Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Timeline of Video Games

1960's


  • 1961--MIT students made up the game Spacewar
  • 1966--Ralph Baer created the video game called Chase
  • 1967--Bill Harrison created the light gun and developed video games with Bill Rusch

  • 1968--Protype was completed for games like table tennis and and target shooting games

  • 1969--Ken Thompson produced a game called Space Travel

1970's

  • Many areas came out this decade for video games, such as handhelds, computers, and arcade machines

  • 1971--Galaxy Game, this was based on Spacewar. Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney created the acrade version of Spacewar and called it Computer Space.

  • 1972--Atari was founded. First video game with sucess was Atari Pong.

  • 1978--Golden Age: Release of Space Invaders by Taito, Atari released Asteroids

  • 1979--Color arcade games came alive with Pacman

1980's

  • 1980--Mattel introduced Intellvision, brought the "8-Bit Era"
  • 1980--Defender was the game that established the scrolling shooter
  • 1980--Battlezone used wireframe vector graphics
  • 1980--Zork was released as the first game for the adventure genre
  • 1980--Nintendo began to make handheld games
  • 1981--3D Monster Maze was the first 3D game for the home computer
  • 1982--Dungeons and Dragons came upon the scene and added weapons and monsters
  • 1982--Pole Position brought the "rear-view racer format"
  • 1982--ColecoVision sales took off
  • 1982--Gaming computers came about like Commodore 64, Apple II, and Sinclair ZX Spectrum
  • 1982--Journey Escape was released for the Atari 2600 console, and featured the band Journey
  • 1983--Dragon's Lair was the first game to introduce full motion video
  • 1983--Snipes was created by SuperSet Software to test the new IBM PC. Snipes was the inspiration for Novell Netware
  • 1984--Sierra's King's Quest featured third person perspective
  • 1985--Beginning of the Third Generation. Nintendo came out with the Super Mario Brothers
  • 1986--Dragon Quest Series made a debut which was a role-playing game
  • 1986--Final Fantasy Series, Legend of Zelda
  • 1987--Final Fantasy Series, Metal Gear
  • 1987--Maniac Mansion allowed the point-click interface
  • 1988--Nintendo published it's first magazine; Nintendo Power
  • 1989--Capcom released Sweet Home

1990's

  • 1990--Shareware came out with Apogee and Epic Megagames
  • 1990--Maxis came out with the "Sims"
  • 1992--Release of the game, Dune II, real-time strategy
  • 1992--Alone in the Dark was one of the games to come out of the survival horror genre
  • 1993--Simulation games came along like Myst
  • 1993--Atari released Atari Jaguar
  • 1994--Sega released Sega Saturn
  • 1995--Sony came onto the scene with Playstation
  • 1996--Quake became the first online game to have first- person shooters
  • 1996--Nintendo came out with Nintendo 64
  • 1997--Nintendo 64's Golden Eye 007 brought together headshots and first person shooter
  • 1997--Final Fantasy VII made Playstation the most popular console for videogames
  • 1998--The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was Nintendo's first 3D game
  • 1998--Nintendo game out with the handheld; Game Boy Color
  • 1998--Konami brought Dance Dance Revolution from the UK
  • 1999--Counter-Strike was the most popular first person shooter game which in turn created Half-Life

2000's

  • 2000--Sony came out with the Playstation 2
  • 2000--Nintendo brought out the their first disc-based console with the GameCube
  • 2000--Online games became more popular with World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XI
  • 2000--Online gambling has made mark with casual gaming with Bejewled and Diner Dash
  • 2001--Microsoft introduces themselves to the scene of gaming and came out with the Xbox
  • 2004--Sony produced Playstation Portable
  • 2005--Microsoft came out with Xbox 360
  • 2006--Sony then came out with Playstation 3
  • 2007--Nintendo had a new revolution console, the Wii
  • 2008--Harmonix produced Rock Band
  • 2008--Wii has become the new genre with Wii Fit
  • 2001--Nintendo came out with the Game Boy Advance
  • 2004--Red Octane surprised consumers with the Guitar Hero

