Reconstructing Pong on an FPGA
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A History of Video Game Consoles Introduction the First Generation
A History of Video Game Consoles By Terry Amick – Gerald Long – James Schell – Gregory Shehan Introduction Today video games are a multibillion dollar industry. They are in practically all American households. They are a major driving force in electronic innovation and development. Though, you would hardly guess this from their modest beginning. The first video games were played on mainframe computers in the 1950s through the 1960s (Winter, n.d.). Arcade games would be the first glimpse for the general public of video games. Magnavox would produce the first home video game console featuring the popular arcade game Pong for the 1972 Christmas Season, released as Tele-Games Pong (Ellis, n.d.). The First Generation Magnavox Odyssey Rushed into production the original game did not even have a microprocessor. Games were selected by using toggle switches. At first sales were poor because people mistakenly believed you needed a Magnavox TV to play the game (GameSpy, n.d., para. 11). By 1975 annual sales had reached 300,000 units (Gamester81, 2012). Other manufacturers copied Pong and began producing their own game consoles, which promptly got them sued for copyright infringement (Barton, & Loguidice, n.d.). The Second Generation Atari 2600 Atari released the 2600 in 1977. Although not the first, the Atari 2600 popularized the use of a microprocessor and game cartridges in video game consoles. The original device had an 8-bit 1.19MHz 6507 microprocessor (“The Atari”, n.d.), two joy sticks, a paddle controller, and two game cartridges. Combat and Pac Man were included with the console. In 2007 the Atari 2600 was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame (“National Toy”, n.d.). -
Pioneering E-Sport: the Experience Economy and the Marketing of Early 1980S Arcade Gaming Contests
International Journal of Communication 7 (2013), 2254-2274 1932–8036/20130005 Pioneering E-Sport: The Experience Economy and the Marketing of Early 1980s Arcade Gaming Contests MICHAEL BOROWY DAL YONG JIN Simon Fraser University This article sets out to historicize the development of e-sport (organized competitive digital gaming) in the early 1980s using three new conceptual frameworks. We identify e-sport as an accompaniment of the broader embryonic gamer culture, a hallmark of the “experience economy” concept, and as a succession of consumer practices whose development was coterminous with the rise of event marketing as a leading promotional business strategy. By examining the origins of e-sport as both a marketized event and experiential commodity, we see this period as a transitory era bridging different phases in the areas of sports, marketing, and technology, resulting in the expansion of competitive cyberathleticism. Keywords: e-sport, professional gamer, arcade, experience economy, event marketing, video games, public events Introduction In the early 2000s, competitive player-versus-player digital game play (henceforth e-sports) has been a heavily promoted feature of overall gamer culture. Although e-sport—known as an electronic sport and the leagues in which players compete through networked games and related activities (Jin, 2010)— has existed since the early 1980s, the increased attention toward the activity in the 21st century has signaled that the gaming industry is adopting more flexible avenues of public event consumption with the goal of generating higher profit margins. While stand-alone e-sports events are common, their use as adjuncts of other industry events, including major trade shows, press conferences, and even traveling orchestras, demonstrates that competitive gaming continues to play a major role in the machinery of game industry event marketing. -
Transcript of Atari Vs. the Imagination
