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Geek Culture / Video/Computer Game Facts...

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Sir Spaghetti Code
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Posted: 1st Aug 2004 09:03 Edited at: 1st Aug 2004 09:06
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I had a very geeky idea for a add-to-a-list thread. I'll give a couple of video game facts, and any one else can add to the list with video/computer game trivia.

1. What is commonly considered the first console RPG as we know it was Dragon Quest in Japan (known state-side as Dragon Warrior). It was amazingly popular, and grew in popularity with the release of it's sequel, DQ2. By the time the 3rd rolled around in Japan, it was so popular that schools reported tons of absences on it's release day. Stores had lines stretching several city blocks! The stores, who could not keep it on the shelves, reported people mugging other customers leaving the store who had successfuly purchased the game. After the release of Dragon Quest 3, the Japanese government legally made sure any future releases of Dragon Quest games were on a Sunday, so as to not disrupt the flow of school and business.

2. Some say that SpaceWar! (1962) was the first interactive computer game, but this is not true! In 1958 (wow!), William Higinbotham created the first interactive computer game Tennis for Two! He created it at Brookhaven National Laboratory for Visitor's Day, in an attempt to interest the non-engineers coming to the center. It was a huge success, bringing in people to play his creation for the first year, then an upgraded version the following year. After the second year, he packed it up, satisfied with the results, and never really gave it another thought. He never patented the idea.

How about some more from you guys! C'mon! Show your geek trivia!

Fraggles where quite the scary lot...
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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 1st Aug 2004 10:12
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I though "pong" was the first video game ever made. :S
Where did you get the "Tennis for Two" gig?

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Sir Spaghetti Code
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Posted: 1st Aug 2004 11:57
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History man! Pong was far from being the first game! It was the first game to be played on a home system though! Tennis for Two was played on a computer the size of a tennis court!

Fraggles where quite the scary lot...
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Sir Spaghetti Code
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Posted: 1st Aug 2004 12:02
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Peep this: http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/pong.html Top story!

Fraggles where quite the scary lot...
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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 1st Aug 2004 12:20
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In 1984 Elite released a chopper game called Airwolf. It was a great sucess! Elite became millionairs, and everyone was happy......

but what's this???.....

Oh dear! Elite actually ran out of time when making the game, so it was never finished. When you get near the end of the game it just crashes. Never mind, it was so hard, that hardly anyone ever got that far anyway.

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Toby Quan
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Posted: 1st Aug 2004 13:50
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Okay, how about this.

The current street value of Super Mario Brothers 1 for NES is 50 cents.

I'd buy it!
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Zero Blitzt
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Posted: 1st Aug 2004 14:03
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The first video game system ever was the Magnavox Odyssey 100, released in 1972, and was created by Bill Arrison, Bill Rusley and Ralph Baer. The Atari did not appear until 1974, and that was only Atari Pong. (The Atari that everyone thinks of first, was released in 1982, 11 systems later.)

The original Super Nintendo was designed in part with Sony. The system, called Nintendo PlayStation, was to make use of the CD-ROM storage technology. At the last moment, the partnership broke, and the Super Nintendo was released solo, in cartridge form.


Rush owns--> www.Rush.com ---> I'm going to see them Aug. 7
Come to #coding. We promise we wont kick you!
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Sir Spaghetti Code
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Posted: 1st Aug 2004 14:04
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Hmmm, nah, I'd rather get the half cup of cofee lol. Speaking of Dragon Warrior, check out the going price on this Dragon Warrior Set (I,II,III,IV) for NES. Going for $152.50 right now, and still has 18 hours!http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62053&item=8120206041&rd=1

Another: The Sega Master System (can't remember Euro name, but this happened in US) released an add-on of 3-D glasses, that consisted of a shutter system. It rapidly shut and opened the shutters to give the sense of 3-D. They were actually pretty cool until about '89 when reports starting blowing up all over the US of seizres from the glasses. They were immediatly pulled from shelves and a recall happened right after Christmas of '89. If you have the glasses, hold on to 'em, but don't use them for too long lol!

