The first computers were not at all what they are today. Back in the eighteen hundreds people did much of the work that computers now do. The work was boring, tedious, and normally carried out by women. The first computers were mechanical devices not electrical. Ergo, they required assistance from attendants and operators. The logic of computers is based on a true or false statement - a boolean. Charles Sanders Peirce, who was an American logician, realized that a logic tree could be made out of boolean expressions via electrical components. Now though there were other inventors, such as Charles Babbage, whom invented mechanical devices for calculation, Charles was the first to use electrical components. Charles made his first boolean logic device in the early eighteen hundreds. It was very similar to the census tabulation machine created by Hermann Hollerith as in it detected input in the sense of a yes or no.
The Mark I ASCC (Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator), created by International Business Machines (IBM), was a big step towards the modern day computer. The Harvard
Mark I was the first machine that could calculate computations without assistance.
Unfortunately, by the time is was finished (1944) it was obsolete. The device weighed over ten thousand pounds and required a small engine to run it. It consisted of just under eight hundredthousand components and used hundreds of miles of wire. Though at the time it was a milestone, there was much room for improvement. It used thousands of mechanical relays. These components hold a voltage and responds to an input returning power on or off to further
circuitry.
John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry of Iowa State University had a better idea. They created the first electronic circuit computer by using vacuum tubes instead of mechanical relays. A vacuum tube is a component that can modify (switch, amplify, etc) electrical current by altering the flow of electrons. Therefor, it was ideal for creating an electrical computing device. In the end ENIAC (the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) housed nineteen thousand vacuum tubes. Other components found in the thirty ton device were relays, switches,lights, and a huge air cooling system. It is still the model for modern day computers.
The next evolutionary step for computers came from the work of three quantum physicists. William Shockley, Walter Brattain, and John Bardeen whom had been studying the conductivity and behavior of certain crystals came across a useful attribute. When electricity was run through these specific crystals they behaved neither as conductors (substance which allows electricity to pass through it easily) nor insulators (material that prohibits the passing through of electrons). These crystals came to be known as semi-conductors. This discovery was so important because it lead to the discovery of transistors. Transistors could modulate the flow of electricity through them. This behavior found in the crystals was very similar to that of vacuum tubes and mechanical relays, but they were much lighter, cheaper, and more easy to make. This, unlike the unfortunate problem with the Harvard Mark I, made reasonable mass
production feasible.
With the discovery of semi-conductors and transistors, the integrated circuit (IC) was made. An integrated circuit combines multiple transistors onto a chip to complete a task. Printed circuits, which are boards with electrical paths already laid out on them, with the new solid state transistors, made modern day computers possible. The first integrated circuits were made for smaller tasks such as mathematical calculations. As time passed and complexity grew, they were able to handle tasks comparable to modern day computing. The first Intel chip made in nineteen seventy-one (Intel 4004) had a clock speed of one hundred and eight kilohertz (or cycles per second) and consisted of under three thousand transistors. Current day IC’s for computers, processors, more then eclipse their predecessors. For example, the Intel Core i7 950 Processor (which is a common day IC) has a clock speed of 3.06 gigahertz and has millions upon millions of transistors. For some comparison the change in hertz can be contemplated, one hertz refers to one cycle per second (CPS). Kilohertz is ten to the third hertz (so one thousand hertz). Megahertz is ten to the sixth or one million hertz. Giga (which is how many hertz the modern Intel Core i7 processor has) means one thousand million. Therefore, modern day processors overpower by thousands of millions of cycles per second.
Homo sapiens, since our conception, have sought ways of leisure and play. In Game Design Principles, Practice, and Techniques, by Jim Thompson, a definition of play by Johan Huizinga, a Dutch historian from the eighteen hundreds, can be read.
“Play is a voluntary activity or occupation executed within certain fixed limits of time and place, according to rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, having its aim in itself and accompanied by a feeling of tension, joy, and the consciousness that it is ‘different’ from ‘ordinary life’.”
Johan Hiuzinga seen how imperative play and gaming were in human society. The earliest historical records show Egyptian board games such as Senet. The game of Senet is played by two people on a board with thirty squares. Since no rules have been found only speculations as to the game play of these three rows of ten can be made. The depiction of board games on tomb wall paintings show the importance of leisure even as early as 3500BC.
Though copious new board games have been made over the years ranging greatly in complexity, the game mechanics have mostly remained the same. As Johan’s definition states, a game must have accepted rules. Games must also have winning and losing which cause the feelings of tension and joy. The separation from ordinary life is the biggest defining factor in something being a game. Though games may pertain to reality or simulate reality (such as Monopoly) the separation from it allows creative expansion that play only benefits from. The stakes and rewards are contemplative and short term. When the game encompasses actual repercussions it varies into an entirely separate realm - gambling.
