History+of+Gaming


 * __Timeline of Gaming History__

1948:** Thomas Goldsmith patented the Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device. It used 8 vacuum tubes to simulate a missile firing at a target and contained knobs to adjust the speed and curve of the missile.


 * 1949:** Charley Adama created a "Bouncing Ball" program for the Whirlwind computer at MIT.


 * 1951:** Inventor Ralph Baer came up with the idea of using lights and patterns from television technology for interactive manipulation. The idea was refused by his supervisors due to time constraints.


 * 1952:** As part of a doctoral dissertation, A. S. Douglas created the first computer game called //Noughts and Crosses (tic-tac-toe)//. This game ran on Cambridge University's Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator.


 * 1958:** William Higginbotham is the first American to invent an interactive computer game called //Tennis for Two// at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York.


 * 1962:** //Spacewar!// is created by Steven Russell of MIT. This ran on the PDP-1 computer and spread quickly to universities across the country.


 * 1968:** Ralph H. Baer obtains a patent for a "television gaming and training apparatus" and sells it to Magnavox. Magnavox uses this to sue multiple other home console makers for patent infringement.


 * 1969:** Jeremy Ben, an employee of AT&T, wrote a video game called Space Travel for the MULTICS operating system. The game simulated bodies of the solar system and players could attempt to land their spacecraft on them.


 * 1971:** The first coin operated arcade style game is created by Nolan Bushnell. The game, called Computer Space, is placed in bars and taverns throughout the country. Don Daglow wrote the first computer baseball game ona DEC PDP-10 mainframe at Pomona College.


 * 1972:** Magnavox creates the first home gaming console, the //Odyssey//. This console played 12 different games and caused Ralph Baer to become known as "the father of video games." Gregory Yob wrote the hide and seek game Hunt the Wumpus for the PDP-10.


 * 1975:** Pong is created by Atari. William Crowther wrote the first text adventure game, called Adventure. It was written in FORTRAN for the PDP-10. A student at Claremont Graduate University named Daglow wrote the first computer role playing game on PDP-10 called Dungeons.




 * 1976:** An arcade game called //Death Race// is released. This was a game which required players to run over zombies in order to score points. This caused the first controversy over violence in video games. //Death Race// only sold 500 cabinets in arcades.


 * 1977:** The Atari 2600 is release. This is the first multi-game home console that uses plug-in cartridges that store game information. Dave Lebling, Marc Blank, Tim Anderson, and Bruce Daniels wrote Zork.




 * 1978:** The Odyssey2 is released by Magnavox. Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle create Multi User Dungeon for use on a computer.


 * 1979:** Activision is founded by four former Atari employees. Activision is the first company to produce gaming software (for the Atari 2600) without making game consoles or arcade cabinets.




 * 1980:** Japan's Namco and America's Midway bring //Puck-Man// to the US. Distributors renamed the game //Pac-Man// before releasing it for sale. Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman and Ken Arnold release Rogue on BSD Unix.




 * 1981:** Donkey Kong is created by Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo. This game introduces the famous character of "Mario" and is just the beginning of video game success for Miyamoto.




 * 1982:** Microsoft creates the first Flight Simulator game. The first "gaming computer" emerges in the form of the Commodore Vic20, Commodore 64, Apple II and Sinclair ZX81.


 * 1983:** A company called Mystique creates a games call Custer's Revenge for use on the Atari 2600. The National Organization for Women protests the game because it is racist and pornographic. As a result, it does not sell well.


 * 1984**: The Famicom, which is a new 8 bit system from Nintendo is released in Japan. King's Quest was created by Sierra with color graphics and a third person perspective for play on the computer.


 * 1985**: Tetris is created by Russian mathematician, Alexey Pajitnov. It becomes the new Pong.




 * 1986:** The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is released in the United States and achieves record sales.




 * 1987:** Maniac Mansion became the first adventure game to allow point and click interface rather than text entry. LucasArts built the SCUMM system to make this possible. Other mouse driven point and click games quickly followed.


 * 1989:** Sim City is created and released by Will Wright and is a big hit. It is followed by Sim Farm, Sim Earth, Sim Tower, and Sim Town.


 * 1990:** Nintendo releases Super Nintendo. Neo-Geo was introduced using the same hardware found in arcade games. It used 2D graphics that were years ahead of other consoles, but was very expensive.


 * 1991**: The games of Civilization and Street Fighter II are introduced.


 * 1992:** New digitized imagery is introduced on video game systems. Mortal Kombat, which uses this imagery, is released.


 * 1993:** A Senate investigation into video game violence is spear headed by Senators Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl.


 * 1994:** The Entertainment Software Association creates the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). The ESRB creates a system using six symbols to identify video game content.




 * 1995:** The first 32 bit CD based console, called Sega Saturn. It if very expensive and, as a result, the Playstation, which is released later that year at a cheaper price, is a huge success.


 * 1996:** The Nintendo 64 is released. It offers a variety of new games such as Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda.


 * 1997:** Age of Empires is released to many accolades.


 * 1998:** Pocket Pikachu is introduced as the first virtual pet.


 * 1999:** Sega Dreamcast is released.




 * 2000:** Sony releases Playstation 2, which is the first 128 bit console and the first DVD based console.


 * 2001:** Grand Theft Auto 3 is released to much controversy. The game includes murder, prostitution, and theft. Microsoft introduces the Xbox. Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advance




 * 2002:** The U.S. Army releases America's Army and distributes it free of charge online. It becomes very popular.


 * 2003**: Washington state pases legislation prohibiting the sale of "cop killing" video games to minors.


 * 2004:** Nintendo introduces the Nintendo DS and Sony releases the Playstation Portable (PSP).


 * 2005:** Microsoft introduces XBox 360. This system has an online game service that makes it possible for gamers to play against or with other gamers via the internet.


 * 2006:** Playstation 3 is released in America and Japan. It offers gamers the most impressive graphics so far in a game system. Later this same year, Nintendo introduces the Wii. The Wii systems becomes popular because of the wireless controlling that simulates activities like bowling, tennis, baseball, and more. Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS Lite.


 * 2007:** Sony updates the PSP.


 * 2009:** Nintendo releases teh Nintendo DSi XL. Sony releases the PSP Go. What is called cloud computing services were released. This service allows a video stream of the game to be passed to the user. OnLive lets the user communicate with the servers where the video game creation is taking place.


 * 2011:** Nintendo plans to introduce a successor to the Nintendo DS called the Nintendo 3DS. It will have 3D graphics and special effects viewable without the use of 3D glasses.


 * Navigation:**

Max Studies Regarding the Effects of Gaming ESRB Conclusion about violent video games


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