The Hard and Soft Factors of Gaming
This entry was created by a student in Stanford's Rhetoric of Gaming class. For more about the class and the assignment, click here.
With sales of over $22 billion in 2008, video games have experienced quite a transformation from the humble Tennis for Two created in 1958 to the graphical miracles of titles like Metal Gear Solid 4 or Crysis. For my research, I will be investigating how the evolution of the hardware and software responsible for these novel forms of entertainment has impacted game play throughout the years.
This particular article, The Evolution of Gaming: Computers, Consoles, and Arcades focuses on the transformation of games in their respective genres throughout the evolution of the video game industry over the past fifty years. Sixty-six games are examined, divided between eleven categories, each focusing on a particular genre of gaming ranging from sport simulations to role playing games. Each individual examination contains a screenshot, the original hardware required to play the game, and then a few paragraphs of history and analysis, usually concerning game play or significant milestones related to the title.
The author’s goal in this article was to determine if overall game play has remained unchanged as time has passed, with graphical improvements being the only advancements made in the gaming industry as a whole. As he says, “Many old-school gamers often lament the focus of graphics over game play in modern titles, but was it really true that only graphics got better over time?” Initially the author is very biased towards this view but does well to keep it out of his research. In the conclusion he says, “When I started the article, I expected to find that while graphics had advanced by leaps and bounds, game play had either stopped advancing or was developing extremely slowly. I was surprised to find that improvements in game play had occurred at every level of game development, right up to the present day.”
This article focuses a great deal on how game play has evolved in relation to specific genres but not quite so much as a whole. I believe I will find the specific information on the hardware used to play these games of value as I attempt to connect hardware and software throughout various stages of the history of gaming. This article also provides quite a wealth of information concerning game play changes within a genre, which I could also tie into hardware limitations or lack thereof. Overall I feel as though there is quite a bit of information within this article that I will be able to synthesize with other sources as I continue my research.
Comments
I really like your topic and I think the source is perfect for what you are trying to do. However, I would like to know exactly what games you will be focusing on in your paper because right now it sounds like you will be looking at all 60 games. I think this is such a large topic that you could probably focus on one type of game for example: adventure or action and how the graphics, storyline, and moves have changed. Basically, a more defined approach will really help you out I think but the source is awesome.
Posted by: Mary Beth | April 30, 2009 10:43 AM
You might want to look at these books on the history of video gaming:
http://searchworks/vufind/Search/Home?lookfor=video+game+history&type=title&submit=Search
Posted by: Chris Bourg | April 30, 2009 05:42 PM
Brilliant study, but perhaps categorizing platforms and assessing the factors of gaming would be more useful. ie the factors of gaming for the Nintendo Wii (and Nintendo Platforms of yesteryear) are completely different to the PC and the more serious consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360, and they therefore have completely different aspects to consider.
Posted by: Amy | Free Xbox 360 | August 2, 2009 02:59 PM
I find this study on games to be very interesting.
Posted by: Addictive Games | September 4, 2009 04:56 PM