How Our Way We Play Video Games Has Changed Through The Years

It all started with the home PC and from there came the birth of the video game industry, we started out with the CD-ROM which stands for “Read Only Memory“ that you would put into a built in player on your main tower for the operating system. Compatibility was an important thing during the disc age of gaming because certain programs only worked with a certain version of a computer’s Windows or Mac version. For instance if one game only worked with Windows 95 or 98 the format would be unreadable on a system running XP or Vista. When I still had a desk PC I had times of finding this out when running a newer OS and getting an error message. There was a possibility to convert a game program to be compatible with your system version by changing what’s called the bit format for your RAM or “Random Access Memory” so that your PC can handle the amount of data your program puts out. The CD-ROM format lasted through the 90s and started to fade in the late 2000s in response to the TV gaming system industry with the introduction of the Nintendo 64 and the first Sony PlayStation. Even though the Nintendo 64 had a cartridge format it was still revolutionary in it’s own style and way. You had to make sure that there was no dust in the prongs for it to work right otherwise if you put it in you would not get the solid performance that you are expecting.

The succeeding system was called the “Super Nintendo” promoting the game of “Super Mario Bros” making this system a limited edition that only lasted a specific amount of time. Eventually in the mid 2000s the company released the disc format Wii system that changed the way you interact with the programs by giving you the option to use the remote for say a bowling game where you use your body to interact with the game as if it was in real life. They have even came out in recent years with virtual reality headsets that give you the feel of actually being a part of a video game in a world where you are essentially the main character and are in charge of the turnout at the end of a level. When I was younger I used Sony products like PlayStation and used both the first and second versions. In the 2010s they released the PS3 and revolutionized the gaming industry giving a fresh look to the home screen and features that you can do like create profiles and connect to WiFi internet. My favorite portion is the introduction of a store where you can get things relating to the PlayStation community and invite your other friends and family who might also be members of the platform. This eventually led to the introduction of streaming which allowed users to integrate the apps of live TV and music with the same device Call of Duty is played on. Used to PlayStation Vue was actually a subscription for a cable replacement that gave you a channel lineup and your common locals. This was eventually faded out in the mid 2010s in favor of other apps being more popular in the market and Sony thus losing competition.

That’s roughly how we got where we are today. More advancements will come through the years. We will see where that takes us in the future.

-Tristan