Week 3 Task

I really hadn’t intended for this to get so delayed (started it Wednesday last week) but things just kept popping up and I kept getting distracted (damn ninja and pirate party) but in the end its entirely my fault its this late. Anyway heres my attempt at the task.

The 1980’s saw the “Golden Age” of arcade machines, the birth of the home console and the introduction of new game genres.

The golden age of arcade machines started just before the 80’s and had two games that played a major role in the era becoming known as the golden age, those games wer Space Invaders and Pac-Man. Space Invaders had been released in 1978 and caused a coin shortage in Japan due to people spending every available coin on the game. In 1980 the exact same thing occurred when Pac-Man was released (originally Puckman but the name was changed to prevent vandles replacing the “P” with an “F”) and the success of the game combined with the sales of Pac-Man merchandise resulted in Pac-Man being the most successful arcade game ever made.

In 1981 a game called “Space Panic” was made and is the first platform game to be made. The adventure genre was renamed as interactive fiction in the early 80s to better suit the way adventure games of the time played (a lot like a book except the actions are dictated by the player rather than being fixed). “Defender” was the progenitor of the scrolling shooter genre in 1980 and various other innovations wer also developed such as the “rear-veiw racer format” (Pole Position), the first true 3D game world (Battlezone) and the first laserdisc game (Dragon’s Lair).

Previously it had been possible to play computer games at home but only on computers. In the 80s the first games consoles appeared allowing people to play games on their TV with controllers designed for playing the games rather than a keyboard.

In conclusion the 80s saw computer games move forward in leaps and bounds setting the floor for further innovation and development that continues to this day and will continue for as long as people keep playing computer and video games.