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History of video games/Computer games

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Early Computer Games[edit | edit source]

See the chapters early games and Dr. Nim for early examples of computer games.

1970-1979[edit | edit source]

  • An IBM 5100 portable computer. While not used for gaming, it had a large influence on later designs.
    An IBM 5100 portable computer. While not used for gaming, it had a large influence on later designs.
  • Common computers released in 1977, the Commodore PET 2001, the Apple II, and the TRS-80 Model I.
    Common computers released in 1977, the Commodore PET 2001, the Apple II, and the TRS-80 Model I.
  • An Ohio Scientific Challenger 2P
    An Ohio Scientific Challenger 2P
  • AMD 9080 Processor
    AMD 9080 Processor

Games[edit | edit source]

  • Infocom began producing text adventures in 1979.
    Infocom began producing text adventures in 1979.
  • Dial a Grue
    Dial a Grue

1980-1989[edit | edit source]

Notable Devices of the 1980's[edit | edit source]

CPUs[edit | edit source]

Regional Computers[edit | edit source]

In the 1980's there was a rivalry between Iraqi users of the Al Warkaa and the Sakhr 170 home gaming computers.[1][2]

In Wales, Dragon computers were popular.[3]

Gallery[edit | edit source]

  • ATI Hercules Graphics Card (1986)
    ATI Hercules Graphics Card (1986)
  • AdLib Music Synthesizer Card (1987)
    AdLib Music Synthesizer Card (1987)
  • The Compaq Portable, a popular computer of the 1980's.
    The Compaq Portable, a popular computer of the 1980's.

1990-1999[edit | edit source]

By 1990 well used dithering was being used in EGA games to create the illusion of better colors.[4] From the early to late 1990's Color Cycling, the shifting of a palette on a still image, was used to produce resource efficient animations in computer games.[4][5]

The 1990's saw the first common graphics cards, as well as the first common 3D API's for graphics cards such as Glide.

The introduction of CD-ROMs was initially seen as a way to reduce costs and piracy compared to floppy disks,[6] though pirates quickly gained familiarity with the new format.[7]

In 1994, the first Dreamhack was held in Malung, Sweden.[8]

In 1996 the Marine Doom is made for US military training, a notable early use of FPS games for military training.[9]

The Nvidia GeForce 256, considered as the world's first GPU, was released in 1999. It offered a huge improvement in 3D graphic capabilities.

  • The popularity of Doom was so massive that for a while first person shooters were commonly called "Doom clones"
    The popularity of Doom was so massive that for a while first person shooters were commonly called "Doom clones"
  • The Quake engine spawned a number of decedent engines.
    The Quake engine spawned a number of decedent engines.

2000-2009[edit | edit source]

Valve launches Steam on September 12th, 2003.[10]

Audio Cards remain popular till the end of the decade in many high end gaming rigs, along with brief experiments in gaming themed network and physics acceleration cards.

Events[edit | edit source]

  • Dreamhack 2004 LAN party
    Dreamhack 2004 LAN party
  • PAX 2006 computer gaming.
    PAX 2006 computer gaming.
  • A Korean PC Bang in 2006.
    A Korean PC Bang in 2006.
  • NVIDIA SLI at E3 2006
    NVIDIA SLI at E3 2006

Components[edit | edit source]

  • GeForce FX5900
    GeForce FX5900
  • Powercolor Radeon 9000 AGP video card.
    Powercolor Radeon 9000 AGP video card.
  • Nvidia 7900GS video card.
    Nvidia 7900GS video card.
  • Nvidia 260 GTX. This card shows a trend where static 3D renderings were printed on the card.
    Nvidia 260 GTX. This card shows a trend where static 3D renderings were printed on the card.
  • A Turtle Beach Catalina sound card.
    A Turtle Beach Catalina sound card.
  • A Western Digital VelociRaptor in 2008.
    A Western Digital VelociRaptor in 2008.
  • A Linksys WRT54GS Router, common during the early to late 2000's.
    A Linksys WRT54GS Router, common during the early to late 2000's.
  • 2009 LCD shutter glasses for 3D gaming.
    2009 LCD shutter glasses for 3D gaming.

2010-2019[edit | edit source]

Rise of Steam[edit | edit source]

We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable.
—Gabe Newell, Interview with the The Cambridge Student - 2011.[11][12]

In 2011 Valve identifies game piracy as a service problem.[13] In 2013 Steam distributed 75% of digital games on PC.[14]

In 2015 Steam and Bethesda briefly introduced paid mods as a feature, before quickly withdrawing it in response to widespread criticism.[15][16]

Ray-tracing games started in 2018 and ray-tracing cards were released to be capable of ray-tracing in supported games. The first ray-tracing graphics cards were Nvidia RTX 2060, 2070, 2080, and Titan RTX.

