Inside Mac Games Volume 6 #3/IMG 54 Vol 6-3.iso/IMG Volume 6, Issue 3/IMG Volume 6, Issue 3.rsrc/TEXT_137.txt

Text File | 1998-06-12 | 18KB | 209 lines

  
 



 



 



 



 

                              by Rafi Guroian


                              The screen flashed for a split second, pouring forth turquoise light onto the
                              man’s face as if the machine was suddenly alive and vibrant.  The iridescent
                              images on the screen steadily moved back and forth, simulating a game of
                              tennis.  Granted, there were no rackets, but solid rectangles; there were no
                              balls, but a square blob; there was no net, save the scoring number located
                              at the top-center of the screen.  Patrons of the cramped, musty bar paid
                              little attention, for the man was not making any scene.  Closer inspection,
                              however, revealed a steady, unchanging expression of determination.  His
                              eyebrows knitted, his tongue pressed firmly against his front teeth, he
                              looked as if he were practicing some sort of intense meditation.  What the
                              people sitting at their tables, drinking beer (and probably the man as well),
                              did not know was that this game was part of a revolution that would change
                              their lives forever.  Pong would become one of the most infamous pieces of
                              computer gaming history that not only pushed the market of computers and
                              technology forward, but drove it into a multi billion dollar business.
                              Twenty years later, we sit in a world that has not just undergone a change,
                              but rather a transformation in the technology we see everyday in the office,
                              and on TV.  It seems ironic that this transformation is due chiefly to
                              something as simple as the computer game.

                              Contrary to popular belief, Pong was not, in fact, the true beginning of the
                              video/computer game revolution.  Electronic games actually began as early
                              as the late sixties and early seventies.  Just as it seems that we will never
                              know for certian who invented baseball, no one can seem to agree on who
                              actually made the first electronic game.  Games were often shunned in the
                              professional work place (the only spot where computers could be found in
                              those days), and there is no telling who the person was that programmed
                              those first simple games of hangman and tic-tac-toe.  It is ironic that
                              although this type of programming was frowned upon as a waste of time,
                              today, one of the first things a programmer must learn is how to create some
                              sort of a simple game.  This is testimony to the fact that computerized games
                              are no longer a “naughty child in the corner,” but the favorite student of the
                              class.

                              It is generally accepted that “Space War” was the first true electronic
                              game, created by Steve Russell.  Oddly enough, it wasn’t even created to be
                              played by bored teenagers.  Rather, it was developed at MIT to exhibit the
                              capabilities of a new mainframe the technology department had just
                              purchased.  Regardless of how the industry began, we now know that from
                              those humble beginning a driving force in today’s technology has emerged.

                              Some say that one man is chiefly responsible for the video and computer
                              game craze that we see today: Nolan Bushnell.  Credited as being the godfather
                              of video gaming, Bushnell is ironically a businessman to the truest sense of
                              the word.  When Bushnell was invited to a demonstration of a new “game” of
                              video tennis, nothing would ever remain the same.  He would go on to buy the
                              rights to that game, name it Pong, and witness the birth of a legend in video
                              game history: Atari.  Pong—simple, yet addictive—would become a mass
                              market craze.

                              Many of the original arcade machines were built by a very small team.  To
                              complicate matters further, the microchip would not be invented until the
                              late seventies.  As a result, all of the machines were hard-wired and
                              soldered together—a painstakingly precise and complex process.  No one
                              knew what lay ahead in the path of video games; everyone was simply riding
                              a wave of fortune for as long as they could.

                              The public didn’t really know how to react to this new entity of gaming.  At
                              the time, televisions were the only means of generating an image; computer
                              monitors would not come for some time.  As a result, the typical layman did
                              not have a firm grasp on the concept of “video gaming.” It was not uncommon
                              for people to ask how the TV station in town knew what game the person was
                              playing.  It was difficult to understand that an image could be generated
                              locally, within a case, and that an antenna and TV station were not required.
                              To present-day computer enthusiasts, this type of story seems almost
                              absurd, but it’s true.  We have come so far in our technological development
                              that we sometimes forget that fact, which can only foreshadow what is to
                              come in the future.

                              In time, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, two defectors from Atari, would
                              “borrow” some parts from the old company and put together a new machine
                              dubbed the “Apple.” Apple Computer was born. Along with the Apple came
                              much interest in this new age of “personal computing.” Many people began
                              to take it upon themselves to learn how to program at home.  One such person
                              was Ken Williams, who mortgaged his house to buy an Apple II.  His wife,
                              Roberta, had been playing a text-adventure game in her spare time on the
                              new computer, and began to develop a game of her own.  She wrote a story
                              line, drew some diagrams, and presented the idea of creating a game to her
                              husband.  At the time, Ken was interested in database applications for the
                              computer, and considered games mere child’s play. However, when Roberta
                              suggested using pictures along with words for the game (something that had
                              never been done before), Ken was intrigued by the challenge.  In 1979
                              Online Systems was founded by the Williams, and their debut game featured a
                              technology that had never been perfected until that point: an illustrated
                              adventure game called, “Mystery House.”

