< History of video games

Early Computer Games

See the chapters early games and Dr. Nim for early examples of computer games.

1970-1979

Games

1980-1989

Notable Devices of the 1980's

Common computers

CPUs

Regional Computers

In the 1980's there was a rivalry between Iraqi users of the Al Warkaa and the Sakhr 170 home gaming computers.[1][2]

In Wales, Dragon computers were popular.[3]

1990-1999

By 1990 well used dithering was being used in EGA games to create the illusion of better colors.[4] From the early to late 1990's Color Cycling, the shifting of a palette on a still image, was used to produce resource efficient animations in computer games.[4][5]

The 1990's saw the first common graphics cards, as well as the first common 3D API's for graphics cards such as Glide.

The introduction of CD-ROMs was initially seen as a way to reduce costs and piracy compared to floppy disks,[6] though pirates quickly gained familiarity with the new format.[7]

In 1994, the first Dreamhack was held in Malung, Sweden.[8]

2000-2009

Valve launches Steam on September 12th, 2003.[9]

Events

Components

2010-2019

Rise of Steam

We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable.
—Gabe Newell, Interview with the The Cambridge Student - 2011.[10][11]

In 2011 Valve identifies game piracy as a service problem.[12] In 2013 Steam distributed 75% of digital games on PC.[13]

In 2015 Steam and Bethesda briefly introduced paid mods as a feature, before quickly withdrawing it in response to widespread criticism.[14][15]

2010's galley

2020-2029

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a shortage of computer parts.[16] Despite this the Folding@Home distributed computing project reaches quickly 1.5 Exaflops of capability as thousands of PC gamers donate unused cycles from their computers to tackle biomedical research in the fight against COVID-19.[17]

The Trump Administration began enforcing a new tariff on computer components from China near the end of it's term in mid January 2021, causing GPU prices to significantly increase, sometimes by several hundred dollars.[18][19]

Some manufactures experimented with PCs in handheld console formfactors.[20]

References

  1. ↑ "History of computers in Iraq". http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2012/03/history-of-computers-in-iraq.html. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  2. ↑ Byford, Sam (1 May 2012). "Al-Warkaa: the Iraqi home computer series that took on the MSX 'enemy'" (in en). https://www.theverge.com/2012/5/1/2992926/al-warkaa-iraqi-home-computer-series. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  3. ↑ Evans, Jason (23 December 2019). "When a Welsh computer was the must-have Christmas gift" (in en). WalesOnline. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/dragon-computer-32-64-vintage-17433026.
  4. 1 2 "8 Bit & '8 Bitish' Graphics-Outside the Box". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcJ1Jvtef0. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  5. ↑ "Old School Color Cycling with HTML5 EffectGames.com". http://www.effectgames.com/effect/article-Old_School_Color_Cycling_with_HTML5.html. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  6. ↑ "WATCH OUT FOR THE CD-ROM HYPE Some industry executives tout the luminescent disks as the hottest thing since the VCR. But that view rests on seven myths you should know about. - September 19, 1994". https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1994/09/19/79746/index.htm.
  7. ↑ D'Alessio, Vittoria. "Chinese pirates target software on CD". https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519613-200-chinese-pirates-target-software-on-cd/.
  8. ↑ "Dreamhack on Twitter" (in en). https://twitter.com/DreamHack/status/586498461069135872. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  9. ↑ Sayer, Matt; Wilde, Tyler (12 September 2018). "The 15-year evolution of Steam". https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-versions/. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  10. ↑ "Valve's Gabe Newell Says Piracy Is a Service Problem". https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114391-Valves-Gabe-Newell-Says-Piracy-Is-a-Service-Problem.
  11. ↑ "Gabe Says Piracy Isn't About Price - IGN" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/11/25/gabe-says-piracy-isnt-about-price.
  12. ↑ Cifaldi, Frank. "Valve: Piracy Is More About Convenience Than Price". https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/127812/Valve_Piracy_Is_More_About_Convenience_Than_Price.php. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  13. ↑ "Valve Lines Up Console Partners in Challenge to Microsoft, Sony" (in en). 4 November 2013. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-11-04/valve-lines-up-console-partners-in-challenge-to-microsoft-sony.
  14. ↑ Prescott, Shaun (27 April 2015). "Valve has removed paid mods functionality from Steam Workshop". PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-has-removed-paid-mods-functionality-from-steam-workshop/.
  15. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (27 April 2015). "Valve kills paid mods on Steam, will refund Skyrim mod buyers" (in en). Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/2015/4/27/8505883/valve-removing-paid-mods-from-steam.
  16. ↑ Leon, Nicholas De. "How to Buy a Computer During the Great Laptop Shortage of 2020". https://www.consumerreports.org/laptop-computers/how-to-buy-a-computer-during-the-great-laptop-shortage-of-2020/.
  17. ↑ Merritt, Rick (1 April 2020). "NVIDIA Blogs: Virus War Goes Viral: Folding@Home Gets 1.5 Exaflops to Fight COVID-19". The Official NVIDIA Blog. https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2020/04/01/foldingathome-exaflop-coronavirus/.
  18. ↑ "With Tariffs Back in Place, GPU Vendors EVGA, Zotac Raise Prices on Graphics Cards" (in en). PCMAG. https://www.pcmag.com/news/with-tariffs-back-in-place-gpu-vendors-evga-zotac-raise-prices-on-graphics.
  19. ↑ Hollister, Sean (13 January 2021). "Sure enough, EVGA and Zotac have raised prices on the Nvidia RTX 3080 and beyond" (in en). The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/13/22228470/nvidia-evga-zotac-raise-prices-rtx-3080-3070-3060-3090.
  20. ↑ Palladino, Valentina (6 January 2020). "Dell’s new Concept UFO puts PC gaming on a Nintendo Switch-like device" (in en-us). Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/dells-new-concept-ufo-puts-pc-gaming-on-a-nintendo-switch-like-device/.

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