A Brief History of Video Games
Video Overview & Insights
Facebook: http://facebook.com/XboxAhoy
- Maze War, S. Colley, 1974,
- Breakout, Atari, 1976
- 1977 crash
- Space invaders, Taito, 1978
- Asteroids, Atari, 1979
- vector graphics
- Pac-Man, Namco, 1980
- Zork, Infocom, 1980
- Rogue, M. Toy, G, Wichman, K. Arnold, J. Lane, 1980
- Donkey Kong, Nintendo, 1981
- Dig Dug, Namco, 1982
- Pole Position, Namco, 1982
- Q.bert, Atari, 1982
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Atari, 1982 (slop game)
- Nintendo NES
- Dragon's Lair, Cinematronics, 1983
- Elite, D. Braben, & I. Bell, 1984
- Tetris, A. Pajitnov, 1984
- Super Mario Bros, Nintendo, 1985
- The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo, 1986
- Castlevania, Konami, 1986
- Metroid, Nintendo, 1986
- Mega Man, Capcom, 1987, (non linear stage selection)
- Metal Gear, Konami, 1987 (stealth)
- Final Fantasy, Square, 1987 (JRPGs)
- Dungeon Master, FTL Games, 1987 (Western RPG, First person POV, Real time role playing action)
- Exile, Superior, 1988
- Tetris (Game Boy), Bullet-Proof, 1989
- SimCity, Maxis, 1989 (city building category)
- Shadow of the Beast, Reflections, 1989 (parallax scrolling background)
- The Secret of Monkey Island, Lucasfilm, 1990
- Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Team, 1991
- Street Fighter II, Capcom, 1991
- Lemmings, Oma Design, 1991 (puzzle action)
- Civilization, Microprose, 1991
- Dune II, Westwood, 1992 (Real Time Strategy genre)
- Wolfenstein 3D, id, 1992
- Doom, id, 1993
- Myst, Cyan, 1993 (CD-ROM) β―
- Star Fox, Nintendo, 1993 (SNES)
- 32-bit Playstation, 1994
- Tekken, Namco, 1994
- UFO: Enemy Unknown, Mythos, 1994 (turn based strat, base management, research)
- Marathon, Bungie, 1994,
- Wipeout, Psygnosis, 1995
- Chrono Trigger, Square, 1995 (multiple endings)
- Super Mario 64, Nintendo, 1996 (3D platforming)
- PokΓ©mon Red/Blue, Game Freak, 1996 (collect-em-up)
- Resident Evil, Capcom, 1996
- Quake, id, 1996 (FPS)
- GoldenEye 007, Rare, 1997
- Gran Turismo, Sony, 1997
- Grand Theft Auto, DMA Design, 1997 (top-down open world)
- Half-Life, Valve, 1998
- StarCraft, Blizzard, 1998 (RTS)
- Grim Fandango, LucasArts, 1998 (adventure game)
- TLoZ: Ocarina of Time, Nintendo, 1998 (N64)
- Unreal Tournament, Epic, 1999 (FPS)
- Quake III Arena, id, 1999 (FBS)
- Counter-Strike, Valve, 1999 (military shooter)
- Diablo II, Blizzard, 2000
- Deus Ex, Ion Storm, 2000 (open ended goal β―)
- The Sims, Maxis, 2000 (micro management)
- Grand Theft Auto III, DMA Design, 2001 (3D open world)
- Halo: Combat Evolved, Bungie, 2001
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Ubisoft, 2002
- Metroid Prime, Retro/Nintendo, 2002
- Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix, 2002
- Call of Duty, Infinity Ward, 2003 (interwoven campaigns)
- World of Warcraft, Blizzard, 2004 (MMO RPGs)
- Half-Life 2, Valve, 2004 (see-saw puzzles?)
- Resident Evil 4, Capcom, 2005
- Shadow of the Colossus, Team ICO, 2005
- Gears of War, Epic, 2006 (gorey action)
- Wii Sports, Nintendo, 2006 (motion controls)
- COD4: Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward, 2007 (modern military shooter, multiplayer)
- Halo 3, Bungie, 2007
- BioShock, 2K Boston, 2007
- Portal, Valve, 2007 (euclidean geometry-bending)
- GTA 4, Rockstar North, 2008
- Fallout 3, Bethesda, 2008
- LittleBigPlanet, Media Molecule, 2008 (user-generated content)
- Minecraft, Mojang, 2009
- Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar, 2010
- Bayonetta, Platinum, 2010
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Bethesda, 2011
- Dark Souls, From, 2011
- Journey, Thatgamecompany, 2012 β―
- Fez, Polytron, 2012 (puzzle)
- Bioshock Infinite, Irrational, 2013
- Last of Us, Naughty Dog, 2013
Twitter: http://twitter.com/xboxahoy
The entire history of video games, from their earliest origins all the way up to the end of the seventh generation, in 2013.