Fraggles where quite the scary lot...
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GothOtaku
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Posted: 1st Aug 2004 14:10
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Actually, if I remember correctly Tennis for Two wasn't interactive. I'll look it up later but I'm pretty sure it wasn't, at least in its first incarnation.
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Sir Spaghetti Code
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Posted: 1st Aug 2004 14:49 Edited at: 1st Aug 2004 14:51
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It was, check the link, it has pictures of the "controllers". Man, I sure would love to have one of those instead of an XBox controller lol

@Zero Blitz: Very true. Atari's Pong didn't hit the scene until quite later.

@ZeroBlitz abt Nintendo PS: I remeber that! lol I didn't think any one else remembered that! Damn, now I need to scrounge up that old GamePro that mentioned it!

Fraggles where quite the scary lot...
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Jeku
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2004 04:48 Edited at: 2nd Aug 2004 04:49
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I'm sure you all know this, but when Space Invaders was released in Japan in 1980, it caused a national coin shortage (100 yen).

EDIT:

And Pac-Man was originally called Puck-Man. It was changed after the company was worried that American teenagers would alter the name on the arcade cabinets to !@#$-Man.

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David T
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2004 04:52
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Age of Mythology contains over 1 million lines of code; if programmed by 1 person it would have taken 20 years to complete.

Get 15 new commands, all the date / time commands left out of DBPro for free!
DOWNLOAD PLUGINS HERE: http://www.davidtattersall.me.uk/ and select "DarkBasic"
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empty
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2004 05:26 Edited at: 2nd Aug 2004 05:26
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Gothic 1 "started" as a hobby project mainly inspired by Ultima Underworld in the early nineties.


PS: a very unique interpretation of history http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=35088&b=2)

Play Nice! Play Basic! Check it out. Now!

nFinity Emulator. Coming soon...
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Sir Spaghetti Code
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2004 07:00
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Some out there might already be aware of this one:

Some people think that Everquest was the first MMORPG as we know them today (3-D, PvP, etc.), but it was not. The game borrowed heavily from the first 3-D MMORPG, Meridian 59 (1996). It never grew very popular, but it's strong PvP features (which EQ's was derived from) and closely-knit community made it a cult hit among a small group of very dedicated fans.

Check out it's home page below:
http://meridian59.neardeathstudios.com/

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GothOtaku
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2004 13:43
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OMG! I remember trying Meridian bakc in the day! It still has a cult following and there are still (unofficial) servers up around the world. Kinda interesting in fact.
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BearCDPOLD
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2004 13:45
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The founder of Atari(or ONE of the founders), Nolan Bushnell, also started Chuck E. Cheese's.

Crazy Donut Productions, Current Project: Project Starbuks
Sony stole our name!
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andrew11
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Posted: 2nd Aug 2004 14:03
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@Zero Blitz
I thought the Magnavox Odyssey was the first. The Magnavox Odyssey 100 came out after.

I actually own a magnavox odyssey 100. It is bright orange . Only 2 games, hockey and tennis; where the origional had "cartriges" that really were just jumpers to built in games.


"All programmers are playwrites and all computers are lousy actors" -Anon
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Sir Spaghetti Code
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Posted: 3rd Aug 2004 09:36
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@Near crazy donuts: Wow! that's really crazy. On the other hand, most game creators just have a nack for providing others with entertainment (wink,wink)

Factoid: Some of you out the might remember the NEC PC-FX. It was an ill fated console that was created as competition for te Sega Saturn and that weird system that was on the horizen, the Playstation. Video games were at a pivitol point then, when 3-D was coming of age in consoles. Some developers thought the future still might be in 2-D, while 3-D was a flash in the pan. The PC-FX took a very unique route though. It completely left out any polygon crunchy hardware and went purely with animation processors. So almost all of the games for it are interactive anime!

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