Developments & Innovations in the Video Game Industry

Sebastian Gillis and Jordan White / 11:00 PM EST • July 14, 2024

Over the years - starting as early as 1950, continuing on and growing in both popularity and relevance in culture - Video Games have been a part of many lives all around the world.

In this article we aim too faithfully introduce to the histroy of video games and the continous innovation in gaming.

The Origin of Video Games [1950 - 1970]

Created primarily for ‘educational purposes’ or for family entertainment, video games stem from the roots of board games – giving many of the basic concepts, principles, and rules we follow today within video games directly from these older generational activities. This era introduced the commercial, entertainment concept behind video games, realizing they had more potential than just educationally - and introducing some of the first hardware, such as basic controllers.

X-O-X : Noughts & Crosses (1952)

Created by A.S. Douglas at Cambridge University, this was a tic-tac-toe simulator, in which the user would face off against the computer, which would typically play a perfect game.

Tennis for Two! (Predecessor to Pong!) (1958)

Created by William Higinbotham in Upton, New York at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The first release was on October 18, 1958 , during “Annual Visitor Day”. This game consisted of two players, a ‘ball’, and two aluminum controllers with a knob and button while playing the players would press the button and aim using the knob to get the ‘ball’ over the ‘net’.

In some context, this is referred to as the very first video game, as it was the first to be created purely as a source of entertainment, rather than used for academic research or boosting commercial technology sales. While reading the manual for the Donner Model 30 analog computer – he learned that the computer could accurately calculate the trajectories of a bouncing ball or missiles, with wind resistance incorporated, and decided to use that ability to form the foundation of the game.

Spacewar! (1962)

Steve Russel and collaborators created one of the first video games in 1962: “Spacewar!”. The game was written for the newly installed Programmed Data Processor-1 computer (PDP-1) – the first to spread to other computer installations – “Spacewar!” became the first known game to be played at multiple computer installations.

The Brown Box (1967) / The Magnavox Odyssey (1972)

The Magnavox Odyssey was inspirational for many game makers to come. It came with 28 individual games included, a revolutionary innovation for its time as the first home console created. The console although short-lived, allowed Magnavox to win more than 100 million dollars in copyright lawsuits related to the Odyssey and its patents against many competitor companies.

The Golden Arcade Era [1970 - 1982]

This Era is known for it's large arcade crowds - massive technological innovations, and the birth of multiple multi-million dollar companies & Silicon Valley itself. Atari, founded in 1972, being a leader in many of these innovations, such as successful releases into the Arcade and Home Markets. They led the industry by bringing popularity for console with interchangable cartridges,

Atari: Pong! (1972 & 1975)

Inspired by Tennis for Two, created by Allan Alcorn – Pong! was one of the most successful arcade releases of all time for game company Atari. The game was created as a trial of Allan’s abilities as he was newly hired – and ended up being successful enough Atari heavily invested into the game so much so that Magnavox sued Atari due to copyright infringement, resulting in Atari becoming an Odyssey Licensee.

Following their initial successful release within the American arcades - Atari decided to change the game, by releasing a home version of their popular game - resulting in yet another succesful launch into a new market for Atari - reaching Americans within not only arcades but also their homes!

Innovation in Cartridges - What's the Channel F?

Cartridges themself were a revolution in the Video Game Industry. One of the first cartridges to market was Atari's Pong! cartridge - but imagine living in a world where you can only play one game on an system? Fairchild Camera and Instrument released the Channel F in November 1976. This system introduced the first interchangable cartridges to the industry, but however was shadowed by Atari's console release shortly thereafter.

The Atari 2600 Console (1977)

With the video game market booming, Atari again looked to further meet their player and customer needs, releasing a brand new innovational console with the Atari 2600.

This console took the market by storm, shadowing it's predecessors came equipped with joysticks, and interchangable cartridges that had multi-colour capability. This caused a technological jump in the home console market, giving Atari a foothold in the industry holding a large marketshare for the following 15 years.

Popularity of Video Games in Japan: Space Invaders (July 1978)

Created by Tomoshiro Nishikado using 8-bit technology, and later released in 1978, Space Invaders was a massive success for the Japanese video game industry, resulting in a cultural shift in Japan . Some arcades began to be known as "Invader Houses", and the game even caused there to be a shortage in 100 yen coins throughout Japan as a result of it's massive popularity.

Nishikado's original concept for the game was originally based off of Breakout and his fondness of War of the World as a child. His conceptual vision shifted throughout production, but eventually settled on the 'space themed' design rather than soldiers and traditional vehicles as he felt as though the violence would be too realistic. This also fell in line with the release of the Star Wars franchise, which helped Nishikado in decision. The game was eventually picked up by Atari for mass production and licensing.

The Birth of Pac-Man (May 22, 1980 & October 1980)

Japanese game creator Toru Iwatini was commonly found in arcades, watching as the culture evolved, and seeking changes to be implemented, when they realized that the current games did not necessarily appeal to women. He began to work on a project, trying to make it as appealing to all genders as possible. The design of Pac-Man as an entity was partially generated while he was getting a slice of pizza.

