03 Development History of Arcade Platforms

Development History of Arcade Platforms

What is an Arcade Platform?

 

Intro

 

  In the following blog i will be explaining the history, popularity and timeline of arcade platforms and their features/limitations.

  Now as with anything a good starting point for this blog would be the question what exactly is an Arcade platform and what is an arcade video games machine?

  Well an arcade games platform is simply put a combination of Hardware, software and middle-ware incorporated into a closed case upright system capable of playing a single game. It's entire hardware and chip set is built with the game in mind and is designed to exclusively run games and more specifically a game.

  Now that we understand what an arcade games platform is lets delve a little deeper into what exactly an arcade video games machine is. An arcade machine is an upright box usually made from and stands at about 720cm - 1.3m in height. It is painted in bright decals with the game's art style and lettering. It will often also feature the characters in some form on the case. This is all for the purpose of attracting a customer to it as within an arcade their is a wide choice of games to pick from and standing out is a key feature. Depending on what type of game it is it will have a variety of peripherals on display e.g. Light Guns, Car Seats with full car interiors, Pilot joysticks etc. The cabinet itself houses the chipboard and console which exclusively run the game of choice. Built into the cabinet will be either 1 or more screens for displaying the game, sensors, coin slots and any required peripherals will be tied to the machine through the use of aluminum coils which house the cables.

  Below are some images and descriptions of the various pieces inside general arcade machines.

A chip set or power board which runs the arcade game and connects the peripherals. This will be housed deep within the Arcade unit next it's PSU and fans. (The example shown here is one of the most famous arcade chip sets called the NAOMI it was this architecture which the Dreamcast's board was built from.)

A crude makeshift example of an arcade's PSU which is built to run the chip set, Monitor/s, speakers and peripherals.

 

The various chip boards required to connect the peripherals and speakers to the PSU & chip set of the arcade machine. As you can see the cables for the peripherals are housed within aluminum coils to help protect them and prevent them from being stolen.

 

A more in depth look at the gun peripheral and it's connectors.

 

The slot port where users will put in money to play.

 

A picture displaying a fully built and painted arcade machine.

Arcade Machine Timeline

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Arcade Popularity & Decline

 

  During the late 80's and mid 90's arcades and arcade machines had come into full effect sweeping every area of every major city in both the west and the east. Japan, America and a the UK brought out arcades everywhere. With them came huge crowds of kids and adults alike clamoring around waiting their turn to play the next big game and some were just watching and studying as fierce championship battles occurred between two people. Arcade machines helped bring in King of the Hill combat amongst users whereby people would play until someone was named victor and then the next contestant would step up to the mark. But it wasn't just about competition dating couples would play games and have fun, mothers would bring their children during shopping to keep them happy, tourists would swarm on the nearest arcade on a beach side resort whilst young children and their friends would spend their whole Saturdays popping quarters and eating junk food whilst soaking up the sweaty atmosphere. Arcades were incredibly popular places and were a staple of youth culture, but eventually everything changed and this decade old tradition died faster than when it began and yet there is more than one reason to it's inevitable decline.

  1998 - 2001 is the period in which most people agree arcades began to die (in the West at least.) The problem you see is that back during the 80's and early 90's arcade machines in terms of power and graphical capabilities far exceeded that of PC's or home consoles of the time. But, with the release of the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, N64 & Finally the Dreamcast (which was based off of a arcade chip set) it was inevitable that console's and PC's would catch up. Add to this the extremely wide variety of multiplayer games on offer by the N64 and Dreamcast with 4 controller ports many did not see the need to go to arcades anymore as console's were more than capable of having a couple of friends round and creating a fun atmosphere without the need for spending cash per life off of a game. 

  But that was fine, at least arcades still had the competition and the thrill of the smack talk. But lo-behold that came crashing down as well. With advent and rise of online gaming brought on by the Dreamcast and later mastered by the Xbox, Xbox 360 & PS3 their was no need for competition in arcades any more as you could play against anyone anywhere right from the comfort of your own sofa and with online leader-boards challenges were never easier to master.