Gaming is a constant around the world. The variety of board games, card games, table top games, etc have only grown spreading new trends and ideas. There were many factors helping with the spread of games. The Revolutionary War, which started in seventeen seventy-five, brought America an old past time. In France Croquet was augmented into the modern billiard. Billiards soon changed into Bagatelle (pinball) and was brought to America during the war. The original Bagatelle used a narrowed Billiards board. It had holes and stationary pins that interacted with an ivory ball. Once it was brought to America, the Redgrave Parlor Bagatelle was made in eighteen seventy-one. It was the first game to use a spring-loaded plunger. In nineteen thirty-one, Gottlieb Baffle Ball was made. It was the catalyst to the pinball industry that soon swept the nation. The machines used inclined boards, slots, pins, bells, bumpers, and flippers (first seen in nineteen forty seven on Gottleib Humpty Dumpty machine). The most important contribution came in nineteen thirty-three with the Pacific Amusements Co. It was the first Pinball machine to incorporate electricity. Harry Williams, the designer of it, had launched a movement that he could not at the time begin to comprehend.
Businesses and corporations of the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds greatly contributed to the spread of games. In eighteen ninety-one an electronic and incandescent lamp company was made by Gerard Philips. It soon grew buying out other electronic companies and Magnavox, which eventually made the first home game console. Many companies that would otherwise not have dealt with games altered their production , like Philips company, to capitalize on the growing popularity and need.
America was finally ready for the first electronic game. On October eighteenth, ninety fifty-eight Willy Higgenbotham, a well known nuclear physicist at the time, displayed a simplified electronic tennis game. It was called Tennis for Two. The game was no more then a few buttons, an old analog computer, and a oscilloscope for a viewing screen. Higgenbotham made the game as a fun demonstration for visitors at Brookhaven National Laboratory. When visitors played the game attentions sparked and a line soon formed out the door. Two players controlled a little dot on the oscilloscope with a controller. The oscilloscope displayed a side view of a “tennis court” with a line in the center for a net. Players pressed a momentary switch on their controllers to hit the “ball” when it crossed over the net. The game was made using relays, other components, and an instructional book found with the computer.
The uproar drew writers and publicity. Higgenbotham was asked by a reporter why he had not patented the device. Since Higgenbotham was under government contracts, any financial gain from Tennis for Two would have went strait to Uncle Sam. Also, the gear required to build the game weighed more then several men. Ergo, he did not think it feasible to package and sell his game.
A few years after Higgenbotham’s game, a few MIT students, including computer programmer Steve Russel, created Spacewar. Russel, who was nicknamed “Slug,” and his friends created the game as a way to demonstrate the power of the newly acquired DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) PDP-1. Unlike Higgenbotham’s Tennis for Two, Spacewar was completely programmed into the PDP-1 computer. This makes Spacewar the first actual computer game saying that it did not use any hard-wired computer circuitry.
Spacewar, visually, was not all that different from Tennis for Two. Two controllable sprites, or spaceships, moved around on a cathode-ray tube screen. “The needle” and “the wedge,” as they were called, attacked each other using photon torpedoes (i.e. yet again little dots). Behind the two spaceships were small dots emulating stars in a vast space battlefield. In the center of the screen there was a sun. The sun functioned as another element of danger for the players. Its gravity would pull a player in and destroy him or her if the controlled ship got to close.
The next big step in computer game history is thanks to Ralph Baer. He is known as the “Father of Video Games” due to the plethora of contributions he made. Ralph Baer was an inventor and Army Intelligence in World War II. Due to his work in the military and degree in television engineering, Baer seen a connection others had not - television and games were made for each other. Baer tried getting his unique idea out while he was working at a small military contractor. Loral, the company he was working for, had assigned his team the task of designing “The best TV set in the world.” Baer thought that adding games as an extra feature would only benefit such a high titled television. Unfortunately, Baer’s concept of building TV’s with built in games was not respected or taken seriously. Over a decade went by before the idea was pressed again.
While working at Sanders Associates, Inc., another military contractor, Baer finally let loose. He began work on making a television game console. Baer wrote papers and drew out schematics of his ideas. He wanted to put two controllable spots on a screen. Since Baer was chief engineer and manager of equipment design at Sanders Associates, Inc., he was able to round up Bob Tremblay, a technician from his division, for his cause. Tremblay soon made a display for Baer’s idea using a vacuum tube circuit. Together they made a chase game. One person would control a dot on the screen and attempt to “catch” the other persons evading dot. Though the game went relatively unnoticed and unsupported, it was a very important step in Baer’s work as it set the tone for his next big accomplishment - The Brown Box.
