In the beginning, there was nothing.
And then some bright spark started playing with an oscilloscope, as engineers are wont
to do.
The first video games were borne upon mighty post-war mainframes: designed for rapid codebreaking
and the calculation of ballistic trajectories.
An early example is 1958's Tennis For Two, a simple two-player Tennis simulation built
for an analogue machine.
Once computers made their way into academic institutions, there was no shortage of programming
experimentation - SpaceWar! is such fruit of curiosity from MIT in 1962.
--
By the 1970s, the commercial application of these electronic attractions were realised
in the form of arcade games: mass produced, self contained units which dispense coin-operated
entertainment.
1972's Pong is the most iconic from this era, proving phenomenally popular and becoming
the first commercially successful game.
As computers became more powerful, games of greater complexity became possible: 1974's
'Maze War' is arguably the very first FPS.
Atari's Breakout in 1976 mixed up Pong's familiar bat-and-ball paradigm, by adding destructible
bricks into the mix - although the following year saw a recession of the nascent video
game industry, largely due to the faddish nature of Pong.
A new wave of games in 1978 ushered in the golden age of the arcade, with Taito's Space
Invaders sparking the shooting genre, filling coinboxes worldwide.
Asteroids in 1979 was similarly popular, with its smooth vector graphics and slick space
gameplay thrusting it firmly into popular culture.
--
The 1980s were a colourful decade, and newly available arcade technology reflected this
with titles like Pac-Man.
While the voracious yellow circle-segment happily gobbled quarters, early computer games
were breaking new ground, such as Zork - one of the first interactive fiction adventures
- and Rogue: a seminal dungeon crawler that spawned an entire genre.
1981 saw Mario's very first outing in Donkey Kong - although at the time he was simply
known as Jumpman, for his rather mundane ability to bound over barrels.
Another round of arcade hits dropped in '82: the excavatory exploits in Dig-Dug, the hi-octane
racer Pole Position and the diagonal box-hopping of Q-Bert.
However, there was trouble on the horizon for the American market - a flood of inferior
games and a confusing array of platforms on which to play them - left many disillusioned.
Totemic to this issue is the Atari 2600 version of E.T.
the Extra Terrestrial: an over-hyped tie-in to a hugely successful movie that was rushed
to market and failed to deliver on all fronts.
The 1983 video game crash nearly destroyed the entire American video game industry - permitting
a shift towards Japanese consoles, with Nintendo launching the NES in Japan the same year,
alongside a certain plumber's return in Mario Bros.
By far the most visually impressive arcade game of its day, Dragon's Lair leveraged LaserDisc
technology to construct an interactive movie: although the gameplay consisted of little
more than quick time events, at least the death animations were quite rewarding.
The 3D wireframe graphics of space trader Elite in 1984 might not have been as colourful,
but the game offered a depth of gameplay and freedom seldom since matched.
This was also the year that saw the introduction of the deceptively simple yet fiendishly addictive
Tetris: the tumbling tetrominoes originating on the Soviet Elektronika 60, and eventually
finding a home on most other platforms.
--
The American release of the NES came in 1985, and with it Super Mario Brothers - a hugely
influential side-scrolling platformer that would go on to set sales records unmatched
for decades.
While the golden age of the arcade might have come to an close, there was no shortage of
now-legendary home console releases by 1986.
The Legend of Zelda introduced a charming blend of action and adventure set in the fantasy
land of Hyrule.
The gothic platformer Castlevania also made its debut, alongside Samus Aran's clash with
parasitic space aliens in Metroid.
1987 brought more classics, such as 'Mega Man', with keen platforming action and nonlinear
stage selection.
Metal Gear injected some stealth aspects into the top-down genre, with Solid Snake relying
more on his wits than overwhelming firepower.
Inspired by the earlier Dragon Quest, this year was also the debut of the longstanding
Final Fantasy series, which over the course of its lifespan helped secure the enduring
popularity of JRPGs.
Meanwhile the Western RPG advanced with the first-person perspective of Dungeon Master
- this real-time role-playing action defining the state of the art.
In 1988 home micros saw the wonderfully ambitious Exile, pushing the limit of the 8-bit machines
with detailed physics and fiendish puzzles.
The Nintendo Game Boy launched the year after, going on to be the most successful handheld
platform ever - and the diminutive device made the perfect pairing for Tetris.
Meanwhile, SimCity kickstarted the city-building category, putting the player in a town planner's
shoes and proving quite enjoyable in the process.
---
The end of the decade marked a ramp of pace for the industry, with new 16-bit machines
pushing the graphical threshold beyond anything seen before.
Shadow of the Beast wowed many with its graphics, and its impressive sprite artwork and parallax
scrolling background acted as a catalyst to drive sales of new hardware.
Adventure games also benefited from enhanced visuals, with the so-called point and clicks
such as The Secret of Monkey Island illustrating your piratical exploits in a way no text adventure
ever could.
1991's Sonic The Hedgehog is an iconic platformer that still wows visually today.
The azure-hued titular character ploughs through the colourful and varied levels faster than
any overweight plumber could ever dream of.
