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1980s In Video Gaming
The 1980s was the second decade in the industry's history. It was a decade of highs and lows for video games. The decade began amidst a boom in the arcade video game business with the golden age of arcade video games, the Atari 2600's dominance of the home console market during the second generation of video game consoles, and the rising influence of home computers. However, an oversatuation of low quality games led to an implosion of the video game market that nearly destroyed the industry in North America. Most investors believed video games to be a fad that had since passed, up until Nintendo's success with its Nintendo Entertainment System (NES, Famicom) revived interest in game consoles and led to a recovery of the home video game industry. In the remaining years of the decade, Sega ignites a console war with Nintendo, developers that had been affected by the crash experimented with PC games, and Nintendo released the Game Boy, which would become the best-selling handh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PC Games
''PC Games'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine published by the Computec Media GmbH in Germany. History ''PC Games'' was founded in 1992 and included a 3½-in floppy disk, which was changed to a CD-ROM in 1995. By 1999 it became the leading computer gaming magazine in Germany at this time. From October 1992 to March 1998, the founders Oliver Menne and Thomas Borovskis were editors-in-chief. They were replaced by Thomas Borovskis from April 1998 to February 2000. From March 2000 to June 2001, the magazine was led by Florian Stangl and Petra Fröhlich. From March 2004 on, Petra Fröhlich was the sole editor-in-chief. Fröhlich left this post in December 2014 and was replaced by Wolfgang Fischer. Content The magazine has about 116 pages (extended edition), and also usually includes a DVD (earlier a CD) with drivers, demos, Video game modding, mods and Map (video game), maps. The DVD also often includes a full retail version of a chosen game. The magazine contains t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galaga
is a 1981 fixed shooter video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, it was released by Midway Manufacturing. It is the sequel to ''Galaxian'' (1979), Namco's first major video game hit in arcades. Controlling a starship, the player is tasked with destroying the Galaga forces in each stage while avoiding enemies and projectiles. Some enemies can capture a player's ship via a tractor beam, which can be rescued to transform the player into a "dual fighter" with additional firepower. Shigeru Yokoyama led development with a small team. Initial planning took about two months to finish. Originally developed for the Namco Galaxian arcade board, it was instead shifted to a new system as suggested by Namco's Research and Development division. Inspiration for the dual fighter mechanic was taken from a film that Yokoyama had seen prior to development, where a ship was captured using a large circular beam. The project became immensely popular around the co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SimCity (1989 Video Game)
''SimCity'' (also known as the retronyms ''Micropolis'' or ''SimCity Classic'') is a city-building game, city-building Construction and management simulation games, simulation video game developed by Will Wright (game designer), Will Wright, and released for several platforms from 1989 to 1991. ''SimCity'' features two-dimensional graphics and an overhead perspective. The game's objective is to create a city, develop residential and industrial areas, build infrastructure, and collect taxes for further city development. Importance is placed on increasing the population's standard of living, maintaining a balance between the different sectors, and monitoring the region's environmental situations to prevent the settlement from declining and going bankrupt. ''SimCity'' was independently developed by Will Wright (game designer), Will Wright, beginning in 1985; the game was not released until 1989. Because the game lacked any arcade or action elements that dominated the video game mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tetris
''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disappears, granting points and preventing the pile from overflowing. Over 200 versions of ''Tetris'' have been published by numerous companies on more than 65 platforms, often with altered game mechanics, some of which have become standard over time. To date, these versions of ''Tetris'' collectively serve as the second-best-selling video game series with over 520 million sales, mostly on mobile devices. In the 1980s, Pajitnov worked for the Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences, where he programmed ''Tetris'' on the Elektronika 60 and adapted it to the IBM PC with the help of Dmitry Pavlovsky and Vadim Gerasimov. Floppy disk copies were distributed freely throughout Moscow, before spreading to Eastern Europe. Robert Stein of Andro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elite (video Game)
''Elite'' is a space trading and combat simulator, space trading video game. It was written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell (programmer), Ian Bell and was originally published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in September 1984. ''Elites Open-ended (gameplay), open-ended game model, and revolutionary 3D graphics led to it being ported to virtually every contemporary home computer system and earned it a place as a classic and a genre maker in gaming history. The game's title derives from one of the player's goals of raising their combat rating to the exalted heights of "Elite". ''Elite'' was one of the first home computer games to use Wire-frame model, wire-frame 3D graphics with hidden-line removal. It added graphics and twitch gameplay aspects to the genre established by the 1974 game ''Star Trader''. Another novelty was the inclusion of ''The Dark Wheel (novella), The Dark Wheel'', a novella by Robert Holdstock which gave players insight in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metroid (video Game)
