A Brief History Of Computers: Part III

Into the 2000's

Following the previous timeline posts of the history of computers it's now time to delve into the 2000's and the change that has developed for consoles and for the games themselves.

From 2000 to present day gaming consoles and computer games have come along way from 'The Analytical Engine' and 'The Collossus' in the 1900s.
The major change in the 2000s is the rise of 'The Big Three' meaning the rise of the three major gaming consoles, these consoles are Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo. In this blog post I will discuss the popularity of these consoles and the games produced by them and also how these consoles have shaped present day gaming. But first I want to talk about a game that I personally enjoyed playing and has also shaped some modern games. 

In the 2000s Sega was still a major contributor to the gaming industry with the Sega Dreamcast console. This console offered games like'Jet Set Radio' and 'Sonic Adventure' 'Tony Hawk Pro Skater' and influentially 'Crazy Taxi' 


Games like 'Crazy Taxi' which I remember playing when I was younger, started off as an arcade game, but quickly rose to be one of the most popular Dreamcast games. The driving controls and missions are reminiscent of the GTA games which were yet to be made, so Crazy Taxi marks the change in the interface of gaming for more modern games which we do see in the GTA series. 

Now we come to 'The Big Three'. The main three consoles Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo influence the gaming industry and will do for years to come. 

Xbox

Xbox has always been a popular console from it's release to present day. There are many reasons for this for example the online multiplayer gaming feature which was exclusive to Xbox with its first release of the original Xbox. Another reason for its popularity is the Halo franchise. As exclusive to Xbox the first installment of the Halo series was widely popular as it introduced a new type of gaming which I will explain further below. 





The flawless online interaction of Xbox Live has given Xbox a reputation as the leading online multiplayer console, and many a gamer was introduced to this online revolution through Xbox's most famous first person shooter franchise: Halo. 
Halo: Combat Evolved brought Xbox, the new contender for Playstation a lot of popularity with the online multiplayer features and its next gen graphics. 

A split screen mode allows two players to co-operatively play through Halo's campaign. The game also includes five customisable competitive multiplayer modes for between two and sixteen players; up to four players may play split screen on one Xbox.
Halo lacks artificially intelligent game bots, and was released before the launch of the Xbox Live online multiplayer service; therefore LAN parties are needed to reach the game's 16-player limit a setup that was a first for a console game, but was often deemed impractical by critics. Aside from this limitation, Halo's multiplayer components were generally well received  by critics, and it is widely considered one of the best multiplayer games of all time.

This online multiplayer feature has greatly influenced games throughout the years to present day as all of 'The Big Three' now include this feature, almost every game now has an online mulitplayer option. 

PlayStation

As a slightly older console PlayStation has grown in popularity throughout the years and over its range of consoles from the PlayStation 1 to the newly released PlayStation 4. Unlike Xbox PlayStation didn't offer online multiplayer gaming however it did offer some great games which have lasted over the years and different generations of consoles. 
One of these games is Tomb Raider which presents not only the popularity of PlayStation and this particular franchise but also its development of graphics over all three of PlayStation's current consoles. 

For PlayStation one of their first and big games series was Tomb Raider. This game series offered a lot of potential on the PlayStation 1, with a higher quality of gaming and better graphics. Although looking back on the graphics today it may seem basic and lacking quality but at the time of release the 3D style of gaming was generally new and exciting for players. 

The franchise did however lose popularity so PlayStation rebooted the series with Tomb Raider Legend a new Tomb Raider game on PlayStation 2 which offered new potential on next-gen gaming.Tomb Raider Legend became on of the biggest selling Tomb Raider game.
I believe that the step up in the quality of next gen graphics is a big focal point and one of the reasons it sold so well. From the basic shapes used for the game on the PlayStation 1 Tomb Raider Legend offered a more accurate depiction of the character Lara Croft. As you can see in the images below she looks a lot more human and definitely more anatomically correct. With the new console a higher budget for textures and meshes were able to be used, and with these images we can really see the difference. 




Tomb Raider games are still very popular in today's gaming industry with the newest version released in 2013 regaining many old fans and gaining more new ones. This new game on PlayStation 3 showed Lara Croft in a whole new way showing her as a young archaeologist who gets trapped on an island. The new console offers a better quality and more power for processing a high quality game and really puts the old games to shame. Similarly we see a huge change in graphics on this new release. On the PlayStation 3 we see a shift in next gen graphics once again as the console has even more power and higher texture budgets which we see put to use in the in game character which is almost hyper realistic. Although not the most popular Tomb Raider game it received high praise on its almost flawless gameplay and next gen characters and environments. 





