Motivation

• One of the biggest branches of the software industry.
• Great interest from the public.
• Presents some interesting programming challenges.
• It's fun!
• Usually within a window (there's a full screen mode).

What are games about?

• A make-believe universe with its own rules.
• It's often about beating an opponent or achieving a goal.
• Challenges the player's intelligence, quickness, strategic skills.
• Offers rewards/punishments with no effect on the real world.
• Addictive and entertaining.

History of Video Games

• 1951: Ralph Baer - pitched the idea of interactive television to Loral Electronics but was rejected.
• 1952: A. S. Douglas developed OXO, an electronic version of Tic-Tac-Toe for ESDAC (vacuum tube computer).
• 1958: W. Higinbotham created Tennis For Two for an oscilloscope.
• 1961: Steve Russell and a group of students at MIT created Spacewar for a DEC PDP-1.
• 1966: Ralph Baer created Chase, a video game for a standard tv set.
• 1971: N. Bushnell and T. Dabney created Computer Space, a coin-operated version of Chase.
• 1972: N. Bushnell founded Atari and created the Pong machines based on the game written by R. Baer.
• 1972: G. Yob wrote Hunt the Wumpus for PDP-10, first text adventure game.
• 1974: Maze War and Spasim, ealry first-shooter games.
• 1976: Daglow wrote Dungeons, role-playing.
• 1977: Zork, text adventure by D. Lebling, M. Blank, T. Anderson, and B. Daniels, who founded Infocom in 79.
• 1978: Taito released the Space Invaders.
  First hand-held and video games.
• 1980: Iwatani - Pac Man.
• 1980: Mystery House by R. Williams for Apple II - first graphical adventure game.
• 1982: Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum computers.
• 1983: Snipes by SuperSet Software, first networked game for commercial PCs.
• 1984: Sierra started the Quest series - modern adventure game, 3rd person character in a graphical 3D environment.
• 1985: Alexey Pajitnov - Tetris on Electronica 60.
• 1985: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Nintendo.
• 1987: The VGA 256-color standard for IBM PCs. Sound card by AdLib. Shareware games.

• Rise of 3D graphics, multimedia, CD-ROM games.
• RTS (real-time strategy): Dune 2 set the standard, Warcraft, Command and Conquer.
• Adventure games: Final Fantasy, Monkey Island.
• First-shooter games: Quake, Doom.
• Early internet games: MUD (Multi-User Dungeons), Quake.
• MMP (massively multiplayer games): Ultima Online and Everquest.
• Browser-based simple games by emergence of Java and Macromedia Flash.
• Mods (user-modified games): Castle Smurfenstein from Castle Wolfenstein,
• CounterStrike for Half-Life.
• User-generated content: the Sims (objects).

History of Computer Games - 2000s

• Development shifts focus from PCs to consoles: Xbox, PSP, Playstation, Wii, Gamecube, Sega Dreamcast.
• MMOs reach millions of users/subscribers.
• Online and social media games + changes in demographics.
• Graphic cards and GPUs used for more than games.
• The market of mobile games and apps explodes.

• The best-selling PC games for the week of July 31st 2005.
• Battlefield 2 (Electronic Arts)
• World of Warcraft (Blizzard)
• Guild Wars (NCsoft)
• The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts)
• The Sims Deluxe (Electronic Arts)
• Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock (Her Interactive)
• The Sims 2 University (Electronic Arts)
• RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (Atari)
• The Sims: Unleashed (Electronic Arts)
• Half-Life 2 (Vivendi Universal)

Top Selling Games - 2007

• Halo 3 Xbox 360
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl Wii
• BioShock Xbox 360
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Xbox 360
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Wii
• Heavenly Sword PlayStation 3
• Super Mario Galaxy Wii
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PlayStation 3
• Killzone 2 PlayStation 3
• Two Worlds Xbox 360

Top PC Games - 2007

• Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword Expansion Pack
• World Of Warcraft
• World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
• The Sims 2 Deluxe
• The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff Expansion Pack
• The Sims 2 Seasons Expansion Pack
• Nancy Drew: The White Wolf Of Icicle Creek
• Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
• MS Age Of Empires III Gogo strategy and sims games.

Top PC Games - 2009

• Star Wars: The Old Republic
• Fallout 3
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Mass Effect
• Fable: The Lost Chapters
• Mass Effect 2
• Diablo III
• The Chosen-- Well of Souls
• Mafia 2

Top Games - 2011

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D 3DS
• Final Fantasy III (US) Wii
• Groove Coaster iPhone
• Resistance 3 PS3
• Trenched X360

Top PC Games - 2011

• Bastion
• Limbo
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• From Dust
• Magic: The Gathering -- Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012

Top PC Games - 2013

• Gone Home
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist
• Europa Universalis IV
• Disney Infinity
• Plants vs. Zombies 2
• PayDay 2
• Tales of Xillia
• Saints Row IV
• DuckTales Remastered
• The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

Top Games (IGN) 2015

• 1 Rare Replay
• 2 Mega Man Legacy Collection
• 3 Disney Infinity: 3.0 Edition
• 4 Madden NFL 16
• 5 Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
• 6 Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
• 7 Smite
• 8 Volume
• 9 Zombi
• 10 Until Dawn

Top Games (IGN) 2017

• 1 Pyre (PS4)
• 2 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PS4)
• 3 Sonic Mania (PS4)
• 4 Overcooked (Switch)
• 5 Batman: The Enemy Within -- Episode 1: The Enigma (PC)
• 6 LawBreakers (PC)
• 7 Sundered (PC)
• 8 Agents of Mayhem (PS4)
• 9 Matterfall (PS4)
• 10 Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (PS4)

Games in the Industry

• Estimated around $60 billion in revenue by the end of this year.
• Game play surpasses television viewing among certain segments of the population.
• Video game budgets are comparable to movies -$20 to $100 million.
• Some of the MMPORGs have millions of online players (WoW).
• There is a gap between industry and academia but also mutual interest.