1 You’re listening to Imaginary Worlds, a show about how we create them and why we suspend our disbelief. I’m Eric Molinsky. And this is Tim Lapetino. He’s a graphic designer in Chicago, and he runs a website called the museum of video game art. TL: My Dad brought home our first Atari in 1983, we busted it open and it was magical the idea you could play games on TV, and I remember one of the very first things I looked at were boxes, make sense of the idea of what I was seeing on screen related what was on box I wanted to save those, line those up, line up on shelf, my Dad was like why keep those? Keep cartridges? Like keeping box for refrigerator. And you’re 5, you’re like okay. But I spent hundred of dollars rebuying them as an adult. In fact, Tim just put out a book called The Art of Atari. It’s got interviews with designers and executives – plus a lot of eye candy for anyone who loved those games in the ‘80s – especially the box illustrations, which looked like the covers of fantasy novels from the ‘70s and ‘80s. There was so much stuff going on in these illustrations, you had to gaze at them for a long time to catch every little detail. But Tim says this book isn’t a nostalgia trip. TL: This art and design is really worth visiting because deserves to be up there with great design of 20th century. I learned things about Atari that completely surprised me. -
Arcade-Style Game Design: Postwar Pinball and The
ARCADE-STYLE GAME DESIGN: POSTWAR PINBALL AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF COIN-OP VIDEOGAMES A Thesis Presented to The Academic Faculty by Christopher Lee DeLeon In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Digital Media in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture Georgia Institute of Technology May 2012 ARCADE-STYLE GAME DESIGN: POSTWAR PINBALL AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF COIN-OP VIDEOGAMES Approved by: Dr. Ian Bogost, Advisor Dr. John Sharp School of LCC School of LCC Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Brian Magerko Steve Swink School of LCC Creative Director Georgia Institute of Technology Enemy Airship Dr. Celia Pearce School of LCC Georgia Institute of Technology Date Approved: March 27, 2012 In memory of Eric Gary Frazer, 1984–2001. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank: Danyell Brookbank, for companionship and patience in our transition to Atlanta. Ian Bogost, John Sharp, Brian Magerko, Celia Pearce, and Steve Swink for ongoing advice, feedback, and support as members of my thesis committee. Andrew Quitmeyer, for immediately encouraging my budding pinball obsession. Michael Nitsche and Patrick Coursey, for also getting high scores on Arnie. Steve Riesenberger, Michael Licht, and Tim Ford for encouragement at EALA. Curt Bererton, Mathilde Pignol, Dave Hershberger, and Josh Wagner for support and patience at ZipZapPlay. John Nesky, for his assistance, talent, and inspiration over the years. Lou Fasulo, for his encouragement and friendship at Sonic Boom and Z2Live. Michael Lewis, Harmon Pollock, and Tina Ziemek for help at Stupid Fun Club. Steven L. Kent, for writing the pinball chapter in his book that inspired this thesis. -
Artificial Intelligence in Racing Games
BSc in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science ABDAL MOHAMED BSc in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science Sections 1. History of AI in Racing Games 2. Neural Networks in Games BSc in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science BSc in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science History Gran Trak 10 Single-player racing arcade game released by Atari in 1974 Did not have any AI Pole Position Single- player racing game released by Namco in 1982 Considered first racing game with AI BSc in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science History Super Mario Kart Addition of Power Ups Released in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Driver Free- form World 1998 video game developed by Reflections Interactive Vehicular Combat: Power Ups + Free Form World BSc in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science Simple Areas of AI in Racing Games 1. Steering Sort of Basic Used in Formula One-Built to win, GTA3 2001 for background animation purpose. 