Interactive Gaming

Platforms and Their

Limitations
Video gaming has been around
since the 1950s and has
experienced many changes
and alterations over the years.
This article aims to explore
some basic history of the many
platforms and what their
limitations are.

Arcade Games: Beginnings

Fig 1. The Magnavox

Odyssey

1971 - Galaxy Game

Galaxy Game is the earliest known
coin-operated game. It cost 10 cents
to operate for a game. The game itself
cost $20,000 to make and was a
variation of the game Space War.

1972, June Pong

Fig 2. Galaxy Game

Cabinet

Pong is widely believed to be one of the

main starting points of the modern
game industry we see today. Developed
by Atari, it was the first commercially
successful game.

Fig 3. Pong
Cabinet

Arcade Games: The Golden Age (19781986)

1978 Space Invaders
Space Invaders was the first game to
bring arcade games into the mainstream.
It was placed in all kinds of places from
restaurants to train stations. Numerous
4. Space
Invaders
home versions and handhelds spawned inFigits
wake.
It
Cabinet
was made by Taito.
1979 Asteroids
Known as Ataris comeback to Space
Invaders, this game used vector graphics
which were capable of moving objects
fast and smoothly across the screen.
These graphics combined with its
gameplay allowed it to become the
Fig 5. Asteroids
Cabinet
best-selling game of its time.
1980 Pac-Man
Considered a classic, Pac-Man was a huge
hit all over the world spawning many
sequels. It was developed by Bally/Midway
and licenced from Namco.

Fig 6. Pac-Man
Cabinet

1981 Donkey Kong

Built off the same hardware used by
Radarscope; Donkey Kong was
developed by Nintendo and was the
first game to feature Mario, then called
Jumpman.

Fig 7. Donkey Kong

Cabinet

Arcade Games: Advantages and Limitations

One of the biggest draws to Arcade gaming is the social
aspects. This is because (as seen in Fig 8. below) many
machines are housed together in the same building,
often with a pair of machines for the same game
allowing co-operative play. Due to their simpler
graphics and software, arcade games are easy to
emulate making them easy for anyone with a PC to
play, whenever they want to.

Fig 8. An Arcade housing many

machines

Arcade games are very much limited compared to more

modern platforms. This is due mainly to technological
advancements and the way arcade has been somewhat
left behind. The hardware and software of many
machines is significantly outdated lacking basic
features such as game saving and much more
sophisticated graphics. Arcade games themselves tend
to be a lot more simplistic than modern games as well.
The games often centring on achieving a high score,
choosing to neglect a sense of story-telling.
Due to devices such as an emulator, problems such as
a lack of save device or money are easily got around as
people can simply emulate the games on their
computer, bypassing the need for the actual Arcade
machine.
Mobile Devices: Beginnings

1977/8 - Mattel LED Handhelds

The Mattel LED Handhelds were simple one
game consoles with flashing LED lights for
gameplay. There were many titles such as
football, baseball and basketball.
Fig 9. Mattels
Baseball

1980/91 Nintendo Game & Watch

Featuring an alarm and clock, the
Game & Watch was Nintendos first
foray into the handheld/mobile
market. These consoles where one
game only, featuring games such as
Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong.

Fig 10. Donkey Kong Game &

Watch

Mobile Devices: Popularization

1989 Nintendo Game Boy
The most successful video game system of
all time, it is plain to see that the Game
Boy had an immense impact upon launch.
Bundled with Tetris, this console had many
classic games such as Pokemon Red &
Blue.
Fig 11. A Nintendo
Game Boy

1990 Sega Game Gear

With Nintendos market dominance

becoming present, the Game Gear
was the most successful of the Game
Boys competitor. Featuring a colour
screen, it boasted an impressive line
of games such as Sonic the
Hedgehog, Galaga 2 and Pac-Man.

Fig 12. A Sega Game

Gear

1997 Nokia 6110/Snake

Snake was the first game on a mobile phone to
truly be successful. Now seen as a cultural icon,
the original Nokia 6110 was the first Nokia phone
to be loaded with Snake, popularizing gaming on
Fig 13. The Nokia
mobile phones.
6110

2004 Nintendo DS
At first the stylus and dual screens
seemed more like a novelty than a
revolutionary step forward. The DS has
since come to boast an incredibly
successful line of games and truly showed
Nintendos dominance over the handheld
market.
2004 Sony Playstation Portable
(PSP)
Though more technically advanced
than the Nintendo DS, Sonys PSP
failed to captivate such a large
share of the market, though it was

Fig 14. A Nintendo

DS

not a failure. It is also the gaming system to use

Universal Media Discs (UMDs).
2009 Angry Birds
First released on Apple IOS in
2009, Angry Birds has firmly
established itself in popular
media. It is a prime example
on the ease and popularity of
mobile gaming on phones,
paving the way for other games
such as Candy Crush.

