A History of Videogames - from 1889 to the year 2000. This was a lecture given in the year 2000 by JT Velikovsky at Charles Sturt University. JT Velikovsky was the national games market analyst in 1999-2000, at Inform P/L (now GfK). For more background see: http://on-writering.blogspot.com/

1. JT Velikovsky
VideoGame Historian
Year: 2000, CSU
With thanks to:
http://au.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/
and others
A History of
VideoGames

2. Overview
JT Velikovsky
Former national games market analyst (1999-2000)
at Inform Pty Ltd (now GfK)
Guest Lecture Presentation on:
The History of Videogames
For Charles Sturt University, Bathurst NSW, Yr 2000
(First 3-Year B.A. Games Degree course, Australia)
Images & Information –
Fair Use: For Educational Purposes Only

3. Overview
B.G. - Before Games
The Games Begin: 1961-77
Golden Years: 78-81
The Great Crash: 82-84
Games Are Back: 85-88
Home Market Expands: 93-97
The 32-bit Era: 93-97
The Modern Age: 98-2K
- What Next?: 2K+
http://au.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/
TIMELINE:

4. 100 YEARS B.G.
(Before Games)
1889 - Fusajiro Yamauchi starts Marufuku
1891 - Gerard Philips establishes Philips
1918 - Konosuke Matsushita starts Matsushita
Electric Housewares Manufacturing Works
http://au.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/

5. 100 YEARS B.G.
(Before Games)
1932 - The Connecticut Leather Company established
1945 - Harold Matson & Elliot Handler start Mattel
http://au.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/

6. 50 YEARS B.G.
(Before Games)
1947 / 8 - THE PATENT
1947, Goldsmith and Mann submitted a patent for
the device, calling it the Cathode-Ray Tube
Amusement Device (Pat # #2455992), awarded 1948
Based on WW2 radar device, `missile command’ game
Game was never mass-produced
http://classicgames.about.com/od/classicvideogames101/p/CathodeDevice.htm

7. 50 YEARS B.G.
(Before Games)
1947 - Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka set up the
Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company
http://au.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/

8. 50 YEARS B.G.
(Before Games)
- THE IDEA!
1951 - Ralph Baer, engineer with Loral, told to
"build the best TV set in the world."
• Baer suggests they add some kind of
interactive game to the TV set
• This apparently doesn’t happen.
http://au.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/

9. 50 YEARS B.G.
(Before Games)
- The First-ever Ph.D. In Games?
1952 - OXO (Noughts and Crosses) - created and
programmed by Alexander Sandy Douglas, at
Cambridge University
• Platform: Electronic Delay Storage
Automatic Calculator (EDSAC)
• PhD was awarded! (You Win!)
http://classicgames.about.com/od/computergames/p/OXOProfile.htm/

10. 50 YEARS B.G.
(Before Games)
1954 - Former US Korean War veteran David Rosen
starts SErvice GAmes

11. The Games Begin:
1958
1958 - Willy Higinbotham's "Tennis for Two“
(on an oscilloscope)

12. The Games Begin:
1961
1961 Steve Russell
creates Spacewar
* Play it here:
http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/gro
ups/el/projects/spacewar/
1962 Nolan Bushnell
plays Spacewar at the
University of Utah.

13. The Games Begin:
1970’s
Early 70’s - other games developed on mainframes:
Avatar, Airfight
• Star Trek written by Mike Mayfield (in BASIC)
• almost no graphics
• no significant commercial markets

14. The Games Begin:
1970’s
• 1970's Computers games
mostly use teletypes
• 1971 Intel builds the
4004 4-bit
microprocessor.

15. 1971 - Nutting Releases First Arcade Video Game
• Computer Space
1972 - Magnavox Unveils The Odyssey
The Games Begin:
1971-77

16. The Games Begin:
1971-77
1972
• Bushnell starts Atari
• g
n
• … and Pong is born

17. The Games Begin:
1971-77
1973 - Pong becomes an arcade phenomenon
• spawns 25 clones
1975 - Crowther & Woods create Adventure
• first text-based adventure
game

18. The Games Begin:
1971-77
• 1975 - Sears' Pong

19. The Games Begin:
1971-77
1976
• Fairchild releases Fairchild Channel F
• Exidy releases Death Race arcade game
• many home video games released
• Atari sold to Warner Communications

