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The
late 1960’s brought the first
“real” video games like
table tennis and shooter games.
Atari burst onto the electronic
entertainment scene in the early
1970’s with the infamous Pong.
Arcades started opening up because
of the invention of the coin-operated
video game. |
The
late 1970’s was the start of the
video game craze and the appearance of
the home computer in more and more households.
As the home computers grew more popular,
people started writing their own games
for them. These programming hobbyists
traded and sold these home-grown games
in local markets. Other changes in the
1970’s included the transition to
game cartridges for the home gaming consoles.
That meant the people could collect games
cartridges for one base unit instead of
having bulky game console systems.
A
world of change was happening for the
video and computer game craze in the
1980’s, but online gaming wasn’t
even a glimmer in anyone’s eye
yet. New games were created that incorporated
better sound and graphics. Pole Position
and Pac-man were two that achieved big
popularity. Nintendo introduced its
first gaming system.
The
1990’s could be known as the rise
of 3-D and multimedia, which was a defining
moment in the history of online games.
The introduction of the intellectual
adventure game Myst set the stage for
gaming on the CD-ROM format. Fancier
3-D graphics hardware brought the game
Quake to the forefront Quake was classified
as an FPS (first person shooter) game.
By the late 1990’s and the exponential
growth of the internet, MUDs (multi-user
dungeons) became almost a requirement
to play any type of game online. Graphical
interfaces changed and soon people all
over the world were playing against
each other not only in FPS games but
also in real time strategy games (RTS
games) as well as third person games
like Grand Theft Auto.
The dawn of the 21st century has proven
to be dominated by the DVD-CD-ROM. All
the major game companies like Sony Playstation
and Microsoft’s X-Box use this
technology and even the latest home
computers incorporate it. It has changed
the history of online games. These gaming
systems now have networking capabilities
so you can play with other people in
real time from all over the world. Broadband
internet services are growing exponentially
to accommodate the craze of playing
these online games.
The
history of online games is ever-changing.
The gaming systems like the Playstation
and X-Box have proprietary games, meaning
you cannot use them interchangeably.
However, with a PC and internet, all
you need is a good computer with the
latest software that can handle Flash
plug-ins which is compatible with most
computer systems. What this means for
you is that you can still play those
intense, 3-D realistic games with people
all around the world using the internet
as your network.
The
drawback to the latest and greatest
technology for online games is that
what you buy today could be old hat
by next year. Luckily, for the serious
gamers, the resale industry for these
online games is huge. This resale industry
is just another element to the ever-changing
history of online games.
Free
Online Games:
Play
now!
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