Fig 15. A Sony

PSP

Fig 16. Angry Birds on an

iPhone

Mobile Games: Advantages and Limitations

With app markets such as the Google Play store readily
available on android phones and other similar apps on
other modern handheld/mobile platforms, it is easy to
purchase and play on a mobile device. Many mobile
devices take advantage of 3G/4G allowing them access
to the internet where ever you go allowing quick and
easy online play or downloading of games. Local play
on devices such as the Nintendo DS is also fairly simply
as it has built in short wave wireless devices allowing it
to connect to other systems. Furthermore, with its on
the go nature, mobile gaming is arguably the easiest
form of gaming as it is always available at fingertips
(see Fig 17. below).

Fig 17. A man playing a Nintendo DS on his

commute

Mobile gaming does suffer from a few limitations

however. Due to mobile devices needing to be kept to
small sizes and weights in order to be transportable,
they suffer from hardware limitations that bigger
consoles dont need to worry about. Also, mobile
phones suffer as a platform due to excess space
needing to be taken up on the RAM of the system for
the other tasks the phone has to perform. Lastly,
mobile devices suffer from battery life problems,
meaning if a device has to go too long without charge,
it will be unusable.
Consoles: Beginnings
1972 The Magnavox Odyssey
After the demonstration of the Brown
Box, Magnavox licenced the product
to produce the Magnavox Odyssey,
the first official home console. The
Magnavox Odyssey was completely silent
Fig 18. The Magnavox
meaning it only produced pixel-based games.
Odyssey

1977 Atari 2600

Featuring switchable cartridges and two
switches for co-operative play, the Atari
2600 had a profound impact on the
gaming industry, introducing many of
the key tropes of consoles today.

Fig 19. The Atari

2600

Consoles: The Golden Age (1978-1986)

1983 Nintendo Entertain System
(NES)
Following the near crash of the
industry thanks to the Atari 2600
game, E.T, it was the Japanese
gaming company Nintendo who took over
theA Famicom,
Western
Fig 20.
the
Japanese
NES
console market with the NES.
Consoles: Popularization
1988 Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
In the constant battle between Nintendo
and Sega for market domination, Sega
released their all-time most successful
system.

Fig 21. A Sega Mega

Drive

1994 The Sony Playstation

Sonys first foray into the gaming market, having never
produced even a game before, was the Playstation.
Being the first console to popularize the use of both 3D

visuals and CD-ROMs, it is considered

truly revolutionary.
2001 Microsoft Xbox

Fig 22. A Sony

Playstation

Microsofts Xbox was Microsofts first

attempt at a home console. Using
Direct X8 and Windows 2000 Kernel,
Microsoft aimed to create a console
that would be easy for developers
used to PC to use, as well as, a
Fig 23. Bill Gates unveiling
powerful console to compete with Sony and
Nintendo.
the Xbox
2006 Nintendo Wii
Featuring motion controls and bundled
with Wii Sports, the Nintendo Wii was
incredibly popular with predictions
stating that 1/3 households owned a
Nintendo Wii.
Fig 24. A Nintendo
Wii

2013 Playstation 4/Xbox One

E3 in June 2013 marked the unveiling of both

the Xbox One and the Playstation 4,
with both releasing at the end of the
year. The competition between the
two systems is fierce with the
Fig 25.
Playstation 4 out-selling the Xbox One
at Left:
3-1.Playstation 4
Xbox One

Right:

Consoles: Advantages and Limitations

Boasting both local co-operative play and online cooperative play, home consoles have developed into a
highly social experience (see Fig 26. below for Sonys
Playstation Network social service) without having to
leave the house. Consoles have also developed more
into media platforms than just straight game machines
as seen in how the Xbox One was marketed as a media
device. This allows them to run many applications such
as Skype, for talking to other gamers.

Fig 26. A Friends List for Playstation Network on a

Playstation 3 System

One the major limitations of home consoles are that

they start out the beginning of their life cycle with the
most update to date hardware but quickly become
underpowered over the course of their life. Compare
this to the PC for example, which can be easily updated
and moded. Consoles also run off their own languages
and systems making so that, without the proper
development kit, they are incredibly hard to program
games for. A further limitation of home consoles would
be in how it is out of the users control over what

changes are made to the system in terms of updates

and modifications.