I think some sports games couldβve used some recognition otherwise great video!
Emerging from engineering experimentation, the earliest titles such as Tennis for Two, Space War! and Pong helped to establish the roots of the industry.
Early arcade classics built on this, with titles like Breakout, Space Invaders, Asteroids and Pac-Man breaking into the mainstream and remaining legendary today.
Cool! I think this gem is a must-have for any video game enthusiast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zaQ4R9pXk0
Early PC titles such as Maze War, Zork and Rogue helped define new genres: and while Atari 2600 version of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial might have been disappointing, hobbyist coders continued with aplomb - giving rise to titles like Elite, Exile and Tetris.
The video game crash of 1983 dampened the home market, but arcades remained strong: Donkey Kong, Dig-Dug, Pole-Position, Q*Bert and Mario Bros. all successfully sucking quarters from people's pockets.
No tomb raider.?
The mid-80s saw the rise of the Nintendo home console, starting with Super Mario Brothers and continuing with games like The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Metroid, Mega-Man, Metal Gear and Final Fantasy.
Dragon's Lair use of laserdisc technology gave the arcade unit graphics like none other - but a new wave of 16-bit machines would wow home users, with games such as Dungeon Master, Sim City, Shadow of The Beast and The Secret of Monkey Island.
you forgot 2025, The Adventure Of Pixel!!
The 1990s saw the 16-bit machines come into their own, with colourful sprites of a scale not seen before: Sonic The Hedgehog, Street Fighter 2, and Lemmings.
Strategy games did well in this era, with the first instalment of Sid Meier's Civilization and the XCOM turn-based alien tactics of UFO: Enemy Unknown.
In 2025, the omission of the ps4 xbox One and ps5 xbox series generations is actually a good thing because it makes this video not only informative but also timeless as we can fill in the dots from the aforementioned generations. Well done sir well done
Dune 2 saw the dawn of the RTS genre, and Wolfenstein 3D did something similar for first person shooters, and marks id's genre-defining path through Doom and Quake.
Myst was a mite more sedate, Tekken was a 3D rival to Street Fighter, Marathon a Macintosh rival to Doom and Star Fox invited barrel rolls aplenty.
This is great! I use this to teach students in A-Level! Any thoughts of making a Part 2? (Preferably one that includes Animal Crossing: New Horizons)
The late 90s saw Nintendo go from strength to strength, with exclusives such as Super Mario 64, Chrono Trigger, Pokemon, Goldeneye, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Sony responded in kind with the PlayStation, and a new era of titles such as Wipeout, Resident Evil, Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto.
Valve shook up the PC scene with 1998's Half Life, and Blizzard did something similar with Starcraft for the RTS genre.
The new milennium was a good time for PC gamers, with a wave of legendary FPS games such as Unreal Tournament, Quake 3 Arena, and
Not even a mention of Tomb Raider?
Counter-Strike - and a host of other exclusives in Grim Fandango, Diablo 2, Deus Ex, The Sims, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.
A new wave of consoles brought some new exclusives: Bungie's Xbox launch title, Halo - the much loved Metroid Prime and Kingdom Hearts - and for a brief time, Grand Theft Auto 3.
Thank you Iβm using this for an assignment β€
Infinity Ward embarked on a remarkably successful franchise with Call of Duty, Blizzard single-handedly popularised MMORPGs with World of Warcraft, and Harmonix introduced a sudden need for plastic guitar peripherals with Guitar Hero.
The PS2 had a couple of good games left in it, with the critically acclaimed Resident Evil 4 - and artful Shadow of the Colossus.
And it all went downhill from here.
2006 saw a new generation of consoles, and a new wave of shooters: Gears of War, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Halo 3, Bioshock, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Fallout 3.
It wasn't all blood and guts, however - with more family friendly titles like Wii Sports, The Orange Box / Portal, and LittleBigPlanet.
Letβs get an update covering the last 10 years!
Hardcore games broached the mainstream, too - with titles like Bayonetta and Dark Souls proving popular without pandering to all audiences.
The rise of the indie game was perhaps unexpected, but provided welcome relief from the monotony of the mainstream - gems like Journey, Fez and Minecraft perhaps the most notable examples.
Definetely do a series with each episode focusing on a specific genre.
We bid farewell to Gen 7 with impressive open world titles such as Red Dead Redemption and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - and the impressively detailed settings of games like Bioshock Infinite and
The Last of Us.
I was wondering why was the video ending at 2013... ITS BECAUSE IT WAS MADE 10 YEARS AGO DANG
I feel old.
More User Perspectives
The music on this one is really good
@HiddenMis7This may be a little bit dated lol
@jennydeath529Thanks for your work, it'll be very usefull in my studies
@azelwkr3841how is this video 10 years old even the biggest youtubers 10 year old videos look like π©
this could have been made today and you wouldnt notice
It just dawned to me that this masterpiece of a video is already 10 years old. Why won't the time stop??