2. Pathfinding Becomes more free-form world Would need to make decision on where to go. Need to find the best path between two points, avoiding any obstacles. BSc in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science Steering + Racing Lines Racing Lines methods was used extensively until there was CPU power to do something else. It is just a drawn line in which the cars follow that line or stuck to that line. It uses Spline, where addition information such as velocity is included. Advantage It is very easy to create cheap spine creation tool Disadvantage Very limited- and gets very difficult Not very realistic- as car follows line, no response to deflection BSc in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science Pathfinding + Tactical AI Racing line does not really work with free-form world so one of the solutions is having set path to where the car/ character is fleeing. -
Big Dog Pounder
WARNING Be sure to read this Operation Manual before using your machine to ensure safe operation. JULY 2008 BOB’S SPACE RACERS® DOG POUNDER™ ARCADE (AIR VERSION) DOG POUNDER™ ARCADE Air Version 2 BOB’S SPACE RACERS® DOG POUNDER™ ARCADE (AIR VERSION) TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. SPECIFICATIONS 2. INTRODUCTION 2-1. Overview and Technical Features: 2-2. Important Safety Information: 3. PROGRAMMING 3-1. Entering Programming Mode: 3-2. Volume: 3-3. Coins per Credit: 3-4. Attract Mode: 3-5. Game Type: 3-6. Game Difficulty: 3-7. Minimum Tickets: 3-8. Balls per Ticket: 3-9. Bonus Ticket Value: 3-10. Hand: 3-11. Reset: 3-12. Programming Options: 4. ERROR MESSAGES 5. MAINTENANCE AND TROUBLESHOOTING 5-1. Quick Troubleshooting: 5-2. Detailed Troubleshooting and Repair: 5-2-1. Mechanical / Motor Repair: Hammock Replacement Pivot Mechanism Ground Wire Replacement Actuator Motor Replacement 5-2-2. Electronic / Electrical Repair: Main P.C. Board Replacement Score Sensor Replacement Playfield Light Replacement 6. PARTS LISTINGS 7. SCHEMATICS 8. WARRANTY 3 BOB’S SPACE RACERS® DOG POUNDER™ ARCADE (AIR VERSION) 1. SPECIFICATION IMPORTANT SETUP INFORMATION CENTER LEVELER ADJUSTMENT – The center foot leveler adjustment is critical to the proper operation of the game. The purpose of this adjuster is to control cabinet vibration to prevent damage to electronic and other components in the game. When the adjuster is properly contacting the floor, any force from the mallet that is CENTER transmitted through the pivot mechanism will be transmitted LEVELER directly to the floor and NOT the bottom of the cabinet. It is important to make sure the weight of the game is equally distributed across all 5 legs to avoid rocking and damage. -
Pong: an Introduction to Implementing Computer Game Strategies
1 Pong: An Introduction to Implementing Computer Game Strategies Ryan A. Harris and Jayesh B. Gorasia popular arcade game with sales of over 100,000 machines. [1][2] Abstract—As the modern video game industry continues to Pong and similar reproductions soon crossed from arcades grow, more and more people are entering the field of game into homes in console form. From these curious beginnings, design. In order to enter this field, prospective game designers the video game industry quickly erupted and now, just 35 must first learn the basics of programming a computer strategy. years later, annually generates $10 billion in revenues. As the Here, we follow the development strategies for a basic game, Pong. This development followed a progression from basic to industry grows, there are increasing opportunities for advanced, with the advanced strategies improving upon the basic passionate gamers to enter careers in game design and strategies’ flaws. We then pair the basic and advanced strategies development. Schools, such as DeVry University and the against each other and determine the value of our efforts. University of Advancing Technology, are noticing this movement and offer Bachelor’s Degrees in game programming.[3] I. INTRODUCTION Unlike Pong, which required two players for a game, N 1972, a bar called Andy Capp’s became the first trial modern games have single player modes, in which a user plays I location for a historic step forward in gaming technology. against a computer. Modern game developers program these For 25 cents, two players competed in a virtual game of table computer players to follow strategies, so that they imitate a tennis, using joysticks to move paddles (simulated by lines) up human player. -