PC Gaming: Beginnings
1976 Adventure
Adventure gave its name to
the genre of adventure games.
Designed by a programmer
named Will Crowther, it was
based on the layout of the
Fig 27. A 1986 version of Adventure that
mammoth cave system in Kentucky.
featured graphics.
1977 Microchess
Microchess was the first computer game for
microcomputers. It was a simple chess
program and was sold on a cassette tape.

Fig 28. Microchess

version 1.5

PC Gaming: Popularization
1991 Civilization
Civilization is a turn-based strategy
game with the aim to Build an
empire to stand the test of time. It
is credited with having some of the
best graphics of its time (See Fig 29.
for graphics in game).

Fig 29. World Map from

Civilization

1992 Wolfenstein 3D
Developed by id software,
Wolfenstein 3D was an early FirstPerson Shooter. It had a shareware
version, which was designed to be
passed around, released in order to
help promotion.

Fig 30. Gameplay for

Wolfenstein 3D

1993 - Doom
Doom is a Science Fiction Horror-themed FirstPerson Shooter that is often cited as being one
of the most influential video games of all time.
Developed by id software, it helped usher the
popularity of the First-Person Shooter genre.

Fig 31. Cover of

Doom

2004 - Half-Life 2
Developed alongside Valves Steam
software, this was the first single
player game to require only activation
(because of Steam). It was also the
first game to use Valves signature
Source engine.

Fig 32. Half-Life 2

gameplay

2004 - Steam
Steam is a digital distribution software developed by
Valve software, the makers of Half-Life, Portal and Team
Fortress. It is notable for being the largest digital
distribution platform on PC, with it being supported by
most operating systems. Steam has been a huge

reason for the success of modern

PC gaming.
2009 Minecraft
Original published as an Alpha in
2009, Minecraft became a vast
Fig 33. The Steam store
front
internet phenomenon, even without
the game fully realising till 2011. It is
a sandbox indie game and is credited
Fig 34. A Mario Castle in
Minecraft
with a vast rise in the popularity of indie gaming.
PC Gaming: Advantages and Limitations
PCs have a significant advantage over other platforms
in that they can be easily developed, giving them a
large platform of indie games as well as triple a titles.
There is also a large base of controllers for PC games in
that you can use a mouse and keyboard or a more
traditional console controller. PCs can also be used for
much more than just playing games, meaning that
when you buy a PC, you are potentially getting more for
your money. Emulators can also be used on PC
meaning, depending on your specs, you can technically
play any game on a PC (Seen in Fig 35. with a computer
running Pokemon).

Fig 35. Pokemon games running on an

emulator

The first limitation PC gaming is the inconsistency in

the specs of games. With consoles, any game that is
produced for the console will run on the console without
any modifications by the user whereas with PC, when a
new game is released, if it is over the system
specifications of the PC, the game will not be playable
until the user obtains better parts. PCs are also
susceptible to viruses so it requires virus protection
software such as AVG or Norton anti-virus software.

Television as a Gaming Platform:

TVs and Monitors have always been a necessary
requirement for gaming but in recent years have
developed the functionality to play their own. With the
launch of smart TVs and features such as the red
button, TVs with internet access are able to use apps
and as such could potentially be able to play games.

Fig 36. A Samsung Smart TV with

Angry Birds

Television Gaming: Advantages and Limitations

An advantage of games BEING built into your TV is no
other hardware is required to play the games. TV
gaming is currently mostly limited however. This is
because the hardware in TVs is not powerful enough or
sophisticated enough for gaming on the level of most
other platforms. TVs can, however, run mobile games
such as Angry Birds (seen in Fig 37. below).

Fig 37. Angry Birds on a

Smart TV

The Future of Gaming, My Thoughts:

Gaming as an industry is leaning heavily towards digital
downloads and streaming services at the moment.
Because of this I believe that major streaming services

will replace even the need to download a game (as

seen with Fig 38. and what they are trying to achieve).
Eventually even the need to own a game console
could be irrelevant and all streaming and playing of
games could be done through a box on your TV or even
built into it. Even if that doesnt become the case, it is
certainly likely well see more digital download only
games and less physically copies of games as
companies push towards cheaper to produce and
release games.

Fig 38. Shinra Technologies, Square Enixs

streaming service

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