive controls, they will be ignored. Many gamers will attest that great graphics and a brilliant storyline are easily ruined by poor control schemes or clunky interfaces. Remakes of games, old and new alike, remain a common staple of the video game industry, due to the fact that well designed gameplay and solid controls will always be appealing to the gaming audience. 

The Atari “Mindlink” in action.

Allowing gamers to control “Breakout” by the power of their mullet alone.

In today’s market we have begun to see many different forms of motion based controllers being marketed and used. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have all introduced different means of interacting with games beyond the joysticks and buttons we all know, all to varying levels of success. Many industry analysts believe that motion based controls are the future of the video game industry, and it's easy to see it being embraced more and more with every passing generation of games. Some researchers are even working on controlling games via brainwaves and electrical impulses. Strangely enough even these advanced movement-based and brainwave scanning control systems can be traced back to the early days of the video game industry.

Admittedly these first crude attempts at advanced controls were largely ineffective, and almost all were completely unreleased (Example: Atari Mindlink). However it shows that many of the technologies being pushed today are still being built on ideas as old as the game industry itself. While Atari and other early companies sought to create unique movement based systems, it is only today’s technology that make them possible. As technology continues to expand and increase it’s possible that the way we interact with games will go extinct itself, evolving into something we can’t even begin to imagine. It’s also possible that as humans we’ll always seek to have a little something in our hands as we tell on-screen characters where to go, how to jump, and what to shoot.

You have to use your hands?! That's like a baby's toy.

Regardless of origins, technology, or level of complexity, good controls continue to hold an important place in games, and always will. Complex or simple, a good game is a good game only thanks to interface and control.

Controls and interface are but one part of the puzzle of gaming's evolution though! Check back with us on Thursday for more.

Until then, play hard, and keep gaming.

- Ryan “Danger” Huff