Street Fighter II was responsible for sending the popularity of fighting games skyward,
with huge sprites, a cast of memorable characters and solid combo controls.
Although with sprites of a much smaller scale, Lemmings' indirect puzzle action proved a
frustrating-yet-compulsive hit for many.
Sid Meier embarked on a series of games that would certainly stand the test of time: Civilization
put the player in an eternal emperor's shoes as you guide your people over six millennia.
1992 was witness to the birth of the Real Time Strategy genre, with Westwood Studio's
Dune II insisting that the spice must flow.
Similarly instigating the rise of an archetype, id's Wolfenstein 3D is the emergence point
of the first person shooter.
1993's Doom further cemented the FPS's enduring popularity, with the high-action gore-filled
gunplay appealing to many.
A mite more sedate, Myst's ray-traced graphics took full advantage of the then-new CD-ROM
technology.
Meanwhile, home consoles were treated to the SuperFX enhanced graphics of Star Fox, pushing
the SNES to its limits.
The 32-bit PlayStation launched in 1994, and the new hardware provided the basis for Tekken:
building on the foundation laid by Sega's Virtua Fighter whilst refining the presentation
and controls.
UFO: Enemy Unknown was the first in the XCOM series - successfully blending turn-based
strategy with base management and research in a compelling plight against alien force.
Similarly xenophobic, Bungie's Marathon slipped by almost unnoticed, largely due to its presence
only on the Macintosh platform.
-----
In 1995, the PlayStation came into its own, with the stylish futuristic Wipeout from Psygnosis
combining breakneck speed with cutting-edge sound and graphic design.
Chrono Trigger was another highlight of the year - a critically acclaimed RPG that ticked
all the right boxes, with multiple endings and a coherent aesthetic.
1996 saw the launch of the Nintendo 64, and with it perhaps the first really successful
foray into 3D platforming - Super Mario 64.
With the processing power to support a 3D world, and a joypad with analogue precision
and enough buttons to control the camera as well as Mario, the game was both technically
impressive and awfully good fun to play.
It was the same year the Game Boy was blessed with legendary collect-em-up Pokémon: a pocket-sized
RPG in which you've gotta catch 'em all.
The franchise inspired an animated series, films, a trading card game, and has resulted
in a longstanding series of video game instalments.
Resident Evil flung survival horror to the forefront, with limited resources taxing your
efforts against a biological hazard.
The gothic brown hues of Quake saw id further push the boundaries of the FPS, with a fully
modelled world and early support for 3D acceleration.
1997 saw perhaps the first successful console FPS, with the much-loved GoldenEye 007 from
Rare: the four-player splitscreen deathmatch a particular highlight.
The racing sim genre enjoyed the polished work of Polyphony's debut Gran Turismo: with
a diverse set of cars and tracks making for a definitive driving experience.
Rockstar North, then known as DMA Design, found a controversial hit in Grand Theft Auto:
a top-down open world game in which larceny and murder are common currency.
Valve established their early reputation in 1998 with the expertly crafted science themed
shooter: Half Life.
The silent vent-crawling exploits of Gordon Freeman took the player on a fascinating and
eventful tour of the Black Mesa research facility.
Similarly science fiction and an important milestone for the RTS genre is Blizzard's
Starcraft: transposing the earlier Warcraft into a futuristic setting with 3-race interplay.
Adventure games were in decline by the late 90s, but one beautiful swan song was the artful
neo-noir tale of skeletal redemption in Grim Fandango.
The Legend of Zelda entered the third dimenson with Ocarina of Time for the N64, universally
loved and one of the highest-rated video games of all time.
1999 was a very good year for the FPS fan - with two competitive arena shooters facing
off one another: Unreal Tournament from Epic, and id's Quake 3 Arena.
By this point, 3D graphics were starting to mature, and so fast-paced polygonal action
didn't need to compromise on graphical fidelity.
First emerging as a mod for Half-Life, Counter-Strike boasted tense shooting action that would retain
a huge audience to this day - and would go on to influence the later popularity of modern
military shooters.
---
The new millennium saw both the PS2 and Gamecube launch, with the Xbox not too far behind.
While these new consoles found their footing, PC gaming enjoyed some notable exclusives
- for instance, the loot-fueled satanic exploits found in Diablo II.
Cyberpunk RPG Deus Ex was met with much in the way of critical acclaim - with its open-ended
approach to your character's goal, the game permitted the player to navigate their own
way through dystopian conspiracy.
Of a lighter tone, the virtual dollhouse of The Sims had universal appeal, with daily
micromanagement taken from earlier sim titles and to the indulgence of pool-stair removing
sadists everywhere.
2001 saw the return of the controversial Grand Theft Auto series, with the third entry broaching
the third dimension with an ambitious open world.
Microsoft acquired Bungie to secure exclusive rights to the Halo franchise as an Xbox launch
title, in a deft move that would provide the platform's killer app.
Not since Goldeneye had a console FPS held such influence.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell in 2002 put a high-tech twist on stealth gameplay, with the iconic
glowing triad marking operative Sam Fisher's position whilst hidden in the shadows.
