The fascinating growth of the video game as a form of entertainment that we know today has its roots nearly 60 years ago in the United States back when computers were as large as a whole room and referred to as main frame computers. These first huge machines were seen as a new innovation and used by the military to run many important aspects of their research and also weaponry. This is, in fact, where the first games sprang from, being based on the concept of missile defense. Of course, these games were not actually given to the general public since computers at that time were far too expensive for any house hold to have been able to own one themselves. It would be students and other experimental technology scientists who would seek to create the first types of computer games during the 50′s and much of the 60′s, the very earliest decades of gaming. They would create games such as Space Wars that were very simple by today’s standards but considered things of wonder at the time.
Then would come the decade for real change, the 1970′s, when computer gaming would come out in a different way. This is when the first stand up arcade games would start to come out, with the vendor of the game charging coins for people to be able to play. This is how the electronics that would be used in the future console game systems such as the Atari were tested in a live setting. The arcade machines were not for home use, but they taught developers not only what sorts of technology would work for gaming systems, they also taught them what types of games consumers liked to play. Space Invaders and Asteroids proved to be huge hits in the 70′s and also the very first home game system would come out: the Odyssey from Magnavox. This paved the way for the console systems of today because with 2 million units sold, it proved that there really was a market for people playing games in their home. It turns out that this is the same decade when the computer would begin to make its way into homes in the United States with companies like Apple and Tandy making their own types of computers for the home environment that offered simple games players could indulge in.
The boom years of real development for games came about in the 80′s when tech manufacturing would reach new levels of sophistication. Here is where the real gaming industry gets a major start. Arcades popped up all over the globe and along with them, came a flood of big console systems ranging from several flavors of Atari to the brand new 8 bit Nintendo and Sega Master Systems that would become huge successes due to their ability to display far more color and offer much more action than ever before. These systems had to compete with home computers, too, that were able to offer quite a lot of value including the fact that with a modem attached, gamers could try out games over computer bulletin board systems and play against people not in the same room. This was a boom era and it proved that the video game and computer gaming industry could thrive.
From here on out, from the 1990′s through today, there have been rapid developments due to the popularity of games in cultures across the globe. More gaming systems came out, arcades slowly faded into obscurity and the internet let gamers across the world connect over a variety of gaming networks. Computers grew in sophistication and systems such as the Playstation, Xbox and a huge number of hand held systems helped the video game industry outshine every other segment of entertainment. Today games dominate the entertainment industry world wide.
