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For many years, the gamesplayer was thought of as a dork, a geek, a nerd. With nothing better to do than sit in his bedroom typing out line after line of code from the latest dweebfest monthly just to get a glitchy, frustratingly bad creation that is barely anywhere near the proximity of fun. Then came tapes and diskettes, that negated the need to type in codes, but still took ages to load up, and were still glitchy, unoriginal and boring. The fact that most games were knocked up as quickly as possible, with as little thought as possible didn't help the cause. If you played games you would still have been seen as the geek, the nerd, the loser.
It wasn't until the cartridge based home consoles came out that videogames lost some of the stigma surrounding them, and started to appeal to the masses. Its not as though the actual experience of playing interactive games was seen as an activity for only those with no real life, arcade games had been popular with people of all groups for many years, and with the release of consoles such as the NES, Master System etc. playing videogames at home became a little more socially acceptable, the games didn't take an eternity to load, and you could play the arcade favourites in your home, far be it from being a sad pathethic activity, it was actually kind of cool. In the process, the casual gamer was born, the type of person who would buy a game because his friends had one, or just to show off, graphics became more important than gameplay, but thankfully, most good developers realised that graphics are only part of the package, and that gameplay, originality, and longevity were all important aspects of a good game.
When it came time for the 16 bit consoles to be released videogames were absolutely cool to kids, and while adults may have thought they were corrupting influences on their children, sales skyrocketed, helped by such classics as Mario World, Sonic the hedgehog, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, etc. games started to go mainstream. Advertising went mass market, targeting kids in general, and oftentimes as is the case with mortal kombat, causing controversy and enough furore that the average ten year old would love to buy the 15 rated game.
With videogames going mainstream competition heated up when the 32 bit consoles were gearing up for launch, new companies such as philips, 3do and sony developed machines to rival the market leaders Sega and Nintendo, and while Philpips CDi and the 3DO tried to promote their superior specs and features,they simply didn't have the games to make them big sellers, and as soon as the Saturn and Playstation were released with the support of games developers, it became a two horse race between sega and sony for market supremacy, while Nintendo sat back, developing their new machine the N64. While both Sega and Sony both tried to out do each other, Sony had the advantage, a machine that was far superior at 3D graphics(albeit poorer at 2D games) and more importantly had the freshness and newfound cool that their advertising created. Who would have thought that adults would play games? Specifically 20-30 year olds. Sony targetted this audience by sponsoring Dance festivals, clubs etc. and featured dance music from popular artists in their games. Their strategy worked, 20-30 year olds bought playstations, and the younger audience bought it because it was both cool and had more good games. Sega struggled behind caught in the old fasioned view that they were an old style geeky videogame company, wheras sony were the cool new electronics company, who just happened to have a games console. Sega were virtually dead in the water. They weren't cool enough in the decade of street cred. When Nintendo launched the N64, its success was only moderate, despite having superior graphics, some amazing exclusive games and the most inventive developers bar none. The inhibitively expensive cost of the cartridges simply meant that you couldnt buy as many games for the same money, and with its restrictive cartridge size, features such as fmv, high quality music and bonus features were simply not possible. While Nintendo didn't sink quite like Sega, the N64 certainly wasn't the sucess Nintendo hoped it to be, but while it wasn't as mainstream as the Playstation, it had a dedicated core of gamers who loved the pure gameplay that the console provided.
Fast forward a few years and a whole lot has changed, Sega were not able to recover from the failure of the Saturn, even though the Dreamcast was a great console, people preferred to wait for the cooler PS2. Sega stop making consoles and decide to concentrate on making games. Nintendo keep their following, and capture the kooky niche of the videogame market. Some people may say that they are the kiddies company, but really, they are more the dedicated games company, putting quality before image. Sony have kept their cool, and have the most diverse selection of developers and games. And Microsoft enter the market trying to emulate the abstract cool of Playstation, but appearing to most as little better than the computer geek typing in codes and bragging about the stats of their computer while simultaniously claiming its cool to do so.