Metroid Prime was a critically acclaimed continuation of the much-loved series, and Kingdom Hearts
saw a successful union of the Square and Disney universes.
Hailing from the original Medal of Honor team, newly formed studio Infinity Ward released
their own take on the WW2 shooter in 2003's Call of Duty.
Instead of focussing on a single front, multiple facets were shown with three authentic and
interwoven campaigns.
2004's World of Warcraft essentially rewrote the book on MMORPGs, taking the stylised fantasy
world from the earlier RTS titles and constructing the rich world of Azeroth for players to dwell
within.
Half Life 2 marked Valve's new Source engine, and proudly portrayed its physics capabilities
through employment of multiple see-saw puzzles.
The dystopian world was compelling, however - and to once again don Freeman's HEV suit
and tread the streets of City 17 was a satisfying exercise in defiance.
2005 saw the launch of the first Guitar Hero, sparking a cultural phenomenon and somehow
convincing everyone that investing in fake plastic guitars was a good idea.
Resident Evil returned the same year, with the fourth entry standing out as the best
in the series: and the artful Shadow of The Colossus portrayed video gaming's ability
to appeal to a higher aesthetic.
We also saw the start of the seventh generation with the launch of the Xbox 360, and in 2006
the chainsaw-fused gory action of Gears of War emerged.
Set upon an ashen planet, the armour-clad Delta Squad engage in futile combat with the
grotesque Locust threat.
Nintendo also entered the fray with the oddly-named but hugely popular Wii - and the bundled game,
Wii Sports, would outsell Super Mario Bros. to become the best selling video game of all
time.
The Wii's popularity would also prompt a surge in interest in the concept of motion controls,
with PlayStation Move and Microsoft's Kinect adding to their respective platform's arm
flailing ability.
2007 saw a certain series take a radical swing towards the present day, with Call of Duty
4: Modern Warfare bringing the modern military shooter to the forefront of a entire generation.
A superb campaign punctuated by one of gaming's more shocking moments, and a compelling multiplayer
to boot - COD4 can boast of incredible influence to a wide variety of games that followed.
However, there was no shortage of alternative FPS games that year - Bungie brought Master
Chief to the next generation with Halo 3, serving up a polished experience and proving
a popular title on Xbox LIVE.
Bioshock lived up to System Shock 2 as a spiritual successor, with the submerged city of Rapture
providing a backdrop like no other for a supply of rich narrative.
Valve unleashed The Orange Box the same year, with the euclidean geometry-bending effects
of the small but perfectly formed Portal proving particularly popular: henceforth all cake
deemed dishonest.
Grand Theft Auto returned in 2008 with GTA IV: a return to Liberty City with greater
fidelity than ever before, marred only by frequent social interruption.
The much-loved Fallout franchise was revived in Fallout 3, with the vault-dweller acting
in real-time and from a first person perspective: although the VATS targeting system is reminiscent
of turn-based roots.
Media Molecule dabbled with user-generated content in the charming LittleBigPlanet: with
the cute woollen exploits of SackBoy shifting the boundaries of social gaming.
Similarly collective was Minecraft, with the first public alpha available in 2009.
While the graphics are simplistic, the randomly generated worlds rewarded exploration, and
the addition of multiplayer made for a compelling co-operative building experience.
Red Dead Redemption in 2010 transplanted the Western into an open-world setting, paired
with superlative storytelling for a moving experience.
The super-slick Bayonetta the same year proved that stylish and frantic action can be both
accessible and fun without sacrificing depth of gameplay.
The next year, the Elder Scrolls series returned with Skyrim, with the frost-laced northern
realm serving as a backdrop for a role-playing tale of fate and dragons.
The broad scope made for compelling exploration, if not overwhelming depth - but the game had
significant impact on gaming pop culture, if only through arrow-to-the-knee references.
Providing a more hardcore RPG experience is the brutal Dark Souls, rewarding those who
persevere through relentless punishment.
2012 was dominated by the established franchises, with a slew of sequels providing more reliable
profit than late-gen experimentation.
This did grant indie titles a chance to shine, however - the understated but artful Journey
providing a near-spiritual experience.
Polytron's FEZ finally emerged, with its well-honed pixel art and unique rotational mechanic making
for a charming puzzle game which was well worth the wait.
Most recently, 2013 has had some highlights emerge from the embers of the current generation:
Bioshock Infinite's compelling world in the clouds coupled with an engaging storyline
and memorable characters lending to its appeal.
Naughty Dog gave the PS3 a glorious send-off in the brutal yet heartfelt Last of Us: a
superbly polished gem suitably sitting atop the generation.
--
That brings us up to the present day - over 50 years of gaming, condensed into as dense
a package as one could muster.
The selection process was ruthless, with the entirety of video gaming almost impossible
to distil into any finite time frame - no offence is meant by any omission.
In any case, here's hoping that the next half-century is just as eventful, and that we might look
back from the future to see just how far we've come.
Thank you very much for watching - and until next time, farewell.