Video Game Timeline

Timeline

1947:

-Device called the Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device patented in the U.S. by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann.

1952:

-A graphical version of tic-tac-toe created by A.S. Douglas at the University of Cambridge.

1958:

-Tennis for Two created by William Higinbotham, featuring a gravity-controlled ball.

1961:

-Group of students at MIT programmed Spacewar!

1966:

-Ralph Baer created a video game named Chase that displayed on the T.V. set, the first to do so.

1971:

-Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney created a coin-operated arcade version of Spacewar!, calling it Computer Space. Release of machines in November, first mass production of video game.

-Star Trek created by Mike Mayfield

1972:

-Gregory Yob wrote Hunt the Wumpus, first text adventure.

1974:

-Both Maze War and Spasim appeared, pioneering examples of early multi-player 3-D first person shooters.

-Brad Fortner and others developed Airfight as an educational flight simulator.

1977:

-Kelton Flinn and John Taylor create the first version of Air, first-ever graphical online multi-player game.

-Atari released its ROM cartridge based console called the Video Computer System, later called Atari 2600, became the most popular of all early consoles.

1982:

-The Commodore 64 was released to the public.

1983:

-The "crash" of the video game industry, as well as the bankruptcy of several companies.

1984:

-The IBM PC compatible computer became a technically competitive gaming platform.

1985:

-The arrival of the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga marked the beginning of a new era of 16-bit machines

1989:

-Nintendo released the Game Boy, the first handheld console

1992:

-Alone in the Dark, planted the seeds of the survivor horror genre of today, such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

1994:

-Sega released the Sega Saturn and Sony made its debut to the video gaming scene with the PlayStation.

1996:

-Nintendo released its 64-bit console, the Nintendo 64.

1998:

-The Dreamcast was introduced.

-The Game Boy Color introduced.

2000:

-Sony opened the new decade with the PlayStation 2.

2001:

-Nintendo followed a year later with the GameCube.

-Microsoft Corporation introduced the Xbox.

-Game Boy Advance is introduced by Nintendo.

2004:

-Nintendo introduced their DS and Sony premiered the PlayStation Portable (PSP) within a month of each other.

2005:

-Microsoft stepped forward first with the Xbox 360.

2006:

-Sony introduced the PlayStation 3.

Relearning cable

Me and my room mate, Ms. Laurie Pierce, have only been living in our apartment for about 2 months now. And, finally after a 6 month drought of having no cable at all we decided to sign up with Comcast. And, I am barely getting acquainted with OnDemand. I believe this was one of the best ideas that cable could have come up with. Because it allows me to watch all the CSI:Miami episodes that I missed. It also lets me watch movies that I dont have in my own personal collection at any moments notice. This makes it so convenient for all the viewers subscribed to Comcast. I am sure that this feature has attracted many subscribers. I know it is a feature that probably is age old to some people, but being without any cable for a while I am barely learning now how much to appreciate and how to work with all the amazing features that come along with it. :)

Twitter?

So today in class we talked about the different types of interactive media the two presidential campaigns are using. We found out that both candidates have twitter accounts. Barak Obama has 103,000 followers while John McCain had only 3,800 followers. This only proves to me that Obama really has won over the younger audience. It was said that McCain is not so focused on the younger generation because he knows that they already support Obama. The twitter accounts are just an example of the different demographics that each party is focusing their attention on and which demographics each of them has won over. I personally am not affiliated with any party but it is pretty cool to see how these types of interactive media really reach out to the younger crowds and it does show effort at least from both parties.