So while gaming in general is certainly percieved as a lot cooler now, its become a lot more subjective, and like football depends on which team you support.
It wasn't until the cartridge based home consoles came out that videogames lost some of the stigma surrounding them, and started to appeal to the masses. Its not as though the actual experience of playing interactive games was seen as an activity for only those with no real life, arcade games had been popular with people of all groups for many years, and with the release of consoles such as the NES, Master System etc. playing videogames at home became a little more socially acceptable, the games didn't take an eternity to load, and you could play the arcade favourites in your home, far be it from being a sad pathethic activity, it was actually kind of cool. In the process, the casual gamer was born, the type of person who would buy a game because his friends had one, or just to show off, graphics became more important than gameplay, but thankfully, most good developers realised that graphics are only part of the package, and that gameplay, originality, and longevity were all important aspects of a good game.
When it came time for the 16 bit consoles to be released videogames were absolutely cool to kids, and while adults may have thought they were corrupting influences on their children, sales skyrocketed, helped by such classics as Mario World, Sonic the hedgehog, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, etc. games started to go mainstream. Advertising went mass market, targeting kids in general, and oftentimes as is the case with mortal kombat, causing controversy and enough furore that the average ten year old would love to buy the 15 rated game.
With videogames going mainstream competition heated up when the 32 bit consoles were gearing up for launch, new companies such as philips, 3do and sony developed machines to rival the market leaders Sega and Nintendo, and while Philpips CDi and the 3DO tried to promote their superior specs and features,they simply didn't have the games to make them big sellers, and as soon as the Saturn and Playstation were released with the support of games developers, it became a two horse race between sega and sony for market supremacy, while Nintendo sat back, developing their new machine the N64. While both Sega and Sony both tried to out do each other, Sony had the advantage, a machine that was far superior at 3D graphics(albeit poorer at 2D games) and more importantly had the freshness and newfound cool that their advertising created. Who would have thought that adults would play games? Specifically 20-30 year olds. Sony targetted this audience by sponsoring Dance festivals, clubs etc. and featured dance music from popular artists in their games. Their strategy worked, 20-30 year olds bought playstations, and the younger audience bought it because it was both cool and had more good games. Sega struggled behind caught in the old fasioned view that they were an old style geeky videogame company, wheras sony were the cool new electronics company, who just happened to have a games console. Sega were virtually dead in the water. They weren't cool enough in the decade of street cred. When Nintendo launched the N64, its success was only moderate, despite having superior graphics, some amazing exclusive games and the most inventive developers bar none. The inhibitively expensive cost of the cartridges simply meant that you couldnt buy as many games for the same money, and with its restrictive cartridge size, features such as fmv, high quality music and bonus features were simply not possible. While Nintendo didn't sink quite like Sega, the N64 certainly wasn't the sucess Nintendo hoped it to be, but while it wasn't as mainstream as the Playstation, it had a dedicated core of gamers who loved the pure gameplay that the console provided.
Fast forward a few years and a whole lot has changed, Sega were not able to recover from the failure of the Saturn, even though the Dreamcast was a great console, people preferred to wait for the cooler PS2. Sega stop making consoles and decide to concentrate on making games. Nintendo keep their following, and capture the kooky niche of the videogame market. Some people may say that they are the kiddies company, but really, they are more the dedicated games company, putting quality before image. Sony have kept their cool, and have the most diverse selection of developers and games. And Microsoft enter the market trying to emulate the abstract cool of Playstation, but appearing to most as little better than the computer geek typing in codes and bragging about the stats of their computer while simultaniously claiming its cool to do so.
So while gaming in general is certainly percieved as a lot cooler now, its become a lot more subjective, and like football depends on which team you support.
genesisofthesith wrote:
> It wasn't until the cartridge based home consoles came out that
> videogames lost some of the stigma surrounding them, and started to
> appeal to the masses.
