History of computer games: 1980's

As the popularity of arcades declined in the 80s, the appeal and manufacture of home games consoles increased along with it a slew of new games.  However at this point, a great deal of technological development was driven by music. Meaning that gaming and extra processing power was being overlooked. However, there was mass growth and through this period games companies started making a names for themselves some are now major developers e.g Capcom. There was a push to make home consoles due to the convenience home console brought. Lining up for your favourite Arcade was no longer a problem as you could play that and many more games in the comfort of your own home, a point advertisements pointed to a lot.

During my lecture we were shown some advertisements that were used and i found it surprising how the console market was aimed at adults rather than children. Many games were,like today, used for relaxation but most adverts barely including young people at all.  

The Atari 5200 and Ninentdo Famicon where the big names in the console industry during 1982 and 1983. There were signs of standardisation with the Famicons controller, with the directional keys and four buttons, the controllers were rather bland for its time relative to other consoles crazy light guns, dials and other weird shapes.



At the end of 1983, the industry experienced losses more severe than the crash of 1977. As well as bankruptcy of several companies that produced North American home computers and video game consoles, it brought an end to what is considered to be the second generation of console video gaming. The main cause of the crash can be pinned on the production of poorly-designed games, the most notorious of which included E.T. the Extra Terrestrial and Pac-man for the Atari 2600. The sales where so bad that it is said Atari buried thousands of unsold cartridges in a landfill in New Mexico. Meaning a lot of money can be made from one of the few remaining copies of E.T.

This crash led to the release of the Atari 7800, Sega Genesis, Nintendo Gameboy and the Commodore 64gs. These had a much wider variety in games which made the consoles very popular. The most popular of its time however is undoubtedly the Nintendo NES, It was bundled with Super Mario Bros. and instantly became a success. The NES dominated the North American and the Japanese market until the rise of the next generation of consoles in the early 1990s.