In ninety sixty-seven another co-worker, Bill Harrison, joined Baer and Tremblay. Baer and his crew had recently received some funding from the companies corporate director, Herbert Campman. His work was now being watched and, due to the funding, given the ability to grow. They created the first “shoot-em up” game using circuitry and tubing to create a tangible “gun” that would destroy the dot on screen when fired at. The gun for the “Fox and the Hound” game did not in the end “shoot” off like expected. It was not that popular and it had flaws. The dot on screen could be destroyed by firing the gun at any source of light.
Baer’s group continued to grow and gain funding. Concepts of cable TV games where being shot around. Another person joined the team, Bill Rusch, who wanted to incorporate more sports into the games. Soon the crew created the Brown Box. The Brown Box was the first home video game system. It was created in November of nineteen sixty-seven. They had taken Bill Rusch’s idea and created a multi-player ping-pong game. The Brown Box was also left open from people to program other games onto it. It was a simple setup consisting of a main chasse, which housed the computer, and two controllers.
Advertising was the Brown Box’s next challenge. A deal was soon struck with Magnavox much to the thanks of Bill Enders (a man from a previous company and deal that fell through). The Brown Box was re-titled and became the Magnavox Odyssey. The Odyssey was not launched until five years after the original system had been made. Eager to make money, Magnavox choose some poor advertising and marketing skills that ultimately hindered the sales of the Odyssey. Magnavox had decided to advertise the system to only work on televisions made my Magnavox.
The Magnavox Odyssey was the first of many home video games to come. Men like Nolan Bushnell , an early game creator, did sociological studies and learned key advertising techniques that helped games flourish. Games were extremely popular in places where education levels were higher, such as college campuses and nearby building where students visited (this is rather ironic saying that today the stereotype is that games are making America’s youth less intelligent). Bushnell used his knowledge to help spread his game, Computer Space, around and build popularity. He also used his electronic’s knowledge to redesigned his console completely to use less parts and ultimately cost a fraction of the original price.
In the nineteen seventies, home TV games and console games where showing up everywhere. Pong, Asteroid, Space Race and Tank were just a few of the games found in pool halls, college campuses, parlors, etc. Games were housed in large ostentatious containers with a cathode ray tube to display the game play. The games were advertised in papers and in windows via posters. The game craze spread to more home driven consoles and only grew in numbers and complexity.
Currently the gaming world has grown into a giant that its predecessors could not have imagined. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo hold the gaming world together with many sixth-generation gaming consoles. The computing power of the systems is far stronger allowing for much more elaborate games. Screens are no longer comprised of a few insipid dots or lines (nor are they seen on cathode ray tubes). Images that are so vivid and imaginative are projected into the players mind. Games have gotten to the state of realism that they are used for teaching new military recruits small arms fire and land reading skills (Call of Duty Afghanistan). More and more is the need for external controllers and interfaces decreasing. The Wii, released by Nintendo in November of two-thousand and six, has a controller that senses movement and causes a players on screen avatar to respond accordingly. Microsoft’s newest release Kinect, is a completely controller free gaming experience. A small interface recognizes body shape and movement. We are forming a tighter circuit with our gaming consoles. The line between human and cyborg is getting harder and harder to see. People like Stelarc, a Greek-Australian artist, have already severely bridged the gap. Stelarc believes the human body has become inadequate, and uses machines to alter his body and normal functions. One piece, titled Exoskeleton, is an extension of his body via a machine that he uses to walk. It looks much like a crazy science fiction mechanical spider. There are tubes, rods, and Stelarc. He stands in the center of the contraption, with connections all over his body, and lurches forward much like a spider. One must ask themselves where this is leading? His genius is no doubt striking, but what is the purpose? The future will no doubt see more and more human computer/machine interaction. Mechanical limbs are already being used for patients void of a limb. After time the robotic limbs are able to respond to electrical impulses much like a normal limb. Pacemakers have been around for many decades now as it is.
Bibliography
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Demaria, Rusel; Wilson, Johnny.High Score!.McGraw-Hill/Osborne.2002.
Thompson, Jim.Game Design: Principles, Practice, and Techniques.Wiley, John.2007.
Morris, Dave; Hartas, Leo.Game art: the graphic art of computer games.Watson-Guptill
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Bush, Vannevar. "As We May Think." The Atlantic July 1945. Web.
Steyerl, Hito. "In Defense of the Poor Image." E-flux 2010. Web.
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