The first consoles (Atari's range, Intellivision, etc..) were all cartridge based... and increadably popular... just as popular as the SNES and Megadrive were in the early ninties
> It wasn't until the cartridge based home consoles came out that
> videogames lost some of the stigma surrounding them, and started to
> appeal to the masses.
The first consoles (Atari's range, Intellivision, etc..) were all cartridge based... and increadably popular... just as popular as the SNES and Megadrive were in the early ninties
For many years, the gamesplayer was thought of as a dork, a geek, a nerd. With nothing better to do than sit in his bedroom typing out line after line of code from the latest dweebfest monthly just to get a glitchy, frustratingly bad creation that is barely anywhere near the proximity of fun. Then came tapes and diskettes, that negated the need to type in codes, but still took ages to load up, and were still glitchy, unoriginal and boring. The fact that most games were knocked up as quickly as possible, with as little thought as possible didn't help the cause. If you played games you would still have been seen as the geek, the nerd, the loser.
It wasn't until the cartridge based home consoles came out that videogames lost some of the stigma surrounding them, and started to appeal to the masses. Its not as though the actual experience of playing interactive games was seen as an activity for only those with no real life, arcade games had been popular with people of all groups for many years, and with the release of consoles such as the NES, Master System etc. playing videogames at home became a little more socially acceptable, the games didn't take an eternity to load, and you could play the arcade favourites in your home, far be it from being a sad pathethic activity, it was actually kind of cool. In the process, the casual gamer was born, the type of person who would buy a game because his friends had one, or just to show off, graphics became more important than gameplay, but thankfully, most good developers realised that graphics are only part of the package, and that gameplay, originality, and longevity were all important aspects of a good game.
When it came time for the 16 bit consoles to be released videogames were absolutely cool to kids, and while adults may have thought they were corrupting influences on their children, sales skyrocketed, helped by such classics as Mario World, Sonic the hedgehog, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, etc. games started to go mainstream. Advertising went mass market, targeting kids in general, and oftentimes as is the case with mortal kombat, causing controversy and enough furore that the average ten year old would love to buy the 15 rated game.
With videogames going mainstream competition heated up when the 32 bit consoles were gearing up for launch, new companies such as philips, 3do and sony developed machines to rival the market leaders Sega and Nintendo, and while Philpips CDi and the 3DO tried to promote their superior specs and features,they simply didn't have the games to make them big sellers, and as soon as the Saturn and Playstation were released with the support of games developers, it became a two horse race between sega and sony for market supremacy, while Nintendo sat back, developing their new machine the N64. While both Sega and Sony both tried to out do each other, Sony had the advantage, a machine that was far superior at 3D graphics(albeit poorer at 2D games) and more importantly had the freshness and newfound cool that their advertising created. Who would have thought that adults would play games? Specifically 20-30 year olds. Sony targetted this audience by sponsoring Dance festivals, clubs etc. and featured dance music from popular artists in their games. Their strategy worked, 20-30 year olds bought playstations, and the younger audience bought it because it was both cool and had more good games. Sega struggled behind caught in the old fasioned view that they were an old style geeky videogame company, wheras sony were the cool new electronics company, who just happened to have a games console. Sega were virtually dead in the water. They weren't cool enough in the decade of street cred. When Nintendo launched the N64, its success was only moderate, despite having superior graphics, some amazing exclusive games and the most inventive developers bar none. The inhibitively expensive cost of the cartridges simply meant that you couldnt buy as many games for the same money, and with its restrictive cartridge size, features such as fmv, high quality music and bonus features were simply not possible. While Nintendo didn't sink quite like Sega, the N64 certainly wasn't the sucess Nintendo hoped it to be, but while it wasn't as mainstream as the Playstation, it had a dedicated core of gamers who loved the pure gameplay that the console provided.
Fast forward a few years and a whole lot has changed, Sega were not able to recover from the failure of the Saturn, even though the Dreamcast was a great console, people preferred to wait for the cooler PS2. Sega stop making consoles and decide to concentrate on making games. Nintendo keep their following, and capture the kooky niche of the videogame market. Some people may say that they are the kiddies company, but really, they are more the dedicated games company, putting quality before image. Sony have kept their cool, and have the most diverse selection of developers and games. And Microsoft enter the market trying to emulate the abstract cool of Playstation, but appearing to most as little better than the computer geek typing in codes and bragging about the stats of their computer while simultaniously claiming its cool to do so.