2010's gallery[edit | edit source]

  • AMD booth at E3 2011
    AMD booth at E3 2011
  • NVIDIA GTX 1070 Founders Edition
    NVIDIA GTX 1070 Founders Edition
  • A Blizzard Battle.net Authenticator token in 2016.
    A Blizzard Battle.net Authenticator token in 2016.

2020-2029[edit | edit source]

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a shortage of computer parts.[17] Despite this the Folding@Home distributed computing project reaches quickly 1.5 Exaflops of capability as thousands of PC gamers donate unused cycles from their computers to tackle biomedical research in the fight against COVID-19.[18]

The Trump Administration began enforcing a new tariff on computer components from China near the end of it's term in mid January 2021, causing GPU prices to significantly increase, sometimes by several hundred dollars.[19][20]

Some manufactures experimented with PCs in handheld console formfactors.[21] In 2022 Steam released the Steam Deck, which is a handheld console that runs PC games.

In 2022 Intel released its first graphics cards: the Arc A750 and A770. These GPUs supported RTX 3060 performance for cheaper prices in games, especially DirectX 12 ones. DirectX 9 support was improved on these GPUs in 2023.

2020's gallery[edit | edit source]

  • Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition
    Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition

References[edit | edit source]

Wikipedia has related information at PC game

  1. ↑ "History of computers in Iraq". Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  2. ↑ Byford, Sam (1 May 2012). "Al-Warkaa: the Iraqi home computer series that took on the MSX 'enemy'". The Verge. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  3. ↑ Evans, Jason (23 December 2019). "When a Welsh computer was the must-have Christmas gift" (in en). WalesOnline. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/dragon-computer-32-64-vintage-17433026. 
  4. ↑ a b "8 Bit & '8 Bitish' Graphics-Outside the Box". Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  5. ↑ "Old School Color Cycling with HTML5 EffectGames.com". www.effectgames.com. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  6. ↑ "WATCH OUT FOR THE CD-ROM HYPE Some industry executives tout the luminescent disks as the hottest thing since the VCR. But that view rests on seven myths you should know about. - September 19, 1994". archive.fortune.com. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  7. ↑ D'Alessio, Vittoria. "Chinese pirates target software on CD". New Scientist. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  8. ↑ "Dreamhack on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  9. ↑ Riddell, Rob. "Doom Goes To War". Wired. https://www.wired.com/1997/04/ff-doom/. 
  10. ↑ Sayer, Matt; Wilde, Tyler (12 September 2018). "The 15-year evolution of Steam". PC Gamer. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  11. ↑ "Valve's Gabe Newell Says Piracy Is a Service Problem".
  12. ↑ "Gabe Says Piracy Isn't About Price - IGN".
  13. ↑ Cifaldi, Frank. "Valve: Piracy Is More About Convenience Than Price". Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  14. ↑ "Valve Lines Up Console Partners in Challenge to Microsoft, Sony". Bloomberg.com. 4 November 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  15. ↑ Prescott, Shaun (27 April 2015). "Valve has removed paid mods functionality from Steam Workshop". PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-has-removed-paid-mods-functionality-from-steam-workshop/. 
  16. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (27 April 2015). "Valve kills paid mods on Steam, will refund Skyrim mod buyers" (in en). Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/2015/4/27/8505883/valve-removing-paid-mods-from-steam. 
  17. ↑ Leon, Nicholas De. "How to Buy a Computer During the Great Laptop Shortage of 2020". Consumer Reports. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  18. ↑ Merritt, Rick (1 April 2020). "NVIDIA Blogs: Virus War Goes Viral: Folding@Home Gets 1.5 Exaflops to Fight COVID-19". The Official NVIDIA Blog. https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2020/04/01/foldingathome-exaflop-coronavirus/. 
  19. ↑ "With Tariffs Back in Place, GPU Vendors EVGA, Zotac Raise Prices on Graphics Cards" (in en). PCMAG. https://www.pcmag.com/news/with-tariffs-back-in-place-gpu-vendors-evga-zotac-raise-prices-on-graphics. 
  20. ↑ Hollister, Sean (13 January 2021). "Sure enough, EVGA and Zotac have raised prices on the Nvidia RTX 3080 and beyond" (in en). The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/13/22228470/nvidia-evga-zotac-raise-prices-rtx-3080-3070-3060-3090. 
  21. ↑ Palladino, Valentina (6 January 2020). "Dell’s new Concept UFO puts PC gaming on a Nintendo Switch-like device" (in en-us). Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/dells-new-concept-ufo-puts-pc-gaming-on-a-nintendo-switch-like-device/. 


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