Significant Milestones Related to the History and Evolution of Computer and Future of Computer Games PDF

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1. Briefly discuss significant milestones related to the History and Evolution of Computer/Video Games in the following timelines (one for each timeline/decade) 

1940-1950 – Computer scientist were using electronic machines to build relatively simple game systems as early as 1950, such as Bertie the Brain, which played tic tac toe.

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1950-1960 – Tennis for two, a game designed by William Higinbotham for a three-day exhibition at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1958, with a display consisting of an analog computer and an oscilloscope.

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1960-1970 – Spacewar was created in 1961 by a group of students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the PDP-1 mainframe computer, and it allowed two players to simulate a space combat fight on the PDP-1’s relatively simple monitor.

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1970-1980 – Mainframe game designers prioritized strategy and puzzlesolving mechanics over pure action, and notable games of the era include Mike Mayfield’s tactical combat game Star Trek 1971, Gregory Yob’s hideand-seek game Hunt the Wumpus 1972, and Walter Bright’s strategic war game Empire 1977.

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1980-1990 – The first major video game publishers emerged during the 1980s, primarily supporting personal computer games on both IBM PC compatible games and the popular earlier systems, as well as some console games. Among the major publishers formed at this time were Electronic Arts, and Broderbund, while Sierra On-Line expanded its own publishing capabilities for other developers and upon activation, still recovering from the financial effects of the 1983 video game crash.

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1990-2000 – The 1990s were a decade of significant innovation in video games; it was a decade of transition from raster graphics to 3D graphics, and it gave rise to several video game genres such as first-person shooter, real-time strategy, and MMO. In addition, handheld games became more popular throughout the decade, thanks in part to the 1989 release of the Game Boy, and arcade games experienced a resurgence in the early-to-mid-1990s, followed by a decline in the late 1990s as home consoles became more common.

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2000-2010 – The decade of the 2000s saw significant gameplay innovations, changes in gaming technology, and the launch of online services for consoles, thanks to an increasingly competitive market for portable game systems and the impact of increased Internet availability.

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2010-2020 – The next generation of consoles could be developed in line with the traditional industry model of a five-year console life cycle, and Nvidia and AMD introduced graphics cards in 2020 with hardware support for real-time ray tracing, which was also a major component introduced with Microsoft and Sony’s next consoles, the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, both released in November 2020 and both significantly improved.

2. Discuss the future of Computer Games and the Gaming industry 

Dr. Jethro Shell, Senior Lecturer in Games and Information Systems at De Montfort University, and Dr. Edward Powley, associate professor at Falmouth University Games Academy–are giving us an exclusive insight into what we can expect next from the industry, according to two of the UK’s leading gaming professors. Mixed reality, according to both doctors, will be the big winner, with future games “combining virtual and augmented reality technology,” building on the proven popularity, technology, and obvious accessibility of games like Pokémon Go. Dr. Powley believes that augmented reality (AR) has a lot of potential, especially because it’s much more accessible and blends the real and virtual worlds, allowing for new social experiences to reach a wider audience. Dr. Shell believes that better haptic feedback is required for VR to succeed. While we wait to see what the future holds, both experts believe that the current generation of games is pushing the envelope in a variety of ways. Dr. Powley says that at the moment, procedurally generated content is essentially very sophisticated random number generation, but he’s looking forward to what the future holds for both developers and gamers. Integrating more AI technology into this is a hot topic in academia, and he hopes to see some of that research influence commercial games in the coming years. However, they both believe that certain issues are preventing video games from having a greater socio-cultural impact, most notably the stigma that many people still associate with the medium. People still dismiss them as frivolous playthings for children or ultra-violet power fantasies, according to Dr. Powley’s conclusion. Many creators, however, use games as a powerful storytelling medium, as well as a tool for education and idea communication, and even for esports. Dr. Shell concurs. He claims that because a large number of people are still hesitant to try any form of gaming, the impact it can have been always limited. Games are increasingly tackling complex and difficult subjects,

challenging people to think outside the box-and those who don’t play games won’t be exposed to these narratives and ideas in any other medium....