  Alas as with anything as technology grows so does our independence there is simply no longer a need for many of us to regularly attend social areas such as arcades for interaction anymore as we have this amazing gift and curse known as the internet it enables us to instantly talk and catch up with one another and also allows us to instantly find a challenger anywhere in the hold willing to beat our score or challenge us to a match of ego's.

The Current Interest in Retro Arcade Gaming

 

  But, just like 8-bit games of old and their resurgence within indie games, many are not simply content to sit by and use the convenience of technology. In today's modern games industry many of the adults grew up around the age of the arcade and now deep into their late 20's mid 30's many of them seek to recreate that atmosphere which they felt as a child thanks to nostalgia. So as many fathers and mothers take their children to the arcades to help experience the sane feelings they had as children their offspring begin gaining a liking towards arcades and tell their friends. In 2014 - 2015 arcades are just beginning to recuperate their losses after almost a decade of decline in popular society. This is due to nostalgia, game fanatics who seek to relive the glory days and in more unbelievable cases a stale market.

  Since 2012 many people when asked on their thoughts on the current games industry and the current offering of games the responses were fairly negative. We live in a modern society where games will sell in millions but the content stays the same just last year the number of FPS's to other genre's outranked them by 3 - 1. So in many cases the resurgence in arcade interest can also be attributed to that of games developers simply not listening to the consumers anymore. Many people are beginning to see that joining online game lobbies with adolescents verbally attacking you is just not as fun compared to the age old friendship of traditional gaming.

The Good/Bad Features/Limitations of Arcade Platforms

 

  Arcade machines like any piece of technology before them will succumb to the same problems wherein there will always be a good and bad features. Much of this is based on upon opinion, others on technical limitation and many cases budgetary restraint. 

  In this case of arcade machines it falls upon the former two. Many of the limitations people would consider to be "limitations" of an arcade machine are nothing more than an opinion based observation. But with formalities aside here is a list of the many features/limitations of the arcades games platform.

  Good Features

  Arcade machines were units designed and created specifically for one certain type of game.   Bad Limitations

02 Development History of Games Platforms

The history and Development of Games Platforms and Technologies

What is a Games Platform?

 Intro

  When talking about the history and evolution of games platforms its important for us to understand exactly what it is when we talk about "platforms." So within the following section i will outlining and explaining what it is when we refer to a platform.

Platform Description & The Three Specific Types

 

  In general terms a platform is the underlying computer software or software environment which is built to contain and run specific applications. But a games platform, put simply. Is a combination, of both software, middle ware and hardware put together and built which allows for the use of video games. Now, this can range from anything being a mobile phone (1998 - onwards) all the way up to a PC or Games Console. These are what we refer to as platforms within the games industry. 

  Now games platforms as we know them today will fall into 1/3 categories.These are as follows:

 1. Console Platforms

 2. PC/Home Computing Platforms

 3. Mobile/TV Platforms

 The following is what these categories refer to.

  Console Platforms: Are any games platforms designed specifically for the function of playing games and are generally developed by a major corporation e.g. Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony etc. Now whilst these include any platform designed specifically for playing games this does not include portable consoles this is strictly for home console's.

  PC/Home Computing Platforms: Are any PC platforms that are able to play and run computer programs and games that are multitasking and openly upgradable. In most cases people tend to upgrade and add expensive graphics cards to make them used specifically for the purpose of playing video games.

  Mobile/TV Platforms: Are any type of platform capable of/ designed for playing video games. This can mean pieces of hardware such as Mobile Phones, Handheld Consoles, Smart TVs etc.

Notable Companies, Figures & Their History

Intro

 

  When it comes to talking and studying the evolution and history of games platforms it is important of course to note the companies and figureheads which helped gain or start the video games medium in popular culture and society. So within the following section of this blog i will be covering the various companies and people which helped successfully advertise and implements video games platforms into popular culture.

Nintendo

 

  It would be impossible of course when talking about the history of games, to not mention Nintendo.
Nintendo as a company and brand name was created and formed before the inception and creation video games even began. Back in 1951 Fusajiro Yamauchi the then owner of Nintendo &  Marufuku Co Ltd. Changed the company name to just Nintendo Playing Card Co Ltd (with Nintendo's literal translation supposedly meaning "Leave Luck to Heaven"). 

