The History Of Arcade Games
Author: Simon Oliver

Gaming today is a recognized element of our cultural scenery,
even to people who are over thirty or who can barely recall the
time before arcade games were invented. Gone are the days when
you would play Pac-Man or the famous Mario Brothers game.
Although they are still played and enjoyed today, they have
been enhanced into dimensional games and versions. People will
never forget the old games and that's a good thing because
there is a history here that shouldn't be forgotten.

Gaming is not a recent breakthrough. Arcade games began many
years ago. They weren't as acceptable as they are now.
Artifacts from Egypt and Sumeria have revealed that our
ancestors enjoyed playing board games thousands of years ago.

The electronic games we have now required the creation of
electronic computers. The early computers were slow and prone
to failures. Early programmers felt obliged to waste their time
by programming these computers to do things like tic-tac-toe.
When World War II ended, electronic computers started becoming
standard equipment in the more progressive laboratories. Soon
afterwards, they were incorporated with large corporations,
establishments and companies. It can be argued that university
students were the first game programmers, exploring their
fantasies and sci-fi visions into digital applications which we
are still using. Their imaginations have turned gaming into a
digital masterpiece.

The perception of establishing an electronic game system to the
screen or the television was invented by Ralph Bauer during the
early 1950's. This made the first game possible. After that, he
introduced and presented his ideas to Magnavox, a television
company. The company liked his ideas and inventions so well
that they have released a sophisticated version of Bauer's
"Brown Box" prototype, known as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972.
By today's standards, the Odyssey was prehistoric, displaying
only spots of light on the screen. It also required the use of
translucent plastic overlays to replicate the appearance of the
game.

The first truly popular console system was known as the Atari
2600. It was released in 1977. The Atari made use of plug-in
cartridges in order to play a variety of games. The popularity
of Space Invaders was a breakthrough and it became a best
seller during that time. The computer games written for the
TRS-80 and Apple II computers were attracting interest at this
time.

There are several books and articles about the history of
arcade games.


About The Author: Simon Oliver has an interest in Arcade Games.
To access more articles on Arcade Games or for additional
information and resources visit this Arcade Games related
website http://www.newarcadegameresources.info