20. The Games Begin:
1971-77
1976
• Steve Wozniak develops Apple 1 computer.
• Wozniak & Jobs found Apple Computer Co.

21. The Games Begin:
1971-77
1977
Atari opens Chuck E. Cheese chain
Midway Games releases Gunfight

22. The Games Begin:
1971-77
1977 - Atari VCS - later known as Atari 2600

23. The Games Begin:
1971-77
1977
Apple releases the Apple II
Blank, Daniels, Anderson & Lebling create
Zork (text adventure game)

24. Golden Years:
1978-81
1978
• Midway releases Space Invaders
• coin shortages in Japan

25. Golden Years:
1978-81
1978
•Atari releases Atari Football with trackball
• Bushnell leaves Atari (buys Chuck E. Cheese)
• Nintendo cocktail tables with Computer Othello
• Intel develops the 8088 (8/16-bit) processor

26. Golden Years:
1978-81
1978 - Atari Enters Computer Market
• Atari 400 and 800 computers
1978 - Magnavox releases console with keyboard
• the Odyssey 2

27. Golden Years:
1978-81
1979
Atari releases Asteroids
their all-time best seller
Asteroids - 1979 Asteroids - 1999

28. Golden Years:
1978-81
1980 - Mattel Intellivision

29. Golden Years:
1978-81
1980
•Atari programmers leave and form Activision
•Atari creates Battlezone

30. Golden Years:
1978-81
1980 - Namco releases Pac-Man
• most popular arcade of all time
• originally named Puck-Man
1981 - Nintendo creates Donkey Kong

31. Golden Years:
1978-81
1981
more Atari programmers leave & form
Imagic
SEGA releases Frogger in US
US arcade revenues = $5 billion
Man dies of heart attack while
playing Berserk

32. Golden Years:
1978-81
1981 - IBM releases IBM PC
• uses Intel's 8088 microprocessor

33. The Great Crash
1982-1984
1982 - Coleco releases Colecovision

34. The Great Crash
1982-1984
1983 - Animated Video Games
Cinematronics releases Rick Dyer's Dragon's Lair
• first laser-disc technology arcade game

35. The Great Crash
1982-1984
1983 - Commodore releases the Commodore 64

36. The Great Crash
1982-1984
• The 1983 Crash!
• too many products on the shelves
• many 3rd-party companies go bust
• Mattel shuts down after heavy losses
• Warner sells off Atari

37. Games Are Back:
1985-88
1985 - Nintendo test-markets 8-bit NES
1986 - Nintendo Releases NES
• system debuts with Super Mario Bros

38. Games Are Back:
1985-88
1986 - Sega Releases Sega Master System
• NES competition

39. Games Are Back:
1985-88
1986 - Atari 7800 game console

40. Games Are Back:
1985-88
1986 - Good Nintendo News
• outsells competitors 10 to 1 in US
• #1 selling toy in America
• Legend of Zelda - 1st `new gen’ game
to exceed sales of 1 million units
• many 3rd party developers & Atari
supporters (eg Namco) sign on

41. Games Are Back:
1985-88
1987 - New software: Nintendo's hold on the market
grows, crowding out Sega and Atari - developers:
• KONAMI
• CAPCOM
• JALECO
• BRODERBUND
• INFOGRAMES
• SQUARE
• TAITO
NEC Releases `PC-Engine’ Console in Japan
• touted as 16-bit machine
• (actually 16-bit graphics processor)

42. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1989 - Nintendo introduces Monochrome Game Boy
• 1989 - retails at US$109
• 1999 - 60 million sold
• only PSX outsold it
• Other (colour!) handhelds
• Lynx (colour) US$149
• Nomad
• Turbo Express
• Game Gear

43. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1989 - NEC releases "16-Bit" console in US
• NEC brings `PC-Engine’ to America
• call it the TurboGrafx-16 ($189)

44. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1989 - Sega releases 16-Bit Genesis in US
• US$249.95
• called (`Mega Drive’ in Australia)

45. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
• Bambino
• Bandai
• Casio
• Coleco
• CGL
• Entex
• Grandstand
• Tomy
• Mattel
• Milton Bradley
• Tiger
• Namco
• Playtime
• Conso
• Popgames
• Halion
• Parker Bros
• Nintendo
• Gakken
• Unisonic
DEDICATED HANDHELD SYSTEMS

46. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1989 - Atari Releases Handheld Lynx (US$149)

47. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1990 - Nintendo releases Super Mario 3
• all-time best-selling video-game cart
Video-game rental dispute
• Nintendo sues Blockbuster over video
game rentals
• Nintendo wins

48. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1990 - SNK releases Neo-Geo
• 24-bit (arcade & home formats)
• graphics & sounds crush Genesis & TurboGrafx-16
• but US$899 retail crushes Neo-Geo's sales

49. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1990 - Sega Arcade Hits Come Home
• Afterburner II, E-SWAT
• Sega secures Genesis rights
to Capcom's platform game
Strider
• Strider wins Game of the
Year

50. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1990 - NEC Releases TurboExpress (US$299.95)
• basically handheld TurboGrafx-16
• separately sold TV tuner
• first time a portable can play dedicated
console's games

51. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1990 - Commodore releases CDTV
• (Commodore Dynamic Total Vision)
• rival to Philips CDi
• basically Commodore Amiga PC
without keyboard
• first home system to stress
education software + games
• software sold on CD, not cartridge

52. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1991 - Nintendo Releases SNES (US$249.95)
• Super Famicom, but called Super NES

53. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1991 - Sega Introduces Sonic
• Sega hopes to conquer NES/SNES (i.e. Mario)
• critics find Super Mario World better
Galoob Toys - Game Genie
• device lets players cheat on NES games
• infuriates Nintendo

54. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1991 - Sega CD (US$299.95)
• denies developers easy access to development tools
• graphics radical (hardware sprite zooming & rotation)
• Sega of America shifts focuses to interactive movies

55. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1991 - JVC Wondermega ($620)
• released in Japan
• a combination Genesis karaoke & Sega CD

56. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1991 - Nintendo Divorces Sony & marries Philips
• Sony & Nintendo abandon joint CD peripheral
• which Sony had completed in prototype form!
• Nintendo works with Philips to create CD-ROM
compatible with Philips CD-i

57. Home Market Expands:
1989-92
1991 - Sony apparently disgusted
• finishes up work on SNES games
• scraps old "PlayStation" developed for
Nintendo
• sets engineers to work on 32-bit CD-only
game machine to unseat Nintendo in Japan
and US

58. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1993 - 3DO Company launched
• started by EA founder Trip Hawkins
• announce new 32-bit gaming console
• 3DO has backing from Panasonic, Time-
Warner, and MCA
• 3DO won’t manufacture consoles itself

59. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1993 - Panasonic releases 3DO console
• only drawback: $699 price tag
• Goldstar soon after
• Sanyo

60. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1993 - Atari Launches Jaguar
• Atari bypasses 32-bit arena - to `64’ bits
• (actually two 32-bit co-processors)
• expensive for console ($700, $100/game)

61. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1993 - New Sega & Nintendo Next-Gen Systems Announced
Nintendo's `Project Reality’
• 64-bit system developed by Silicon Graphics
Sega's Saturn
• 32-bit system
!

62. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1993
• Intel’s Pentium chip launched
• Consoles (Sega & Nintendo) = 80% of game market
• Microprose’ Civilisation is published for PC
• created by Sid Meier, creator of:
• Civilisation 2, 3
• Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire

63. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1994
SEGA invests $40 million into Atari
• obtains access to Atari's patents
Origin releases Ultima VIII
• introduces a full isometric perspective
• bad year in general for video game sales

64. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1994 - Amstrad CPC 464

65. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1994
• DOOM released by id Software
• first-person 3-D shooter with RT3D
engine, spawns:
• Half Life
• Quake
• Unreal
• mouse & keyboard based
• Myst released by Cyan
• `slideshow’ adventure game
• all time biggest PC game
• 4 million sold 1994-2000

66. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1994 - ESRB Established
Entertainment Software Rating Board
• rates video games for:
• age
• violence
• sexual content

67. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1994 - Sega releases 32-Bit console (sort of)
• Sega 32X peripheral ($179.95)
• enables Genesis to run new 32-bit cart games
• to stave off sales of Atari Jaguar & Panasonic 3DO

68. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1994 - Nintendo releases Super Game Boy ($59.95)
• adapter - lets Game Boy cartridges play on SNES

69. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1995 - Microsoft releases Windows 95
• includes the game SDK & DirectX
• brings major game performance to Windows

70. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1995 - Sony ships PlayStation (32 bit)

71. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1995
• Internet & WWW explode
• Full Motion Video (FMV) enters games
• 7th Guest
• Writer: Matt Costello

72. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1995 - the Sega Saturn

73. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1995 - the Saturn debacle
• Sega announced Saturn will release in US on
"Saturnday," September 2 1995
• Sega jumps the gun - releases in May for $399.99
• overall sales very low
• very few titles are released

74. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1995 - Nintendo Virtual Boy ($179.95)
• 32-bit "portable" game console
• to tide people over until `Project Reality’
(now called Ultra 64) is ready for release
• critics swarm to smash the system
• sales very low

75. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1995
• another bad year for video game sales
• Nintendo delays release of Nintendo 64
Sony's fortunes rising
SEGA's diminishing

76. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1996 - Price Wars
Sony lowers price of PlayStation to $199
Sega forced to follow suit
doubts about cartridge format, CD better
Multi-player games, via modem, internet,
and private networks, gain popularity
Atari effectively dies - sold to JTS
Atari Jaguar discontinued

77. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1996 - Release of American N64

78. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1996 - N64’s impressive debut
500,000 sell on first day in Japan
causes riots
improved distribution via Convenience Stores
entire shipment of 350,000 sells out in three
days in US
after 4 weeks sales drop
lack of software blamed

79. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1996 - Arcades decline despite new games
• Sega releases Virtua Fighter 3
• shatters polygon performance records
• Saturn version immediately announced
• simulation games popular in arcades
• new skiing, snowboarding, & jet skiing
games from Namco and Sega
• arcades in decline - as home consoles
catch up with arcade machines

80. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1996 - Saturn News: Good and Bad
• Japanese sales from Saturn are high
• American sales and returns low
Bad Sega news
• stores dump stocks of 16-bit cartridges
• Sega takes huge loss - on worldwide
warehouses full of 16-bit games
• Acclaim takes similar loss on warehouses
of really bad 16-bit games

81. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1996 - Nintendo sells billionth cartridge!
Nintendo announces Atlantis
• 32-bit RISC-based color handheld device
• launch plans eclipsed by launch of N64
Nolan Bushnell Reappears
• president of Aristo Games
• makes Internet stations for arcades & bars

82. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1996 - Sony Success
• Sony sales top $12 million per day thru
Christmas shopping season
• PlayStation worldwide #1 next-generation
game console
• video-game industry has highly
profitable year
• software prices on 32-bit games show
exceptional volatility

83. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1996 - Video-Game Museum Opens - Videotopia
• traveling exhibit on history of video games
• Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science Center
Death of Virtual Boy
• Nintendo stops all development on Virtual
Boy
• Nintendo blames designer, Gumpei Yokoi, a
30-year employee of Nintendo
• responsible for highly successful Game Boy
• Yokoi leaves Nintendo in disgrace, starts up
own R&D company

84. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1997
Force-feedback joysticks &
steering wheels
Origin launches Ultima Online

85. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1997
3-D graphics accelerators standardize
games start to assume 3-D acceleration
Pentium II's running at 200MHz make
serious game machines
PII’s lead to bigger, demanding games like
Cyan's Riven
requires 100MHz PC with 16MB RAM, 75MB
hard disk space, video & sound cards
compatible with DirectX and Windows 95

86. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1997 - Console Price Wars
• Feb - Nintendo of Japan drops price of N64 to $137
• Mar - Sony lowers PlayStation to $200 in UK and
Aust.
• SCE of America lowers PlayStation to $149
• George Harrison of N64 US says price drop doesn't
faze his company
• but Nintendo lowers N64 to $150 two weeks later!
• June - Sega lowers the price of the Saturn to $150

87. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1997 - Saturn still popular in Japan
• Saturn software sold through vending
machines at convenience stores
• Sega releases super-polygon arcade machine
Super GT Scud Race, in Japan and America
• Capcom’s Street Fighter III bombs
• Sega Channel will cease broadcasting in
1998
• Genesis closer to extinction due to
success of PlayStation & N64
• subscription base for Sega Channel kept
getting smaller
• Sega announces merger with Japanese toy
company Bandai - this fails

88. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1997 - Tamagotchi Fever
• Bandai - 14.5 million in 1 year
• over 20 virtual pet manufacturers

89. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1997 - Sony & Nintendo Begin Year on High Note
• Sony has installed base 3.2 M units in US
• 1/3 sold over 1996 Christmas holiday season
• Nintendo claims `could have sold 2.5 million
consoles during the Christmas season’ had it
been able to manufacture that many

90. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1997 - PlayStation Most Popular Gaming Console
• 5 million sold in Japan
• 4 million in the United States
• 2.2 million in Europe
• these figs double 4 months later when 20
millionth unit is sold
Sony Releases Yaroze in US ($750)
• lets users design PSX games on home PCs

91. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1997
Nintendo’s StarFox 64 Sets Record
• Nintendo quick to announce StarFox 64 is
"hottest" video game for any system
• ...sells 300,000 copies within five days
of June 30 launch
• purists point out that this only applies
in the United States -
• Final Fantasy VII sold 2 million copies in
3 days when released in Japan in January

92. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1997 - Tiger Releases Game Boy Competition:
game.com

93. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1997 - Nintendo Releases "New" Console (SNES v 2.0)

94. The 32-bit Era Begins
1993-97
1997
Father of Game Boy Dies in Freak Accident
• October - Gumpei Yokoi, inventor of Game
Boy involved in a car accident
• Game Boy - Yokoi's most successful product
• also responsible for the Game & Watch
• the Virtual Boy
• cross-key directional pad that replaced
the joystick as the controller of choice

95. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998
lots of awesome games for PC’s
console games still popular on PlayStation &
Nintendo 64
PlayStation rules the consoles
more games for PlayStation, but Nintendo
comes on strong with Return of Zelda
JTS sells Atari name and assets to Hasbro
for $5 million

96. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998 - Next-Gen 128-bit Sega Console
• code-named Dural, Black Belt then Katana
• will use a Microsoft Windows CE OS (easier
game conversions to & from PC)
• unique aspect is Visual Memory System (VMS)
• memory device that plugs into controller
but can also be used as a stand-alone game
device with Tamagotchi-like graphics
• Sega of America spends $100M to launch it
• Sega announces name change to Dreamcast

97. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998 - Dreamcast launched Japan, November 27
• initial 150,000 systems sell immediately
• with 132,000 copies of Virtua Fighter 3

98. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998 - Sega's Problems Continue
• cuts are made in the three American divisions:
• Sega of America
• SegaSoft
• Sega Entertainment
Saturn Death Knell
• Sega ceases distribution of the Saturn in
North America

99. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998 - More Price Wars
• at E3 Sony announces it will be shipping
PlayStation consoles with the new Dual
Shock controller
• new configuration will retail for $149.95
• retailers sell off old stock of consoles
with original controller for $129.95
• Nintendo announces it too will temporarily
drop N64 retail price to $129.95
• Question on everyone's mind:
• When will the systems fall to $99?

100. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998 - Pokemania comes to America
• Pocket Monsters - marketing hit in Japan
• worldwide attention - cartoon causes
epileptic fits in 700 Japanese viewers
• Game Boy versions - Nintendo's fastest-
selling game ever
• Nintendo also release Tamagotchi-like
device called Pocket Pikachu

101. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998 - Nintendo's Game Boy Color

102. The Modern Age
1998-2K
•1998 - Others Jump on Handheld Market
• Tiger continues to tout its game.com
• also releases a slimmer model called
Game.com Pocket Pro - fails badly
• Bandai introduces WonderSwan ($40) - can
display games both horizontally &
vertically on hi-res B&W screen, can also
display limited full-motion video
• SNK announces the Neo-Geo Pocket ($50)
• a handheld system that will work both
independently and in conjunction with
Sega's Dreamcast.
• features a tiny joystick and monochrome
screen that larger than Game Boy's

103. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998 - Hasbro Goes on Buying Frenzy
after success of its Frogger release for the PC
and PlayStation Hasbro Interactive purchases:
• Tiger Electronics
• the rights to the Atari home library and
name for $5 million.
• first game released is Centipede for the PC

104. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998 - Retro Excitement Continues
• Activision releases compendium of 30 Atari
2600 games for the PlayStation
• lukewarm response
• public is appreciative of re-released
classic games
• also releases updated version of Asteroids
for the PC and PlayStation
• CD-ROM called Intellivision Lives released
• 50 Intellivision games for PC & MAC

105. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998 - VM Labs `NUON’
• chip built into DVD consoles
• allows DVD players to be fully interactive
• included in DVD players manufactured by:
• Thompson (RCA and GE)
• Toshiba
• Top developers sign on:
• Activision
• Capcom
• Hasbro
• THQ

106. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998 - Banner Year for Video games
IDSA (Interactive Digital Software Association)
announces 1998 was a banner year for industry
• first six months of 1998, sales up 30 %
from all of 1997, which was record year
IDSA reports home video-game industry is
flourishing at the expense of arcade industry
• one victim is Acclaim:
• exits from the arcade industry on March 6
Emulation Woes - IDSA works to shut down web
sites that offer ROM images
• although definition of the legality of the
ROM images remains in question

107. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1998 - N64: Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time
• last 6 weeks of 1988 - $150 million (2.5m units)
TITLE WEEKS TOTAL REVENUES
Legend of Zelda (Nintendo) 6 $150m
A Bug's Life 6 $114m
Enemy of the State 7 $92m
The Rugrats Movie 7 $85m

108. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1999 - Nintendo announces 128-bit Dolphin
• built around IBM 400MHz copper Gekko microchip
• console will ship before Christmas 2000 season

109. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1999 - Cellular Phone Games
Nintendo announces Game Boy Advance
• 32-bit color handheld system
• can be combined with cell phone for
Internet access
• compatible with Game Boy & Game Boy Color
software
Howard Lincoln's Plans To Retire
• announces he plans to retire as CEO of
Nintendo of America in Feb 2000

110. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1999 - Microsoft announces `X-Box’ plans
• home console system
• like Dreamcast - use Windows CE as OS
?

111. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1999
Maximum Score for Pac-Man Achieved
• Billy Mitchell achieves 3,333,360 !
Neo-Geo Pocket (16-bit) released in US ($69.95)
• SNK didn't release monochrome NGP in US

112. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1999
• Hasbro Acquires Rights to Namco Games
• Sony Releases Specs for New PlayStation
• Iomega plans Zip Drive for Dreamcast

113. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1999 - Sega Announces Games for Handhelds
• Nintendo's Game Boy
• Bandai's WonderSwan
Sega has no plans to market own handheld system
Sega of Japan Lowers Dreamcast Price
• Dreamcast goes from $250 to $164
• US launch price of $199 has not changed
• Hollywood Video stores rent out Dreamcasts
• renters must leave a $350 deposit
• only game available is Sonic Adventure

114. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1999 - No Gun for Dreamcast
• due to shootings at Columbine High, light
gun not released in US
• fans of House Of The Dead 2 dismayed
• 3rd-party companies release working light
guns in Sega's place
Dreamcast sales figs
• $98 million in first 24 hours of US launch!

115. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1999 - Emulation News
• Connectix Corporation introduces the
$149 Virtual Game Station
• plays emulated PSX games on the
Macintosh
• Sony requests restraining order
• request is denied
bleem!
• PSX emulator for IBM compatible PCs
• available for $19.95!
• Sony makes four attempts to restrain
shipments
• refused every time!

116. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1999 - Microsoft’s 1 million joysticks
• Microsoft ships 1 millionth SideWinder Force
Feedback Pro joystick
• most popular force feedback stick
• features a 16-bit onboard processor
• MS's digital-optical technology

117. The Modern Age
1998-2K
1) Myst - Mattel Interactive 4,236,198
2) MS Flight Simulator - Microsoft 2,781,288
3) Doom II - GT Interactive 1,553,587
4) Riven: The Sequel to Myst - Mattel 1,305,595
5) Monopoly Game - Hasbro Interactive 1,273,553
6) Warcraft II - Havas Interactive 1,250,675
7) Diablo - Havas Interactive 1,176,457
8) Doom Shareware - Id Software 1,154,541
9) Sim City 2000 - Electronic Arts 1,136,244
10) Star Wars: Dark Forces - LucasArts 952,033
TOP TEN GAMES OF ALL TIME (at @ 2000)

118. The Modern Age
1998-2K
ECONOMICS of THE GAME INDUSTRY (Year 2000)
• 300 games released each year
• only 30 make money
• $5 billion - in PC games alone
• Game market overtakes movie industry ($35b)
• Input Devices = 16% of $31b worldwide total
• 1 in 4 US homes has a PlayStation

119. The Modern Age
1998-2K
CONSOLE COMPARISON:
• Sony PlayStation
• Nintendo 64
• Sega Dreamcast
• Sony PlayStation 2
• Nintendo Dolphin
• Microsoft X-Box
?

120. The Modern Age
1998-2K
PLAYSTATION
• Japan launch - Dec 94
• launched rest of world - Sep 95
• 300 000 polygons/sec
• 30 MIPS processor
• 4 Meg RAM
• 400 US titles
• 10% penetration in US homes
• Analysis:
• Multi-platform games look worse on PSX
• cheap & lots of them for software dev’rs
• 70% of the games market!

