Looking back over the last 40 years or so, it’s remarkable to see just how much video games have evolved. Indeed, some of the games we enjoy today might be regarded as classics 40 years from now, in the same way that pioneering games such as Pong or Space Invaders were back in the 1970s.
During those heady days of an emerging video gaming industry in the 1970s and 1980s, few could have imagined quite how games would evolve, thanks to advances in technology we often take for granted while we’re playing our favorite games today.
Mobile & Online Gaming
Arguably the biggest game-changer of them all, the internet changed our lives forever. Connecting our homes with the world around us, it also led to an unprecedented and rapid growth in wireless mobile technology, thanks to greater ease of access and levels of connectivity that continue to improve year on year.
Likewise, a whole host of classic and retro games have made their way to our smartphones, bringing their timeless sense of enjoyment into the 21st-century gaming scene. These days, we can play video games on the move via smartphones wherever we go, whenever we want to, and with whomever we want to share the experience.
Some games have transcended generations, with remakes of classic favorites such as Pac-Man available to download on mobile, or on desktop. Similarly, retro-inspired slots such as Starburst, which leverage popular themes and iconography from classic titles such as Bejeweled and Columns, are available on multiple devices via genesiscasino.com/en-gb. With such ease of access and availability, there are more games than ever before to choose from.
The Visual Experience
We’ve certainly come a long way since two on-screen sticks and a square blob in Pong entertained gamers, which we mentioned at the top of this article. Indeed, little could the original designers of that game have imagined that today, we can play virtual reality ping-pong games with photo-realistic graphics, such as this review for Racket Fury shows: vrfocus.com/2018/10/review-racket-fury-table-tennis-vr/
Great graphics are one of the key things modern gamers crave, as developers aim to make the playing experience as realistic as possible. Even classic 8-bit pixel gaming favorites like Super Mario and Sonic The Hedgehog have been revitalized first with glorious 3D graphics, then given a whole new lease of life in virtual reality.
Racket Fury: Table Tennis VR Available Now on Gear VR!
Join in the fun! ???
Check it out here: https://t.co/JSlKbSFG1h#gamedev #VR #indiedevhour pic.twitter.com/l74qPpXeWV
— Racket Fury (@RacketFury) March 15, 2018
Cloud Technology
With so many games to choose from these days, one key problem has been where to store them all. This means that physical storage space has always been needed, whether it’s on a mobile device, console or the latest high-spec gaming PC. Likewise, there’s always the question of whether our device of choice meets the minimum graphics and memory specifications, given how advances in gaming technology are moving so quickly.
The concept of Cloud technology takes away the need for physical device storage, as this article at PC Mag explains pcmag.com/article/256563/what-is-cloud-computing, while also genuinely making it possible to access data with any of the devices and platforms we use. This technology has also been a huge boon for classic gaming, because even if our old devices don’t work any more. There are now sites which emulate old consoles and operating systems online, meaning we can enjoy pretty much anything we’ve played over the last few decades, and for countless years to come.
Classic Influence
We humans like to play games, and that’s been a constant throughout history. Even though we don’t always notice them, many of the basic concepts from some of the oldest classic video games, still remain prevalent in the latest gaming releases. Regardless of how technology evolves in the decades to come, the core principals of fun and entertainment will always remain central to the development of video games.
