The genre of simulation games and in particular management simulators owe a lot to the SimCity series. The original title in the series was released in October of 1989 and is now approaching its 25th anniversary. No mean feat for a game that struggled to win favour with many publishers at the time. Most of whom felt that the city management concept was to boring and unappealing to consumers. Continue reading
Electronic Arts has long been associated with the sports video game genre, one of the companies’ earliest games was the basketball title One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird. From there they had success with other sports games such as Earl Weaver Baseball and in 1988 they released the first game in the long running Madden franchise. Continue reading
The sports video game genre has existed since the early days of the industry. It was the game of tennis that influenced pioneering efforts like William Higinbotham’s Tennis for Two, a sport that would also lead to creation of Atari’s Pong. Other early efforts included Taito’s Davis Cup and two player version of Pong, Soccer and Pro Hockey also using a similar gameplay style as Pong with slightly altered graphics. Continue reading
Street Fighter was the game that set in motion the fighting game trend in the early 90’s. The genre had been established in the 80’s with games like Karate Champ and Yie Ar Kung Fu. However it was the first Street Fighter the set out some of the fundamental rules and elements that fighting games would adhere to over the following decade. Continue reading
Towards the end of the 80’s the golden age of the arcade had almost passed. Gamers preferring to stay at home and play games on their console systems, such as the NES or Atari 2600. Yet as it seemed that the heyday for the arcade cabinets was over, a relativity small genre of gaming would draw gamers back through the doors of their local arcade. Continue reading
In the mid 80’s Nintendo reigned supreme over the video game industry, with their NES console the must have device for any gamer. The popularity of the NES was in no small part due to Shigeru Miyamoto and his best-selling titles like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. In February of 1986 Nintendo released a new peripheral for the Famicom (Japanese NES) console, it would allow for the use of proprietary floppy disks. Continue reading
A game that is often cited as a major influence on others in the industry. Elite is seen as the game that defined the open world genre of games and looked to push the bounds of what was possible for computer of the time. Elite didn’t confine the player to a linear narrative with a predetermined path, the player had to choice to explore the universe to do what they wished. Continue reading
The success of home computers in the European market, especially the likes of the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 lead to a rise in PC gaming in the mid 80’s. Unlike their console counterpart the home computer could be used to both play games and create games. What started as a hobby for some, using code printed in the back of video game magazines to make simple interactive games. Soon those hobbyists would turn their pastime into a fully fledged career, Continue reading
While the console market in North America was entering into the worst financial period in it’s short history, the European PC market was on the rise. Although it was computers that originally helped spawn the first video games with the likes of Spacewar! being developed on a PDP-1 computer in the early 60’s. Video games built on those type of machines where limited to universities and technology labs, due to their immense size and cost. Continue reading
Nintendo had already established itself as a major video game developer by the mid 80’s. Smash hit titles such as Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. had put the company on the map and increased its market share of the American arcade sector. Now Nintendo wanted to tap into the lucrative console market. Continue reading