  Now, Nintendo at this time was merely nothing more than a playing card company which created and distributed handmade & plastic backed playing cards. (The first company utilize plastic cards.) Then in 1959 they secured a partnership deal with Disney to produce playing cards with their IP on them. This was a breakout success for Nintendo and helped cement them as a company at the time (and would later help when it came to releasing video games). But, Hiroshi Yamauchi the grandson of Fusajiro. Quickly began to realize the limits of playing cards within the modern world. It was at this time that the company was again re branded for a final time to what we now know as Nintendo Co. Ltd. Over the coming decade Nintendo began experimenting with various other revenue streams as the playing card market had quickly died down. These ventures included things such as: Taxi services, Love hotels & even instant food chains all of which almost instantly failed. So, Nintendo began their transition into what would inevitably be their most important foray yet. The toys market...

  In 1966 Nintendo was riddled with debt and had decided to enter the toys and entertainment market with full haste and the unsung hero of this period would be one of Nintendo's little known assembly line workers at the time known as Gunpei Yokoi. Gunpei Yokoi was extremely adept at electronics and when Hiroshi was observing the production line one day he noticed an extending arm which Yokoi had developed suddenly realizing how useful it was Hiroshi immediately ordered it for development, titles as "The Ultra Hand" which sold in excess of a million units after the success he promoted Yokoi to product management.

   In 1972 following major success for their higher end toys with thanks to Gunpei at their helm Nintendo began a partnership with the American company Magnate in which they would create light guns for the console it was here that Nintendo had been given it's first foray into the games market.

   In 1973 they began using their light gun technology for use with entertainment venues in japan whereby different entertainment games would use the technology such as the Laser Clay Shooting System. After this they began developing many different arcade machines with the light gun technology. But, after this Nintendo had found a new market...

  In 1974 following talks Nintendo had managed to gain the rights to exclusively distribute the Magnavox Odyssey in Japan.

   At the time in 1975 home consoles were extremely rare and so securing the rights to the Magnavox odyssey was huge for Nintendo following the success of it Nintendo decide to experiment with developing 3rd-party games for consoles and arcades all the way up until 1977 when they were approached by Mitsubishi electronics in the hope of a partnership in creating a home console called the Color TV Game Machine which was released in 2 versions the Color TV Game Machine 6 or the Color TV Game Machine 13 (which stood for how many games they had.)

  During this time they produced their first ever arcade game called EVR Race which was a stellar success in Japan and after this many more were to follow thanks to Nintendo's new game division which was headed by Yokoi. Then in 1981 created by the now legendary Shigeru Miyamoto Donkey Kong for the arcade was created which was one of Nintendo's most famous arcade game titles to date. With Yokoi and Miyamoto Nintendo had a string of success in the arcade industry and eventually in 1983 they entered the home console market with the famicom and later the NES. 

  After this the rest is history Nintendo became a huge conglomerate thanks to the success of it's first party titles developed by Miyamoto and the breakout sales of it's home consoles all the way from the NES to the WII which is the 2nd best selling console of all time.

SEGA

 

  Another incredibly noteworthy figure within the creation and inception of video games is that of SEGA. Starting way back within the 1950's and with its beginnings even having been traced back to the 1940's within Honolulu Hawaii, was then known as Service Games. In 1951 (the year when many say Service Games "officially" began) the then owners Raymond Lemaire and Richard Stuart changed and moved the company from Hawaii to Tokyo Japan. From here they started their company with the advent and rising popularity of coin-operated machines, games jukeboxes and the ever classic slot machines. Many of their customers were those of American soldiers whose air bases Service Games sold their wares to.

  After a couple years of business an American pilot and officer within the American army named David Rosen started his own company within Tokyo known as Rosen Enterprises. This started in 1954 when he launched a 2 minute photo booth within the heart of Tokyo. After this he also began delving into the world of coin-operated machinery and also imported and sold his wares over to the American military bases throughout Japan.

