History of video games/Computer games

__NOTOC__ Early Computer Games See the chapters early games and Dr. Nim for early examples of computer games. 1970-1979 Games 1980-1989 Notable Devices of the 1980's CPUs 16 bit Intel 80286 (286) - 1982-1991 32 bit Intel 80386 (386) - 1985-2007 32 bit Intel 80486 (486) - 1989-2007 Regional Computers In the 1980's there was a rivalry between Iraqi users of the Al Warkaa and the Sakhr 170 home gaming computers.History of computers in Iraq http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2012/03/history-of-computers-in-iraq.html 8 November 2020Byford Sam Al-Warkaa: the Iraqi home computer series that took on the MSX 'enemy' https://www.theverge.com/2012/5/1/2992926/al-warkaa-iraqi-home-computer-series The Verge 8 November 2020 en 1 May 2012 In Wales, Dragon computers were popular.Evans Jason When a Welsh computer was the must-have Christmas gift https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/dragon-computer-32-64-vintage-17433026 29 January 2021 WalesOnline 23 December 2019 en Gallery 1990-1999 By 1990 well used dithering was being used in EGA games to create the illusion of better colors.8 Bit & '8 Bitish' Graphics-Outside the Box https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcJ1Jvtef0 17 November 2020 From the early to late 1990's Color Cycling, the shifting of a palette on a still image, was used to produce resource efficient animations in computer games.Old School Color Cycling with HTML5 EffectGames.com http://www.effectgames.com/effect/article-Old_School_Color_Cycling_with_HTML5.html www.effectgames.com 17 November 2020 The 1990's saw the first common graphics cards, as well as the first common 3D API's for graphics cards such as Glide. The introduction of CD-ROMs was initially seen as a way to reduce costs and piracy compared to floppy disks,WATCH OUT FOR THE CD-ROM HYPE Some industry executives tout the luminescent disks as the hottest thing since the VCR. But that view rests on seven myths you should know about. - September 19, 1994 https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1994/09/19/79746/index.htm archive.fortune.com 11 December 2020 though pirates quickly gained familiarity with the new format.D'Alessio Vittoria Chinese pirates target software on CD https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519613-200-chinese-pirates-target-software-on-cd/ New Scientist 11 December 2020 In 1994, the first Dreamhack was held in Malung, Sweden.Dreamhack on Twitter https://twitter.com/DreamHack/status/586498461069135872 Twitter 3 November 2020 en In 1996 the Marine Doom is made for US military training, a notable early use of FPS games for military training.Riddell Rob Doom Goes To War https://www.wired.com/1997/04/ff-doom/ 10 January 2022 Wired The Nvidia GeForce 256, considered as the world's first GPU, was released in 1999. It offered a huge improvement in 3D graphic capabilities. 2000-2009 Valve launches Steam on September 12th, 2003.Sayer Matt Wilde Tyler The 15-year evolution of Steam https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-versions/ PC Gamer 14 November 2020 12 September 2018 Audio Cards remain popular till the end of the decade in many high end gaming rigs, along with brief experiments in gaming themed network and physics acceleration cards. Events Components 2010-2019 Rise of Steam We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable. Gabe Newell Interview with the The Cambridge Student - 2011.Valve's Gabe Newell Says Piracy Is a Service Problem https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114391-Valves-Gabe-Newell-Says-Piracy-Is-a-Service-ProblemGabe Says Piracy Isn't About Price - IGN https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/11/25/gabe-says-piracy-isnt-about-price en In 2011 Valve identifies game piracy as a service problem.Cifaldi Frank Valve: Piracy Is More About Convenience Than Price https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/127812/Valve_Piracy_Is_More_About_Convenience_Than_Price.php 14 November 2020 In 2013 Steam distributed 75% of digital games on PC.Valve Lines Up Console Partners in Challenge to Microsoft, Sony https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-11-04/valve-lines-up-console-partners-in-challenge-to-microsoft-sony Bloomberg.com 11 December 2020 en 4 November 2013 In 2015 Steam and Bethesda briefly introduced paid mods as a feature, before quickly withdrawing it in response to widespread criticism.Prescott Shaun Valve has removed paid mods functionality from Steam Workshop https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-has-removed-paid-mods-functionality-from-steam-workshop/ 21 December 2020 PC Gamer 27 April 2015McWhertor Michael Valve kills paid mods on Steam, will refund Skyrim mod buyers https://www.polygon.com/2015/4/27/8505883/valve-removing-paid-mods-from-steam 21 December 2020 Polygon 27 April 2015 en Ray-tracing games started in 2018 and ray-tracing cards were released to be capable of ray-tracing in supported games. The first ray-tracing graphics cards were Nvidia RTX 2060, 2070, 2080, and Titan RTX. 2010's gallery 2020-2029 The COVID-19 pandemic caused a shortage of computer parts.Leon Nicholas De How to Buy a Computer During the Great Laptop Shortage of 2020 https://www.consumerreports.org/laptop-computers/how-to-buy-a-computer-during-the-great-laptop-shortage-of-2020/ Consumer Reports 28 November 2020 Despite this the Folding@Home distributed computing project reaches quickly 1.5 Exaflops of capability as thousands of PC gamers donate unused cycles from their computers to tackle biomedical research in the fight against COVID-19.Merritt Rick NVIDIA Blogs: Virus War Goes Viral: Folding@Home Gets 1.5 Exaflops to Fight COVID-19 https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2020/04/01/foldingathome-exaflop-coronavirus/ 15 December 2020 The Official NVIDIA Blog 1 April 2020 The Trump Administration began enforcing a new tariff on computer components from China near the end of it's term in mid-January 2021, causing GPU prices to significantly increase, sometimes by several hundred dollars.With Tariffs Back in Place, GPU Vendors EVGA, Zotac Raise Prices on Graphics Cards https://www.pcmag.com/news/with-tariffs-back-in-place-gpu-vendors-evga-zotac-raise-prices-on-graphics 2 February 2021 PCMAG enHollister Sean Sure enough, EVGA and Zotac have raised prices on the Nvidia RTX 3080 and beyond https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/13/22228470/nvidia-evga-zotac-raise-prices-rtx-3080-3070-3060-3090 2 February 2021 The Verge 13 January 2021 en Some manufactures experimented with PCs in handheld console formfactors.Palladino Valentina Dell’s new Concept UFO puts PC gaming on a Nintendo Switch-like device https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/dells-new-concept-ufo-puts-pc-gaming-on-a-nintendo-switch-like-device/ 2 March 2021 Ars Technica 6 January 2020 en-us In 2022 Steam released the Steam Deck, which is a handheld console that runs PC games. In 2022 Intel released its first graphics cards: the Arc A750 and A770. These GPUs supported RTX 3060 performance for cheaper prices in games, especially DirectX 12 ones. DirectX 9 support was improved on these GPUs in 2023. 2020's gallery References PC game 100% 2020-2029 Web