Monday, October 27, 2008

The Future is 3D

Many movies are now going 3D, which means you only get the full effect when you wear the 3D glasses. The glasses make it seem like you're in the movie it self with realistic three-demensional images everywhere around you. 3D is a visual attempt to recreate moving images of the third dimension, which is the illusion of depth seen by the viewer. A 3D movie is filmed in a unique way. It involves two images being filmed at the same time with two different cameras poistioned side by side. The cameras are set at a 90 degree angle from each other using mirrors to make the images opposite. 3D movies are going from one side of the spectrum to the other with the movies that are being made. Hannah Montana has a 3D concert, The Best of Both Worlds. The newest 3D movie that has come out is the famous Nightmare Before Christmas. I think in the future 3D movies are not going to be anything special, they will actually be the movies everyone goes to.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Are You Ready for the Storm

Now a days everything is going to touch screen. In about two weeks the Blackberry Storm is being released in storms. Blackberry manufactures have nicknamed the phone as the Apple Killer. The Storm is going head to head with Apple's IPhone. Just like AT&T sells the IPhone and you have to have that provider, Blackberry Storm is only go to Verizon for right now. Nothing will happen to the phone until you press down on the screen and hear a click, the screen is a huge button just like the trackball on the Blackberry Pearl. The Blackberry Storm is like any other touchscreen phone, but has the original four button the Blackberry uses on all their phones: menu, back, send, and end. The Blackberry Storm will have some problems hooking on to a network because it uses EV-DO, not Wi-Fi. Some think this will hurt the phone and not sell like the IPhone, but Blackberry doesn't think this will have an effect. Each Blackberry Storm comes with an 8GB microSD card and stero Bluetooth, along with Verizon's V Cast.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

McCain Speaks Out

This past friday, October 3, Presidental Canidate Senator John McCain came to Pueblo, Colorado. He spoke in the new Massari arena on the Colorado State University-Pueblo campus. Being a student there it was intense to see half of the campus parking lots blocked off and secret serivce. There was estimated to be about 3,000 people that filled up the Massari Area, and 300 people filled the first floor of the library and the Belmont Residences Hall where it was aired live on television. Only one station aired it and it was KOAA 5/30. They are definetly ahead of the times here in Pueblo, Colorado. KOAA streamed it live via internet and televisied it as well. It is good that one station here in town will do anything to get an audience by giving them what they want.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Bill Gates Funny?

Many people are confused on what is going on in the new PC commercials with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. The three commercials that air for a week and then were pulled show the two men trying to realate to "real" people. The idea behind the commericals is to show how Microsoft has related to over a billion people. The problem with these commericals is they do not even metion that they are relating people to computers until the ending where the Microsoft logo pops up. There is no relation to why a consumer should buy a PC instead a Mac. I am not sure if Microsoft is making a good move on putting two famous people from the early 1990's to promote a product being sold to the new generation of the early 2000.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Dancing with the Stars is Red Hot!!

On Monday September 22, 2008 was the seventh season premire of Dancing with the Stars and it was awesome. The two-hour event introduced thirteen stars and their partners dancing the fox drot or the cha-cha. I think it's amazing how reality television more than other type of show tries to fit in interactive media in the show. Every contestant on Dancing with the Stars had a number to call. Some cellular phone companies are getting into the game as well, with contracting with television shows and having the audience texting who they want to vote for. I think Dancing with the Stars is the only show that brings in the internet, which is a great move on their part. Some people do not like to call or text and feel that the internet is much faster. I assume that shows like American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, will somehow tie in the internet and go interactive just like Dancing with the Stars has.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Pueblo Chieftian going interactive

Living in Pueblo, Colorado many read the local paper, the Pueblo Chieftian. Well many people do not like to hang out and read the paper with their cup of coffee anymore. They feel that they are too busy which is correct because many Americans are running around. This past week the Pueblo Chieftian offered early retirement to about 55 workers including; sales, writers, advertising, and sports. The reasoning behind this was because the Pueblo Chieftian does not feel that enough people are reading the paper to even out the wages of the employees. Many Puebloians now take time at work or home and log on to a computer and read the paper on the internet and become interactive.