  By the mid-60's both Rosen Enterprises and Service Games grew to be major business's with Rosen Enterprises having well over 200 arcades throughout Japan and American air force bases. Realizing that his major and only competitor was that of Service Games David Rosen then brokered a deal with Service Games and offered a merger between the two companies. In roughly 1968 the deal eventually was completely finished between the two companies and they then operated under one name now known as SEGA Enterprises (an abbreviation of the first 2 letters in both words of Service Games.)

  After the merger of both companies Sega Enterprises then made shift in their working patterns they went from being solely a distribution to a focused manufacturer. Over the period of a year they changed their work ethics and released one of their first successful products a submarine simulator developed and designed by Rosen called "Periscope" It was one of the first games to contain sound effects and visual lights after and after an extremely quick breakout success within Japan it was then sold to both America and later Europe where it was quickly becoming one of the most popular machines of the time costing only 25 cents to play.

   With their success of the late 60's Sega attracted interest from a company known as Gulf+Western who were also in charge of Paramount Pictures. After talks Rosen sold Sega over to G&W in 1969 but continued to remain on as the CEO of the now renamed "Sega Division" of Gulf+Western. With many more successful ventures and thanks to Rosen's leadership G&W eventually made Sega a subsidiary and brought the company out to the public in 1972. In 1976 they changed their logo to the now famous blue lettering which has stayed the same since.

  Towards the end of the 70's and the early 80's Sega had made over $100 million dollars thanks to their success in the popular arcade gaming culture of the time. By 1982 they had surpassed over $220 million dollars worth of revenue and were set to become a huge figurehead within the games industry of the time but in 1983 with an overpopulated market of arcade games the infamous video games crash took its toll on Sega as a company and caused their income and revenue streams to fall below $150 million dollars and although they retained their place as a company in the same year G&W fearing Sega's downfall decided to sell all properties and the company of Sega over to Bally Manufacturing. In the following Rosen Sega's staple and figurehead resigned from the company and it's future looked bleak.

  Along with the american assets being sold over to Bally Manufacturing G&W also sold the japanese assets of Sega to a company called Esco Trading who were an arcade distribution company in Japan for the price of $38 million dollars. At the front of this group were
Robert Deith Hayao Nakayamaand David Rosen who had acquired the company in 1979. Under new leadership Nakayamaand was now the CEO of Sega japan, Robert Deith became the new chairmen of the board and David Rosen not wanting to return to high charged life of Japanese business became the new chairman of Sega America a subsidiary of Sega japan.

  After the buyout Sega entered into the home console market with the Sega Master System and had a long slew of success's and pitfalls until 1999 when the company had made huge losses on their last console which forced them to withdraw from the home console market and change the work ethic to that of a 3rd-party developer where they still are today. 
 

Taito

 

  Another major company which is notably important to the history of video games is that of Taito. Whilst many people would not equate them with any particular importance today during gaming's early years Taito were instrumental along with many other companies in cementing gaming.

  Taito's history began back within the 1950's when it was founded as Taito Trading Company by Russian businessman Michael Kogen. During this time Taito spent most of it's ventures upon that of items such as vending machines which they imported and exported. After this began a foray into jukeboxes which they again imported and exported before they began to build their own. After though began their real development... Within the 1960's Taito began it's foray into electro mechanical  arcade games. These ranged from claw machines to penny arcades and even puppetry games. From here it was but a stepping stone to the 1970's.

   1973 was the year which many cite as the making of Taito. In this year they released internationally, their first video arcade game, In this year they also changed their name from Taito Trading Company to Taito Corporation. After a period of stringed success's into the video arcade games market in 1978 Taito released the critically acclaimed, and historically significant arcade game Space Invaders. Developed in 1978 by the in house member Toshihiro Nishikado, it quickly became back then, one of the most popular video arcade titles of a generation inspiring many other titles and helping push and show the vastly growing capabilities of the arcade machines at the time. After it's success it was brought over and published within the US and later the UK by American publisher Midway Games. Where it quickly became one of the highest grossing arcade units of all time.

