A Very Brief History of Video Games
Some of those 8-bit Nintendo (NES) games from the 80s were really hard to beat. I remember losing myself in those worlds with my friends in the neighborhood when we weren’t playing outside, or playing D&D.
In order to knock out Mike Tyson, I needed to immerse myself in that world. I needed to focus 100% of my attention on the game; I had to be in the zone. The same was true whether I was gliding over a vine as Princess Toadstool (Super Mario 2), or guiding Raphael and Leonardo through a maze to find Shredder (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
Even some of the Atari 2600 games I’d had a chance to play with a few years earlier had the ability to grab all of my attention, although since graphics were much more limited, immersion took more willpower.
Today, you can put on a VR headset and be attacked by Zombies in a post-apocalyptic world, have real-time conversations with characters in the world, and immersion is almost instantaneous. You’re there, whether you focus on it or not. The world is convincing, and the danger (or adventure) seems real.
How did we get from there to here?
It was 1947. A patent had just been filed for “a cathode-ray tube amusement device." Inspired by brand new radar display technology, a player could control the parabolic arc of a dot on the screen to simulate a missile being fired at targets (paper drawings fixed to the screen). It was a start.
It was 1958. After some low-hanging fruit like a tic-tac-toe game, Tennis for Two was a leap upward. It was played on an oscilloscope, not a TV screen, and it looked like this:
It offered a two-dimensional side view of a tennis court. That vertical line in the middle is the net.
It was 1962. A group of MIT students developed Spacewar!, a true landmark in the history of video games. Two ships engaged in a dogfight while “orbiting” a star. This game was not only technically innovative for its time, offering real-time interaction, but it also demonstrated that video games could captivate an audience beyond just the academic community.
It was 1972. Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney had just developed Computer Space in 1971, the first coin-operated video game. This set the stage for Pong’s release in 1972, a table tennis simulation that became a cultural phenomenon. There was no looking back from here. To my eyes, Pong is the first game I could really get lost in:
It was 1977. A mistake in production allowed Atari to produce removable game cartridges, and the home video game revolution began to take off. This is within the span of my own lifetime, and I got to play a ton of Atari, Commodore, and other pre-Nintendo systems myself. Space Invaders, Pac Man, and Tennis were among the better early Atari games, and generic versions of these would often make their way onto my dad’s TRS 80, or even eventually to our Texas Instruments computer.
It was 1983. The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was released in Japan. It would take a couple of years for this revolutionary gaming technology to take the world by storm, but once a few kids in my neighborhood got their hands on Super Mario Brothers, it was all over for the rest of us. This era gave rise to Sega, Nintendo’s main rival for the late 80s and early 90s. The competition between these two platforms gave us some truly incredible leaps forward.
I already mentioned some of the NES games I played, but I also had access to a Sega system, and I remember when the Genesis came out and Altered Beast was free with the system! My friend across the street had a Genesis, and I had Nintendo stuff. Altered Beast was clearly next level:
It looks cartoonish by today’s standards, but back then, this was virtually photorealistic compared to the blocky graphics that made up 8-bit games. It was easy to get lost in the Genesis and Super NES when that came out.
It was 1993. Doom introduced the world to the immersive realms of first-person shooters. To be sure, there were other first-person shooters out there, but Doom was truly revolutionary. The graphics were vastly better than previous shooters, and the storyline appealed to adults as much as to kids. John Carmack’s legendary genius was on full display, as he introduced several novel features to make game play much smoother. You can see a steady evolution in this video:
It was 1995. Sony marked a new era in gaming when they launched PlayStation, allowing for CD-ROM technology to load better, faster games and setting new standards for the industry. Nintendo responded in 1996 with a more conventional cartridge-based console, but the design was still top-notch, allowing further exploration of 3D games.
It was 2001. Microsoft’s Xbox showcased powerful hardware, continuing the legacy of the Nintendo 64 and Playstation, but Xbox Live set the stage for online gaming’s explosion, coinciding with faster internet access. Gaming with other human beings was no longer the province of the arcade, but instead something done in your home.
It was 2006. Remember Nintendo? They’ve never been a company to go quietly into the night, having been around since 1889. Wii was its name, and motion-sensing technology was its game. It became one of the best selling consoles of all time.
It’s 2023. Over the last 15 years or so, we’ve seen some clear trends in video games. First, the ease of downloading and playing games on mobile devices transformed gaming from more of a niche hobby, to a ubiquitous form of entertainment. Virtual Reality is making its tentative prime time debut, very slowly, but I have little doubt that games will be completely amazing and realistic, and completely immersive.
We’ve seen a lot of blending between the virtual and physical worlds, more connectivity, and much better immersion into the world of the game. These trends are almost sure to continue.
Video games might seem like a trivial thing to study. When I was growing up, they were certainly viewed as a frivolous time-waster; surely you could spend your time on something more meaningful than rescuing the princess!
Even back then, though, I understood that there was more to the picture. Video games were fun, but they were also ways to travel to other worlds. I saw that lessons could be learned—most games had a strategy component that went beyond mere game play, and you could learn a lot by solving each game’s mental puzzle, or “crack the code” of an enemy.
Video games have become a significant cultural force, influencing not just how we play, but also how we learn, communicate, and even perceive reality. They’ve been demonized for teaching kids how to kill other kids, but they’ve also connected communities in unexpected ways. Gamification has emerged as a valuable tool for education, too. Who among us hasn’t enjoyed a little DuoLingo “ding” whenever you’re correct?
Movies and TV shows are now being made based off of video games, inverting the usual equation. The ability to tell a story where the player is completely immersed opens up a lot of possibilities. I strongly suspect the “fine art” label to be slapped onto video games more and more over time.
I have no doubt that video games will continue to evolve, not just as a form of entertainment, but as a powerful medium that reflects and shapes our society.
What’s next for gaming? Do you think VR is going to be “the” platform in a few years, or will there be something unexpected to come along? Will LLMs play a role?
Finally, what video games do you remember playing from “back in the day”?
I really didn’t anticipate feeling that I really needed this post in my life. I didn’t realize games went that far back but it makes sense that it would. I’d be really interested in learning more on video game history, especially how it intertwines with home computing and shifts in technology, how commerce impacts the greater reach of gaming, etc. And just the fact that some universities are offering full rides for gamers who will compete for them.
My siblings and I played the shit out of Mario 3. I remember when we first beat it. Bowser disappeared through the floor and one of us said "What happens if you jump down?" I can't remember who was playing, but we found out that you have to redo Bowser's castle and fight him again if you follow him.