This youtube video shows the Tomb Raider timeline in detail. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5xOkfGCJ2TA&list=PL41DA85B55DF7F813



The long running Tomb Raider series accurately depicts PlayStation's development of gaming and graphics and I feel as if this development is what gives PlayStation the edge over the other consoles of Xbox and Nintendo. I also believe that this development will continue to influence future gaming consoles as the graphics seem to keep getting more and more realistic. 

Nintendo

Nintendo is the oldest of 'The Big Three' with its first venture into gaming in 1983. I think its Nintendo's 'if it isn't broken don't fix it' attitude which has kept them up to date with the gaming industry so far. 

Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. have surged them into a big game console and company. As an old favourite on the old consoles like the Nintendo NES and Nintendo 64, Nintendo has continued to produce these games on a variety of consoles and handhelds.
Nintendo has rebooted many Mario games over the years, these games vary but the main Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart offer the same structure and gaming experience every time. This may been seen as a disadvantage however with the huge popularity of the original Super Mario games on the NES and 64 sticking to the same idea has definitely treated Nintendo well. With the newer consoles like the Wii and WiiU which offer multiplayer on a larger scale Mario Kart has become a very popular family game with a range of new features. 

Nintendo is also very popular as it has appeal to many ages and has games available on a range of consoles like the Wii and WiiU to the Nintendo DS handheld series. This is due to Nintendo's adaptation to the change in gaming over the years and the development of its competitors. I think if Nintendo continue as they have done over the years and redevelop these games on newer more exciting and original consoles they can keep up with Xbox and PlayStation and stay as one of the major gaming companies around. 


References

• http://www.complex.com/video-games/2011/12/the-100-best-video-games-of-the-2000s#2

Xbox

• http://www.examiner.com/article/xbox-timeline-a-look-back-into-the-past-and-forward-to-the-future

PlayStation

• http://tombraiders.net/stella/timeline.html
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xOkfGCJ2TA&list=PL41DA85B55DF7F813

Nintendo

• http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros.
• http://www.modojo.com/features/key_to_nintendos_success_dont_mess_with_a_sure_thing

A Brief History Of Computers: Part II

The Middle Ages

The 1980s bring a time where computers were now used in the home as a personal object and have been developed into a relatively small machine, fitting onto a small desk.  The PC revolution was really in full swing as more people were purchasing the personal computer. In 1980 more than one million personal computers had been sold and by the mid-1980’s, this figure had risen to 30 million.

At this point computer games were also rapidly developing. From the well known arcade games from the 1970’s like The Galaxy Game and Pong, to Pacman and Donkey Kong in the 80s. 

Below is an accurate representation of the classic game Pacman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIrvpn3k9A4

Commodore 64

In 1984 the Commodore 64 was released and held a new prospect for household gaming. This is around the time when computer games and consoles really start to take over the market and become hugely popular. 

The release of the Commodore 64 also brought about the appearance of new game genres which include: 

'Beat 'em up' 'Fighting' 'Platform' 'Strategy' and 'Scrolling or Behicle Shooters' .

 

Nintendo NES

In 1985 the video games consoles market in North America was revived with the arrival of the Nintendo Entertainment System NES. It was a cartridge based 8-bit system. Some of the most popular games for NES include: Super Mario Bros (1985), Super Mario Bros 3 (1990), The Legend of Zelda (1987), Mega Man (1987) and Final Fantasy (1990) 

3D Games Era

In the 90s video gaming was finally consolidated into a mature industry and a mainstream form of entertainment. Publishers started to increase the size of production teams and higher budget games started to be published. In the 90s we can start talking about a video games era which led to be a more important part of our lives in which kids and adults play games as much as they watch TV. 

The 90s represented a decade of big technological advances and developments both for computers and video games. Adventure were the most popular genre in computer gaming which offered the concept of graphical interactive stories including a 'plot' as a basic element of the games. But with the development of 3D graphics and the increasing popularity of the new genre First Person Shooter or FPS adventure games started to get left behind. 

References: 

Pacman: 

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIrvpn3k9A4

Commodore 64/ NES

• http://www.youbioit.com/en/article/1414/computer-games-80s-and-90s

A Brief History Of Computers: Part I

The Dark Ages

The world today is very reliant on technology as a whole, ranging from the use of computers and technology in medicine and in the military to general office use and entertainment for all ages. Everyone is using computers so it’s hard to imagine a time when we lived without them, but surprisingly computers haven’t been around for long.

