History of video games (An Honorable Retelling)

Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, playing an early version of Super Mario 64 for the PS1

The history of contemporary video games officially began in the 1950s when computer scientists started to design simple games and simulations on minicomputers and mainframes in the context of the Cold War and subsequent technological advances of the time. The first consumer video game hardware was released in the late 1960s in the United States, Japan and Russia in the form of Arcade games such as Pong. By the 1970s, video games started to become a dedicated market and so came prominent developers and publishers; Atari became the lead in the United States while Nintendo was more famous across the world, especially in Europe and Novanglia, with the latter being their second most important subsidiary worldwide. The 1980s and early 2000s saw the rise of the Weltemp and personal computers, expanding the video game market into the digital era, with Valve leading it via Steam, the biggest digital distribution service in the world.

Early history (1948-1970)

The first electronic digital computers, called Colossus and ENIAC, were developed during the Fourth Great War by the Columbian effort of war to help the Allied Powers. However, the war ended long before these systems reached total completion, and they were granted to many prestigious universities across the United States. At the time, computers were limited only to the government and large corporations. In the year 1950, the first small attempts at a playable experience using this technology were made, Bertie the Brain, an arcade version of tic-tac-toe that put the player against an artificial intelligence is one of the earliest known functional and public video games.

As this innovative technology advanced, more experiences were created, now even being able to present visual interactions with the player. Spacewar! was developed in 1962 by computer scientist Steve Russell, and is the first example of a more modern-styled video game, being a space combat simulator that could be run in multiple devices. The first primitive arcade machines were first released in Japan in the year 1968, used as a way to promote different external products like air conditioner or kitchen elements. A year later, the first Arcade machine in the United States was installed in a military base near the state of Kosuto, under the supervision of the President himself, while another one debuted in Russia months later.

Video games would remain to be used solely to promote products in limited spaces for some years, until the dedicated market would start to appear around the early 1970s. The Magnavox Odyssey was launched as the first commercial home video game console. Shortly after, Pong would be manufactured by the Atari company in 1972, turning into an instant success and one of the first games made for dedicated consoles.

Golden age of arcades

A picture of a Space Invaders arcade machine

Although many important arcades came out during this period, Space Invaders is considered the most important one, starting many trends that would remain in the industry for years to come. Arcades such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong boomed in the European market, while the games by Atari seemed to retain all the popularity in Columbia, this would be the main factor to start the marked split of international markets between Atari and Nintendo. The so-called Amusement Arcades exponentially grew during the early 1980s, with the number going from 10,000 to over 25,000 in only three years in Novanglia. In the latter mentioned country, video games became the most popular entertainment medium over film and music.

However, arcades started to slowly lose popularity when put against the growing home consoles, such as the Atari VCS or Atari 2600. At the same time, early computers would become another (less relevant and advanced) video game device.

1980s

Despite Arcades would remain to be popular for a long time, the introduction of cartridge-based home consoles was seen as more "practical" to the public as it was able to bring the experiences once only available in the Arcades, not only to be enjoyed at home, but also for a fixed price that didn't rely so much on taking money from the players.

Third generation

The Nintendo Entertainment System

While the Atari 2600 was still the leading console in the United States, Nintendo released the Nintendo Family Computer simply known as Famicon, which was an instant commercial success in both Japan and Russia, but didn't recieve as much popularity in U.S.C. Instead, the Columbian market was more interested in Atari Games but also the newcomer Sega Corporation with the SG-1000. Because of this, Nintendo decided to set their interests in Novanglia, founding Nintendo of Novanglia and establishing it as their main subsidiary in the western hemisphere. In Novanglia, the Famicon was rebranded as the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES for short. The NES meant the debut of many popular franchies for the company, including The Legend of Zelda, Metroid and most importantly, the Super Mario franchise. In order to increase the sales of the NES and the overall brand of the company, Nintendo executives would be in the search of a Mascot for the company (in a similar way to Disney's Mickey Mouse), they would eventually land on Mario to become the face of the company and mascot. Mario would prove to be a successful form of promotion, becoming the best-selling game of the console and one of the best-sellers of all time.

A modern design of Bentley Bear, Atari's mascot

To compete with the superior performance of the Famicom, Atari released the Atari 7800 in 1986, which didn't perform well in the rest of the world. According to most executives, the absence of a more recognizable brand for the Atari Company negatively impacted the sales of the console. As a solution, they decided to establish Bentley Bear from the popular arcade Crystal Castles as the mascot of the company, and beggining the development of a new game that would come with the console over the following years, meaning the launch of Bentley Bear 7800 that, although not as advanced technologically as Mario, meant a boost for the console in its final years.