So while gaming in general is certainly percieved as a lot cooler now, its become a lot more subjective, and like football depends on which team you support.
It wasn't until the cartridge based home consoles came out that videogames lost some of the stigma surrounding them, and started to appeal to the masses. Its not as though the actual experience of playing interactive games was seen as an activity for only those with no real life, arcade games had been popular with people of all groups for many years, and with the release of consoles such as the NES, Master System etc. playing videogames at home became a little more socially acceptable, the games didn't take an eternity to load, and you could play the arcade favourites in your home, far be it from being a sad pathethic activity, it was actually kind of cool. In the process, the casual gamer was born, the type of person who would buy a game because his friends had one, or just to show off, graphics became more important than gameplay, but thankfully, most good developers realised that graphics are only part of the package, and that gameplay, originality, and longevity were all important aspects of a good game.
When it came time for the 16 bit consoles to be released videogames were absolutely cool to kids, and while adults may have thought they were corrupting influences on their children, sales skyrocketed, helped by such classics as Mario World, Sonic the hedgehog, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, etc. games started to go mainstream. Advertising went mass market, targeting kids in general, and oftentimes as is the case with mortal kombat, causing controversy and enough furore that the average ten year old would love to buy the 15 rated game.
With videogames going mainstream competition heated up when the 32 bit consoles were gearing up for launch, new companies such as philips, 3do and sony developed machines to rival the market leaders Sega and Nintendo, and while Philpips CDi and the 3DO tried to promote their superior specs and features,they simply didn't have the games to make them big sellers, and as soon as the Saturn and Playstation were released with the support of games developers, it became a two horse race between sega and sony for market supremacy, while Nintendo sat back, developing their new machine the N64. While both Sega and Sony both tried to out do each other, Sony had the advantage, a machine that was far superior at 3D graphics(albeit poorer at 2D games) and more importantly had the freshness and newfound cool that their advertising created. Who would have thought that adults would play games? Specifically 20-30 year olds. Sony targetted this audience by sponsoring Dance festivals, clubs etc. and featured dance music from popular artists in their games. Their strategy worked, 20-30 year olds bought playstations, and the younger audience bought it because it was both cool and had more good games. Sega struggled behind caught in the old fasioned view that they were an old style geeky videogame company, wheras sony were the cool new electronics company, who just happened to have a games console. Sega were virtually dead in the water. They weren't cool enough in the decade of street cred. When Nintendo launched the N64, its success was only moderate, despite having superior graphics, some amazing exclusive games and the most inventive developers bar none. The inhibitively expensive cost of the cartridges simply meant that you couldnt buy as many games for the same money, and with its restrictive cartridge size, features such as fmv, high quality music and bonus features were simply not possible. While Nintendo didn't sink quite like Sega, the N64 certainly wasn't the sucess Nintendo hoped it to be, but while it wasn't as mainstream as the Playstation, it had a dedicated core of gamers who loved the pure gameplay that the console provided.
Fast forward a few years and a whole lot has changed, Sega were not able to recover from the failure of the Saturn, even though the Dreamcast was a great console, people preferred to wait for the cooler PS2. Sega stop making consoles and decide to concentrate on making games. Nintendo keep their following, and capture the kooky niche of the videogame market. Some people may say that they are the kiddies company, but really, they are more the dedicated games company, putting quality before image. Sony have kept their cool, and have the most diverse selection of developers and games. And Microsoft enter the market trying to emulate the abstract cool of Playstation, but appearing to most as little better than the computer geek typing in codes and bragging about the stats of their computer while simultaniously claiming its cool to do so.
So while gaming in general is certainly percieved as a lot cooler now, its become a lot more subjective, and like football depends on which team you support.