                              Mystery House would sell 15,000 copies and make $167,000 for the
                              Williams, allowing them to move to Coarsegold, CA in 1980.  The name of the
                              company was changed to Sierra On-Line, and in the same year Roberta’s
                              second game, “The Wizard and the Princess” was released and sold more
                              than sixty thousand copies.

                              The pace for Sierra’s success was set at that point, and the company never
                              looked back.  Games to come out from under the Sierra label would become
                              household words.  Kids would flock to electronic specialty stores to buy
                              King’s Quest, Gold Rush, Mixed Up Mother Goose, Space Quest, and Police
                              Quest.  Sierra had created a million dollar business out of literally nothing
                              except the imagination of one woman.  In time, people like Jim Henson and
                              companies like Disney would approach Sierra to make computer game
                              versions of their movies.  The Williams had obviously stumbled upon a gold
                              mine.

                              Importantly, the Williams were not a diamond in the ruff.  Other companies,
                              such as Broderbund, Interplay, and Infocom were enjoying similar success.
                              The founders of the computer gaming world had stepped forward, and
                              technology would now begin to take off.  Each of the companies stretched
                              computers to their limits.  During the early-to-mid 1980’s, computer
                              monitors were available in two colors (green and black, or white and
                              black), four colors (called CGA), and sixteen colors (called EGA).  Although
                              limited in these resources, the gaming companies made extremely good use of
                              them—so much so that games became a form of entertainment, much in the
                              tradition of the Nintendo and Atari, which were now in full force throughout
                              America’s homes.

                              As computer games grew in popularity, a need for better graphics became
                              clear.  Sixteen colors had sufficed for some time, but as the late 1980’s
                              dawned upon the gaming world, people were growing tired of the same games
                              redone over and over again with the same graphics.  Redundancy was a fear
                              that many gaming companies could not shake.  It is no coincidence that VGA
                              monitors (supporting up to two hundred and fifty-six) colors came out just
                              in time.  The gaming world would undergo a drastic change and discover that
                              it had an indefinite number of years left in its life.  Brilliant adventure
                              games became the choice of the day.

                              In 1990 Sierra would release King’s Quest V, a major accomplishment in
                              the industry.  The game was a milestone in its showcasing of hand-painted
                              art work and superior audio on a personal computer. Who would have
                              thought that such a jaw dropping game would be scoffed at today as “petty
                              beginner’s work?”

                              Now that the gaming world’s demand for better graphics had been met,
                              another problem began to emerge.  Games were starting to increase
                              exponentially in size.  As a result, gamers were finding upwards of 20
                              diskettes in a box just for a single game.  A new medium was needed.  That
                              new medium became CD-ROM, and games were the first to bring it to the
                              computer.  For quite some time, in fact, games were the only applications
                              that made any good use of the medium. With a CD-ROM, developers could fit
                              as many as six hundred diskettes onto one Compact Disc.  In addition, CD’s
                              introduced us to a new entity on computers: video.  With the CD’s high
                              capacity, games could now incorporate Full Motion Video (FMV) into the
                              game.  People could literally watch and interact with movies on their
                              computer screen.

                              As the CD format for computers began to replace diskettes almost entirely,
                              developers now had the resources to once again push the computers to their
                              limits.  “Games always seemed to stay one step ahead of the actual
                              hardware,” says Matt Bloch, a Computer Science major at Towson State
                              University in Maryland.  “I can remember getting angry at a game because it
                              required some horsepower from my machine that was truly outrageous.” As
                              complaints like this hit companies, the need for faster and better computers
                              increased.  And so the Pentium and PowerPC processors stepped up to bat.
                               
                              Some claim that history repeats itself in an endless cycle.  If that is the case,
                              the computer industry is testimony to that fact.  When one issue is resolved,
                              another will always creep up; these issues always seem to appear in a
                              circular pattern.  The number of colors on a monitor was dealt with in
                              1989; the issue of data storage was addressed in 1993.  The problem with
                              horsepower has been addressed in recent years.  In just the last year, the
                              number of colors a monitor can display has been increased exponentially.
                              Now, games are starting to ship with more than 8 CD’s at a time, and there
                              is a demand for a new storage medium.  History does, indeed, seem to repeat
                              itself.  Not only are we faced with a new storage medium creeping upon us,
                              but this medium’s push has been powered almost exclusively by the
                              computer game industry.

                              The man in the bar could not have predicted that what he was playing was
                              part of a new revolution that would affect his life forever.  What he did know
                              was that he was having fun.  It seems all to often in this modern day that we
                              still discount fun and games as just that.  What we sometimes neglect to
                              realize is that our fun and games are often what drive us to succeed and
                              achieve greater heights. Although we may not like to admit it, we will often
                              strive to improve something that we enjoy working with.  For example,
                              movies have been given extrordinary budgets for production, simply because
                              the audience demands it.  As a result, those things we often discount for “fun
                              and games” often become shining achievements.  Computer games are
                              testimony to that fact.  The public has enjoyed playing computer games so
                              much that it has demanded a hgher and higher standard of entertainment.  To
                              be able to provide that standard, companies are forced to produce better
                              computers.  The entire scenario has snowballed, and here we sit today with
                              our Power Mac G3s and Mac OS 8.  Computer games may quench the thirst of
                              young fourteen-year-old boys, but they also quench the thirst of an
                              adolescent industry, growing exponentially each year.