121. The Modern Age
1998-2K
NINTENDO 64
• US launch - Sep 96
• Aust launch - Feb 97
• 93.75 Mhz 64-bit CPU
• 64-bit MIPS co-processor
• over 500 000 000 16-bit operations/sec
• built-in pixel-drawing processor (RDP)
• 4.5 Meg RAM, 150 000 polygons/sec
• fewer (but better) titles
• future may hang on Zelda & Goldeneye
• 64-bit MIPS co-processor
• dependent on software, hardware still powerful

122. The Modern Age
1998-2K
DREAMCAST - Sega tries again!
• US launch Sep 99, $299
• Aust launch - Nov 30, 99 $499
• Hitachi 200 Mhz CPU, Power VR 3D, 16 Meg RAM
• but faster than a 400 Mhz PII for 3-D
• 3 million polygons/sec
• fast CD-ROM loads
• support Sega & Microsoft OS, (Direct X 5.2),
inbuilt 56K modem
• software: Sega makes great arcade games
• easy to port from PC
• $100 M marketing budget
• first 128-bit - but not backwards compatible!

123. The Modern Age
1998-2K
PLAYSTATION 2
• Japanese launch March 3 2000
• US, Europe launch - Sep 2000
• Aust launch - Q4 2000
• 128 bit `Emotion Engine’ CPU, 32M ram, 300 MHz
• 4x DVD
• 24x CD ROM
• 48 channel sound
• 56K modem
• 120 PSX2 game titles
• over 600 PSX titles...
• PSX2 - first backwards compatible console!

124. The Modern Age
1998-2K
NINTENDO DOLPHIN
• Worldwide launch: pre-Christmas 2000
• DVD-ROM format (opposed to cartridge)
• 4 controller ports for 4-players
• IBM 400MHz copper Gekko microchip
• will N64 loyalists wait?

125. The Modern Age
1998-2K
MICROSOFT X-BOX
...the “PlayStation2 killer”
• all rumours only...
• Dreamcast runs Windows CE as OS
• MS don’t want to offend Sega
• US$300
• DVD based
• 500 MHz CPU - Pentium or Celeron
• Windows CE as OS
• 3Dfx’s Voodoo 3 or NVidia’s NV-10
• USB controller ports
• amazing games
?

126. The Modern Age
1998-2K
FUTURE HARDWARE
• DVD is already here
• computers improve in speed (2 or 3x every year)
• Pentium architecture replaced within 3 years
• memory gets cheaper - 128-256 Meg is standard
• HDTV came out in 1999
• will computers be fast enough when it is cheap?
• How fast will networks be?
• Voice Rec next frontier e.g. Game Commander
• immersive interfaces

127. The Modern Age
1998-2K
PIRACY
• = 15-20% of lost games market revenue
(PC & console combined)
S.C.U.M. (Stop Copying Unauthorised Material)
campaign
• started in Nov 98 by AVSDA
• Results to date:
• 29 Federal Court proceedings
• over $80 000 in settlements
• 17 035 PSX games forfeited to C’wlth

128. The Modern Age
1998-2K
AVSDA - Australian Visual Software Distributors Association
• formed 1998 - now has 13 members:
• Sony
• Nintendo
• Acclaim
• Activision
• Roadshow
• Dataflow
• Hasbro Interactive
• Hilad Corporation
• Interplay
• GT Interactive
• Electronic Arts
• Sega Ozisoft
• Jack Of All Games
• Non-members:
• Playcorp/Metro Games
• G & V

129. The Modern Age
1998-2K
FUTURE SOFTWARE
• Scaleable software
• Lifelike 3D characters & movement
• historical & famous figures rendered
realistically
• Large simulated environments, populated by people
& computer characters
• eg MicroProse’s BigWorld - 1 million users
• AI becomes big part of games
• Many games have movie sized budgets
• High-level development environments
• OpenGL & DirectX

130. The Modern Age
1998-2K
2000 - SONY
• Since the start of 1999 Sony’s market value has
more than tripled to ¥12.5 trillion ($112 billion)