Pac-Man Is Overkill
2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) October 25-29, 2020, Las Vegas, NV, USA (Virtual) Pac-Man is Overkill Renato Fernando dos Santos1;2, Ragesh K. Ramachandran3, Marcos A. M. Vieira2 and Gaurav S. Sukhatme3 Abstract— Pursuit-Evasion Game (PEG) consists of a team of pursuers trying to capture one or more evaders. PEG is important due to its application in surveillance, search and rescue, disaster robotics, boundary defense and so on. In general, PEG requires exponential time to compute the minimum number of pursuers to capture an evader. To mitigate this, we have designed a parallel optimal algorithm to minimize the capture time in PEG. Given a discrete topology, this algorithm also outputs the minimum number of pursuers to capture an evader. A classic example of PEG is the popular arcade game, Pac-Man. Although Pac-Man topology has almost 300 nodes, our algorithm can handle this. We show that Pac- Man is overkill, i.e., given the Pac-Man game topology, Pac-Man game contains more pursuers/ghosts (four) than it is necessary (two) to capture evader/Pac-man. We evaluate the proposed algorithm on many different topologies. I. INTRODUCTION Pac-Man is a popular maze arcade game developed and released in 1980 [1]. Basically, the game is all about control- Fig. 1. A screenshot of the Pac-Man game. The yellow colored pie shaped object is the Pac-Man. The four entities at the center of the maze are the ling a “pie or pizza” shaped object to eat all the dots inside ghosts. -
Finding Aid to the Atari Coin-Op Division Corporate Records, 1969-2002
Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play Atari Coin-Op Division Corporate Records Finding Aid to the Atari Coin-Op Division Corporate Records, 1969-2002 Summary Information Title: Atari Coin-Op Division corporate records Creator: Atari, Inc. coin-operated games division (primary) ID: 114.6238 Date: 1969-2002 (inclusive); 1974-1998 (bulk) Extent: 600 linear feet (physical); 18.8 GB (digital) Language: The materials in this collection are primarily in English, although there a few instances of Japanese. Abstract: The Atari Coin-Op records comprise 600 linear feet of game design documents, memos, focus group reports, market research reports, marketing materials, arcade cabinet drawings, schematics, artwork, photographs, videos, and publication material. Much of the material is oversized. Repository: Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play at The Strong One Manhattan Square Rochester, New York 14607 585.263.2700 [email protected] Administrative Information Conditions Governing Use: This collection is open for research use by staff of The Strong and by users of its library and archives. Though intellectual property rights (including, but not limited to any copyright, trademark, and associated rights therein) have not been transferred, The Strong has permission to make copies in all media for museum, educational, and research purposes. Conditions Governing Access: At this time, audiovisual and digital files in this collection are limited to on-site researchers only. It is possible that certain formats may be inaccessible or restricted. Custodial History: The Atari Coin-Op Division corporate records were acquired by The Strong in June 2014 from Scott Evans. The records were accessioned by The Strong under Object ID 114.6238. -
An Evaluation of the Benefits of Look-Ahead in Pac-Man
An Evaluation of the Benefits of Look-Ahead in Pac-Man Thomas Thompson, Lewis McMillan, John Levine and Alastair Andrew Abstract— The immensely popular video game Pac-Man has we feel that such practices are best applied in small scope challenged players for nearly 30 years, with the very best human problems. While this could most certainly apply to ghost competitors striking a highly honed balance between the games avoidance strategies, the ability to look ahead into the game two key factors; the ‘chomping’ of pills (or pac-dots) throughout the level whilst avoiding the ghosts that haunt the maze trying to world and begin to plan paths through the maze is often capture the titular hero. We believe that in order to achieve this ignored. We consider the best means to attack