Computers, or what we believe to be conceptual computers date back to the industrial revolution, which is when the computer era really took off, but these ‘computers’ were not like the computers we know today.

The Analytical Engine

Charles Babbage conceived the idea of The Analytical Engine in 1834, during the industrial revolution. The Analytical Engine dwarfs the Difference Engine which Babbage designed a few years earlier.  This machine is regarded as an ancestral computer of modern electronic computers as the design on this machine possesses many of the essential features of the modern general purpose computer.

I

Sadly Babbage never completed building the machine, mainly due to Victorian engineering and their lack of development in producing parts with sufficient precision. However in 1985 the Science Museum launched a project to build The Analytical Engine from the original designs.  

Colossus

World War II greatly increased the production and invention of computers.  The need for intelligent computers for code breaking meant that the development of machines was greatly improved. Developed and used by British codebreakers in 1944 Colossus was the world’s first electronic digital computer that was programmable. This huge computer was used to decipher German messages in WWII. 

A massively important and influential machine impressively helped win the war against Hitler by breaking the Enigma code, due to its innovative design and programmable system.

SAGE
After the Second World War, new technology was still being invented and used. In 1954 SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment)  a computerised air defense system was designed to track radar data in realtime. 

 This huge machine was used by the Air Force weighed 300 tons and took up a whole floor of a concrete blockhouse!

IBM system/360

In 1964 the IBM system/360 was created. A machine that took up a whole office space was part of a family of interchangeable computers was the first to complete a range of applications, small to large, commercial to scientific. Users were able to change features without having to make software updates. 

Higher end models were used in NASA’s Apollo missions aswell as air traffic control systems.

DEC PDP-8

1965 brought the production of the first minicomputer.  A very important invention as the transiston from room sized computers to something that would fit on a desk in an office brings about the development of the modern computer.

 Needless to say this computer was very successful and sold over 50,000 units upon its release. 

References:

Babbage: Analytical Engine

•       http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/onlinestuff/stories/babbage.aspx
•         http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/history/

Colossus

•       http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Colossus_computer.html
•       http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lorenz/colossus.htm

SAGE

•        http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1956593_2029014,00.html

IBM system/360

•       http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1956593_2029016,00.html

DEC PDP-8

•     http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1956593_2029019,00.html

Week 2

It's week 2 and perspective is a lot easier and better in my drawings. 
Drawing the archway this week was more problematic than I thought. From the pavement the horizon line is practically invisible making perspective quite a challenge. 

I went back to the archway today and finished the thumbnails, which turned out alright, although could be better. 

Selection of smaller thumbnails

A larger thumbnail

By using the thumbnails for reference the final drawing should be much better and more detailed with more accurate perspective. 

The Dalek Project

Being set the Dalek project wasn't too nervewrecking at first, however when it came to really trying to get the model to look like one it proved more difficult than I first anticipated. 

This was my god knows what attempt, probably the 5th or 6th at a guess

Not amazing in the slightest but this was the final outcome for the week.

After going to the gurus meeting and seeing how they use the software I will most likely re do this model and make it much better and use a lot of the tips and tricks they showed us. 

Week 1

The first week has rolled around and I don't think I've ever sat outside on the ground for such a long time. 

Down at the canal, it was my first attempt at a decent drawing of any landscape ever, the single point perspective however.. escaped my mind completely until the second week, where I realised I actually need to use it properly. 

These were the first thumbnails for the canal: 

And the first final piece I produced: 

As you can see the single point perspective wasn't really happening, however after the second week I was much more capable of using it and produced some more accurate drawings. 

More thumbnails of the canal

The more detailed final piece

The Beginning

Introductions first. As you can tell from the About Me section my name is Amanda Bruce and I've recently started Game Art Design at De Montfort University.

I come from a fine art background, so from doing Fine Art for A Level to using 3ds Max has been a big step up for me. This has come with its upsides and downsides. Using a new software for pretty much the first time is obviously difficult, but being 3ds max its temperamental  nature makes it even more frustrating. However as I'm getting used to using it and navigating around the interface it's becoming more fun (not sure how long that's going to last)

Going back to fine art, the drawing sessions, outdoors aswell as the life drawing are very interesting and I'm already learning new techniques which I was never taught. Having said this I can see my work improving with each session which is amazing. 

It's going to be a stressful and busy 3 years full of lots of tears over drawings, modelling, unwrapping and texturing not to mention the unbearable heat in the computer labs and life drawing room, but it's all going to be worth it.