The complex development of video games and their entry into the market for ordinary consumers began in the 1970s. However, even before the 1970s, the first developments of the simplest and well-known games appeared. The first mention of the creation of such games dates back to the 1940s, but it was in 1952 that A. S. Douglas officially presented his dissertation at the University of Cambridge. The application to the dissertation was the game OXO or tic-tac-toe, but after a successful defense, the game never got on sale.
Five years later, W. Higinbotham, in New York, demonstrated his brainchild called Tennis for Two. The explosion was less than ten years away, but in 1962 S. Russell at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) created the first game that multiple computers could play (History.com Editors, 2017). This game was called Spacewar! and was based on the principle of space combat. University workers and students could only play this game since it could only run on the large, complex computers that universities usually purchased.
In the second half of the 1960s, R. Baer created a console prototype called the ‘brown box,’ which ultimately turned the still barely born video game industry. For the first time, this prototype made it possible to think that video games could be at home and not require a purposeful trip to the club, bowling, or karaoke from the players. R. Baer decided to sale the prototype to Magnavox, which sold the system under a different, more resounding name, Odyssey. In 1972, Odyssey became incredibly popular, although it had the most uncomplicated graphics and even required overlays on the TV to play.
In the same year, Atari, led by N. Bushnell, created the Pong game, which gained popularity among the players and became the foundation for subsequent successful products. It is how the Atari 2600 system was born in 1977, allowing players to change many cartridges and not worry about monotony. Magnavox Odyssey was compatible with cartridges but did not store any game program on them; the console determined a set of games (28 pieces). In the meantime, things were not rosy, and in parallel with successful creations, some developers had no problem riveting low-quality games (The Gamer, 2021, 06:13-08:29). In addition, the number of consoles offered to customers gradually increased. Cartridges, which came to consumers in large quantities, obviously contained fragility and limited use.
By the end of the 1970s, the Japanese Pak Man entered the US market and made a splash among the players. Japan introduced the first developments of Nintendo, and the fans learned about the Nintendo Donkey Kong. The arrival of Nintendo in the US market was not easy, as, in 1983, researchers stated total satiety with consoles. There was no standard algorithm by which they could work, which created difficulties in use. A vast number of different consoles complicated the joint games. Often people, without an agreement, bought other consoles and only then realized that the games offered by the program did not fit with those of their friends. In 1985, the world saw the NES: Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicon). The system was assembled to a much higher quality than anything on the market, and the developers used 8-bit graphics, making the games brighter and more colorful (Wirtz, 2022). Subsequently, Nintendo made it their philosophy to produce fewer games but deliver high quality to rival competitors.
Cartridges kept their niche, but for collectors and avid gamers, there was a difficult question about their storage. Nintendo even offered a promotion when buying cartridges as a gift with an empty cardboard box. In 1989, the popularity of cartridges allowed Nintendo to release several essential games: Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, and Metrodie. Considering its popularity and authority, Nintendo began to deal with the low quality of games (Tyson, 2022). Low-quality games continued to flood store shelves and became the leading cause of inappropriate cartridge usage.
References
History.com Editors. (2017). Video game history. HISTORY.
The Gamer. (2021). The first video game console ever[Video]. YouTube.
Tyson, J. (2022). How video game systems work. HowStuffWorks.
Wirtz, B. (2022). Gaming evolution: A brief history of video games. Video Game Design and Development.