the Pac-Man it is important for an agent to plan-ahead in creating paths in problem is to view at varying levels of reasoning; from high the maze while utilising a reactive control to escape the clutches level strategy formulation to low level reactive control. of the ghosts. In this paper we evaluate the effectiveness of such In our initial work in this domain, we sought to assess a look-ahead against greedy and random behaviours. Results indicate that a competent agent, on par with novice human our hypothesis that the benefits of simple lookahead in Pac- players can be constructed using a simple framework. man can be applied to generate a more competent agent than those using greedy or random decision processes. In I. INTRODUCTION this paper we give a recap of the Pac-Man domain and the Pac-Man provides a point in history where video games particulars of our implementation in Section II and related moved into new territory; with players having their fill of the work inSection III. -
1) Steve Russell/Spacewar/MIT
1) Steve Russell/Spacewar/MIT 2) Nolan Bushnell/Ted Dabney 3) Computer Space/Nutting 4) Atari 5) Pong 6) Ralph Baer/Odyssey/Magnavox 7) Arcade Games (list all titles? Pong – SF Rush 2049, talk about Midway West) (Bristow, Rains, Delman…etc…) KeeGames 8) Steve Jobs and Apple (Apple 1 looks exactly like all earlier Atari Coin-op boards, talk about Breakout, Woz, who did the new Breakout etc…) Connection (Story about how Atari employees went into Apple, asked for Apple stickers and placed them inside urinals and pee’d on them) 9) Sears Connection (Tom Quinn) Home Pong (Bob Brown, Harold Lee) 10) Pinball (List all titles) (Jerry Jessop was pinball repair) 11) Consoles Ultra Pong Doubles Super Pong Super Pong Pro Am Super Pong Pro Am 10 Stunt Cycle Video Pinball Game Brain Video Music 12) Stella Development/Cyan Engineering (Steve Mayer, Ron Milner, Jay Miner, Joe Decuir) 13) Warner Communications 14) Video Computer System 2600 (Stella/Sylvia/PAM 2800/Sears Telegames II Remote Control Graduate 2600 Jr Complete Atari cartridge list Third parties (Activision/Imagic...) 15) Vector Games (Lunar Lander, Howie Delman) 16) Handhelds Touch Me (Brad Saville knows whole story on handheld Touch Me) Cosmos/Holograms Spector (Roy Nishi) Handheld Space Invaders & breakout 17) Computers (400 & 800) 18) Atari related books and magazines (Antic, ANALOG) 19) APX and Atari Institute Club Med Project Advance Sunnyvale Research Lab 20) Atarisoft 21) Movies? (Airplane, Blade Runner, Superman 3, Daryl, Cloak & Dagger) 22) 5200 Atari 5100 – Craig Asher (controller) -
Atari IP Catalog 2019 IP List (Highlighted Links Are Included in Deck)
Atari IP Catalog 2019 IP List (Highlighted Links are Included in Deck) 3D Asteroids Basketball Fatal Run Miniature Golf Retro Atari Classics Super Asteroids & Missile 3D Tic-Tac-Toe Basketbrawl Final Legacy Minimum Return to Haunted House Command A Game of Concentration Bionic Breakthrough Fire Truck * Missile Command Roadrunner Super Baseball Adventure Black Belt Firefox * Missile Command 2 * RollerCoaster Tycoon Super Breakout Adventure II Black Jack Flag Capture Missile Command 3D Runaway * Super Bunny Breakout Agent X * Black Widow * Flyball * Monstercise Saboteur Super Football Airborne Ranger Boogie Demo Food Fight (Charley Chuck's) Monte Carlo * Save Mary Superbug * Air-Sea Battle Booty Football Motor Psycho Scrapyard Dog Surround Akka Arrh * Bowling Frisky Tom MotoRodeo Secret Quest Swordquest: Earthworld Alien Brigade Boxing * Frog Pond Night Driver Sentinel Swordquest: Fireworld Alpha 1 * Brain Games Fun With Numbers Ninja Golf Shark Jaws * Swordquest: Waterworld Anti-Aircraft * Breakout Gerry the Germ Goes Body Off the Wall Shooting Arcade Tank * Aquaventure Breakout * Poppin Orbit * Sky Diver Tank II * Asteroids Breakout Boost Goal 4 * Outlaw Sky Raider * Tank III * Asteroids Deluxe * Canyon Bomber Golf Outlaw * Slot Machine Telepathy Asteroids On-line Casino Gotcha * Peek-A-Boo Slot Racers Tempest Asteroids: Gunner Castles and Catapults Gran Trak 10 * Pin Pong * Smokey Joe * Tempest 2000 Asteroids: Gunner+ Caverns of Mars Gran Trak 20 * Planet Smashers Soccer Tempest 4000 Atari 80 Classic Games in One! Centipede Gravitar Pong