131. The Modern Age
1998-2K
Final Fantasy VIII
• RPG
• sold 3 million in Japan
• sold 500 000 in US

132. The Modern Age
1998-2K
2000+ - PLAYSTATION2 GRAPHICS
• two new semiconductor chips:
• “Emotion engine” 128-bit processor
• massively parallel “Graphics
Synthesiser”
• promises the quality of film in real-
time gaming

133. The Modern Age
1998-2K
• PSX has installed base = Sega & Nintendo 16 bit combined
• value of PSX market has begun to decline
• N64 has hit plateau (dearth of quality games)
• Dolphin may have only 4 titles at launch!
• DreamCast has had better start than Saturn (5.5 M installed)

134. The Modern Age
1998-2K
• Cyclical Nature of Games Market - UK

135. The Modern Age
1998-2K

136. The Modern Age
1998-2K
Sega of America
• branch of Sega Enterprises, Tokyo-based
company worth $3 billion
• 1999 loss will double to $411m despite
DreamCast
•been in the red for the past two years
• blames loss on poor Japanese sales
• high brand loyalty among consolers
• Sega will have sold 600,000 Dreamcasts in
Japan between September 1999 and March
• less than the 1.1 million it hoped for
• plans to sell more shares to shareholder
CSK
• use proceeds to expand its online network

137. The Modern Age
1998-2K
CASUAL GAMING
• 4 years ago, casual gamer market barely existed
• a game that sold 100,000 copies was deemed a "hit"
• Today - estimated 35 million casual gamers
• the real winners are games that top 500,000 in 1st
year of release (Platinum)
• some stay in the charts for a 2nd & 3rd year
• high-end graphics technology (SGI, OpenGL) now used
in volume consumer platforms

138. The Modern Age
1998-2K
MMOGs - (Massively Multiplayer Online Games)
• Meridian 59
• Ultima Online
• EverQuest
• Asheron's Call
• BigWorld (due 2001)
• allow thousands of simultaneous players to:
• fight monsters
• fulfill quests
• develop a reputation
• live out rich virtual lives in an immersive
fantasy environment

139. The Modern Age
1998-2K
RESTRUCTURES, MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
• Interactive Magic was renamed iEntertainment Network
• Mattel Interactive has acquired
• The Learning Company
• Broderbund
• Sierra
• Havas Interactive
• Electronic Arts
• Maxis
• Westwood Studios
• Janes Combat Simulations
• Hasbro Interactive
• Atari
• Infogrames
• Gremlin
• GT Interactive

140. The Modern Age
1998-2K
GAMES INDUSTRY RESEARCH COMPANIES
• IDG Games Media Group
• NPD-TRSTS
• PC Data
• GfK
• Chart Track
• Inform!

141. The Modern Age
1998-2K
PC GAME GENRES
13%
12%
18%
5%1%7%
4%
5%
7%
19%
8% 1%
Action
Adventure
Edutainment
Family
Platform
Racing
RPG
Simulator
Sports
Strategy
Bundle
All Other

142. The Modern Age
1998-2K
CONSOLE GAME GENRES
15%
22%
1%
22%
17%
3%
15%
2% 3%
0%
Action
Adventure
Family
Platform
Racing
RPG
Simulator
Sports
Strategy
Bundle

143. The Modern Age
1998-2K
GAMES HISTORY RECAP…

144. Australia
1971 1980 1985
71 Pong invented
77 Atari 2600
72 Atari formed
80 Space Invaders
& Pac-Man arcades
80 Mattel’s
Intellivision
82 Colecovision

145. Australia
1985 1990 1995
85 Nintendo NES
89 Sega Mega Drive
93 3DO
(not Aus)
94 Sega
Saturn

146. Australia
1995 2000 2001
95 Sony
PlayStation
99 Sega
Dreamcast
97 Nintendo N64
9/00 Sony
PSX2
01 Nintendo
Dolphin

147. The Game Software Channel
Developer
Consumer
Retailer
Distributor
Eidos
Publisher Sega
Ozisoft
Harvey Norman
Phil Burnham
Tomb Raider 4

148. The Games Market
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
Console HW Console SW H/held SW H/held HW PC Mac

149. Today (2000)
Worldwide Games Market
14%
40%42%
17%
14% 9%
1%
2%
30% 34%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1998 1999
GBC
DC
N64
PSX
PC

150. The Present: 2000
2000 – `DRIVER’

151. The Legacy
1961 – Spacewar!

152. JT Velikovsky
VideoGame Historian
2000
With thanks to:
http://au.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/
A History of
VideoGames