Top 10 Lists: The Top 10 Major Events In Video Game History

Lets face it, when it comes to video games, we only care about one thing: the games. They provide entertainment for hours and kill time that could be spent on homework or any other Mundane activity. However, if it wasn't for the major historical events in video game history, then this humble activity would have never been as popular as it is now, and in honer of the past events, I have made this little top ten list of the best and/or most influential events which shaped gaming into what it is and for what it will ever will be. So, sit back and be completely filled with nostalgia. This is the BimmyandJimmy Top Ten Major events in Video Game history.

Before the Odyssey, video gaming, ironically, was only coded for computers like the PDP-1. However, usually when a game was created, it was used only for technological purposes instead of creating a profit. That all changed when Ralph Baer, a computer scientist, released the Odyssey back in 1972 which was...a complete and utter failure. The Magnavox Odyssey, because it was the first ever created, bombed in sales because of poor advertising and improper hookups for many Televisions. Sure, the games were very primitive and laughable, but even still, it was the first home console ever released, and that's something to be proud of.

Back before the CD, practically every single computer game was produced and developed on 1.44 MG floppy disks, back when they were literally floppy. The CD, however, was an amazing piece of technology which allowed much storage on one disk. Sure, CD's were introduced in 1982 and replaced records as the main music recording medium, but when the 90's arrived, game producers saw the potential of this little round piece of silicone and put it to use. However, it took for some time for really good games to arrive, since most of the early CD games were nothing but horrible Full Motion Video Games, but even still, the CD had now replaced cartridges in being the main method of developing games to date...that is until we find a new piece of technology to replace CD's

As we all know, the internet was released around the world for the public in the mid 90's to an obvious success (because if it wasn't, then you wouldn't be reading this). However, as for actual gaming with many others around the world, due to technical limitations, many games, such as FPS games could only be played on LAN (or Local Area Network), meaning that people could only play against each other in a isolated region. This all changed when Sega released the Dreamcast, one of the first consoles which was able to connect with the rest of the world and compete against other in your favorite game. Today, online play is a staple for any platform out there, and will obviously continue to be for the years to come. Online gaming, bringing the whole world quite literally to your fingertips.

Its hard to believe that 15 or so years ago that the FPS genera was virtually unknown for many people, particularly those who were avid console gamers. As for the PC gamers, while they were playing primitive FPS games, it still wasn't enough to hold its own fire and establish itself. All of this changed when Id Software released both Wolfenstine 3D ( a sequel to Castle Wolfenstine for the Apple 2) and Doom. Both games were highly controversial, or in other terms, they're were incredible, introducing us to many FPS elements that we take for granted...but mostly because there was a lot of blood. Over the years to come, there were many games which introduced us to many more FPS elements, such as Goldeneye 007, which introduced head shots, zoom-able weapons and and a modern system of how console FPS are made. Also including other popular titles such as Half Life, Quake and Unreal Tournament, which brought modding and online play to the world. With many great FPS games and franchises which followed these games (Halo and Perfect Dark to name a few), its no wounder the FPS is the dominate genera in gaming today.

Its hard to believe that a game like Pong could have been so influential, and yet so controversial. The truth was, Pong was the first popular video games, but definitely not thee first game ever created. A physicist by the name of William Higinbotham created a game in 1959 called Tennis for two. Its was different from pong in to ways. Its has a side view instead of an over head, and it was released for the oscilloscope, a devise that is used to measure wavelength. This idea of tennis really heated up in the early Seventies when Atari created pong, which was claimed to be a rip-off of a Ralph Baer game called Tennis. This filed which was the first video game Lawsuit, which Atari won which lead to Atari creating the first coming of Video Games as we know it.

The Ninety's was sort of Bitter-sweet for Nintendo. In the first few years of the Nineties, Nintendo was crushing its competition with its superior systems and software and were also expanding the limits of Video game technology with the help of a 'small' company which you may know as Sony. However, rumors were heard that Sony themselves were planing to release their own console, and because Sony knew both the inner workings of both the Geneses and the SNES to create a CD based add-on console, Nintendo scrap all deals with Sony and figuratively kicked them out the door. The rest of course, is history. Nintendo got lazy to the blood hungry Sony and lost the Video Game battle in their entire history by 90 million units, mostly because the PlayStation created some of the best games ever created while Nintendo released many kid friendly games which you can find at the bottom of any worst games ever made list. This loss to Nintendo changed the way Video Games were marketed and published to this point in time.

You would have never think it, seeing has practically everyone owns a computer these days, but no other computer ever in the history of electronics has beaten the Commodore 64 in sales. Keep in mind, this was released in 1982, before Macintosh, Windows 3.0 and beyond. To date, more than 17 million units were sold in history, only cut off when the company went bankrupt in the mid 90's. The real reason why would should remember the C64 is because it was the back-up glue that held the video game industry from totally collapsing in the mid 80's, as well as introduced us to many video game technology's and company's that we take for granted today (EA anyone?). So, while you read this off your new fancy Windows 7 or Mac, just remember the Commodore 64 and all it has done to gaming.

I pretty sure that any avid gamer that follows video games intently will know what the crash of '83 was and how devastating it really was to video game companies. It was so close that Video Games almost were wiped off the face of the earth forever, if not for the continuation success of Arcade and Computer games, but those were only secondary incomes. Still, many people back in the 80's didn't really care and just waited for this whole thing to die. Ya, people were jerks back in the 80's weren't they? There a many reasons why the crash happened, but the main reasons why was because of corporate greed. At the time, the market was flooded by a heavy number of video game consoles which held the same games. Worse, many of these consoles never had a really had a true Killer Application, making them useless. The nail in the coffin really came with the game ET. It is regarded as the worst game of all time and just plummeted the success of not just Atari, but Video Game companies in general. So the moral of the story for modern developers is not to crap out on quality, or you risk dieing. We gamers are not stupid people.

The Mid Nineties were a special time for console gamers. It was a time of fierce composition, but also a time of the most intense games being released. The major event that took place was the composition between Nintendo and Sega to become top dog in the video game entrepreneurship. Sega really establish itself as a game company by releasing not only some of the most viscous ads in Video Game history, but by creating the one character at the time with almost took Mario down, which of course was Sonic. When the Genesis and the SNES became on par with technology, however, that's when the battle really began, with both companies releasing classic game after another in attempts to bring each other down and giving us gamers something to argue about for many, many years. Which was the best game ever released at that time? Its too hard to say, but some of the best include Sonic, Mortal Kombat, Super Metroid and Final Fantasy 6, regarded as the best RPG ever made. We will probably never see another battle like this ever again, but god damn, will we remember the first and original.

OK, so it might seem an obvious choice, but you cant escape the influence that Nintendo brought to video games with the release of the NES and its first few games which are now classics; so much that itself had solely brought video games out of it slump in the early eighties and beyond. Also, it helped that NES was pushed in practically any type of media you can think of, which really pumped us little kids into getting our hand on one. Of course, the games themselves where immediately instant classics and weren't like anything that the public had seen at the time in terms of memory space, graphics and game play. That alone is enough to make the NES not only one of the best console of all time, but the number one most important event in video game history.

So, those are the most influential events which ever took place in video game history. Video Games will always have changes, some of which may surpass some of the events we covered, but we must not forget these events, no matter what. So with that said, I think its time for me to play some video games. 'Till Next time.

List by BimmyandJimmy (11/05/2009)