Space Invaders 1978 Screenshot.

  After their success in the 1970's with titles such as Speed Race & Gun Fight. Taito then began moving over to the quickly growing and ever popular home console medium with lesser known titles such as Jungle Hunt and Elevator Action being made for the Atari systems. Then in 1986 they gained a second resurgence of popularity within Japan with the release of the ever popular game Bubble Bobble one of their last arcade machines before the company began to fade into the background.

Bubble Bobble 1986 Screenshot.

  After their successful formative years Taito began to try and gain public attention again with an announcement of a home console of their own known as the WOWOW in 1992 this a CD-ROM based console which would have also offered downloadable games through the use of a satellite service but after many confirmations of its creation it was never released.

A picture of the WOWOW on display in 1992.

  Taito today, has recently been bought by the Square-Enix corporation in 2005. From then it creates and publishes many in-house lesser known titles.

A History of Games Platforms Through the Decades

Intro

  Now, no study of the history of games platforms would be complete without offering some form of evolutionary timeline to show and display exactly who did what and when. So in the following section of this blog i will be documenting popular game platforms, their releases and the important figures behind them.

1940's

   1940 - Edward U Condon creates a computer capable of playing the classic game Nim in which players have to pickup the last matchstick hundreds of people play it and the computer wins 87% of the time.

1950's

  1954  - The first blackjack program is created and run on an IBM-701 in Los Alamos Laboratories.

  1956 - Arthur Samuel creates and demonstrates a checkers game on an IBM-701 on national which 2 years later ends up defeating a checkers champion.

  1958 - Willy Higinbottom manages to create a primitive tennis game using an oscilloscope and an analog computer at Brookhaven National Laboratory. (It was later dismantled and largely forgotten for a long period of time.)

 1960's

    1961 - A computer simulation of the Cold War is developed by the Raytheon Company but it proves to complicated for many users to use and so Raytheon creates an analog and easier version titles "Grand Strategy."

  1962 -SpaceWar! is created by Steve Russel in MIT largely regarded as the worlds first computer video game. In the following decade it spreads across most computers.

  1964 - BASIC programming language is created John Kemeny in Dartmouth. Soon hundreds of people are creating extremely primitive games.

  1966 - Ralph Baer begins formulating and finishing his idea of being able to play games on a television screen. On September 1st he writes down the diagrams and ideas necessary to create his idea.

  1967 - The "Brown Box" is developed by Baer the prototype successor to Ralph's soon to be Magnavox Odyssey. It enables players to play primitive versions of Tennis and a few other games.

 1970's

  1972 - The Magnavox Odyssey is released to the general public the first version and idea of the "home console" is born.

  1972 - Nolan Bushnell & Al Alcorn develop a primitive tennis game built into an video arcade machine. When testing it, it fails to work and they discover that it is jammed with coins. The birth of arcade gaming and Pong is born.

  1974 - Maze Wars is released 2 decades before the popular Doom franchise. It allows users to play in a faked 3D environment using black & white wire-frame lines.

  1975 - Pong is released as a home console for televisions. It is distributed Sears Roebuck sporting goods department as no toy manufacturers will distribute it.

  1976 - Adventure! is created by Dan Wood. It is the first text based adventure game and paved the way for other popular text based games such as Zork and the hugely successful MMO genre.

  1976 - The Atari 2600 is released. Offering interchangeable games, color games and switches for selecting difficulties.

  1978 - Taito releases Space Invaders in Japanese arcades, in half a year 60,000 units are sold over to America and begin sweeping the nation with a craze for video arcade machines.

  1979 - Mattel releases the Intellivision which contains superior hardware and controls to that of it's Atari 2600 competitor. (home console competition now begins fueling a upgrade war between console manufacturers which causes video games technology to advance.)
 

1980's

  1980 - Pacman is released by Namco in July 1980 and by November a home console version is released on the Atari 2600. 2 years later, Ms Pacman becomes the fastest and best selling arcade game of all time.

  1981 - Nintendo releases their first breakout success game titled Donkey Kong and is developed by Shigeru Miyamoto. The protagonist is later to become the face and star of Nintendo's games empire.