The game exploded in popularity in both the US and Japan, with TV shows, songs, and commercials being made about Pac-Man. The game was very deterministic and pattern-based, allowing for some to excel in understanding the algorithms.

National Video Game Tournament (Oct. 10th 1980)

In 1980 – with the introduction of high scores with Space Invaders, 10000 players from all over the United States – separated by region – competed to gain access to the first large-scale video game tournament the Space Invaders Championship finals took place in New York City. The admittance to enter the competition at the regional level was only a dollar, and the prize was an all-expense paid trip to New York City to participate in the finals. The finals had film coverage by both NBC and CBS. With the way Space Invaders had been designed, a good player could last for up to 3 minutes on average, a great player up to 30 minutes, and an amazing player could essentially last forever – and these were the best of the best. The tournament consisted of 5 TVs with Atari set up for the finalists – and lasted for 1hr and 45 minutes total with 3 contestants remaining.

Modification of Arcade Games (1978 - 1982)

Innovating Arcade Cabinets

One of the largest technological innovations that happened during this era was when college students from MIT began to purchase and modify arcade cabinets. It began with one student buying pinball machines, realizing the profit potential – by his Junior year he had accumulated 20 cabinets total.

Following this the student began to discuss with other classmates about investing in Missile Command machines – which at the time was a very popular game but began to realize a decline in profits progressively as players became increasingly skilled at following the game patterns. The students deduced that they would be able to create enhancement kits for the cabinets, theorizing that if they could create more difficult versions of the game, it would not only increase interest in the machines but would consistently generate more profit as players would lose quicker.

Super Missile Attack

This new version of Missile Command they dubbed Super Missile Attack, which was a more difficult version of the game that was designed to be less predictable using the software chips they’d developed and sold about 1000 machines totaling a quarter million dollars – and a lawsuit from Atari.

The Court Case and Revolutionizing Pac-Man

During the court case with Atari the team was questioned whether they “Had stolen Atari’s idea?”, and as a result, the students changed all their code overnight, and out of fear of setting a legal precedent Atari decided to settle in case of a loss, hiring the now dropouts after the case concluded.

By this time, the Pac-Man modification kit had been completed. These alterations included improvements to the pre-existing audio and visuals of Pac-Man, adding a layer of randomness to the game to add difficulty – and having a new court order in place, the team was required to inquire with the American producers of Pac-Man, Midway, to ask for permission to release the game. Midway permitted them and took on the reproduced version of the game, creating Ms. Pac-Man.

Nintendo in America [1981 - 1988]

In this era, the American Video Game Market suffered from a large decline in popularity - contributed to by multiple factors, including but not limited to:

• Oversaturated game and console markets
• Competition from computer gaming
• Surplus of overhyped, low-quality games (e.g. E.T )

This led to a multitude of home computer and video game console companies and a large decline in the industry in North America, despite the Japanese market still flourishing with Nintendo rising in popularity across the sea. Eventually leading to the slogan being coined "People don't play video games - they play Nintendo." which may sound bold considering today's industry - but at the time hold 75% of the market share in 1989, at 3.4 Billion Dollars.

Who are Nintendo? (1889 - Present)

Nintendo began as early as 1889, initially selling playing cards, toys, carnival games, and later arcade games. Seeing the decline in the American market, Nintendo decided to look to integrate themselves into the mix. Nintendo created Radar Scope in hopes of breaking into the American market – but was very unsuccessful. Having shipped thousands of arcade cabinets across the ocean, Nintendo decided it would be cost-effective to change the software on the machines from Radar Scope to their newest development – Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong Comes to America (1981)

Donkey Kong was released in 1981 as Nintendo’s first successful game in the American market, having used circuit boards to produce the sounds – innovating the market, identifying the importance of sound to confirm actions within games, which then became increasingly implemented. The release amassed a total of 280 million dollars in the US market and was later retrofitted into pop culture, with Donkey Kong having cartoons, and commercials, also causing a revival in popularity within the arcades again.

Lawsuit: Universal v. Nintendo - Kong (June 1982 - July 1986)

Universal tried to sue Nintendo claiming copyright infringement upon King King. Nintendo hired lawyer John Kirby, who fought and won the case for them as in Japan, Kong was used as a synonym for ‘big gorilla’. John Kirby stated that Universal filed their case with knowledge of this prior and won the suit. Does the name “Kirby” stick out at all? Well, it should – as Nintendo named the popular franchise character Kirby after the lawyer as a tribute!

Mario Bros (1983) & Super Mario Bros (Sept. 13 1985)

Initially introduced as the little plumber trying to save the girl in Donkey Kong – Mario soon became a character in his own right with the release of the Mario Bros arcade game, where Mario and his brother Luigi would flip over enemies and defeat them in waves of increasing difficulty. Following the successful release, Nintendo decided to further the franchise by creating the Super Mario Bros platform game – which was described as a grand culmination of the Famicom team’s overall development of their implementation of game mechanics and programming, using experience they had built upon while creating other games.

