A Brief History of Video Games
Back in the days, video games were simple but fun. During the time of the NES gameplay was very important. I’m not saying that the games of today have dull gameplay but back in those days, gameplay is really important. Graphics aren’t that “good” back in the NES days, so in order for games to sell, its gameplay elements must be fun. That’s the core factor of video games in the first place. Super Mario bros. for the NES was a great example of “fun” gameplay. As time goes by, the hardware for gaming improves. After a few years, the Super NES was introduced. Many people loved the games of this new console plus the graphics have improved. In the early 90’s, video games become more popular. Nintendo was topping the charts in sales. Sega was mostly second but it’s always good to have competition in the industry because if there’s competition there’s quality in products.
As time went by, the Playstation and Nintendo 64 were born. Many were amazed by the CD Rom technology that the Playstation introduced. Cartridge was still evident but it seems that CD based games are more realistic because the material costs less and you can put more data than in a normal cartridge. The sound quality for CD is way better than cartridge based games. Playstation was truly a hit back then. Although Sega’s Atari Jaguar had its CD based games, it didn’t sell as much. The Playstation because of its quality of games indeed sore high during the late 90’s. Playstation became number one despite being Sony’s first video game console. It was indeed a gamble when they went head to head against veterans like Sega and Nintendo.
After a few years, we were introduced to the Playstation 2 and Xbox. There’s no doubt that the Playstation 2 was the leading platform in its generation. Even up to today, the most successful console is the Playstation 2. The Playstation 2 has a lot of games. It has a library of games, this proves many people love Playstation 2. The Xbox was just there to “fill” up the competition. Although, the Xbox was deemed as the rival of the Playstation 2, it never went near to the Playstation 2’s success.
As technology evolved in these years, games become more and more cinematic. This is evident in this current generation. The PS3 and Xbox 360’s games are mostly “cinematic”. During the Playstation 1 and 2 days, pre rendered cutscenes were mostly done but in this current generation the cutscenes are mostly in game. Of course, there are still pre rendered cutscenes for the PS3 but not so much compared to the Playstation 1 and 2. This shows the evolution or gaming so to speak. It is evident that video games today are improving graphically. The narrative aspect of video games today have also improved as well.
The transition of video games are really astonishing. Video games improved overall but this doesn’t mean that the games in the past are inferior than the games of today. In fact, there are games today that are “pure rubbish” compared to past games but overall games today improved a lot especially in both gameplay and graphics. There’s a sense of cinematic quality and the use of “open world” or sandbox type of gameplay. As we venture into next gen, expect that we will experience more new innovations and improvements in the video game industry.