The History Of Simulations Of Video Games (Part 1)

"Hey dad guess what? They're making a new video game called Tony Hawk's Ride and I want to get it, cause you can get this cool skateboard controller and actually pretend to ride a skateboard. Can I have it?" "Gosh son, can't you learn how to ride a real skateboard instead of have a simulation? You won't get any experience from it." "But dad. Skateboarding will take forever to learn! But with this game I can learn in a heartbeat!" "I'll think about it son."

Who needs a skateboard when you have video games?

What you have just experienced was a child talking to his father about buying this soon to be released game, "Tony Hawk's Ride" It is said to simulate an actual skateboard and make a player have a great experience without the troubles of a skateboard. This is one thing I liked to call a "simulation". The definition of this is the imitation of some real thing, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviors of a selected physical or abstract system. What I am today going to present is the history of simulation of video games and their impacts. However this blog is going to be more peripheral based, because it would then become too complicated. Let us begin.

"Don't be laughing at me dog!!!!!!!!!"

Now we jump forward to embark a piece of equipment called the gun. It was used for simulating the use of a gun. In most games using this peripheral you have a target to shoot at and you aim at the screen to eliminate the target. The first game to use this equipment was in 1936 with a game named Seeburg Ray-O-Lite where you would shoot a flying duck with your light gun and cause it to drop. This is what was said to be the starting point of the simulation of technology. However the most popular light gun game came later in Japan in 1984, which was called Duck Hunt. It came with the peripheral called the Zapper and the objective of the game was once again to shoot out the ducks in the air. You were also accompanied by a dog that congratulates you if you shoot down the ducks or simply mocks you and leave you angry. The game was also released in the arcade as the PlayChoice- 10 arcade consoles. In the later years the light gun genre became popular in the arcades and made many popular series such as The House Of The Dead, Time Crisis, and Virtua Cop. However since the fall of the arcade, the Wii has homed many light gun games using a peripheral called the Zapper, which places the Wii-mote and Nunchuck inside the peripheral and simulates a gun.

Oh, I'll shoot you again.... I'll shoot you again....

I love the Power Glove. It's so bad!"

Remember that quote? It was from a kid named Lucas boasting the Nintendo Power Glove in the movie The Wizard, (though Nintendo did not develop this product." It is quoted to be the first peripheral to recreate human hand movements on a television or computer screen in real time. The way this system worked was that a person would simply wear the glove and press the buttons on the glove to program it with a specific game on the NES and with basic hand motions would get the proper response in the game, such as making Mario jump in Super Mario Brothers. The way the product was using reality was a game where you grab balls with a hand that is used by the Power Glove, which was released. However the Power Glove was criticized for not being able to function properly and was a failure. For a while people have not attempted to make any equipment for gaming to simulate anything representing a hand.

Oh Lucas, you're the boy every five year old wants to be!

And this is part one of my history of simulations of video games and their impact. Come back later and we will go onto part 2.

Oh and tell me what was your favorite piece of simulation hardware and tell me why you felt it left the most impact. (There can be more than one).

"Hey dad guess what? They're making a new video game called Tony Hawk's Ride and I want to get it, cause you can get this cool skateboard controller and actually pretend to ride a skateboard. Can I have it?" "Gosh son, can't you learn how to ride a real skateboard instead of have a simulation? You won't get any experience from it." "But dad. Skateboarding will take forever to learn! But with this game I can learn in a heartbeat!" "I'll think about it son."

Who needs a skateboard when you have video games?

What you have just experienced was a child talking to his father about buying this soon to be released game, "Tony Hawk's Ride" It is said to simulate an actual skateboard and make a player have a great experience without the troubles of a skateboard. This is one thing I liked to call a "simulation". The definition of this is the imitation of some real thing, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviors of a selected physical or abstract system. What I am today going to present is the history of simulation of video games and their impacts. However this blog is going to be more peripheral based, because it would then become too complicated. Let us begin.

"Don't be laughing at me dog!!!!!!!!!"

Now we jump forward to embark a piece of equipment called the gun. It was used for simulating the use of a gun. In most games using this peripheral you have a target to shoot at and you aim at the screen to eliminate the target. The first game to use this equipment was in 1936 with a game named Seeburg Ray-O-Lite where you would shoot a flying duck with your light gun and cause it to drop. This is what was said to be the starting point of the simulation of technology. However the most popular light gun game came later in Japan in 1984, which was called Duck Hunt. It came with the peripheral called the Zapper and the objective of the game was once again to shoot out the ducks in the air. You were also accompanied by a dog that congratulates you if you shoot down the ducks or simply mocks you and leave you angry. The game was also released in the arcade as the PlayChoice- 10 arcade consoles. In the later years the light gun genre became popular in the arcades and made many popular series such as The House Of The Dead, Time Crisis, and Virtua Cop. However since the fall of the arcade, the Wii has homed many light gun games using a peripheral called the Zapper, which places the Wii-mote and Nunchuck inside the peripheral and simulates a gun.

Oh, I'll shoot you again.... I'll shoot you again....

I love the Power Glove. It's so bad!"

Remember that quote? It was from a kid named Lucas boasting the Nintendo Power Glove in the movie The Wizard, (though Nintendo did not develop this product." It is quoted to be the first peripheral to recreate human hand movements on a television or computer screen in real time. The way this system worked was that a person would simply wear the glove and press the buttons on the glove to program it with a specific game on the NES and with basic hand motions would get the proper response in the game, such as making Mario jump in Super Mario Brothers. The way the product was using reality was a game where you grab balls with a hand that is used by the Power Glove, which was released. However the Power Glove was criticized for not being able to function properly and was a failure. For a while people have not attempted to make any equipment for gaming to simulate anything representing a hand.

Oh Lucas, you're the boy every five year old wants to be!

And this is part one of my history of simulations of video games and their impact. Come back later and we will go onto part 2.

Oh and tell me what was your favorite piece of simulation hardware and tell me why you felt it left the most impact. (There can be more than one).