Bit closer to Home

During the 1980s there appeared to be a high influx of home computer systems from various companies, sound cards and of course the genre defining games such as ‘Defender’ etc.



People were finally starting to get personal computer systems in their homes, but I need to be honest here; I know there are some people who get nostalgic or excited when they talk about the Commodore 64 or the ZX Spectrum but I don’t, nope not one bit. To be frank, I didn’t even know what they were until now; well before my time.



Anyway, the arrival of the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga in 1985 marked the progression from the 8-bit to 16-bit era.



Now even I know a little bit about Nintendo’s ‘Game & Watch’, I’ve owned dozens of the copycat LCD games and twas the birth of the handheld.



Even though dedicated soundcards were beginning to address the problems of bad sound quality in the IBM PC compatibles; they were apparently so expensive that they weren’t too popular until the 1990s....when people could actually afford them.



By 1985 we were already on our third generation of video game consoles. With the iconic, (even to me, though I never owned one) NES gracing our living rooms; even I can relate to that.
Something that I consider a significant development was that with the arrival of the NES came the arrival of the gamepad and that much needed (in my opinion) boot of the joystick.



Of course, several of the most popular franchises still going on today (and my favourite) were ‘born’ around the same time: Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda and Metal Gear (Solid). The last instalment of the latter was able to make me justify buying a PS3 which is always a good thing isn’t it?



By the 1990s we saw the rise of true 3D graphics with titles like Elite and Starglider 2, around 2 years later the rise of one of my beloved genres appeared...the RTS.



Even though I’m not a fan, Quake was created and took full advantage of the first affordable 3D accelerator cards for PCS. The 90s were also home to 2 more evolutions in the console generation games.



By the fifth generation the Sony PlayStation and the CD-ROM had become a cause of the CD vs. Cartridge war which allowed Sony to enter the market, I remember how expensive cartridges were and that was the main reason why I wasn’t allowed games or consoles so when the cheaper CDs arrived it was a relief.



Games have changed a lot in 2 decades; the hardware has improved a lot allowing for better graphics, crisper sound and faster processors. Genres were defined in this period too, in some cases created. My favourite games were made during this time, games that have rarely been topped in my eyes.



New blood like Sony entered and dominated the market and the older members were forced to drop out of the race like Atari. Because of higher budgets being assigned to game developments the development times were also longer. Some games for example are still in development; Duke Nukem Forever springs to mind.