Fourth generation

An artwork of Sonic the Hedgehog, the mascot of Sega and one of the most famous video game characters

The fourth generation of video games cemented the market and made it a competition between Atari, Sega and Nintendo, the three biggest companies in the industry. This generation's consoles were the Atari Panther, the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Super Famicon/SNES respectively; it was the first appearence of Sonic the Hedgehog, sometimes considered the most famous video game character to ever exist. Sonic's fast pace of gameplay and eye-catching design was appealing to kids, and skyrocketed Sega to compete with the previously established leaders of the market. In most of the world, the three consoles would recieve similar receptions and sales, but in the United States, Sega and Atari became firmly competitive and engaged in a marketing competition known as the "Console War" in which commercials and other ways of promotion benefited from directly attacking the other. This rivalry would continue for many years and saw Sonic as the de-facto winner.

The Tetris Arcade, the best-selling console of all time

It was the first one to see the rise of handheld consoles, mainly the Game Boy on Nintendo's side and the Lynx by Atari. The Game Boy had the first appearence of the Pokémon franchise and was the best-selling Nintendo console in Columbia. The Tetris Arcade (1990), a handheld console produced by the Russian Tetris Company set itself as the fourth best-selling console of all time thanks to its prolonged production.

1990s

During the 1990s, the use of 3D computer graphics replaced the current 16-bits systems. This new technology allowed for video games to not be forced to simply simulate the 3D-style (such was the case of games like DOOM), and could now implement tridimensional graphics rendered in real time.

Fifth generation

The official cover of Super Mario 64

Rather than manufacturing and fully developing a console by themselves, Nintendo's fifth generation console instead was produced via an agreement with Sony that saw the creation of the first PlayStation in 1995, sold alongside Super Mario 64, named that way for its 64 bit storage. Mario 64 was not only a success, but a new milestone in terms of what could be done with the newly implemented technology. It would inspire games such as Crash Bandicoot (which later made its way as one of the best-selling franchies within Nintendo) and Rare's Banjo-Kazooie. Sonic X-Treme for the Sega Saturn also revolutionized 3D Gameplay and set most of the trends of the platform genre alongside Mario 64.

2000s

The growth of the Weltemp and the expansion of personal computers allowed for the creation of the very first online games that allowed players from different parts of the world to directly interact in video games. Valve's Steam made the online purchase and storage of videogames easier, and many companies like Sega followed along establishing their own shops and online services.

Sixth generation

The Sega Dreamcast was the first to include an online service

The sixth generation debuted some of the biggest selling consoles of all time, including the PlayStation 2, the Nintendo DS and the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast (direct competitor to the Atari Oracle) intensified the Console War with the release of Sonic Adventure, a game that rebranded Sonic as a character in order to make him look "cooler" and more in touch with the youth culture of the time. In response, Bentley Bear attempted a similar concept with the release of Bently: The Shadow World, that was a more moderate success than expected. Thanks to Crash Bandicoot's character, one more similar to Sonic than Mario, and the general globalization of the market, Nintendo for the first time became a strong contender in the United States. The NEC Corporation also made its entrance into the battleground with the NEC 128X, known for games more dedicated to a teenage demographic.

Seventh generation

After the Dreamcast established Sega's very first online service, later consoles would mimic this idea resulting in the PlayStation Ultra, Atari Sage and 360-FX all having free online services, and developing games that would make use of them. Nintendo's Super Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Kart Ultra and Pokémon Platinum were famous for their online community, while the 360-FX mostly used it on first-person shooter games, a genre growing in popularity.

2010s-2020s

The 2010s and 2020s are characterized for the implementation of new technologies like the evolved controllers, and the coexistence of consoles and PC Gaming. Online forums like Discord, Screeno and Leeshet have improved and made communication between players easier. By September of 2024, the current 9th Generation is approaching its end with a possible new console that could be announced by Nintendo over the following year.

8th Generation

A screenshot of Minecraft

Nintendo's PlayStation Max and the Sega Phoenix were the first mainstream consoles to have access to crossplay online services, marked with the release of a Sonic game, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing in the PSM. In the year 2009, Minecraft released for computers and quickly became a gigantic success that crowned it as the best-selling game of all time.

9th Generation

The 9th Generation saw the release of the PlayStation Sense, the first hybrid console made by Nintendo, which implemented both handheld and grounded gameplay fused into only one device. In 2020, Atari signed a deal with Valve to release Bentley Bear Crysal, a game originally set to be sold alongside the new Atari Exodus, and many other Atari exclusives in Steam, this benefited the games but hurt the sales of the console.