History of Video Games and Multimedia - Comprehensive Notes

I – Optical Media: Carrying Multimedia to the Masses

• Magnavision-Magnavox
• Don Bluth (1937-)
• CD-I Video Systems, 1980s
• The golden age of PC gaming – 1990-2005 (part 2 – accessibility, Pentium, plug and play, and perpetual potential)
• Laser Disc – Philips, MCA, RCA
• Don Bluth, RDI, Cinematronics
• PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 – NEC, 1987
• The Augmented Chronicles – PBS, 1985
• It Came from the Desert (TurboGrafx-16) – Cinemaware, 1991
• 2001: A Space Odyssey – Stanley Kubrick, MGM, 1968
• The 7th Guest (CD-i) – Trilobyte, 1993
• CDTV - Commodore International, 1991

PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16

• NEC, 1988
• Kato & Ken - Japan (PC Engine) – Hudson Soft, 1987
• Tristan Denovan : Replay: The History of Videogames, 2010
  • NEC's challenge to Nintendo's NES with the TurboGrafx-16 console faced difficulties.
  • Low sales were due to a lack of games developed outside Japan.
  • Many games were designed for a Japanese audience and not suited for the American market.
    • Example: Kato-chan and Ken-chan, a Super Mario Bros-esque game with a popular Japanese comedy duo using crude humor.
• Multimedia PC Format Agreement (October 8, 1991)
  • Agreement between leading computer companies (Fujitsu, Microsoft, Philips, and Tandy).
  • Established standards for PCs, combining CD drives with graphics and sound cards.
  • Provided clarity for software developers regarding hardware expectations on CD-equipped PCs.
  • Boosted confidence for hardware manufacturers to mass-produce CD-ROM drives, significantly reducing costs.
• CD opened new visual frontiers.
  • CDs could store more art and integrate short video clips into games.
• TurboGrafx-CD Launch
  • Early 1990, NEC attempted to capitalize on the growing hype around CD games.
  • Launched the TurboGrafx-CD, a CD drive for the TurboGrafx-16 console.
  • Sought eye-catching games to generate interest.
  • NEC offered Cinemaware 20 percent of the company for a CD-enhanced remake of "It Came from the Desert."
  • Cinemaware accepted the offer, which was inspired by the movie "Them!", a tale of a desert town terrorized by giant radioactive ants.

II – PC for Everyone: Pentium and Windows

• Gordon Moore, Electronics, volume 38, Number 8, April 19, 1965
  • Moore's Law: "The complexity for minimum component costs has increased at a rate of roughly a factor of two per year… the rate of increase is a bit more uncertain, although there is no reason to believe it will not remain nearly constant for at least 10 years."
• Pentium 60 – Intel, 1993
• Amiga Workbench 1.0 - Copyright 1985
• Moore’s Law
• Windows 2.0 – Microsoft
• Windows 3.1 – Microsoft
• Windows 95 TV Advertisement
• Jamie Lendino, Breakout: How Atari 8-Bit Computers and DOS Exploded Computer Gaming 1987-1994, 2014
  • Most people stayed in DOS throughout the 1980s for productivity software and games.
  • Windows 3.0 and 3.1 began to diverge the PC experience.
  • Users had to boot into Windows from a DOS prompt.
  • Games were still run in DOS to maximize memory and CPU.
  • Many titles included assembly code for direct hardware access.
• MS-DOS 5.0- Microsoft, 1991
• Microsoft – Windows 95 release
• Windows 95 Launch Party – August 24, 1995
• VITEUR – Intel – 1993
• The Magic School Bus – Human Body – Pen, Microsoft Home, 1994
• Encarta Encyclopedia 96 – Microsoft Home

More is More: Bigger, Better, Raunchier Video Games

• Senator Joe Lieberman – December 1993
• Night Trap – Digital Pictures
• Tristan Donovan, Replay: The History of Videogames, 2010
  • CD-ROM drive limitations: slow speed required careful content planning.
  • Rand Quote: streaming music from CDs in chunks while loading new pictures.
• Night Trap – 1992 (Re-release for Nintendo Switch)
• Mortal Kombat – Midway, 1992
• Controversy and violence sell in the gaming industry.
  • Sales of Mortal Kombat and Night Trap increased during hearings.
  • Night Trap's sales soared from a poorly selling Sega CD title to 50,000 copies a week.
  • Digital Pictures' advertising campaign for the PC release in 1994 embraced the scandal.
    • "Some members of Congress tried to ban Night Trap for being sexist and offensive to women (Hey. They ought to know.)”
• Demoparty Winner – Future Crew, 1992
• Roberta Williams – Sierra, 1995
• Sex and violence
  • The game's sex and violence prompted bans in Australia and Singapore.
  • Shannon Quote: Controversy added to its notoriety.
  • Games receive negative press for sex and violence due to association with children.
  • Games are another form of entertainment, like movies.
    • Some movies are for kids, and some are for adults.