Featuring precision controls, catchy music, and a compelling storyline, Super Mario Bros innovated the industry – creating an entirely new genre of games for players to enjoy. It is still to this day credited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Mario’s popularity helped Nintendo to grow their brand drastically, even featuring commercials including Mario in the 1990s.

Release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (December 1985)

Having been successful thus far in the American video game market, Nintendo had produced and released a console to the Japanese market known as the Famicom – possessing improved upon 8-bit graphics, colours, sounds and gameplay overall predecessors. Despite being successful there, the newly formed Nintendo America decided that the system needed to be Americanized, with a new color scheme and overall look the product for greater market success. The system was renamed the Nintendo Entertainment System and had a product test release in New York City for Christmas time as their initial launch. Despite the system not having as successful of a launch as they had expected, it had enough success that Nintendo America was willing to push the endeavor forward and continue marketing the system nationwide.

Nintendo Game Counsellors (1987-2005)

At the end of the 1980s Nintendo discovered a need to help players beat games – as they believed that if the children beat their games – it would help drive a need for newer games, with increasingly complicated concepts. This allowed Nintendo to justify hiring Game Counsellors to assist players.

These counselors were given a training video after passing a provided knowledge test on a Nintendo game. The training then consisted of 4 weeks, 5 days a week, playing Nintendo games. The counselors were expected to be knowledgeable on lists of games – which increased drastically in size throughout the years. This was where the concept of gameplay manuals and player guides was introduced, as the counselors could receive up to 20 calls per hour, or even 50-100 calls per day, on up to 2000 different games at a point – requiring them to be able to quickly access the information for them and help the players to move onto the next player’s needs. This service however was discontinued in 2005 with the popularity of video guides increasing on the developing internet.

Nintendo Power Magazine (July 1988-Dec. 2012)

In July of 1988 with the release of Super Mario Bro’s 2 – Nintendo released their own monthly mailed magazine subscription, based upon pre-existing Japanese video game magazines. The first release had the first 3D image of Mario ever seen, created with clay – advertising Super Mario Bro 2 – which sold 3.2M copies. The popular magazine contained stories, maps, and guides, meant to assist players in finding hidden secrets, or just assisting with the completion of the games, supplementing the Game Counselors.

Console Wars Begin [1989 - 2001]

PowerFest Tour & Nintendo World Championship (1990)

The top scoring players from the PowerFest Tour in 1990 held on Nintendo Entertainment Systems, consisting of multiple games such as Super Mario Bors, Rad Racer, and Tetris – were awarded with a pass to attend the 1990 Nintendo World Championship: to find the greatest Nintendo Player. PowerFest tournaments were held across the country throughout the year.

Parents drove their children across the country to participate in these high-stakes, pressure-filled, very highly attended events, seeking to win admittance to the World Championship. The Championship was hosted in New York City, the competition included smokes & lasers, an MTV DJ a live Luigi and Mario, and more! The prizes consisted of 10K cash and a trip to Universal Hollywood for the winners.

Sega Genesis (Oct. 1988 & Aug. 1989)

The Sega Genesis or the Mega Drive Sega is Sega’s first real attempt to attack Nintendo’s dominance on the console market. Being a 16-bit console made it easy for arcade games to be ported onto the console, allowing the Sega Genesis to have major success in North America. Then with the later release of Sonic the Hedgehog, a mascot that could rival Mario, created the first console war, between Sega and Nintendo.

SNES (Nov. 1990 & Aug. 1991)

Initially released in Japan as the Super Famicom, Nintendo again rebranded, and released their system to the American market. This system was the introduction of 16-bit technology to Nintendo’s games, despite not being the first to introduce 16-bit gaming, ended up being the best-selling system of its generation.

The system brought improvements to the technology released by predecessors such as the very successful competitor the Sega Genesis. The system was designed to be able to accommodate the ongoing development of enhancement chips into game cartridges, allowing them to remain competitive for generations to come. The system sold a total of 49.10 million units worldwide and was eventually fully discontinued in May 2005.

Playstation 1 (Dec. 1994 & Sept. 1995)

The PlayStation was Sony’s first into the console market, with talks between Nintendo and SEGA going sour, Sony decided to go on its own, and launched the first PlayStation in 1994 and later American release in 1995. The PlayStation the first console to move away from cartridges and use CDs. With Sony’s impressive exclusive titles such as Tekken, Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider and Resident Evil, Sony developed into a major player inside the video game market.

Nintendo-64 (June 1996 & Sept. 1996)

The NINTENDO-64 was Nintendo’s next big project, named after its 64-bit processing unit. It was only true 64-bit system of its time, and the only one built with four-player gaming in mind. With games like Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 64 and many more let the N64 sell over 32 million systems from its release in 1993.

Xbox (November 15, 2001)

The Xbox is Microsoft’s first entry in the console market. Microsoft’s worried about Sony’s PlayStation damaging the PC market, Microsoft began its plan to enter the console world, by starting development on the Xbox in 1999, and released it in 2001. With the Xbox having superior hardware, and most importantly Xbox Live, a network that allowed players to compete over the internet. Lead Xbox to great success creating some of its best titles like Halo.