is a 1986 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo. The first installment in the ''Metroid'' series, it was originally released in Japan for the Family Computer Disk System in August 1986. North America received a release in August 1987 on the Nintendo Entertainment System in the Nintendo Entertainment System Game Pak, Game Pak ROM cartridge format, with the European release following in January 1988. Set on the planet Zebes, the story follows Samus Aran as she attempts to retrieve the predatory Metroid (fictional species), Metroid organisms that were stolen by Space Pirates (Metroid), Space Pirates, who plan to replicate the Metroids by exposing them to beta rays and then use them as biological weapons to destroy Samus and all who oppose them. The game was developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1 (Nintendo R&D1) and Intelligent Systems. It was produced by Gunpei Yokoi, directed by Satoru Okada and Masao Yamamoto, and scored by Hirokazu Tanaka. It pionee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duck Hunt
is a 1984 light gun shooter video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The game was first released in April 1984 in Japan for the Family Computer (Famicom) console and in North America as an arcade game for the Nintendo VS. System. It became a launch game for the NES in North America in October 1985, and was re-released in Europe two years later. Players fire the NES Zapper at a CRT television, with three attempts per round to shoot ducks and clay pigeons. The game initially received a positive reception in the mid-1980s, but was later given mild praise in retrospective reviews. The game was inspired by Nintendo's previous electro-mechanical arcade game which was based on the Laser Clay Shooting System released in 1976. Upon release as a video game, ''Duck Hunt'' became a major commercial success both for arcades and consoles in the 1980s, helping to popularize light gun video games with over 28 million copies sold worldwi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super Mario Bros
is a 1985 Platformer, platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is the successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series. It was originally released in September 1985 in Japan for the Family Computer; following a US test market release for the NES, it was converted to international arcade game, arcades on the Nintendo VS. System in early 1986. The NES version received a wide release in North America that year and in PAL regions in 1987. Players control Mario, or his brother Luigi in the multiplayer mode, to traverse the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Peach, Princess Toadstool from King Koopa (later named Bowser). They traverse side-scrolling video game, side-scrolling stages while avoiding hazards such as enemies and pits with the aid of power-ups such as the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower and Starman (Mario), Starman. The game was designed by Shigeru Miyamot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sega Genesis
The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as the Mega Drive, and in 1989 in North America as the Genesis. In 1990, it was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, Ozisoft in Australasia, and Tectoy in Brazil. In South Korea, it was distributed by Samsung Electronics as the Super Gam*Boy and later the Super Aladdin Boy. Designed by an Research and development, R&D team supervised by Hideki Sato and Masami Ishikawa, the Genesis was adapted from Sega's Sega System 16, System 16 arcade board, centered on a Motorola 68000 processor as the central processing unit, CPU, a Zilog Z80 as a sound controller, and a video system supporting hardware Sprite (computer graphics), sprites, Tile-based video game, tiles, and scrolling. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TurboGrafx-16
The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation, it launched in Japan to compete with Nintendo's Family Computer, Famicom, but its delayed U.S. debut placed it against the more advanced Sega Genesis and later the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES. The TurboGrafx-16 features an 8-bit computing, 8-bit CPU paired with dual 16-bit graphics processors, and supports up to 482 on-screen colors from a palette of 512. The "16" in the console’s North American branding was criticized as misleading. With dimensions of , the PC Engine remains the smallest major home console ever released. Games were initially released on HuCard cartridges, but the platform later supported additional formats requiring separate hardware: TurboGrafx-CD (''CD-ROM²'' in Japan) ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ColecoVision
ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco and launched in North America in August 1982. It was released a year later in Europe by CBS Electronics as the CBS ColecoVision. The console offered a closer experience to more powerful arcade video games compared to competitors such as the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. The initial catalog of twelve games on ROM cartridge included the first home version of Nintendo's ''Donkey Kong'' as the pack-in game. Approximately 136 games were published between 1982 and 1984, including Sega's '' Zaxxon'' and some ports of lesser known arcade games that found a larger audience on the console, such as '' Lady Bug'', '' Cosmic Avenger'', and '' Venture''. Coleco released a series of hardware add-ons and special controllers to expand the capabilities of the console. "Expansion Module #1" allowed the system to play Atari 2600 cartridges. A later module converted ColecoVision into the Adam home computer. ColecoVisi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