  1983 - multiplayer gameplay takes a huge leap forward with the release of M.U.L.E a four player resource gathering game.

  1985 - Nintendo helps saving a dying video games market by re-branding and re-releasing their Super Famicom system as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. It quickly cements itself in popular and garners huge sales for the company.

  1987 - RPG's gain massive attention as The Legend of Zelda, WonderBoy, Dungeons & Dragons and Final Fantasy are all released in the same year.

  1989 - The Gameboy by Nintendo is released gathering huge sales from the public and released alongside it is the Russian video game Tetris. The Gameboy becomes one of the fastest selling portable consoles of all time and helps start the successful interest in portable gaming.

1990's

  1990 - Solitaire comes bundled with every edition of Windows 3.0 and a new era of interest in PC gaming is revived.

  1991 - Sega creates it's famous and popular mascot for the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive known as Sonic the Hedgehog. Sales of Sega systems spike with his creation.

  1995 - Following a failed partnership with Nintendo and years of research the Sony Corporation proceed to create their own home console capable of real time 3D graphics and superior hardware titled the PlayStation.

2000's

  2000 - Sony release the successor to the PlayStation titled the PlayStation 2 or PS2 for short. It quickly becomes the fastest and best-selling console of all time and forces Sega's departure from the games industry. It also pushes Nintendo as a sideline console for the first time in years.

  2001 - Microsoft buy over the DirectX company and proceed to release a console known as the Xbox in direct competition with the PS2. It also begins the first forming's of console OS's and stable Ethernet internet gameplay picking up where the Dream cast left off. 

  2003 - Steam is released which helps push PC gaming into the limelight with streamlined digital downloads and updates for games. It quickly cements Valve as a serious games company following the success of their Half Life and Team Fortress titles.

 2004 - The Nintendo DS is released as a successor to the Gameboy Advance boasting dual screens and touchscreen technology it sells out within it's first week.

  2005 - Microsoft release the Xbox's successor the Xbox 360. It quickly becomes Microsoft's best selling console and pushes the PlayStation and the Wii to side for the following 7 years.

  2006 - Nintendo release the successor to the GameCube called the Wii, it quickly becomes one of the best selling consoles of all time but put under pressure by the 360 and the soon to be PS3 they are still pushed even further to the side and are considered to be side console 

  2007 - Sony releases the PS3 the successor to the PS2. Initially high cost prevents them from making many sales but after the price cuts and their equity equalized they began making money by 2009.

 

2010's

  2012 - Crowdfunding helps start the experimental and open source game platform OUYA and also helps fund the Oculus Rift VR headset.

  2013 - The Xbox One and PS4 are released after the longest generation of console's ever. Initial sales are still poor compared to that of 7th and 6th gen consoles.

01 Introduction

The History and Development of Games Platforms and Technologies.

An Introduction

Intro

 Last year saw the release of many big budget video games. The budgets for some these stretched well over $100 million and had team sizes of over 250 employees working in the main games development alone. This is but a small testament to the vast scale of how big video games have become as both an entertainment industry and corporate business.

 Add to this the recent statistics of its total revenue in 2013 achieving a final total in excess of $75.5 billion with an estimated excess of $112 billion by 2017 (more than both the movie and music industries.) It quickly becomes apparent that this large scale operation is here to stay and it has big plans. 

(Consult the image below.)

Link for bigger size and zoom

 http://thegamersparadise.com/images/Games/Industry/gamesmarket/Newzoo_2013_Global_Games_Market_by_Region_May2014.jpg 

 But, that's today. The real question that remains is, Where did it all come from? In the following blog i will be delving back through gaming's history and i will be detailing some of the most important and necessary companies and platforms, their failures, success, limitations and features to help gain a better understanding as to where this all came from.

 Throughout the decades i will be picking out important and noteworthy innovations, creations and ideas created by various people and companies. Through this we will be able to better understand how this small hobby of a business turned into a global corporate business single handedly responsible for millions of dollars being generated from the sales of just one title.