CS 185C: The History of Computing October 3 Class Meeting Department of Computer Science San Jose State University Fall 2011 Instructor: Ron Mak mak.

CS 185C: The History of ComputingOctober 3 Class Meeting

Department of Computer ScienceSan Jose State University

Fall 2011Instructor: Ron Mak

www.cs.sjsu.edu/~mak

SJSU Dept. of Computer ScienceFall 2011: October 3

CS 185C: This History of Computing© R. Mak

2

IEEE Global History Network Create your topic!

Create in the appropriate category and subcategory Send me the URL by this Friday, Sept. 30

Initial contents (not all needs to be done by Friday) Object of your historical research

Architecture (hardware or software), computer system, application, methodology, biography, company, etc.

What do you want to discover from your research What questions do you want answered

Outline of your research plan Proposed source materials

museum artifacts, interviews, email exchanges with project advisors, etc. Rough timeline

Online experts Ask specific questions Get suggestions and comments

_



3

IEEE Global History Network

Include the following text “I’m a student in the History of Computing class at San Jose State

University ( http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/~mak/CS185C/ ). This is a work in progress that will turn into a final article by the end of the semester. I welcome your comments and advice!”

Otherwise other IEEE members may try to edit your article.

Post frequent updates to your article. Drafts of your report Blog of your research activities

The blog can end up as an appendix to your final report._



4

Computer History Museum Archives

When doing your research, be sure to take advantage of the archives of the Computer History Museum:

http://www.computerhistory.org/explore/



5

Bitsavers

Archive of computer software and manuals http://www.bitsavers.org/



6

SIMH

Software simulations of historic computer systems http://simh.trailing-edge.com/



7

Short Oral Presentations

Short oral presentation of your research project 10 minutes

Object of your historical research What do you want to discover from your research What questions do you want answered

5 minutes Q & A

To be scheduled ...



8

The Very First Video Game

“Tennis for Two” Created in 1958 by William Higinbotham to entertain visitors to

the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. See http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/history/higinbotham.asp

Oscilloscope display of a gravity-controlled ball on a tennis court.

Analog computer plus two game controllers



9

“SpaceWar!”

Many of the first video games were programmed by students on university computers. Computer time was expensive, so the games were developed

and played surreptitiously, and many were never saved.

“SpaceWar!” Programmed by MIT student

Steve Russell on a DEC PDP-1in 1961

http://spacewar.oversigma.com/



10

Early Arcade Game

“Galaxy Game,” Stanford University, 1971 DEC PDP-11/20 Only one was built

See it at theComputer History Museum



11

Pong

Ping-pong game originally released by Atari in 1972 Created by Allan Alcorn First commercially successful

video game Started the video game

industry

http://playerschoicegames.com/2011/05/12/pong/



12

Allan Alcorn

Speaker Wednesday, Oct. 5 in auditorium ENGR 189 “Video Games as a Driver of Computing Technology”

Reception before the talk in ENGR 294 Creator of Pong Led the development of

the Atari Video Computer System(later renamed the Atari 2600)

Fellow at Apple Computer Pioneering work on the

MPEG standard and QuickTime

1977



13

First Video Game Console

Ralph Baer and a colleague created “Chase,” the first video game to display on a standard TV set in 1966 Released to the public as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972 Received the National Medal of Technology in 2006 in honor of his

“groundbreaking and pioneering creation, development and commercialization of interactive video games.”



14

Atari

Founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in 1972 Soon hired Allan Alcorn as their first design engineer Initially created and distributed arcade games Atari VCS (Video Computer System) in 1977,

renamed the Atari 2600

Sold to Warner Communications in 1976 Bushnell fired in 1978 1980: Atari 800 and the smaller Atari 400 1982: Atari 5200 1983: Video game industry crashes

Atari 5200



15

Atari, cont’d

Sold to Jack Tramiel in 1984 Founder of Commodore 1985: Atari ST

personal computer

Division of Hasbro,1998-2001

Name sold to Infogames, whichrenames itself Atari,2001



16

History’s Top 10 Video Game Consoles

1. 1977: Atari 26002. 1985: Nintendo NES3. 1989: Sega Genesis4. 1995: Sony PlayStation5. 2000: Sony PlayStation 26. 2001: Nintendo Game Cube7. 2001: Microsoft Xbox8. 2005: Microsoft Xbox 3609. 2006: Sony PlayStation 310. 2006: Nintendo Wii

See http://www.thegameconsole.com/



17

Nintendo

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), 1980

Game Boy, 1989



18

Sega

Released its first video game console, the SG 1000, in 1982

Released the Sega Genesis in 1989



19

Sony

Original PlayStation released in 1994.



20

Microsoft

Microsoft Xbox released 2001



21

Types of Video Games

Adventure initially text-based

Role playing games (RPG) Fighting/martial arts/gory violence Shooting

online multiplayer games Maze Racing/driving Realtime strategy

online multiplayer games Simulation Online gambling



22

Early Video Game Highlights

“Pac-Man” released by Namco in Japan, 1980 See http://www.thepcmanwebsite.com/media/pacman_flash/

“Donkey Kong” released by Nintendo, 1981 Created by Shigeru Miyamoto, famous game designer See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhFV5-qbbIw and

www.fetchfido.co.uk/games/donkey_kong/donkey_kong.htm

“Microsoft Flight Simulator,” 1982 See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmPHgojgpro

(Macintosh version) Developed by Bruce Artwick



23

Early Video Game Highlights, cont’d

“Tetris,” 1985 Developed by Russian mathematician Alexey Pajitnov See http://www.freetetris.org/game.php

“SimCity,” 1989 Designed by Will Wright

and released by Maxis Simulate building cities



24

Early Video Game Highlights, cont’d

Entertainment Software Rating Board, 1994



25

8 Video Game Myths Debunked

Henry Jenkins, MIT professor See http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html

1. The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence.

2. Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression.

3. Children are the primary market for video games.

4. Almost no girls play computer games.

5. Because games are used to train soldiers to kill, they have the same impact on the kids who play them.

6. Video games are not a meaningful form of expression.

7. Video game play is socially isolating.

8. Video game play is desensitizing.



26

The Future of Video Games?

Follow the evolution of television? Reality-based games Multiplayer games

massive shared online experiences

Cross promotions Corporate sponsorships More product placements Hit music singles played only during a game

Average age of video game players ... Approaching 30 More players in their senior years

http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/future.html

CS 185C: The History of Computing October 3 Class Meeting Department of Computer Science San Jose State University Fall 2011 Instructor: Ron Mak mak.

Documents

computer science fall

history of computing

analog computer

ieee global history

ron mak

manuals http

research project

research plan