I showed this historical document to a bunch of passionate young teenagers not too long ago. While 2013 really feels just like yesterday to me, it became clear that even within those 10 fairly uneventful years, the industry has changed once more. No mention of Fortnite or Overwatch surely rises some younger kids' eyebrows alone.
But that got me thinking: what newer games would the 2023 updated version include? Death of the MGS saga with the MGSV? Yet another return of GTA? Nier Automata saving a borderline bankrupt Square-enix? Yakuza franchise finally breaking through in the West after Y0? Gatcha traps slowly escaping the Asian market and infecting tons of mobile players?
HAPPY TENTH ANNIVERSARY
@laurentfabronhttpsCOLONSLASHSLASHdriveFULLSTOPgoogleFULLSTOPcomSLASHfileSLASHdSLASH10Bo9JnMGkXkJ5MNDu1ANRxw4MdlHYPHEN05xASLASHviewQUESTIONMARKuspEQUALSSIGNdrivesdk
The Gaming Religion (the religion that delivers gamers everywhere in the Age of Aquarius ever since September 11 2020)
lol of course the PSX only "came into its own" once a limey game was released
@BlackieBloomberg1997-2007 is probably the most stacked 10 year period in the history of gaming. So, so many iconic titles for basically every platform and Internet multiplayer was such a mindblowing concept at the time. I still find myself going back to play games from this era frequently, even with a modern gaming rig. They sure don't make 'em like they used to.
@salzeda6295I think it's time for a follow-up! The time difference between when this video was made and today is the same amount of time between this video and the release of Half-Life 2, Doom 3, The Sims 2, or GTA: San Andreas! You've got a lot more to gaming history to cover
@ChalkcsIt was 2010s that shaped gaming for the future generations , the aesthetics ,mechanics ,story driven campaigns
@_bhuc3802How much hard drive storage do you have (for all those games)
@particleaccelerator773815:56 "henceforth, all cake deemed dishonest" dudes a poet
@noseven7717i watched this
@Oliver-hh6hyStuart is the best video maker on here
@ambyungbaeIβd be really interested to add the last 10 years (up to late 2022) to this history. Gaming has definitely evolved significantly. Eg when this video came out Minecraft was in its initial surge of popularity, but had not yet become the best selling game of all time, and we had not yet seen its resurgence 2019-22.
Expansive open world games became incredibly popular in the last decade (with varying levels of quality). Multiplayer games have suffered from micro-transactions and imbalance issues. The rise in prominence of digital releases has changed the way studios develop their AAA games.
Mobile games are an established form of gaming much more so than they were in 2013 (although most gamers probably interact with it minimally).
Streaming and Youtube have led to a secondary engagement in gaming that was only really beginning in the early 2010s.
Those are some things I thought of. What else has changed?
there is no way that was back in 2013 XD i am old as fuck holy shit XD
@Charlie-IIIMan, I wish they've updated this video. Some of the greatest and relevant choices of video games here.
@Lsvy97This was nearly 10 yrs ago. And even then your videos make me flash back to when I was a child in the 80s and 90s. F me. How am I still alive?
@CT-yc4gd400
@logoarchivecollectioncompa19ill never forget 1994 we were in canada, i came home from school and my dad was playing sonic the hedgehog. A couple years passed and he brought us home an n64 and my childhood was golden. Love video games. Counter-strike, Half-life, starcraft, age of empires 2. all games ive been playing from 1998 until present
@AJ-fe8mlfantastic!!!!
@DM0171013:45 yes i love don freeman
@huss2891No mention of Bubsy. For shame.
@roguedm6523i wish we had time machine so we could show how video games are now to people in the 80s or 90s
@voodoo2006This video is great motivation for me to make my own projects.
Currently studying to become an engineer.
"That brings us up to the present day" That caught me off guard lol
@tariqrahim223Fun fact super Mario bros on the NES saved the gaming industry from almost dying out Iβm looking at you E.T on Atari
@BoltRuger4579Before there was anything there was nothing. Before there was nothing, there were monster.
@bobsterclause342It's actually mindblowing how fast gaming has grown to what it is today, in terms of technology. And individuals and indie teams can do so much with the incredibly powerful tools we have nowadays too. Can't wait to see how it will keep evolving.
@captain4318"indulgence of pool-stair removing sadists everywhere" for the sims had me rolling!!πππ€£πππ
@ninaavila4095Didnβt realize this was from 2013 until the end of the video
@StickiestboiET has been branded as the worst video game ever both in sales and play ability basically it had nothing to do with the movie.
@JAllyFarmsI watched this some years ago and now my teacher sent me this as part of an assignment.
Needless to say, this levels of nostalgia should not be theoretically possible.
Stalker franchise.
@idnintelI remember Atari 2600 β¦ my birthday gift π
@Old-Man-Gamer