Big Fan of Fancast

I recently became very interested in this new website Fancast.com when one of our very own classmates did a presentation on it. I think it is amazing to go watch all these different shows and movies from one central location. It is a "free library of full episodes and clips from top networks and movie partners." Well thats what it said when I was reading more about it. It includes clips from networks like CBS, NBC and Fox (provided by Hulu), MTV Networks and BET Networks - movie trailers, short videos and interviews. It has over 3000 hours worth of different media, all free to the public. This really boggles my mind because it has me questioning how or why they are offering so many things and something like that for FREE? I mean Im not complaining because if anything is free I will take it. I love visiting this website, because lets say for instance that I missed a couple episodes of my show because I had to work or had other things to do. And, lets say I dont have TiVo or DVR. Well I can than just search on Fancast.com and bring up the episode I missed and, poof, Im sitting there watching the episodes. Watching them at my own convenience and in my own timing. This than allows me to pause it when I need to so I dont miss any of it. I think this is such a good idea for these networks to offer these shows to the public. It will soon be booming with site visitors and will become big. Well at least thats how I see it. This creates a free, convenient way to keep up with all my favorite shows, allowing me to keep on top of them and remain yet another faithful viewer!

Phishing License?

I just finished my powerpoint presentation for my Interactive Media class about Phishing. In my research to finsh this presentation, I was kind of shocked at what I found out. Phishing, a way for con artists to get peoples personal information like social security numbers, credit card info, and other very important and private information, is NOT illegal. It got me thinking about why or how this could be. I dont understand how something so wrong can not be illegal. The information these phisher's get can and most likely will be used for identity theft. This does not seem morally or legally right at all. Congress is trying to decide if passing a legislation against phishing is violating the First Amendment. I believe that not passing a legislation is violating the First Amemndment. What about the rights of the people who are getting phished? They're whole lives could be on the line, with the key to so much of their lives being wrongfully taken. Who is protecting all these people who have fallen victim to these phishers? Isn't it violating them by not passing laws against the stealing of very important information. This information could be used to do many damaging and harmful things to these peoples reputations, credit, and lives. I think that Congress needs to see that phishing is most definitely wrong and they need to pass laws against it. There needs to be some kind of punishment for phishing!

Interactive Media Timeline-1960's

· 1960 - Development began on Project Xanadu
o Project Xanadu was pretty much the inspiration for the World Wide Web and for HyperCard.
§ http://www.xanadu.com/xuhome.html
· 1962 - Douglas Englebart started work on NLS
o in 1962 started work on Augment, and as part of this effort he started working on NLS (oN-Line System).
o http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_engelbart.htm
· 1964 - RAM is invented by John Schmidt----(actually was invented by Robert Dennard)
o One of the most significant creations in computer technology: "RAM."
§ http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/Dennard.html
· 1965 - Ted Nelson coins the terms “hypertext” and “hypermedia”.
o Nelson coined the terms in a paper to the ACM 20th national conference.
§ http://www.w3.org/WhatIs.html
· 1968 - Ted Nelson invents hypertext
o Nelson originally invented the word hypertext for "non-sequential writing”
§ http://www.w3.org/Xanadu.html#Nelson
· 1968 - Douglas Englebart gives Mother of All Demos
o Engelbart and a group of 17 researchers presented a 90-minute live public demonstration of the online system, NLS.
§ http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/1968Demo.html
· 1969 - UNIX created by Bell Labs
o UNIX came from an effort in the early 1960s to build a dependable timesharing operating system.
§ http://www.bell-labs.com/history/unix/

Texting your TV?

It has become a very common thing for television shows to encourage viewers to use their cell phones in order to interact with it. It has been more popular with shows where the nations votes are required to keep the show going. Some examples of these kinds of shows are American Idol and Americas Best Dance Crew. As we all have probably been a viewer of these types of shows at one time, we can all be witnesses to this use of texting or calling in. But now this use of interactivity is going above and beyond. There are even television shows, mostly soap operas, that allow viewers to text in what they want to see happen in the next weeks show. They can let the show know what their ideas for the plots are and what they would like to see be done and who to. The producers, writers and directors of these shows take into account what their viewers want and create the plot of the next show around what their viewers really want to see. This is amazing to me because this opens new doors for everyone. The people behind these shows are able to give the viewers exactly what they are looking for and in return are able to boost their ratings easily and quickly. And, on the other hand, viewers have more of a connection to these types of shows and are able to feel more connected to the show because it is their ideas that are being shown on TV. In this case, all viewers have the chance to be a writer of a television show. I believe its a huge step in the right direction for the interactive media world.